The mystery that is flourish excel..

Discussion in 'The Planted Tank' started by sostoudt, Mar 22, 2009.

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  1. sostoudt

    sostoudt Giant Squid

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    flourish excel is a product by seachem.
    The Claim:
    What it actually does:
    it does boost the growth of many plants. but you get bonuses. it will kill certain types of algae and the plant anacharis.

    a while back seachem had a article that claimed they didn't know exactly how it worked and why it kills algae.

    here is a quote from someone claiming to work with them in researching the algae killing property
    THE MAGIC INGREDIENT
    polycycloglutaracetal and glutaraldehydeheres
    what wiki has to say on the subject:
    Polycycloglutaracetal is an isomeric form of glutaraldehyde... however it is less reactive and more easily utilized by plants as a carbon source
    if you noticed glutaraldehyde sounds alot like Formaldehyde you are right, glut is used to sterilize medical equipment.

    the question is how can something be a algacide and fertilizer for higher plants at the same time?

    edit: it kills val also
     
    Last edited: Mar 22, 2009
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  3. sostoudt

    sostoudt Giant Squid

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    well i have decided to use this on my tank and give it a review while i am at it.
    this is a 20long gold fish tank planted with 3 measely swords that are semi-encroached with green algae. the is also a 4 leaf clover plant, not doing to hot goldfish eat the leaves.
    the tank is around 70 degrees room temperature. there are a few ghost shrimp in the tank also.

    I dosed one capful, that is 1/2 the recommend first doseage(one capful per 10 gals).
    initial observations the goldfish immediantly strayed away from the side of the tank that was dosed(one swam around rapidly).
    30 secs later everything appears normal.


    edit: my lighting is 78 watts of t5 lighting Odyssea fixture, two full spectrum 10k bulbs
     
    Last edited: Mar 23, 2009
  4. unclejed

    unclejed Whip-Lash Squid

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    Anything that has the toxic potential of that product would never come into my house or garage. I would not tempt fate!
     
  5. sostoudt

    sostoudt Giant Squid

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    ok day 2 on flourish excel.
    i dosed 2 threads on cap today(recommended amount).
    i noticed 1 sword has a very small new leaf coming out, other then that no change.

    asked some question at seachem, said sometimes my dog may drink some of the water in the tank, they said excel shouldn't harm a dog when its mixed with water but advised me to try and avoid this situation.

    also asked if it is reef safe, they said no it has only been tested in fresh tanks.
     
  6. That Guy

    That Guy Aiptasia Anemone

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    i use excel for algae control by turning off my filters and using a syringe from a salifert test kit to spot treat algae. I will dose 3x the recommended dosage for 5-7 days and it does wonder on all types of algae that are near impossible to get rid of! As far as a fertilizer...i dont really use excell for that. I use pfertz and pressurized co2 to supply my plants with all they need in that department.

    Recently i have been experimenting with spot dosing hydrogen peroxide to kill cladophora in my hair grass...this is proving to be much more effective than the excel spot treatment. When you think about it H2O2 is a great oxidizer and it breaks down almost instantly into...well H20! So it is proving to be much less harmful to my shrimp.
     
  7. sostoudt

    sostoudt Giant Squid

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    ive heard of people using the hydrogen peroxide.
    i think the peroxide is probably a much better idea then the excel, excel seems to be able to destroy the whole tank if used incorrectly.

    im saving my co2 setup for the real planted tank im setting up.
     
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  9. sostoudt

    sostoudt Giant Squid

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    update to day i have noticed a , new leaf on another sword. the swords seem to have grown a cm or 2.
     
  10. That Guy

    That Guy Aiptasia Anemone

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    In how long? under what light? what substrate? only using excel or other supplements as well? DIY co2?

    In my high tech tank ( MH lighting, ADA soil and ADA powersand, pressurixed CO2, and dosing pfertz M,N,P, and K) The growth is so intense that i have to trim at least once a week! In my low light/ low tech tank growth is almost nonexistant! So 2cm can be a lot or next to nothing depending on many other variables and the time frame it took to grow those 2cm :)
     
  11. sostoudt

    sostoudt Giant Squid

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    80 watts of t5. im also doseing the regular flourish fertilizer. substrate is just gravel a few bits of flourite at attached to plant roots.

    ive been really expecting those swords to grow they had a pretty long time of just putting out new leaves but they would never grow higher then the 2 inches they were reduced to after trimming. they were trimmed down when i had a hair algae out break in the tank they previously were in
     
    Last edited: Mar 24, 2009
  12. That Guy

    That Guy Aiptasia Anemone

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    do you have photos of it? Is it an amazon sword? with that much light and regular dosing of ferts amazon swords grow like mad! Could be a deficiency of some sort that is effecting the growth.