Excel - amount and stability

[Tom]

Is the stability of Excel just as important as actual CO2? Also, how much Excel is too much? People talk about overdosing Excel, but never seem to give an amount.

I've been dosing the recommended amount (about 0.2ml) in the cube but I started to get BBA on the Crypts. I've been increasing it since then (now at 1ml) and watching what happens, but I've seen an increase in hair algae on the Anubias and Crypts. Surely this is more than enough Excel for the tank - would it be the lack of a stable dose that's causing the algae?

Cheers,
Tom

 

[ceg4048]

I've been dosing the recommended amount (about 0.2ml) in the cube but I started to get BBA on the Crypts.

Recommended by who and under what conditions are these recommendations supposed to be valid? Is this an Excel only tank? If lighting is too high then it's always a struggle to control the CO2 demand with liquid carbon only. Presumably this is a daily dosing, and the liquid is added just prior to lights on, right?

Surely this is more than enough Excel for the tank

But how can you be so sure? Hair algae thinks you don't have enough CO2 for the given lighting level - and hair algae is right 100% of the time.

Cheers,

 

[Johno2090]

Love it! CEG even talks to Hair Algae!

 

[Tom]

I've been dosing the recommended amount (about 0.2ml) in the cube but I started to get BBA on the Crypts.

Recommended by who and under what conditions are these recommendations supposed to be valid? Is this an Excel only tank? If lighting is too high then it's always a struggle to control the CO2 demand with liquid carbon only. Presumably this is a daily dosing, and the liquid is added just prior to lights on, right?

Recommended by what's on the bottle (roughly), and the fact that it says not to overdose - My question really is how far can you push it before it becomes detrimental? It is also my point that it gives a recommendation, but then there are such a wide range of variables.

Surely this is more than enough Excel for the tank

But how can you be so sure? Hair algae thinks you don't have enough CO2 for the given lighting level - and hair algae is right 100% of the time.

Cheers,

Because it is 5x the recommended dose, and I don't think I have too much lighting. It's an 11w Arc Pod that to the eye looks dimmer than the 9w it replaced (broke). I'm not doubting the algae, just don't know how much higher a dose I can give before I kill things!

Cheers Clive.

 

[ceg4048]

OK, so the question is this; When Seachem provided those recommendations, what were their assumptions? Were they assuming that the users tank was already being fed by gas and that the liquid was a supplement? Was the assumption based on low light?

If the answer to these questions are yes, then your tank is outside the boundary of the recommendations. Since we do not know the PAR values in the tank we cannot assume that the lighting is low. What we do know is that hair algae only ever occurs due to poor CO2, and that if flow distribution and lighting are assumed to be adequate then the only possibility remaining is a deficiency in the CO2 concentration level. If you look for other causes for this algae you'll fall off the wagon very quickly.

The fact that Excel has algecidal properties against CO2 related algae, and the fact that you are still getting two species of CO2 related algae despite the dosages points directly to some fundamental CO2 related mistake being made.

You now have to start looking at seemingly outrageous possibilities, because you know the truth of CO2 related algae. Do you have lights on programmable timers? Is it possible that the program is in error and that the lights are on when they should be off? Could the Excel itself be diluted or otherwise corrupted?

You may wish to try mechanical removal and then a blackout or to increase the dosages carefully until you see results.

Cheers,