No mate, that's not what I meant.
What I'm saying is that the mechanism by which plants break down the compound gluteraldehyde results in the
release of CO2 from the residue of the original compound. The chemical reactions that occur within the leaf result in more CO2. This CO2 is then captured and transported by the enzyme Rubisco in exactly the same way as it is captured and transported when CO2 is absorbed by gas injection methods. The result is that the sum total of CO2 molecules in the leaf increases.
What people don't understand is that the Rubisco enzyme only recognizes and captures CO2 and O2. When CO2 is captured it is then transported to an area in the chloroplast where the sugar making process begins. This process is called The Calvin Cycle. This cycle combines a Phosphate substrate with CO2 in order to make a Phosphate sugar called 3GP (Glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate).
Here is a super-simplified schematic of the process.
In the upper left hand corner you can see where CO2 enters the Cycle.
On the lower right corner you can see the 3GP sugar.
So, ONLY CO2 can be a carbon source, because the chemicals in this cycle only respond and react with compounds specifically designed to work with CO2 and the products of the chemical combination of CO2 + RubP (shown just below the "3 CO2" on the far left). This is a carefully constructed and balanced series of reactions and the inbound molecule must be CO2.
What we cannot see outside of this cycle is
how the gluteraldehyde breaks down into CO2. Only Seachem and Tom Barr know the details of this mechanism, and Tom is not permitted to disseminate the details.
So the best way to think of the gluteraldehyde is that increases the CO2 concentration level in the chloroplast above that which is provided by injection.
This is the same story (but different mechanism) with plants that use bicarbonate. The bicarbonate is not an "alternate source of carbon". It is simply converted to CO2 by chemical means and then the CO2 is absorbed.
Cheers,