I do in some tanks:
1. algaecide
2. Injecting CO2 does not necessarily mean that all plants have access to all Carbon they can use. The carbon levels at different areas of the tank depend on your specific fish tolerance levels, how much and how you inject, what your flow patterns are, which plants are first in line, your water temperature and related O2 saturation, and who knows what other factors.
Does dosing Excel in addition to CO2 provide any tangible benefits? I do not know.
Conversely, statements that it does not, without supporting data, stll leave the answers debatable.
I read on the Seachem site that excel DOES make more carbon based compounds available to the plants when used in conjunction with co2 injection. I would offer my tank as a control, I.e., no co2 or no excel, to see what kind of differences could be seen. Experiment!
You didn't say why you wanted to add Excel, but if it is to use it as a algaecide a better way to go would be to figure out the underlying cause of the algae to begin with. That way you'd have a permanent solution rather than handing over lots of cash to Seachem. I have nothing against Seachem, I give them my money too, but sometimes the mentality of more is more proves to be fatal for plants and fish.
I can understand OP's reason. It has been debated for a long time that one of the reasons for BBA is either insufficient or inconsistent CO2. So recently I've had small pockets of BBA and decided to nip it in its bud.
So I increased my CO2 to 30ppm. And tried to keep my PH stable during photo period. The result was my PH dropped from 7.2 to 6.2. And my shrimps are also less active.
Injecting so much CO2 to control BBA have its side effects - so I had the same thoughts to reduce my CO2 injection, and dose Excel. So that the shrimps will be happy, and it functions as an algaecide.
Sometimes its not so simple to figure out the underlying cause of algae. I've not dose Excel though, only thinking about it. Your thoughts?
I just installed a co2 system, but im continuing to dose glutaraldehyde. I have all this metricide sitting here so I don't see the harm if it keeps the tank looking pretty in case I don't have my light, fert, and co2 balanced perfectly.
This can be an interesting topic: most posts on the subject equate the presence of algae with an unhealthy, un-balanced tank. Is that really so?
To play a Devils Advocate, consider that algae is naturally occurring and provides certain benefits to the ecosystem. In my mind, everything in nature has its place and purpose. Who are we to say that is an undesirable?
I have seen and have pictures of totally gorgeous healthy BBA. Maybe try to cultivate and scape with it? In my experience, doing that is much harder than to keep it at bay.
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