How strong an Excel solution to spray on plants for BBA?

[jbrady33]

Fighting BBA, have already trimmed some leaves, raised my light, and stopped doing too frequent water changes (was going every other day at the office thinking I was helping - too much of a good thing)

Seems to have stopped or slowed the growth, now I would like to do a minor re-scape. As part of it, planning to remove plants, trim a bit, mist with Excel in a pump sprayer, (wait a few minutes?), rinse and replant.

How strong should the Excel be, straight out of the bottle, cut it 50/50 with water, weaker? Would H2O2 be better?

Thanks!

[horsedude]

well i personal think you should use excele from the bottle. H202 can be nasty stuff but if used correctly can do wonders for killing bba. the dosage for H202 is 1ml to1 gallon but u could raise it up to 1.5ml per gallon but im not that familllier with it. all you have to do for dosing h202 is lower the water level by 30percent with the filter off spot treat with a pipete/syringe and wait for an hour fill it up and turn on the fillter. H202 is cheaper i think but im not sure but good luck fihting it

[acitydweller]

i have used a dropper and pipette and dosed drops directly on the bba. If you follow the dosing with a water change, i suppose a higher dose can be applied however a little peroxide goes a long way so be patient.

i'd agree also that peroxide is way cheaper than excel at about $1 a medium sized bottle from cvs, walgreens or any drug store near you where a comparable sized bottle of excel runs about $7.99

[jbrady33]

Think they both work about the same?

[acitydweller]

against algae? yes

since i do a WC right after dosing, i use the full strength H2HO which is already 3% in the brown bottle. some people dilute that even further when they dont do a WC... so YMMV

[horsedude]

yeah i think they both work just as good as each other just make sure you have not got any sensative fish but apart from that go ahead!

[dmagerl]

If you're doing Excel directly on plants that are out of water, I'd use a 10:1 water/excel mixture. Anything more and you stand the risk of killing the plant as well as the algae..

I should say 9 parts water, 1 part excel. Is that 9:1 or 10:1?

I've used 10:1 and it takes a few days but it does kill the algae.

[Darkblade48]

Originally Posted by dmagerl

If you're doing Excel directly on plants that are out of water, I'd use a 10:1 water/excel mixture. Anything more and you stand the risk of killing the plant as well as the algae..

I should say 9 parts water, 1 part excel. Is that 9:1 or 10:1?

I've used 10:1 and it takes a few days but it does kill the algae.

If it is 9 parts water and 1 part excel, then it is 9:1 or a 1 in 10 dilution.

[ThatGuyWithTheFish]

I've used pure excel before on plants out of water, thought it was under a running sink. It worked very well on the BBA.

[herns]

Metricide 14 also works best. More stronger than Excel and a lot more cheaper. Works the same.

[HD Blazingwolf]

if u wanna take plants out of water.

set them in a pasta strainer spray them with tidex, wait 3 seconds. sprau with cold water from tap. dunk them in a bowl of tank water with lots of dechlor.

i've done this before with awesome results. only leaves affected are older ones. new ones stay healthy. bba turns grey/red and dies.. peice of cake

[JonWF]

As of this morning the BBA is essetnailly gone form my tank. I attribute this to the Excel Flourish. I double dosed 1x and turned off the CO2 for a day or two. Turned my tank very cloudy. Three day slater i turned back on the CO2 and the tank cloudiness went away. Then about 5 days later I did a 50% water change with tap water. Now 3 days after that the BBA has evaporated. Excel did not affect the fish, but melted all my val within a day or two (except for some roots that seem to be alive) and crypts. Everything else is fine. I am happy. Good luck!!!