excel and its affects on plants

[sketch804]

so which plants are particularly sensitive to excel? I know moss, pellia, star grass, and a few other thin tissue plants. Can anyone tell their experience with this product? I have it but I only use it to prevent mold from growing in my DIY liquid ferts.

Oh how about stuff like L. Var 'cuba' with thin long leaves?

Thanks!

[Colorful]

I'm pretty sure marimo moss balls are affected b it, since they're a type of algae.

[s thomas]

My Marino isn't having a problem with excel, although I can't speak for everyone.

I do dose it exactly with a syringe to measure. I've also had great success in spot treating bba and hair algae with it too.

If you're concerned, someone suggested Brightwell's Florinaxis as a carbon source with fewer drawbacks. I can't say I've tried it, but after looking into it I'll be getting it when my excel runs out. If you do a search theres power sellers here with pretty good deals on it.

[Kehy]

I honestly don't have problems with any of my plants when I use it. It doesn't stop the algae for me, but it does help with plant growth

[ony]

Moss balls are fine here too. My tank is prone to brown algae break outs if I stop using it for a few weeks but I suspect that's down to the reduced plant growth as much as excels algae suppressing qualities.

[ThatGuyWithTheFish]

From what I've heard, lower class plants can't handle excel as well; bryophytes (liverworts, hornworts, and mosses), and pteridophytes (mainly ferns). Any gymnosperm or angiosperm should not be damaged. It makes sense, because seedless plants are more archaic, while seed plants evolved from them, and thus can use complex carbon compounds.

[FriendsNotFood]

I killed a bunch of moss balls I was using as a carpet with Excel and had to replace them all. This was not my first time with moss balls so I know for a fact Excel killed them. I was dosing a lot to kill hair algae though so small amounts of Excel might be ok. I've had no issues with mosses and Excel though. Fissidens seems to be growing well in my Excel tank.

[vincenz]

When I used to have vals, they never liked Excel. It was always an instant melt.

[@marko@]

Originally Posted by sketch804

so which plants are particularly sensitive to excel? I know moss, pellia, star grass, and a few other thin tissue plants. Can anyone tell their experience with this product? I have it but I only use it to prevent mold from growing in my DIY liquid ferts.

Oh how about stuff like L. Var 'cuba' with thin long leaves?

Thanks!

none of my plants ever minded excel at the normal dose. i have used it with: a. nana, a. petite, c. parva, c. pontederiifolia, c. wendtii, d. diandra, e. belem, e. parkeri, g. elatinoides, h. micranthemoides, h. zosterifolia, h. polypsmera, h. tiger, h. corymbosa kompakt, l. sessiliflora, m. pteporus, n. pedicellata, pelia (idk what its true name is), p. helferi, r. fluitans, r. rotundifolia, r. wallichi, r. vietnam, u. graminifolia, and several mosses.
every plant you mentioned was in that list, as were a few others, and a bunch im probably forgetting.
when SPOT DOSING however (to kill a few strands of algae and such), several fine plants melted at the portion i spot dosed. e. belem, and u. graminifolia did the worst, but grew back from the roots (the excel probably didnt get to the roots, as i doubt much seeped into the substrate before i turned the flow back on). d. diandra lost its leaves on the dosed potion, but the stem survived and regrew.
i did spot dose the moss once, it didnt care at all. but i once got algaefied moss as a raok, and bleached it, and it survived that too.

[sketch804]

thanks for all the great info everyone! So it seems that mostly the 'lower class' plants are the main ones I need to watch out for, well that and vals. So does fiss. Fontanus like to melt due to excel?? Sounds like it would.

Thanks all!

Right now I don't know if I wanna use it for algae or carbon.

[GeToChKn]

My vals are about 30" long in a 18" tall tank. They are so long they hit the surface and almost touch the bottom again and I dose an excel/iron/flourish mix 3 times a week.

[Rockhoe14er]

I've used excel in my tank and my fissidens didn't melt or anything. I didn't apply it to it directly though. Also i've heard that some erio's can melt with excel. I know parkeri and compactum are pretty safe with it.