CO2 system or Flourish Excel

[Aqua07]

Being new to the aquatic plant path, I was wondering if using a product like Flourish Excel would negate having the need for a CO2 system?

[Cardoc]

A co2 set up will be the best way to go, but many people on here use excel. I personally have never used excel. I started diy co2 before going pressurized.

[BBradbury]

Originally Posted by Aqua07

Being new to the aquatic plant path, I was wondering if using a product like Flourish Excel would negate having the need for a CO2 system?

Hello Aqua...

Installing and maintaining a separate carbon dioxide system can be difficult and pricey. CO2 problems can stress or even kill your fish. If you want to dose a little carbon, then the Seachem product would be much simpler. Just dose according to instructions. Dose a little less if you keep Vallisneria, ferns or mosses.

Just a thought.

B

[somewhatshocked]

When used appropriately - and it is extremely easy and even affordable to do so, otherwise hundreds on this forum wouldn't be here - pressurized CO2 systems are great. CO2 is only necessary if you have lighting that's strong enough to require it, along with dosed plant nutrients, for growth.

If you've got a tank with strong lighting and have to dose ferts, Excel won't cut it. You'll have to dose so much of it that it will become prohibitively expensive. And it's not necessarily safe for all plants or invertebrates.

[freddy5]

I have a 75 gallon,dose 10ml excel daily,plus flourish comprehensive twice a week,plants are pogosteman stellatus that is doing great,money wort and swords,had anubias but it dose not like excel,only run 1 54watt t5 for 8 hrs a day.

[Bobby24]

I use both in my tank, I guess it will also depend on what plants you want to grow, for some plants CO2 injection is a must.

[talontsiawd]

At this point, I would only use excel daily on a small tank, say 10 gallons or less. I would also likely only use it on a tank that would do perfectly fine without it. I have yet to see the results I have had with DIY CO2, much less pressurized (will likely never go back to DIY CO2 btw) with excel. It's great for a tank that doesn't have enough light to where you need to have CO2 but not a great substitute for anything that does need CO2.

Excel is very expensive in the long run as well. I don't think it's really even that cheap in the short run, for that matter.

[32Bit_Fish]

I'm sorry for hijacking this thread. I have a 20G tall tank with a single bulb Catalina 6500K T5 fixture. I want to get a lot of beautiful plants including the RED ones. Do I need a pressurized CO2 system? I'm currently using a DIY CO2 system and produces very little bubbles. The Catalina light is not here yet, so there is no algaes in the tank as of right now.

[Aqua07]

Perhaps the magic question here is what family of plants would benefit from having a pressurized CO2 system.

I decided to skip the Excel route and go directly to CO2 on my 8 gallon nano. Hope it's not a mistake!

[KTern]

you would need a good amount of light to get the red out on some plant and that would mean algae if you don't have enough co2. someone correct me if i am wrong

Originally Posted by 32Bit_Fish

I'm sorry for hijacking this thread. I have a 20G tall tank with a single bulb Catalina 6500K T5 fixture. I want to get a lot of beautiful plants including the RED ones. Do I need a pressurized CO2 system? I'm currently using a DIY CO2 system and produces very little bubbles. The Catalina light is not here yet, so there is no algaes in the tank as of right now.

[talontsiawd]

I have grown more than a few red plants without CO2 and had no algae issues. I have had low tech tanks that actually were really easy with colorful plants. Here is how to do it. Use plants that are fast growers at first. Slowly start adding other plants that may need more light, but not high light. Once you can get a good amount of plants to thrive without algae issues, throw in red plants of your choice and see how they do. If everything is growing fine and algae is not an issue, in my experience, they do fine. They may not color up until they grow out in a tall tank however.