please try not to laugh

Here ya go

http://www.seachem.com/products/product_pages/FlourishExcel.html

In addition to what Seachem says about their product, it also works very well as a mild algae-cide. If they marketed it as such they'd have to jump through a bunch of hoops and regulations, so easier to say it is just a source of Carbon (I was lucky enough to talk to a Seachem scientist at the AGA Convention last year - man, Excel is COOOOL stuff!).

it's also toxic to fish and inverts... so like most chemicals follow the dosing instructions on the bottle.

^^ True!

I've dosed up to 2xs recommended daily dosage (read carefully - there's a new tank dose and a daily type dose, one much bigger than the other), and I haven't had problems with fish or shrimp dying.

Just don't double the new tank dose!

don't forget that if applied too much, it'll melt some plants as well.

And try spot treating instead of double dosing the water column to fight algae, if possible. It can be more efficient and thriftier :thumbsup:

a formaldehyde type chemical that provides a source of carbon, like carbon dioxide, for the photosynthesis process. Mostly used in smaller, low light tanks due to it's cost and the relative ease of a yeast/sugar DIY CO2 delivery of carbon.

Tom almost explained how the plants pull carbon from this chemical.. I was really hoping to hear it! Jen's right, really cool stuff.

mistergreen said:

don't forget that if applied too much, it'll melt some plants as well.

Click to expand...

Please don't tell me this is true.
If so that would explain why the stems of my amazons have been dying.. :

It definitely melts Anacharis and Vallisneria, some types of moss if OD'd. I've noticed that it mostly affects plants that don't have an emergent form. I'd be very surprised if it hurt your Amazon swords though. How much did you put in?

It does not have that effect on swords. I've done a 5x daily dose many times on my lowtech sword tank and that plant is doing AWESOME.

GIO590 said:

Please don't tell me this is true.
If so that would explain why the stems of my amazons have been dying.. :

Click to expand...

Are your amazons newly planted?

If you've just recently obtained these the amazon may still have emerged foliage. Once planted they will always grow a new type of leaf for under the water - submerged; then the leaves which were emerged grown will be discarded by the plant.

They are old plants that have been in my tank for a 7 months. However they were significantly weakened by a severe algae outbreak. I guess plants that were on the verge of dying, shouldn't be exposed to 2X excel treatment

Your swords should have a strong enough root system to regrow new leaves and fully recover from the Excel O.D. Just don't pull them out of the substrate, leave them as is. You may carefully prune away the old leaves if they start to deteriorate.