I was wondering if anyone here uses a chemical for DIY Fluorish Excel. I have heard about it but cannot find much information on it. So any knowledge on the topic (ie articles, personal experiences, webpages, threads, opinions) would be very beneficial! Thanks!
DIY Excel Questions
- Thread starter xVitox
- Start date
Its glutaraldehyde, I think the source that most use is metricide 14 day WITHOUT the activator ( it comes in a separate container, just don't add it)
Posted on mobile.aquariacentral.com
Posted on mobile.aquariacentral.com
Cidex or Metricide 14 are the two most common solutions. Before we get arguments started, I'm not going to talk about making your own out of material from ampules. Glutaraldehyde at stronger concentrations is a strong disinfectant and can be a dangerous health hazard.
Cidex and Metricide - without the activator (dispose of that) - are single digit solutions. The Cidex I purchase is a 2.6% solution of glutaraldehyde. I purchase it at university stores as I'm an employee.
Purposely over dosing kills algae, some liverworts, and some plants such as vals.
The MSDS sheet for Seachem Flourish Excel no longer lists the percentage of glutaraldehyde and they claim their product is a special isomer of it. Chemists disagree with them. My recolection of the old MSDS was 2.4% but I failed to keep a copy of the sheet so I can't prove that. I use Cidex 2.6% glutaraldehyde in the same dosages suggested for Excel and have had no issues.
Azoo is now marketing a 1.6% solution of glutaraldehyde as Carbon Plus.
Either Cidex or Metricide will be available, perhaps by order only, from any company that supplies medical or dental facilities. It should cost $10. - $20. a gallon. The Cidex packaging recently changed and it costs me $12.56 for 4.7 liters.
Neither is available in Europe. Glutaraldehyde was banned there in the 90's.
Do some research on your own and make your own decisions about using a substitute product.
Here is a link to one, of many, threads about glutaraldehyde.
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/fertilizing/74998-information-about-glutaraldehyde.html
Cidex and Metricide - without the activator (dispose of that) - are single digit solutions. The Cidex I purchase is a 2.6% solution of glutaraldehyde. I purchase it at university stores as I'm an employee.
Purposely over dosing kills algae, some liverworts, and some plants such as vals.
The MSDS sheet for Seachem Flourish Excel no longer lists the percentage of glutaraldehyde and they claim their product is a special isomer of it. Chemists disagree with them. My recolection of the old MSDS was 2.4% but I failed to keep a copy of the sheet so I can't prove that. I use Cidex 2.6% glutaraldehyde in the same dosages suggested for Excel and have had no issues.
Azoo is now marketing a 1.6% solution of glutaraldehyde as Carbon Plus.
Either Cidex or Metricide will be available, perhaps by order only, from any company that supplies medical or dental facilities. It should cost $10. - $20. a gallon. The Cidex packaging recently changed and it costs me $12.56 for 4.7 liters.
Neither is available in Europe. Glutaraldehyde was banned there in the 90's.
Do some research on your own and make your own decisions about using a substitute product.
Here is a link to one, of many, threads about glutaraldehyde.
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/fertilizing/74998-information-about-glutaraldehyde.html
metricide 14 (<-Link)
i have been hearing chatter that Excel is 1.5 or 1.6%, so you want to dose metricide at 60% of its concentration (aka, if you are dosing 1ml/day of excel you now want to dose .6ml/day)
^^I think thats right, I suck at math.
i have been hearing chatter that Excel is 1.5 or 1.6%, so you want to dose metricide at 60% of its concentration (aka, if you are dosing 1ml/day of excel you now want to dose .6ml/day)
^^I think thats right, I suck at math.
I think I will be contacting the my professors about that in that case. We can do an NMR on some solution in that case to find the configuration of the molecule.
I would love to hear what they have to say about Seachem's 'trade secret.'
No one really knows what a polymerized isomer of glutaraldehyde really is...lol.
I suppose this subject has been beaten to death, though.
No one really knows what a polymerized isomer of glutaraldehyde really is...lol.
I suppose this subject has been beaten to death, though.
