Flourish Excel IS Glutaraldehyde

[excuzzzeme]

This is one of those threads that are well worth the resurrection. No apology needed.

I too use Cidex as my source for carbon (2.6%). I do not dose daily and still realize a nice growth in my plants. I cut mine to 1.7% which I believe is the level in Excel. Sorry, but I don't remember the exact numbers since I can't do math. I have a hard time understanding Tom Barrs position about cost, but out of respect to his skill and knowledge accept it to be accurate. I use it simply on a cost and ease of use factor that I can accomplish in spite of my limitations. I cannot re-supply a cylinder of gas in a timely fashion due to driving restrictions (not medically cleared to drive more than 10 miles from home). Short of using nothing, this is the best answer I can afford.

 

[Arakkis]

I'm not quite sure why he's like that, I always see him getting rid of really expensive tanks and equipment for practically free but he's still using the dry ferts... And I've been seeing him do that for years

 

[londonloco]

I've been thinking about switching to Cidex for a few months now. I find my smaller planted tanks (less than 29 gallons) do fine with Excel dosing, my larger tanks get pressurized Co2. After reading Tom's post, not sure what to do now......

 

[Chacapamac]

Sorry to bring back old thread but I have a question about Glutaraldehyde.
Some industrial product come activated or with a small bottle of activator.
My understanding here is that In acidic solution Glutaraldehyde is not sporicidal. The activator push the ph to activate the sporicidal qualities.

In aquaria, do you use Activated or the non-activated form?

First post here!

 

[fishorama]

Welcome to AC!

I'm not sure what you mean by activated or not (carbon?)...could you expand on that please?...I did not read through this old thread (yet?)

It is often better to start a new thread to address your issues with your actual test numbers than to jump into an old thread...but we'll try to help. Please tell us more...everything! & then we'll ask some more...we do want to help you! Do you have a test kit? What kind & what does it say?

 

[FreshyFresh]

Sorry to bring back old thread but I have a question about Glutaraldehyde.
Some industrial product come activated or with a small bottle of activator.
My understanding here is that In acidic solution Glutaraldehyde is not sporicidal. The activator push the ph to activate the sporicidal qualities.

In aquaria, do you use Activated or the non-activated form?

First post here!

It's been some years since I messed with glut. It's use is controversial for sure. When I did use it, it was a gallon jug of metricide 14 I believe and it did not come with a separate activator.

 

[fishorama]

Yeah, my plant club sells "glut" to members. It's, like FF said, a bit iffy in some ways. It's actually a biocide but at low doses can kill algae & act as a sort of co2 replacement. Too much & it can be, well, like nuking your tank. Do not go into using it without a a very good idea of dosage.

Really, I'd prefer to have this in a more recent thread discussion. I never heard of an "activator" either...I can't think what that could be...

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Since I began using it a20+ years ago, no activator. I never use it to kill algae except for the fact that they cannot use it the way plants can. So it helps starve the algae. I never does it at algae and it is always diluted in the water with other ferts before I add it to a tank during refilling.

I never overdose it either. 3ml/10 gals of water. Some tanks get a bit less if they are not as heavily planted as most of mine are.

I add it once a week with the water change. I have never seen any evidence of it doing any harm to fish.

Consider that morphine when dose to heavily will kill you. Does that mean in lower doses which kill pain it should never be used? I have no doubt if I poured too much Excel into a tank it would do harm even to the point of death depending how high an overdose it was.

But lets suppose for a minute that Excel was bad for fish. How then could so many people have used this prooduct properly for so many years and not experience fish dying or suffering from that?

I think part of the problem SeaChem has with the reputation for Excel is due to the fact that they make claims for there other producsts which are provable not true., imo. Stability is the number one. It only contains spores and the nitrifying bacteria we have in our tanks do not form spores. They reproduce by binary division. This take more ammonia/nitrite than normal living. Excess ammonia or nitrite is what triggers these bacteria to divide.

But do not take my word for this, investigate it your self. Google the following:
How do nitrifying bacteria reproduce
Do nitrifying bacteria form spores

Then tell me what you think about Stability. Here are SeaChem;s exact words " The bacteria in Stability™ are alive but not active. They exist in a spore form. " But if you hunt through the SeaChem Library, guess what you can find?
Basics of Biofiltration

Si if one wanted yo argue the Excel cannot provide any form of carbon to plants, that would be one thing, even though it is likely incorrect. If they wanted to claim it harmed a few aquatic plants, that would also be another thing because it is true. But saying it is a biocide and no matter how it is used it will harm fish or other things in a tank, please provide the evidence. I add to tanks with inverts as well.

I have been adding Excel to my planted clown loach tank for 20+ years. I just lost one of my clown I had for over 20 years. That is one slow acting poison.......

 

[Chacapamac]

My own research on Excel
Excel (Glutaraldehyde), why it can work in Aquaria:
— Glutaraldehyde is a Bactericidal, virucidal, sporicidal and fungicidal use as disinfectant for medical instruments
— Help reduce the bacteria biofilm film on freshwater plants leaves to permit better absorption of nutrient
— Help kill algae spores and probably kill some bacterias. fungi and other micro organism in suspensions in the water.
— In water, glutaraldehyde biocide ability will degrade quickly (10 to 15 hours). Depending on how much oxygen is available in the water, glutaraldehyde might turn into carbon dioxide or 1,5-pentanediol.
— Glutaraldehyde, at Excel standard dose releases around 2 ppm of carbon over 10 to 15 hours (around 0.2 ppm per hour and going down) — Normal Atmospheric equilibrium provides 3-5 ppm of CO2, 15-25× more CO2 than "liquid carbon".
— In practice glutaraldehyde is sold as a 2% solution, buffered on the acid side, and sodium bicarbonate is added to activate it (pH 8) just before use. The active solution has to be discarded after 14 days because of polymerization.
— Seachem pretend that it’s reducing effect help keep iron in a ferrous state (more available for plants)