Flourish Excel got rid of all my algae - Page 19 - Aquarium Algae Control & Specific Problems

oregon aqua · 02-03-2008, 09:04 AM

i just found this http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pubs/fullt...5/20050003.pdf
it talks about the effects of glutaraldehyde excel's main ingredient. its from the govt agency NOAA.\
when i found this paragraph i was very happy.

"Chronic toxicity bioassays were employed to assess
the potential for environmental effects associated
with the release of the biocide, glutaraldehyde. Of the
three organisms tested, the algal species, P. subcapitata,
was most sensitive. The IC50 estimate of approximately
1.5 mg L−1 (ranging from 1.0 to 1.8 mg L−1)
indicates that low concentrations of glutaraldehyde can
dramatically impact growth. In addition, the narrow
interval between the IC25 and IC50 suggests a steep
concentration–response curve; small increases in glutaraldehyde
concentration would be expected to cause
a disproportionate decrease in growth."

its a good read if i just skip the over scienced parts

oregon aqua · 02-23-2008, 04:06 PM

DanD5303 · 02-25-2008, 10:59 AM

I have a nonCO2 tank which is heavily planted with C wenditti, C lutea, C balencea, Java moss, dwarf cardinal, A coffefolia, L repens, and Red Temple. For light I have four 40 W Phillips daylight bulbs, the fat ones, in shoplights resting on top of the tank. Each day I dose 10 mL of 2.5% gluteraldehyde which gives me a concentration of 1.3 mg/L (as nearly as I can figure). It has taken out the hair algae and is getting getting rid of the BBA. It has also enhanced the growth of the Java moss, the red temple, and the cardinal plants quite a bit and may be helping the others. No problems for the fauna. Seems like good stuff, and affordable. Dan

Varig8 · 04-03-2008, 06:44 PM

I use Flourish Excel @ 5x or more for algae control and it works! It will either turn the algae bright red and then it dies, or other algae, like hair algae, turns translucent white and then disintigrates! I have all kinds of freswater shrimp and other sensitive plants and it doesnt seem to have any detrimental effects on them. It WILL kill Susswassertang and Monoselenium Tenerum though!

Heady · 04-26-2008, 09:43 AM

When I gave about twice the appropriate dose of Excel, some fish died. However this was in a lightly planted tank.

ngb2322 · 05-12-2008, 08:43 AM

will excel kill bga? I will experiment tomorrow

fish_4_all · 05-12-2008, 09:28 AM

My first thought would be no as it is not algae but Diatoms. But give it a try, if it works then we have another use for it.

I am gonna try using it to get rids of green water. Will post my results as soon as I can get some. I would try the others things but if my tank water gets anymore perfect it won't be healthy for the fish.

GIfishguy · 05-13-2008, 12:31 PM

I had a bad prob with brush algae in my planted tank. Been battleing with this crap for some time now. I had to bleach my heater, intake, output, and anything else that I could take out. I've been using excel for about two weeks now and it seems to help stop the growth but not killing it. Anything else that I can try?

I also noticed that this stuf does not grow in my chiclid tank????? higher PH???? Mabey???? My planted tank is a soft water tetra tank.....

Heady · 05-13-2008, 01:14 PM

I don't think I've ever seen a thread with over 60,000 views before!!

jmontee · 05-22-2008, 05:30 PM

ngb,

BGA is actually a bacteria. It does have some of the characteristics of an algae but it will not be taken care with Excel, IME. Increasing the flow of water and maracyn will help. I would try just increasing the flow of the tank and doing frequent water changes before adding antibiotics to the water. Make sure that the tank parameters are OK.