longhornxtreme

Excel is a glutaraldehyde based supplement. The plants seem to be able to use the carbon in excel; however, gultaraldehyde is also the main ingredient in most dental and hospital disinfectants. Although Seachem swears up and down that it's not an algicide... it sure seems to work like one.

hooha

Technically they can't market it as an algaecide, or else they'd run into FDA regulations, etc. There is a thread on the site that describes the Excel OD method.

Fishyface, with your soil substrate, which brand of soil did you start with? Did you use the other ingredients as well? Did you do any water column dosing?

fishyface

hooha, the soil i started with was plain old dirt from a local nursery. i took a shovel and filled a bag, soaked, dried...repeat 3 times then sifted till nice and fine, powdery even. mixed in 10% powdered all natural clay, then on the bottom of the tank before the soil/clay mixture a bit of potash and bit of crushed coral. just like Aaron tutorial...

as for water column dosing, no. i started that poll to see if others do because as i mentioned earlier, it just seems as though somethings missing.

my last planted tank i used the PPS method with eco complete or fluorite and everything was very lush and healthy...seemed like everything the plants needed they were getting if you know what i mean.

do you think i should continue with water changes? frequency and volume or should i chill on that a bit and just let the tank be? also, what do you think about my lighting situation...i just keep taking bulbs out, now i've only got 1.

as many other great plant grower have mentioned in the past, with algae problems, one must focus on growing the plants, not worrying about fending off the algae...kinda goes hand in hand doesn't it? i feel like since i've dropped my lighting intensity, maybe i'm compromising the plants ability to grow and become robust. like in my other tanks using PPS...

*big sigh*

hooha

hmm, how much soil did you put in (1 inch, 1/2 inch, etc). How deep is your 'cap' substrate? Have the plants made a nice root structure down to the soil? One consideration is putting root tabs under the plant masses to promote more root growth down to your soil.....

As for lighting, until you get things under wraps I would stick with the 1 tube for now....unless you have high light-requiring plants.....

fishyface

soil i would say was 1"-1.25" and cap is about 2-3". i will stick with one tube then for the moment. i believe some plants have set up nice root structures but perhaps i need to be more patient.

do you think i'm being a little overzealous regarding water changes?

thanks again for your help hooha, it's appreciated.
darryl

hooha

How often are your water changes and how much at a time? I would think that it should be helpful, if anything myself....unless it uncovers the soil and sends it into your water column......

fishyface

been doing them every 2-3 days, 30-50%, no substrate disturbances so i guess i'll continue, thanks hooha.