[NeonFlux]

Hello guys. Yeah, I recently heard once that flourish excel actually has iron in it? Is this true? One more thing, I follow the estimated index regime with dry fertilizers, 4 wpg, and co2 at green levels. I want to introduce iron to bring out the color of my red cabomba, clearly it is not close to red at all except the head, being dark green all the time. How much Iron should I dose?

 

[Seattle_Aquarist]

Hi NeonFlux,
According to the Seachem Excel MSDS, the only chemical in Excel is Glutaraldehyde. Check out Section 2 of the MSDS. http://www.seachem.com/support/MSDS/FlourishExcel.doc.pdf I had not heard of iron being in Excel, but you never know unless you check. BTW, I used to use Excel but changed to Glut a couple of months ago as my carbon supplement / algae suppressant. Since I started dosing with Glut, I have noticed no change in plant growth or algae growth, but I have saved a lot of money. Here is a thread about using Glut as an alternative. http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/south-western-ohio-aquatic-plant-enthusiasts/31615-glutaraldehyde-instead-excel.html Hope this helps!

 

[rich815]

It gets confusing but the Flourish itself (the micro nutirent supplement) has iron but not the Flourish Excel.

I've been reading a lot online that the addition of iron to help get plants redder is not all that accurate. Really depends on the plant. My Cabomba furcata is still fairly red whether I dose extra Fe or not. I do dose either CSM+B, Flourish (with it's Fe) or Kent micro supp for my micro dosing days and both have iron. If you are not dosing a micro nutrient mixture you may be short of iron but do not expect miracle reds in your cabomba once you do. I think that may have more to do with light. What are you dosing in your EI regime for your micros? CSM+B?

 

[wet]

I recall Excel's bottle said something about it being able to keep Iron it its desirable ferrous (Fe +2) state and preventing oxidation to its ferric (Fe +3) state. A few years ago Travis Simonson and I tried making trace mixes with Excel and Fe/traces in hopes it would be our awesome T (Tuesday/Thursday Trace Time) dose. You'll probably find our anecdotal experiences in the archives here and AA if interested. I am sure other people have tried it, too. If interested, try!

 

[NeonFlux]

It gets confusing but the Flourish itself (the micro nutirent supplement) has iron but not the Flourish Excel.

I've been reading a lot online that the addition of iron to help get plants redder is not all that accurate. Really depends on the plant. My Cabomba furcata is still fairly red whether I dose extra Fe or not. I do dose either CSM+B, Flourish (with it's Fe) or Kent micro supp for my micro dosing days and both have iron. If you are not dosing a micro nutrient mixture you may be short of iron but do not expect miracle reds in your cabomba once you do. I think that may have more to do with light. What are you dosing in your EI regime for your micros? CSM+B?

Yep Plantex CSM+B during the days I don't dose NPK.

And thanks Seattle Aquarist, I will look into that substitute