[Treetom]

I found hydrogen peroxide to be much safer and cheaper to rid yourself of all algae. I dose 100ml every day for a week in my 58 gallon, and have nearly zero algae in the tank. No I'll effects to plants or fish. Sorry for your loss, maybe this can be an alternative. Oh, and bba turns a fluorescent Orange after being treated with H202 (hydrogen provide).

Sent from my EVO 3D using Tapatalk.

 

[justjulie]

Hi justjulie,

First, I am sorry about your loss. When I lose fish I always feel badly but I try to use it as a learning experience so I don't repeat my mistakes.

Thanks, Seattle Aquarist--I really appreciated the sympathy! I feel I have a stewardship for my fish and I feel horrible for letting them down.

I'm quite astonished that I could have made such a terrible mistake. I have no idea how I got the idea in my head to do multiples of the water change dose. I'm a little embarrassed, too, but I'm glad I shared this so others won't make the same mistake.

 

[justjulie]

Treetom,

I like your idea and may try it with the remaining plants.

Do you happen to know how Vals react to the H2O2? I have one really beautiful one that has some of the BBA.

bba turns a fluorescent Orange after being treated with H202 (hydrogen provide).

And then what happens? Do the fish eat it?

 

[Treetom]

They like all of my plants do very well. If you put it into a syringe and turn off your filtration while spot dosing you get very fast results. It will start to bubble (which is the H2O2 breaking down into H and O) and oxidize the algae.

 

[rssr1979]

should you stop dosing your fertilizers when doing this treatment?

i imagine reducing the photoshop period is a good option as well?

thanks

 

[Seattle_Aquarist]

Hi rssr1979,

You can continue to dose your ferts as normal when doing the Excel treatment.

 

[jdcha2005]

I dose a little excel and I'm pressurized.

 

[krcsasha]

I should say that I got a similar experience.

I have a non-CO2 tank that has been clean for ages but the last 2 months or so I started adding Excel in a dose about 5 times the recommended about every 3 days.

Things were great no algae with the exception of very few bba spots.

After stopping the Excel bba, bga, and hair algae appeared.

I started dosing again and all 3 algae disappeared, only the bba is still there but less than before.

--Nikolay

I did use Cidex for BBA and it kill them! And it is cheaper than Excel!
Вы говорите по-русски?

 

[Seattle_Aquarist]

Hi krcsasha,

I am glad the Excel, Cidex, Glutaraldehyde worked for you. FYI I don't speak Russian but this is an English only site so I don't have to. lol

 

[Sophie and Mom]

I found hydrogen peroxide to be much safer and cheaper to rid yourself of all algae. I dose 100ml every day for a week in my 58 gallon, and have nearly zero algae in the tank. No I'll effects to plants or fish. Sorry for your loss, maybe this can be an alternative. Oh, and bba turns a fluorescent Orange after being treated with H202 (hydrogen provide).

Sent from my EVO 3D using Tapatalk.

So this definitely works on black hair algae as well?

I have a low tech 55 gallon (no Co2 or even any ferts) with a budding hair algae problem, and I'm reluctant to try the Excel method. My fish are guppies, neons, a cory, Endlers, various Mollies, and various snails. The peroxide method won't harm any of them at the dose you specified?

 

[Seattle_Aquarist]

Hi Sophie and Mom,

This thread deals with using Excel to control algae. That said, I can tell you that Excel does kill hair algae.

Typically I only have an issue with hair algae when I have a new tank going through the nitrogen cycle and my ammonia levels are high; have you checked your water parameters lately? Also the longer hours of daylight could be having some effect. SAE are a good biological control for hair algae, especially if I weaken it by dosing Excel.

 

[Sophie and Mom]

Water parameters are good, and I 've been running the tank since February, so it is established. I'm still new at this, and still learning the acronyms...what is SAE?

 

[sub-80]

Never tried it myself on staghorn, however I've always been able to beat staghorn by raising NO3 and keeping them from hitting 0ppm.

Hope that helps

Don't you mean reducing the nitrate?
Because that is what I have been trying to do for the past 2 days by using Tetra NitrateMinus to get rid of my staghorn algae on my dwarf babytears

 

[totziens]

SAE = Siamese Algae Eater. Beware of getting flying fox instead of SAE. Flying fox is a nasty nipper.

 

[Imi Statue]

Here's what I get from this:

First go read this. http://www.oscarfish.com/article-home/equipment/114-buyer-beaware-seachem-excel.html
and from that here's a quote below======
"Glutaraldehyde is also an algaecide. Amongst planted tank enthusiasts, Excel is commonly used to defeat undesirable algae growth. I have personally witnessed a massive decline of algae following use of SeaChem Excel. Originally I attributed this decline of algae to Excel stimulating plant growth resulting in the plants out competing algae for nutrients, starving it. After further research I am not so sure. There are too many reports of green water tanks, without plants, being cleared by use of SeaChem Excel. Combine this with the fact that glutaraldehyde is a known algaecide and duh!"
=======

This leads me to believe that Excel is simply doing what it does best destroys Algae, since it is simply an algaecide.

Any different opinions?

Imi

 

[Seattle_Aquarist]

Hi Imi,

No I don't believe that it is 'simply an algaecide'.

At normal dosage levels I see minimal (if any) algaecide properties; but my plants grow better with the additional available carbon molecules.

However at 2X the recommended daily dosage the algaecide properties become more evident.

Tom Barr is doing some research on this subject as we speak, more information should become available in a month or two.

 

[Imi Statue]

I Agree that more studies need to be made on this topic. I also agree that Excel is good for plants(use it myself).

The overdose of this topic by the OP was accidental but Excel can be used safely with a little study to get rid of "certain" algae, most notably BBA. It is bad for CRS and probably should just be left out of any tank which has shrimps at all. I have only ever used it with tanks that had fish, and plants, no inverts. I also believe that there are other concerns, like what caused the algae in the first place(probably still a condition even after the BBA would be gone)

But there is so much information including written article by Tom throughout the internet already about the effects, dosing, proper uses, that more writings like those are not really needed.

This basic search gave plenty: https://www.google.com/search?q=exc...s=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

I'm no master of everything Excel.

I am however in the know about the active ingredient "glutaraldehyde" which is used in many industrial uses to clean surfaces. I used to work for a company that used it to clean tools they used. It is also used in medical/dental equipment cleaning, and more. Water treatment plants use it also, so its all over the place.

This chemical might not be good for us at all, but we can, if used carefully, have many good effects from it's use. Wart removal(I've tried this, and it worked for me), biocide(read below), Algaecide, Medical/Dental Tool Sterilizer, you name it.

For those who must know more:

DOW = http://msdssearch.dow.com/Published...ides/pdfs/noreg/253-01817.pdf&fromPage=GetDoc
MSDS = http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9924161
Wiki = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glutaraldehyde
EPA = http://www.epa.gov/oppsrrd1/REDs/glutaraldehyde-red.pdf

 

[crossbred900]

A few months ago I tried to add a couple pieces of flame moss and a sword plant to my 75 gallon oscar tank. It wan't long before they started to die and my tank became infested with bba. Now my tank is plant free and I'm struggling to get rid of the algae. I have a 108W light that I have been keeping mostly off, gravel substrate, and two air stones. Friday night I initially dosed it like a 90g tank. How much and how often should I dose from here on? Should I keep my light off? What adverse signs should I watch for in my oscar or water? I have an API test kit to check PH, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, and I have some Tetra Easy Balance Plus I use every now and then.

 

[herns]

.. and I'm reluctant to try the Excel method.

Try Metricide 14. they work thesame as Seachem Excel and way cheaper! 2 Liters of Excel can cost $40. Metricide 14, 1 Gal is only $23 shipped on Ebay.
There is a good thread on theplantedtank.net "Metricide vs Excel.

 

[Barbels]

It has been a few years now since my 75 gallon Black Beard Algae nightmare scared me away.
This was a rather high-tech Co2 tank and as much as I studied and researched and as hard as I tried, I had no idea what I was doing and I got it all wrong, obviously.
BBA destroyed everything. I was unable to find a remedy. The tank was well stocked, so I was afraid to try overdosing anything like Excel.
I would love to start a small (20 Long) low-tech (NO tech) tank. I wish to plant it with easygoing live plants and no fish for a while. Eventually I'd like to have one Betta and a few Pencilfish. Maybe no Pencils, but for sure one single Betta.
I figure if BBA rears its hideous head, I could temporarily move the Betta and dump oceans of Excel on it.
Which brings me to my question. Is it pretty much unanimous - Excel (Metricide) will make my BBA nightmares go away?
Thank you for your help. I miss having a tank, but the BBA nightmares are still horrible and terrifying.