glutaraldehyde instead of excel

156692 Views 258 Replies 78 Participants Last post by Aquaticz, Oct 17, 2013

allen

Discussion Starter · Sep 30, 2006

Hey guys

Last week I have been using glutaraldehde in place of excel.I'm using a 2.8% solution.It's suppose to be about the same as excel but alot cheaper.I paid $16.95 a gallon.

I tried it in two tanks,a 10 gal. planted and a 60gal. planted.
It had a different effect in each tank on some of the same plants.Below I'll list each tank with the dose and effect I noticed.

60gal.,192 watts,11hours lights on,co2 injected,ferts daily,plants are red tiger lotus,rotalia indica,sword,ludwigia,anubias,hair grass and crypts,34 fish.

I dosed 30ml 9/23/6 after a water change then 10ml daily.
On 9/25/6 the angelfish spawned so it seems to have no effect on the fish.
9/27/6 the sword plant started growing fast.3-4" growth of new leaves daily.this plant has not grown much in the last 3 weeks.

It's been a week so far,water is clear,plants are growing fast and the little bit of algae I had is gone.

riccia is ok.

Now for the 10gal.,30 watts 8-10 hours,no co2,ferts daily,plants are sword,red tiger lotus,ludwigia,and bolbitis,tiger barb fry,cherry shrimp and alot of hair algae.

I dosed this tank heavier to see what would happen.
5ml daily.
9/23/6 dosed at 10:00am and by 7:00pm algae shows signs of dying.fish and shrimp are fine.

9/24/6 riccia is dying off.All the algae dead.fish are fine.water is a little cloudy.

9/25/6 water is clear.I have a few strands of moss in this tank.I think it's java moss.It is growing very fast.

9/30/6 moss has grown around 10" this week.this moss has been in here for 8 months without much growth.The bolbitis is a little darker green and the leaves have widened.Looks healthier then it ever has.

Other than the riccia dying and the water turning cloudy one day it seems to work well.

If I notice anything else I'll add it to this post.

Allen

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MatPat

· #12 · Oct 1, 2006

Nice work Allen! I look forward to hearing more and getting some of the gluteraldehyde once you reveal your source

I do have a question though, is the Gluteraldehyde a 2.8% solution or are have you mixed it to obtain a 2.8% solution?

MatPat

· #17 · Oct 1, 2006

allen said:
I did a search for glutaraldehyde and found a number of places that sell it online.The solution i ordered is 2.5%.There are other concentrations out there.The higher level of glutaraldehyde the more expensive it is.I chose this one to experiment with because of the price and it is diluted enough that I could dose straight from the bottle.

Thanks for the info. If all goes well this should be another big money sver for the hobby.

allen said:
This is only the first week of using it so I not sure if there will be any problems with long term expose for the fish or plants.

I don't think you are going to have any problems as long as you keep the dosing similar to Excel. Assuming Epicfish's calculations are correct I think it is funny that the Riccia in the 10g had issues while the riccia in the larger tank did not. Do you think this may be because the gluteraldehyde was diluted more in the large tank due to the tank's height? Did yo add the gluteraldehyde directly over the Riccia in the 10g?

MatPat

· #22 · Oct 4, 2006

Did you move any Riccia back into the tank yet? If so, how is it doing?

MatPat

· #24 · Oct 4, 2006

I guess you have found that Riccia doesn't like gluteraldehyde. I don't think I have ever overdosed a tank with Excel to see if it has the same effect on the Riccia. Looks like you may need to experiemtn with some Excel in the tanks for a few days

Gluteraldehyde may be a good idea for those looking to eradicate Riccia from their tanks assuming it does no harm to any of the other plants in your tank!

MatPat

· #28 · Oct 5, 2006

I think I have some mini Riccia still, I will check and let you know later on. Do you want me to mail it to you or wait until the Auction?

MatPat

· #49 · Oct 27, 2006

dennis said:
Math and chemistry are not my best subjects so I did not realize how much a 15ml dose adds

You seem to be doing fine with the math Dennis

Grumpy BBA is good and I am curious as to how your Riccia does. Allen said his was starting to come back but he hasn't posted in a while to give us an update

MatPat

· #69 · Dec 31, 2006

Thanks for the update Allen!

MatPat

· #106 · Mar 24, 2008

It seems like a lot of people are having this stuff shipped for some reason. With the exception of the 50% solution, most of the time it will be available locally (unless you live in a very small town) at any medical/dental supply place. A quick glance at your Yellow Pages should save people a little bit of shipping expense

MatPat

· #116 · Oct 20, 2008

If it has a lemon scent I wouldn't use it in my tank. Not sure if it would be bad for the fish or not but I wouldn't chance it.

Gluteraldehyde can be used as a carbon source as well as an algacide. I think somewhere back in the beginning pages of this thread, someone pointed out that Excel contains gluteraldehyde so they are pretty much the same thing...they definitely smell the same when you open the bottle.

MatPat

· #118 · Oct 21, 2008

Thanks for the info on the glut Fortuna Wolf. Where did you find your 50% solution? I've looked for it but by the time you add in the "hazardous material" shipping charge it is more expensive than the 2.5% solution.

3-5ml per gallon sounds like quite a bit of glut to be adding. I have seen some people recommend high dosages like that but I've never had to add more than about 0.5ml per gallon to cure any BBA or filamentous algae issues I've had. I think Allen noticed some problems with shrimp at the 1ml per gallon dosage if my memory is correct so I can see where fish may have trouble when dosing 3-5ml per gallon.

Do you know if the glut looses any of it's effectiveness either as an algacide or carbon source when it polymerizes? A few SWOAPE members have asked about this and I think one has even stated they thought it was less effective as it aged.

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MatPat

· #121 · Oct 29, 2008

mshilling said:
Anyone find this locally? ive made a few calls with minimal success. I suppose I can order some...im just trying to do my due diligence first!

Hmm, you might get an answer to the local part of the question if people knew where you were located

I did find it locally here in Dayton but the place no longer carries it. I'm sure they would order it for me if I asked them but with places shipping it free, I didn't ask.

MatPat

· #123 · Oct 29, 2008

Haha, you should be able to find a medical supply place in Columbus.

Some medical supply people may not know the name of the product if you ask for gluteraldehyde so you may have to ask for a specific brand name. You can ask for Metricide 14 (2.6%), 28 (2.5%), or 30 (3.4%), Procide-D (2.5%) or Procide-D plus (3.4%). Cidex Plus 28 is another brand of Gluteraldehyde that is a 3.4% strength solution.

MatPat

· #127 · Oct 30, 2008

It should work on Riccia but I'm not sure about the moss. I think Allen initially found it removed his Riccia but it eventually came back. I'm not sure if this was from some that survived or whether it was transplanted from another of his tanks. I do believe dosing/overdosing glut will cause some issure with your Downoi so remove that one if you can. The Crypts may or may not melt, it's hard to say.

MatPat

· #130 · Nov 1, 2008

Nice find Fortuna Wolf, 18 liters makes the price just over $11 per gallon!

Did you find Cetylcide-G locally or do you order it online? Since it is a 50% solution, I assume there would be a hazardous shipping charge added if ordered online.

The link you provided is offering free shipping on orders of $100 or more. If they are waiving the hazardous shipping charge normally associated with 50% solutions of gluteraldehyde a SWOAPE group order may be in our future

MatPat

· #136 · Nov 10, 2008

mshilling said:
On a side note, why is this forum so dead?

You may wanna try here for a little more active SWOAPE Forum

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