about to pull my hair out!

[Catfish Lover]

What is the difference between comprehensive and excel?

Excel is simply carbon, comprehensive is complete fertilizer for your plants. Excel is really not necessary IMO especially in a low tech tank. Comprehensive should give you everything you need.

 

[Rivercats]

Actually liquid carbon such as Excel really aids plant growth in low light tanks. I use it in our Fluval Edge 6g and 12g tanks which has about as low light LED's as you can get and I am able to grow your normal low light plants (anubia, bolbitus, java fern wendilov) but also can get good growth on Ambulia, Chain Swords, Water sprite, Crypts, Ammania sp. 'Bonsai,' and Ludwigia Senegalesis. The liquid carbon makes a big difference in low light tanks if used with a good fert.

 

[Catfish Lover]

Actually liquid carbon such as Excel really aids plant growth in low light tanks. I use it in our Fluval Edge 6g and 12g tanks which has about as low light LED's as you can get and I am able to grow your normal low light plants (anubia, bolbitus, java fern wendilov) but also can get good growth on Ambulia, Chain Swords, Water sprite, Crypts, Ammania sp. 'Bonsai,' and Ludwigia Senegalesis. The liquid carbon makes a big difference in low light tanks if used with a good fert.

Really, sorry I was mistaken then. Do you dose everyday? If so that will eventually get really expensive, but if it helps speed up growth I'd be more than willing to try.

 

[Darkseid76]

Really, sorry I was mistaken then. Do you dose everyday? If so that will eventually get really expensive, but if it helps speed up growth I'd be more than willing to try.

You're supposed to dose liquid CO2 daily because it stays in solution for only 24 hours. Well that's my experience with Excel.

Glut and Met are probably the same.

 

[Rivercats]

Really, sorry I was mistaken then. Do you dose everyday? If so that will eventually get really expensive, but if it helps speed up growth I'd be more than willing to try.

Yes, using Excel or API CO2 Booster gets expensive. I buy Metricide 14 day solution. It's glutaraldehyde which is the same base ingredient in the other two. You can get a gallon for $20 on line but shop around as some try to sell it for $40 a gallon. When you get it mix it at a 1:1 ration with RO or distilled water and in the end you get 2 gallons for around $27 shipped which is tons cheaper than the name brands. I save old Excel bottles and mix the Glut as needed as Glut just like Excel needs to be stored in an opaque bottle as light breaks it down rendering it useless. Also Metricide comes with an activator bottle... throw it away and never use it!

As for using Glut or Excel the Excel directions are very generic. Seachem tested it on a very specific med light, so many plants, etc. identical tanks and then came up with their dosing. But if you read the bottle it even states higher dosing might be needed for higher production tanks. I've did a lot of testing using Glut on very low light tanks to very high light tanks. What I have found is that their generic dose is rarely enough to make a significant difference. Things such as light, bio-load, and amount of plants and the type all influence how much a tank needs or uses. So all that being said I always tell people to start with 1ml per 10g water for a week or so then go up to 1ml per 5 gallons water. In tanks with more light usually 1ml per 2 gallons of water. I ran a 220g 100% planted with mostly fast growing stem plant and very high lighting (metal halide & T5HO's) for well over a year dosing Glut at a little over 1ml to every 1 gallon. Also it is little known that if you do overdose you will know it as the tank will cloud up after dosing the Glut/Excel but will be clear by the next day since Glut/Excel breaks down in solution in 12-24 hours. This info came from Seachem. So you often have to find the proper dosing for a tank. Of course bear in mind tanks with fast growing stem plants over say a tank with mainly anubia, crypts, and swords will still have different growth rate times the later being slower due to the plants being used.

 

[Sharpchick]

You may have too much surface disturbance for the frogbit. What kind of filter do you have. Probably wont work if you have a HOB...

You can take some airline and loop it on the surface of the water to contain frogbit (and other smallish floaters, like salvinia) to keep them from having to ride the waves from the filter. Then it will start looking better and reproducing to create the cover you want.

 

[Coryluv]

Comprehensive are the micro ferts. I use it 2x per (2 caps after pwc 1 capful later)week.

Excel is the liquid CO2. I use 1 capful daily in my tank.

I also use Seachem root tabs for my swords and crypts.

My tank grows pretty well and I have absolutely crappy lighting lol

I use these same ferts and excel dosed with the same frequency in my moderately planted tank with low light. I obviously have a smaller tank so I dose accordingly with the exception of I never double dose the comprehensive, At this point my larger ruffle sword is growing one 18 in. leaf a week. My bacopa australis is growing across the top of my tank and provides some shade for my fish. My substrate is sand only. I make sure to put tabs by the swords, but I use enough to cover the whole tank. So I agree, this basic combination works. All my plants are healthy and growing, but some grow slow. I run my lights for 8 hours.

I'm doing a 20% water change once a week. That's important too. My pH is 7.8, my gh is 9 and kh is 5. Have you gotten you water report if you live in a city? What's in you water can make a difference. I get Chicago water, but my Villiage just updated its own annual water report, too. If you are on private well at some point you might want to get your water tested so you know what's in it. Of course Prime takes some of what's in mine out of it

Last I'd follow rivercats advice, but I just wanted to share what works for me.

 

[dustinfeint]

I use these same ferts and excel dosed with the same frequency in my moderately planted tank with low light. I obviously have a smaller tank so I dose accordingly with the exception of I never double dose the comprehensive, At this point my larger ruffle sword is growing one 18 in. leaf a week. My bacopa australis is growing across the top of my tank and provides some shade for my fish. My substrate is sand only. I make sure to put tabs by the swords, but I use enough to cover the whole tank. So I agree, this basic combination works. All my plants are healthy and growing, but some grow slow. I run my lights for 8 hours.

I'm doing a 20% water change once a week. That's important too. My pH is 7.8, my gh is 9 and kh is 5. Have you gotten you water report if you live in a city? What's in you water can make a difference. I get Chicago water, but my Villiage just updated its own annual water report, too. If you are on private well at some point you might want to get your water tested so you know what's in it. Of course Prime takes some of what's in mine out of it

Last I'd follow rivercats advice, but I just wanted to share what works for me.

Sounds good. I have started doing these things now. Only Im using api co2 and Tetra ferts. I just need to get some root tabs now. How big of a difference do you think they make, honestly?

 

[Coryluv]

Sounds good. I have started doing these things now. Only Im using api co2 and Tetra ferts. I just need to get some root tabs now. How big of a difference do you think they make, honestly?

Since I'm growing in sand and only have eight small fish, without the ferts and root tabs I honestly don't think my plants would do much. I'm also low light, low tech.

OTOH I have one planted tank and can't run a control to compare.. I only have four species in my tank and from best to worst growth they are bacopa australis, echinodorus marti, saggitaria sublata and ludwigia repens. Until last week when the sag suddenly took off, it was the slowest.

 

[Darkseid76]

Since I'm growing in sand and only have eight small fish, without the ferts and root tabs I honestly don't think my plants would do much. I'm also low light, low tech.

OTOH I have one planted tank and can't run a control to compare.. I only have four species in my tank and from best to worst growth they are bacopa australis, echinodorus marti, saggitaria sublata and ludwigia repens. Until last week when the sag suddenly took off, it was the slowest.

I have rangeri swords and they are heavy root feeders. When well fed they have explosive growth even on my low light tank.

My dwarf sag took quite a while to settle in and I'm finally seeing new shoots and runners from them.

My ludwigia settled in quickly though.