Excel questions

[JoeFreshnSalt]

I have a 75 gallon, with 4 amazon swords to start. *In January I plan on adding more plants background, middle, and front. I also have the following fish:

5 Buenos Aires Tetras
4 Neon Tetras
2 Angelfish
2 Red Velvet Swordtails
2 Creamsicle Mollies
2 Albino Cory's
2 Plecos (may rehome them)
1 Kuhli Loach
1 YoYo Loach
1 Redtail Shark
1 Grey Cory

I'm running an Aquatop cf400uv and PennPlax Cascade 1500.

*My questions: *

I started dosing Flourish Excel today by the minimal directions on the bottle 7.5ml. *

Should I dose less, because I have fish?

How often should I dose?

Should I still be running my air pump?

Any advice will be appreciated.

 

[Fresh2o]

Excel may or may not be needed. Depends on the lighting. What light fixture are you using? How long are the lights on per day.

 

[JoeFreshnSalt]

Beamswork LED 1W 6500K HI Lumen... For 10hrs

 

[Fresh2o]

I would initially dose as per the directions. Some move onto daily dosing. I did for a while before going the pressurized CO2 route.
How are the swords doing?

 

[flchamp89]

Im still dosing excel with my co2. Ive researched alot and im honestly not sure im a fan of it or not. I think gh may affect it.

 

[JoeFreshnSalt]

One sword not so good, Also caught my molly nibbling on it. Who knows what goes on after the light goes out. I figure there will be some trial and error here. If I can continue the health of the other three I'll replace the unhealthy sword if I can't get it to turn around.

I've seen many post that say more plants the better so the swords are a start more will be added in January. Trying to do things right the first time. I thought I would start with excel then save money for a co2 system.
It is my understanding that you don't want an air pump running when you have a co2 system. What about with using excel, I have angled my return nozzles towards the surface to get surface agitation. Just wondering if I should still use the air pump or maybe put it on a timer to run it a little bit throughout the day to ensure fish are getting oxygen.

 

[flchamp89]

Air pumps conversations are full of varying opinions. I dont see any value in a typical planted tank. However, always are exceptions. Glut and co2 not the same. No need for air pump with excel. Sounds like your doing right things.
Dont give up on plants coming around. Some take longer to adjust or bounce back.

 

[Bert2oo1]

Swords love excel so I would keep dosing it. U can go to some pretty high dosage levels before it have any negative effects. People have 3x dosed it without problem. However I wouldn't recommend dsing that much. But keep dosing minimum as your swords will thank you for it u can even dose every few days as you don't have a high plant load yet. But as u get more plants the higher the demand for carbon and other nutrients will obviously increase.

 

[JoeFreshnSalt]

Thank you all for sharing. It is well appreciated.

 

[Delapool]

I dose 3 or 4 times normal rates with no issues. I'd start at half dose and then increase to normal or above as you want.

IMO I'd say a normal tank is 1, with excel 3 and injected CO2 10. Not that a normal tank can't grow plants well but injected CO2 is just so great.

I still dose even with CO2 as I find it useful as an algaecide. Val and a few other plants initially melted but no issues now.

 

[Bert2oo1]

I dose 3 or 4 times normal rates with no issues. I'd start at half dose and then increase to normal or above as you want.

IMO I'd say a normal tank is 1, with excel 3 and injected CO2 10. Not that a normal tank can't grow plants well but injected CO2 is just so great.

I still dose even with CO2 as I find it useful as an algaecide. Val and a few other plants initially melted but no issues now.

I do the same. Excel tends to keep my BBA algae under control. I normally only dose 1-2 times a week with my pressurised co2.

If u ask me u don't get much better than excel for its all round usage

 

[JoeFreshnSalt]

Will excel reduce the amount of food available for plecos or harm them in any way, what about other tank cleaners (snails)?

 

[Delapool]

Will excel reduce the amount of food available for plecos or harm them in any way, what about other tank cleaners (snails)?

I found my pond snail and later MTS population decreased over time. I did wonder and asked on here, another member had noticed the same. With large ramshorn and mystery snails I never noticed any issues.

For me, excel or glut reduces algae but I've always fed algae wafers for them.