Seachem Excel - 1/2 dose better than none?

[jsoong]

Background: my 70+30 gal planted goldies tank, 4*32W T8, no CO2, redone 2-3 months ago with 2 dozen small plants (Java ferns, Vals, Swords, Crypts, Anubias, Cabomba, Bacopa, Hornwort, Apongenton) - the tank is rather sparse while waiting for the plants to grow.
Dosing a variation of EI - measuring NO3 as surragote for nutrient uptake rate & dosing everthing else based on EI proportions - currently weekly Trace 0.05 ppm Fe, N - 12, P - 1, K - 8.
Added Excel about 4 weeks ago in effort to boost plant growth & cut down algae.

Because of the Vals, I was only using 1/2 dose Excel. Algae improving, but plants not growing much compared to before the Excel. Only noticable growth being Cabomba & one Val that is sending out runners with 6-8 baby plants (all 1" or so, the mother plant & babies are not getting any taller, just more numerous ....).

My question is: Is half dosing Excel a waste of money & effort? Should I gradually increase Excel to full dose & hope the Vals adapt, or is half dose still doing something & I should wait longer for results .... (I thought keeping fish will try my patience ... but plants .... 8O )

 

[czcz]

I don't think it's a waste at all. I think any planted tank needs to be more than sparsely planted to win the fight against algae.

I would suggest slowly increasing dosing as well, even with a low-med light approach, since trimming fast growers will drive up nutrient export anyway.

Maybe members in Canada are trimming light appropriate plants too? A lot of the stuff members grow in high light also grows great in ~med light. L. brevipes and repens "Rubin," H. polysperma "Sunset"/"Roseanervig." and M. umbrosum, for example.

HTH

 

[7Enigma]

IMO, when no other CO2 source is present, Excel is great. I do not think you can attribute the slower growth to the Excel except in the plants commonly known to be affected (anacharis and vals). Your other plants should only grow BETTER with 1/2 dosing, and if they are not I would assume something else is wrong. It's possible having the carbon source they are repairing old growth rather than creating new growth but that is just a wild guess.

 

[fish_4_all]

Patience, patience, patience. Give it time and don't change anything until it has been a good couple months unless you are seeing a new deficiency show up, then only up the dosing to correct it. It took me 4 weeks to get wisteria to grow and then it exploded. My crypts moped for over 2 months before taking off. Primrose sat there and did nothing for 2 months then exploded. Java fern I just got looked really poor up until a few days ago and I think I had it for almost a month. You need to have a lot of patience and really wait for the plants to repair themselves, recoopertae and get to a point they can dedicate al the nutrients they take up to growth.

I also agree that Excel will help even at half dose. I plan to get it and get 500 ml for dosing 2, 10 gallon tanks and I will dose 1/2 dose until I see it is needed at higher levels.