Metricide Glutaraldehyde in place of Excel

[JackBlasto]

I bought some Metricide (to use in place of excel) from an online store and am curious on how to mix this stuff to use in my aquarium. First confusing thing is it comes with an activator. Do I need to activate the solution prior to using or is that only for using it as intended?

Thanks for anyone that has used this stuff.

 

[Old Scales]

Throw the activator away. DO NOT USE. Mix the pure metro 1 part metro & one part distilled water. Carefully dose it out by ml. Starting point is 1 ml per 10g. Watch your plant growth and if you have high light CO2 hungry type plants, you can up the dosing to 1 ml per 5g. If your water gets slightly cloudy soon after dosing every time, you know you're adding too much. I have alot of fast growing, high light, Co2 hungry plants and I'm dosing 1 ml per 2.5g. Important to dose dependably and at about the same time every day. Best is 1hr to 30 min before lights first come on. Good luck, OS.

 

[Rivercats]

What type of set up do you have? Tank size, type of lighting and bulbs, ferts used, and stock list. All of these things factor in to how much Glut a tank needs. As OS stated you want to start at the basic 1ml Glut per 10g of water. But then depending on the above factors they will determine if you need to increase dosing.

 

[JackBlasto]

Thanks for the input here. It WILL help 100 gallon, CO2, 4 watts per gallon T5

Quick question. Why dilute it? Couldn't I cut the dose in half? For instance, MY starting point should be 10 mL WITH distilled water. Couldn't I just do 5 mL metro, no distilled water? My tank consists of RO water with minerals added so I would think that would be ok BUT then again I'm the guy learning and starting out and have made a lot of mistakes so I'm just checking.

 

[Rivercats]

If your using pressurized CO2 also I'd do 1ml Glut per 5g of water.

 

[JackBlasto]

"If your using pressurized CO2 also I'd do 1ml Glut per 5g of water."

So in my 100 gallon tank you'd dose 20 ml of straight Glut daily OR 20 ml of the Glut mix (which is 50% Glut, 50% distilled water) so technically only 10 ml glut?

Sorry to sound confusing... I just got some Discus and am paranoid to overdose the tank right now. Can you please elaborate?

Thanks

100 gallon tank
30 gallon sump
Pressurized CO2
3.7 watts per gallon T5HO

 

[Rivercats]

If you have Discus you need to be careful. My dosage is diluted glut so if you do straight Glut you can just half the amount. Also you should start using the Glut at the same dosage you used the Excel and slowly increase it. If you dose Excel at 1ml per 10g then start the Glut for a week or two that way. Then you can increase your dose but watch your fish. I have never had any problems with any of my more delicate wild caught fish and Glut/Excel but it's always best to err on the side of caution.

 

[jetajockey]

"If your using pressurized CO2 also I'd do 1ml Glut per 5g of water."

So in my 100 gallon tank you'd dose 20 ml of straight Glut daily OR 20 ml of the Glut mix (which is 50% Glut, 50% distilled water) so technically only 10 ml glut?

Sorry to sound confusing... I just got some Discus and am paranoid to overdose the tank right now. Can you please elaborate?

Thanks

100 gallon tank
30 gallon sump
Pressurized CO2
3.7 watts per gallon T5HO

1ml /10g at excel strength, which is roundabout half of metricide 14day.