Spot Dosing Excel

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Austin.b

Austin.b

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Oct 11, 2011
Messages
1,522
Location
Los Angeles, CA
I have a plague of BBA in my 10G heavily planted tank. My whole tank has the horrible algea. I heard spot dosing with excel can get rid of it. Since my whole tank has BBA, can I just treat the whole tank? I'll include my tank specs and stocking info below. Thanks!!!!

Lighting-
2- 20W CFL bulbs

Ferts-
CO2 (bubble per 2 seconds)

Filter-
Aquaclear 50 (carbon, sponge, and ceramic bio balls)

Stocking-
5 chili rasboras
25~ RCS
2 microcrabs
2 otto's
1 nerite snail

Would the excel affect my shrimp or other inverts? I will start off slow because I know some crypts will melt with excel. Should I post a list of my plants? I don't think my plants are harmed by the algea because all my plants pearl like crazy every day. Are there any tips to get rid of BBA, or a way to keep it from coming back? Thanks for the help!
 
I got a cheap spray bottle, put some Excel in it and gave everything a light mist when I'd do a water change. In really bad spots, I'd turn the spray to stream and hit them a little harder. No more BBA in my tanks.
 
DragonFish71 said:
I got a cheap spray bottle, put some Excel in it and gave everything a light mist when I'd do a water change. In really bad spots, I'd turn the spray to stream and hit them a little harder. No more BBA in my tanks.
Click to expand...

What do you mean? Was the tank completely empty?
 
No. I sprayed the Excel on the plants after draining the water during a water change. I change 50% or more of my water when I do a change, which means my plants were out of the waterline. Hit with the spray, fill the tank, repeat next water change.
 
DragonFish71 said:
No. I sprayed the Excel on the plants after draining the water during a water change. I change 50% or more of my water when I do a change, which means my plants were out of the waterline. Hit with the spray, fill the tank, repeat next water change.
Click to expand...

Oh ok, what should I for lower laying plants?
 
I'll tell you what I did. I was scared of over dosing my tank too so I got a syringe with a daily dose (based on my tank size), turned off the filter and injected on and around the BBA. The next day I did the same thing on another area and so on. After a few days of doing that I continued to dose the entire tank (with filters on) just to make sure. (I didn't usually dose that tank with anything.) It all turned pink and my fish ate it. You can also remove the plants and give them an excel 'bath' in bucket.
 
Mumma.of.two said:
I'll tell you what I did. I was scared of over dosing my tank too so I got a syringe with a daily dose (based on my tank size), turned off the filter and injected on and around the BBA. The next day I did the same thing on another area and so on. After a few days of doing that I continued to dose the entire tank (with filters on) just to make sure. (I didn't usually dose that tank with anything.) It all turned pink and my fish ate it. You can also remove the plants and give them an excel 'bath' in bucket.
Click to expand...

A full dose? Isn't that only for a week at a time? Sorry for the dumb question. How long did you wait after you directly dosed the BBA to turn the filter back on? I don't dose the tank with anything either. Errg, even the gravel is growing BBA :'(
 
Austin.b said:
A full dose? Isn't that only for a week at a time? Sorry for the dumb question. How long did you wait after you directly dosed the BBA to turn the filter back on? I don't dose the tank with anything either. Errg, even the gravel is growing BBA :'(
Click to expand...

There is a daily dosage rate on the bottle. Excel should be dosed daily because it only lasts a certain amount of time once it's in the tank. You need to look into what is causing the BBA to grow. The excel will help but if you don't address the problem it will come back.
I left the filters of 20 minutes or so.
Try manually removing as much as you can first.
 
Mumma.of.two said:
There is a daily dosage rate on the bottle. Excel should be dosed daily because it only lasts a certain amount of time once it's in the tank. You need to look into what is causing the BBA to grow. The excel will help but if you don't address the problem it will come back.
I left the filters of 20 minutes or so.
Try manually removing as much as you can first.
Click to expand...

Ok will do, thanks again for the help!!:D
 
Mumma.of.two said:
I'll tell you what I did. I was scared of over dosing my tank too so I got a syringe with a daily dose (based on my tank size), turned off the filter and injected on and around the BBA. The next day I did the same thing on another area and so on. After a few days of doing that I continued to dose the entire tank (with filters on) just to make sure. (I didn't usually dose that tank with anything.) It all turned pink and my fish ate it. You can also remove the plants and give them an excel 'bath' in bucket.
Click to expand...

I was wondering if I just put excel in a bucket,wash the plant in it and simply put it back in the tank? Or should I rinse the plant after it takes the excel bath?
 
Austin.b said:
I was wondering if I just put excel in a bucket,wash the plant in it and simply put it back in the tank? Or should I rinse the plant after it takes the excel bath?
Click to expand...

Just chuck it back in the tank :) idk what % the bath should be. 5x dose sounds about right.
 
Mumma.of.two said:
Just chuck it back in the tank :) idk what % the bath should be. 5x dose sounds about right.
Click to expand...

5x dose of the bucket or the tank? Should I add any tank water or strictly excel? Again, sorry for the dumb questions
 
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