Question about excel

[Cohenjl13]

Good afternoon everyone!

Two quick questions, I have a 110 planted tank that has been up for about 5 months now and everything is doing great but I'm getting tired of remembering to use my seachem Flourish and excel every other day with job, kids, dog, etc etc.

Also I have a case of black red brush algae (I think that's the name) and I need to start being more consistant with my excel dosage to help keep the CO2 level stable

1) If I set up a custom dripper using a pump on a timer will the flourish/excel expire before it's used because the lip will remain open to air.

2) Would dripping 5ml a day be the same amount as 10ml every other day. Math wise it is but I don't know if amount to time would make it less potentiate.

Ps this is from my phone I'll spell check and redo grammar when I'm home!!


Thank you in advance.

 

[Fresh2o]

1. Excel is more reactive to light (particularly UV) than air. Do what you can to keep the reservoir protected from light.
2. That should be fine although for consistency sake, dosing daily would be better IMO.
Note: I started daily dosing at a rate of 0.5 mL per 10g and increased it to 2.0 mL per 10g. Your rate is in that ball park. Now I was dosing a much smaller tank (20g).

 

[Cohenjl13]

Great thanks, the package says 5/ml for 40g for I'm doing 10/ml for 110, for now. We will see how it works and i will cover my bottle up!

 

[Fresh2o]

Excel is expensive. I switched to Metricide 14. It contains a similar base ingredient called Glutaraldehye (glut for short). I say similar because the folks at Seachem state that it is a proprietary substance. I wonder how different is is from API's CO2 Booster.
Anyhow, Metricide 14 can be found on Amazon for around $20 a gallon. Volume wise, is equal to about seven 500 mL bottles of Excel. Strength wise, it is equal to about fifteen 500 mL bottles. Quite a bit of savings, indeed. I pour 250 mL of glut plus 250 mL of distilled water into an old Excel bottle so that I can use it at the same rate I was using Excel.
Note: Get Metricide 14 and NOT Metricide 28. The latter contains undesirable substances. With all of these products, use care when handling.

 

[Delapool]

I’d also cover the bottle up so nothing is getting released into the air. If I recall correctly, nurses using it as a bactericide developed sensitivity to it (albeit on higher use). I’d double check nothing can be smelt from it.

The CO2 added from this imo is quite low. More benefit as an algaecide. So decreasing dose may not help. But going more than 2 ppm or 1 ppm may not be great for fish. So would test drip into a cup to check all working fine and exact volume.

For the algae - light duration and spectrum could be worth a look at.

 

[Cohenjl13]

I covered my tank for 4 days and it did nothing to the algae, so I changed the flow to make it a little more even.

Also I ran my drip system with water for a week and it was a constant 10ml a day when it turned on so we are good with that for now

 

[kashif314]

To be honest pouring excel takes less than a minute. Are you sure your auto dropper won't malfunction and will drop strictly same dosage? You can make a schedule. You wake up and pour. Very very easy.

 

[Cohenjl13]

I know but I also love to tinker so it's more then me just being lazy. When I get an idea I love to go with it, it's a passion!
So when I thought up a little system to have an auto dripper and in corporate with what I have I ran with it.

 

[Mebbid]

Auto dripper works, I use one of these personally. Affordable and works well.

https://www.amazon.com/Jebao-Programmable-Auto-Dosing-DP-4/dp/B014KKCILE

 

[Fresh2o]

Auto dripper works, I use one of these personally. Affordable and works well.



https://www.amazon.com/Jebao-Programmable-Auto-Dosing-DP-4/dp/B014KKCILE

That's not a bad price. Any idea what is the lowest volume it can dispense in a day? I'm guessing each channel can operate independently. With four channels, I would be able to dose my macros, micros, and, optionally, glutaraldeyde.

 

[Mebbid]

That's not a bad price. Any idea what is the lowest volume it can dispense in a day? I'm guessing each channel can operate independently. With four channels, I would be able to dose my macros, micros, and, optionally, glutaraldeyde.

It doses in mL increments, each channel is individually programmed and timed.