Who here uses "Flourish Excel"

[Duydawg]

Hi, I want to use some flourish Excel, but have read that some individual's fishes died due to the usage of this product. Can anyone tell me their personal experience with this product?

I have a 10 gallon FW tank with anubias in it under a really low LED light.

the plants that I intend to use are

Java fern
Anubias
Java moss

 

[BBradbury]

Seachem's Flourish Excel

Hi, I want to use some flourish Excel, but have read that some individual's fishes died due to the usage of this product. Can anyone tell me their personal experience with this product?

I have a 10 gallon FW tank with anubias in it under a really low LED light.

the plants that I intend to use are

Java fern
Anubias
Java moss

Hello Duy...

I used it several years ago in my larger, planted tanks, but my ferns, mosses and Corkscrew vallisneria didn't do well. Primitive plants like mosses, ferns and some varieties of Vallisneria can't tolerate the industrial form of carbon in this product. Just my experience with this liquid.

You can dose less than what's recommended and see how your plants do with it. But, there are some other liquids available without the carbon that I think work pretty well.

B

 

[Rivercats]

I use glutaraldehyde, which is also a liquid carbon but much cheaper than Excel, and is almost identical to Excel. Have used the Glut for over a year and Excel years before that. I have never lost a fish, snail, shrimp, or plant due to it and I dose alot higher as I have a high light tank. You can view my tank and decide for yourself how well it works.... http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f70/220g-planted-newly-rescaped-231568.html. I keep angels, rummy nose and cardinal tetras, rams, threadfin rainbowfish, longfin white clouds, yo-yo loaches, corys, whiptail cats, and bn pleco's. Large fancy goldfish in other tanks I use it in. Fish can get killed when any product is used incorrectly. Some people say they have little plant growth change when they use it but many don't use the proper dosage or use it every day. It breaks down within 11-24 hours depending on which study you read so it has to be dosed daily. It doesn't build up in your water. If you have a high light tank with lots of plants like I do you can safely increase dosages and it even states this on the Excel bottle. I can get 2-1/2 gallons of Glutaraldehyde for $28 dollars which is dirt cheap compared to Excel. I highly recommend it but only if it is going to be used daily and in the proper amount. And as for melting plants there are a few plants that show sensitivity to it, jungle val and anacharis are two of the worst and you can find a complete list on line. I grow Corkscrew Val, a large stand of it you can see in the pic's, and it does fine, never had a melting issue. I have 2 types of mosses, java moss and Fissidens fontanus that actually grow better in the higher dosage I use. I also have Bolbutis (african fern) growing and doing very well.

 

[Rokuzachi]

I've been using Excel with goldfish, scaleless fish, labrynth fish and regular old fish (barbs, etc) for 2 years now and to my knowledge, I've never lost a single fish to it.

I've melted regular anacharis with it before, but the narrow leaf variety that was in the same tank with the regular didn't melt.

 

[mohican]

I also make sure I always have some on hand. Never had any issues with it as well. I've also read that some plants and livestock won't tolerate it, I keep angels and never had problems.

 

[aqua_chem]

I up to triple dosed Excel to fight a hair algae issue and the inverts did fine. It was a limited duration thing though.