Overdosing Excel

[radioman]

What amount should I overdose excel to kill my beard algae and staghorne algae. Another website says to "overdose the dosage for Excel by twice the prescribed amount. I.e. Double initial dose + Double daily dose." Is this correct? Also has anyone heard of an API product that kills algae but not plants? i saw it at the petstore and that was the description it gave.

 

[Themuleous]

I see you thought of excel

To get rid of BBA i do a triple initial dose. Just that alone seems to kill it. BBA does take time to die so give it a few weeks before you start worrying, but a very bad outbreak might require a second dose. I dont bother with the daily doses for BBA treatment dosen't seem to be any point.


Sam

 

[RadaR]

Hope Tom doesn't mind me quoting him.

Do not OD Excel, just add the full label rate for the water change routine, 5mls per 40 liters per day.

It is better to dose longer at a lower concentration, this will never kill fish or shrimp, burn plants etc, and will still kill the algae.

In a hurry?
Try this same dosing with 3 day blackout + daily 50% water changes and good cleaning, trimming, filter maintenance etc.

Better to use many small hammers rather than a large one good.gif

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[Themuleous]

Interesting Fred, cheers

 

[radioman]

So your saying to triple the first dose but what about the others, sould they be tripled?

 

[Themuleous]

Thats what I'm saying. However Fred is saying that Tom Barr recommends just doing the normal rate initial dose i.e. 5ml per 40lt but do this every day, rather than lower the does.

Sam

 

[radioman]

So I should triple the initial and leave the other doses normal? I might follow tom's advise because my outbreak is not horrible and stick with the maximum dose for water changes but my only question with that is do I dose that daily or just during water changes?

 

[radioman]

Here are some pics of the algae

 

[Themuleous]

Yes dose that daily.

 

[plantbrain]

A little patiences goes a long long way to prevent accidental deaths of fish.........
The algae issue needs addressed, generally a lack of water changes, and CO2 with these two, maybe overloaded tank, moving plants around and disturbing the sediment too much and then not following it with a good water change.

Excel is as toxic to fish as it is to algae.....if you add enough..........(as well as us).
I almost always suggest folks dealing with algae on several fronts, not one.

While the cause is one part, the monitoring, the general maintenance and killing what is there are others.

So correct the root cause, then kill what is there slowly.

API is just copper sulfate, a copper compound as old as the hills, nothing new there, they have had this around for killing fish, plants, and algae for 100+ years, "blue stone" is the term used in older literature references.

It'll hurt plants and kill most invertebrates, as well as fish if you over dose it.
any plants are very sensitive to it, it's a bad product for plant tanks.
Some plants are less sensitive(fast growing hardy weeds, and crypts particularly, but they can still take a beating).

It's an aquatic herbicide and perhaps the more widely used one.

I think Excel is a wiser choice and doing it slowly.........
Things that happen "fast" in this hobby are typically bad/disasters, or there are a lot of folks that have had bad disasters occur when things happen fast(too much light, growth, killing algae too FAST ETC)

Kill it slowly, consistently, and focus on plant growth and good maintenance routines.
Then you no longer need algae killers and the plants and tank look better.

That is the path.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[lljdma06]

A little patiences goes a long long way to prevent accidental deaths of fish.........
The algae issue needs addressed, generally a lack of water changes, and CO2 with these two, maybe overloaded tank, moving plants around and disturbing the sediment too much and then not following it with a good water change.

Excel is as toxic to fish as it is to algae.....if you add enough..........(as well as us).
I almost always suggest folks dealing with algae on several fronts, not one.

While the cause is one part, the monitoring, the general maintenance and killing what is there are others.

So correct the root cause, then kill what is there slowly.

API is just copper sulfate, a copper compound as old as the hills, nothing new there, they have had this around for killing fish, plants, and algae for 100+ years, "blue stone" is the term used in older literature references.

It'll hurt plants and kill most invertebrates, as well as fish if you over dose it.
any plants are very sensitive to it, it's a bad product for plant tanks.
Some plants are less sensitive(fast growing hardy weeds, and crypts particularly, but they can still take a beating).

It's an aquatic herbicide and perhaps the more widely used one.

I think Excel is a wiser choice and doing it slowly.........
Things that happen "fast" in this hobby are typically bad/disasters, or there are a lot of folks that have had bad disasters occur when things happen fast(too much light, growth, killing algae too FAST ETC)

Kill it slowly, consistently, and focus on plant growth and good maintenance routines.
Then you no longer need algae killers and the plants and tank look better.

That is the path.

Regards,
Tom Barr

Great stuff and I 100% agree with this.

I like overdosing Excel about as much as I like blackouts, which isn't much at all. Overdosing Excel wreaked havoc on my A. reineckii and Hemianthus micranthemoides a while back and I won't use the produce again. Through good basic maintenance and proper monitoring, you can cure most algae ills in a few weeks. Yes, not a quick fix, but possibly a more permanent one that won't compromise the health of your plants, inverts, or fish.

 

[radioman]

I think that I will take toms advice, not that Others have not given good advice too, so i will dose the maximum water change amount daily.

 

[Themuleous]

PS - Thats what I'm currently doing