Plants That Do Not Play Well With Excel

[Totenkampf]

Does anyone know of a list of plants that have adverse reactions to excel? I havent found a good one. I am dosing 2.6% glutaledhyde at a concentration equivalent to 1.5x excel, just as i have always dosed excel, and i seem to be losing my willow moss. has anyone else experienced this? it also seems to break down spiral val (initially although it bounced back) and guppy grass. So, a complied list might be:

• Willow Moss (Fontenalis antipyretica)
• Spiral Val (Valisneria spiralis)
• Guppy Grass (Najas guadalupensis)
• Fissidens fontinalis
• Anacharis (Egeria densa)
• Dwarf Blyxa (Blyxa japonica) ???

[eklikewhoa]

Most vals
Marimo balls or clado algae
Crypts
Japonica
Fissiden (IME)

[Totenkampf]

by japonica do you mean blyxa? i have that in there too. the dang marimo algae is still going strong though. i was thinking about replacing the willow with fissidens but i read that it also has problems.

[sunkenmetal]

I know for a fact if you dose to much excel it will kill guppy grass really quick.... Just like anything else when dosing to much will kill anything...

[aquabee]

Yeah, I learned about the guppy grass and blyxa not liking excel... the hard way.

[sunkenmetal]

Yea it is freaky how fast guppy grass dies when to much excel

[aquabee]

Yea it is freaky how fast guppy grass dies when to much excel

I was underdosing it by far and it still browned up.

[StanDaManTX]

My marimo ball does fine

[sunkenmetal]

Yeah, I learned about the guppy grass and blyxa not liking excel... the hard way.

which tank did you have it in.

[CrazyCatPeekin]

by japonica do you mean blyxa? i have that in there too. the dang marimo algae is still going strong though. i was thinking about replacing the willow with fissidens but i read that it also has problems.

You could try Peacock Moss (taxiphyllum sp.) if you are still looking for a replacement. It is not a delicate looking as willow moss, but mine is going strong with regular excel dosing.

[Totenkampf]

i have some flame moss that i might try, but it looks like i will need to stop dosing excel in the bonsai tank which is grrr since i cant add co2 there. i might just start draping different mosses over the branches until one proves itself and then go from there. i had peacock in my 75 gallon but its gone either from excel or the SAEs. i am also wondering if it affects dwarf shrimp poorly as well. the funny thing is that some people report different findings for the same plant so i wonder if there is another factor involved that amplifies the glut, like buffers or pH. A good example would be crypts. Some suggest they will melt but my willissi, walkerii, retrospiralis, pontenderiifolia are all doing well in it. they were pretty well established before i tried it though.

so its agreed theat blyxa japonica should be on a list of potential bad reactors?

[sunkenmetal]

I read some where that water changes add carbon to tanks

[CrazyCatPeekin]

so its agreed theat blyxa japonica should be on a list of potential bad reactors?

I have blyxxa in two tanks that get excel. One it did great and the other...not so much - it didn't die, but I am not seeing much growth.

I have just added it to two more tanks one of which gets excel and the other has CO2. I'll see how it does. (Note, I am considering pulling the CO2 off of the second tank eventually, so I am hoping that excel isn't going to be an issue.)

[Totenkampf]

I read some where that water changes add carbon to tanks

it would if you are using tap water that has measurable kH. i am using watermill and the hardness is pretty low. i cant see carbon as being a problem, it is the building block of all life on earth. excel isnt really just liquid carbon, its an aldehyde which is why its a great algae killer and antimicrobial agent. it just breaks down into carbon and hydrogen over a period of about 12 hours when added to our aquariums so the plants are able to use it. i know that you can make more carbon available to the plants by just lowering the pH of hard water so i am curious as to whether a lower pH somehow affects how the aldehyde works. maybe it makes it more aggressive. the glutaldehyde that i bought to use instead of excel is actually buffered for some reason.

[sunkenmetal]

it would if you are using tap water that has measurable kH. i am using watermill and the hardness is pretty low. i cant see carbon as being a problem, it is the building block of all life on earth. excel isnt really just liquid carbon, its an aldehyde which is why its a great algae killer and antimicrobial agent. it just breaks down into carbon and hydrogen over a period of about 12 hours when added to our aquariums so the plants are able to use it. i know that you can make more carbon available to the plants by just lowering the pH of hard water so i am curious as to whether a lower pH somehow affects how the aldehyde works. maybe it makes it more aggressive. the glutaldehyde that i bought to use instead of excel is actually buffered for some reason.

Use tap water fool