Seachem Excel and cloudiness

[Justikanz]

Eh... Just a thought... I've introduced Seachem Flourish Excel into my female betta tank in office twice and twice the water turned cloudy the next morning... This time, the water even looks greenish... I didn't feed much... Tank has no algae of sorts...

Tank is 1ft cube, has alot of plants in it, including frogbits and has African violet leaves drinking from it as well, lighting is Maqnum 9W PL, filtered by a jebao HOT filter. Water is around 24C. Fauna just 3 female bettas, 1 khuli loach, some red-nose shrimps (which are turning green ) and a couple of snails.

Could there be a reason for this? Will Excel turn water cloudy? Organic Carbon content in water too high?

[GaspingGurami]

I used to pour 1 week's dosage of Excel in one go into my shrimp tank instead of small daily doses. The water turned cloudy but not green.

Read somewhere on the APC that this cloudy water is the result when people overdose excel to kill algae.

Now I dose daily in small amounts and I don't have that problem anymore.

[Phillipians]

i never had that prob with excel in my nano tank. How much do you pour at one go? A lot? how many ml? Or do you just pour one capful.
And also what is the condition of your tank? How old is it? mature? What kinda plants are there in the tank?

[PeterGwee]

Eh... Just a thought... I've introduced Seachem Flourish Excel into my female betta tank in office twice and twice the water turned cloudy the next morning... This time, the water even looks greenish... I didn't feed much... Tank has no algae of sorts...

Tank is 1ft cube, has alot of plants in it, including frogbits and has African violet leaves drinking from it as well, lighting is Maqnum 9W PL, filtered by a jebao HOT filter. Water is around 24C. Fauna just 3 female bettas, 1 khuli loach, some red-nose shrimps (which are turning green ) and a couple of snails.

Could there be a reason for this? Will Excel turn water cloudy? Organic Carbon content in water too high?

Use a glass and fill it with the tank water. Look at it carefully, does it look green or perharps just the tint of the tank at work? Possible OD on the Excel killing off the bacteria culture in the tank. With no bacteria to take care of the NH3/NH4 and slow uptake of NH3/NH4 in a non-CO2 enriched tank, possible greenwater outbreak.

Regards
Peter Gwee

[Justikanz]

No glass at office... I placed a piece of white paper behind the tank to see if it is green... It looks like a green tint... Water is rather cloudy now, definately looked VERY different from just the day before...

I poured in about 2-3 capfuls... Too much? I tot since I added more plants, I might as well, add a bit more... The tank was set up for 1 month only...

Plants inside include Java moss, Echindorus tenellus, Caramine lyrata (pennywort) and Limnobium sp. (frogbits). The new plants added are Marsilea quadrifolia and Blyxa japonica.

Peter, what's OD?...

[PeterGwee]

No glass for drinking? Or should I say transparent mug?

OD aka overdose.

Regards
Peter Gwee

[Justikanz]

No glass for drinking? Or should I say transparent mug?

OD aka overdose.

Regards
Peter Gwee

Nope, no drinking glass at this new office... Ceramic mug have... But not transparent...

Overdose of Excel can kill baterial?... Tot it will only kill algae...

[PeterGwee]

Its not an algaecide or do you need one to kill algae (what kills algae might potentially harm plants.). Trimming/scrubbing followed with large water changes and dosing of good nutrients including CO2 is all you need. I think the excel label does have warnings about killing of critters if overdose since too much CO2 (not sure about the carbon form in excel) does cause respiration issues if you go too high. Bacteria are living things and will get affected as well.

Regards
Peter Gwee

[Justikanz]

Oh, I meant kill agae as in help to contain the growth and prevent new growth... Not as in poison them to death... I am dosing Excel for tanks without CO2 supplementation...

[neon]

I have BBA issues also in my big tank. As I read from the forum recommended to use Excel to kill off BBA . I bought a 750ml Excel and use syringe to spray onto area and leaves infected by BBA. Be warned, it is lethal !! If you spray on plant like moss, it will bleach it. Too much on the fern will get brown spots and developed holes. BBA will turn red !!

Cheers

[liuhao]

i also got cloudness after dosing excel. 3X of recommended daily dosage. but, the cloudness is not like those cloudness of new tank symptom. reason is it's cleared up too soon, within 1 day. i was wondering it could be some other reasons, bcos i also dosed LGM, KNO3, K2SO4, and very little seachem phosphate (0.01ppm) at same time. no the cloudness couldnt be caused by phosphate + LGM. the phosphate is really too little to cause that kind of cloudness.

[Justikanz]

Yup, it cleared up within a day... Strange ah?...

[GaspingGurami]

Check out this thread on the APC re: cloudiness after OD-ing Seachem Excel

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/f...oudiness+excel

[Justikanz]

Wow, thanks, Lawrence... They had an active discussion on this same topic! Hmm... Now come to think of it... I think I added Excel at the time when I overfed my Endlers... Maybe it is the Excel that killed them... But, well, that's history now...

[neon]

All:

Just a word of caution on what had happened to me yesterday and today on using Excel.

Yesterday I dosed 3 x the recommended amount after morning 50% water change in my 600L tank (180ml dosage). In the afternoon, my 2 big bleeding heart, few rummy noses and cardinal dies.

This morning I continue the dosage of Excel 60ml, again, 2-3 cardinal and rummy die. Remaining fishes are gasping for air on the water surface. Immediately pump air into my powerhead to disperse the air into fine bubbles , 15 mins later fishes are back to normal.

So , should I continue to do daily dose of Excel 60ml ? Any advice from any bro who had done daily dosage of Excel ?

Cheers

[Justikanz]

Hmm... Just wondering, why would you purposely OD the Excel? I OD-ed accidentally and already all my Endlers died...

[neon]

Hmm... Just wondering, why would you purposely OD the Excel? I OD-ed accidentally and already all my Endlers died...

Want to prevent more and eradicate BBA in my tank.

[|squee|]

You can eradicate BBA in that tank, but when it comes to preventing, you need good CO2 levels. Keep it above 30ppm.

[PeterGwee]

You can eradicate BBA in that tank, but when it comes to preventing, you need good CO2 levels. Keep it above 30ppm.

At 30ppm if accurate...not above. But most of the time, test kit does have measurement errors which you should account for but just make sure you have some surface movement, do the increment slowly and the fish are not gasping when you error on the higher side of things.

Regards
Peter Gwee

[neon]

Peter :

As you mentioned, it will difficult to reach the exact 30ppm as it is either under or overshot , the CO2 measurement with relation to PH / KH is completely not accurate at all IMHO.

So the tendency to overshot for just in case .

Right now I am dosing Excel to eradicate the BBA while stabilising the CO2 and EI for NPK and micro.

Cheers