# Overdosing Excel in 40G



## alstare2000 (Feb 16, 2013)

Quick question for the pros.
I got a problem with what looks like green hair algae and regular green algae that sits on glass. got this after putting new soil, plants and having lights on for about 8 hrs. Decreased lights to 6 hrs and after initial recommended dose of excel, I'm dosing 2.5x so 10ml for 40g. Doing it for last 5-6 days not much changes yet (hair algae is kind of turning brown) and fish seem normal.
Just wondering if that's too much for the fish to take for longer run ? or it's still pretty safe and how long should I have this way for ? untill algae is gone or if all is good plants will absorb and just dose increased amount ?
Thank you.


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## Bullet (Apr 19, 2014)

Sounds to me like an overdose situation 
Suggestion would be to cut your dosage in half which should reduce algae 
I used to dose with this product but I have stopped because my algae got out of control 
Since I stopped dosing, the algae has almost gone and plants still seem to be doing fine


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## Norman (Feb 13, 2011)

I agree with Bullett... I used to treat my 75G planted tank with Excel...not cheap. Then I stopped and the tank is doing just fine. As a matter of fact I think that the Excel actually melted some of my plants. How old is your tank?


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## alstare2000 (Feb 16, 2013)

I started this tank about 3 months ago, plants went in about 2 weeks ago, water quality is top notch as I still test. Tank got eheim 2217 that was on my other tank so kind of pre cycled.
I started dosing excel as I was reading that it helps with algae and considering how much I started getting how fast I think excel did it's job as it seems to be turning white, dead. But as today I think I will does only what's recommended and see how everything does


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

double dosing excel is a bandaid for algae problems. you already decreased the light on time which might fix the cause.

You should have seen good results by now of the algae dieing off. if you don't see results by 7 days then it isn't working.

Another method for algae quick fix is to just black out the tank for a week. The plants will be ok and recover pretty fast.

Excel can melt some plants like vals


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## alstare2000 (Feb 16, 2013)

Thank you for replies guys, I calculated that it was 5/6 days for the excel that I was dosing at 2.5x so that's all done. Good that my plants seem fine.
Now I'm just going to monitor for a week with only putting recommended dosage for the plants to use it up and hopefully grow nicely. If the algae will still persist I may try to shot off the lights for a week, regardless I'll follow up in a week of how its Turing out.
Cheers


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## Bullet (Apr 19, 2014)

Sounds like a plan
Good luck !


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## hendy8888 (Sep 10, 2010)

What soil did you put in and what lights are you using? If high light are you using co2?


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## alstare2000 (Feb 16, 2013)

Fluval stratum mostly, mixed with some of my older tahitian moon sand.
Light 36" Finnex Planted+ 
There was no CO2 system and would prefer sorting it out without one, liquid substitute such as Excel I"m ok with
Pics of it third post down in this thread:

http://gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=127074


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## Rmwbrown (Jan 22, 2009)

The green algae is pretty common in new tanks or tanks that have been treated with antibiotics. It reproduces by being disturbed so if you can be careful with your water changes and let it sit for about 3 weeks, it will simply die off and not come back. 

Hair algae is another simple one: Otto Cats, and Amano shrimp will take care of it, but in the undisputed destroyer of hair algae is the Siamese algae eater. Depending on how much other food is available, 3 of them could clean out a tank over night.


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## hendy8888 (Sep 10, 2010)

I don't know if fluval stratum has a lot of nutrients but most clay based substrates like Ada and Netlea release a high amount of there nutrients when you first use them including ammonia. To combat this I do 50% water changes at least twice a week for the first few months. You don't really need to dose fertilizers at the start. I find basic aquarium maintenance helps more than you might think. Cleaning filters, removing all dead plants and floating leaves, maintaining a constant water level with constant circulation and surface movement. 

Excel will be your carbon source so I would dose it according to the bottle. Overdosed it is an algeacide and I have never had it induce algae. It may kill beneficial bacteria too if overdosed as well as fish and shrimp so be aware when you use it. I just used it along with a 3 day blackout and water changes to rid my tank of Rhizoclonium which is a pretty aggressive algae in high light tanks. I was surprised how effective it was for this specific algae. 

Algae is mostly introduced when adding new plants. You can't see much but then it flourishes in some tanks. Other well established and stabilized tanks will rid the introduced algae with no intervention.

When starting a new tank you want to pack it full with as many plants as you can right from the start so the plants out compete the algae for nutrients. Along with everyone's recommendations you should do as much manual removal as you can every day, good tank maintenance and lots of patience while your tank reaches an equilibrium.


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## alstare2000 (Feb 16, 2013)

It has been more then two weeks since my last post so just wanted to post an update that tank is doing better.

The extra excel did killed a lot of hair algae and now there is just minimal amounts here and there; but I'm still dosing recommended amount every couple of days.
My lights are on 4 hrs then off for 4 and back on for 4 (so I get to see my tank in mornings and evenings). I also have some shrimps and l144 plecos that are always picking on something.

Green algae that was on side of the tank walls is still there but slowly disappearing. I'm not sure if it's the plecos slowly chewing it off or just everything starting to come closer in balance.

Hopefully few more weeks and my plants will start to show more growth as of now they seem still fairly same size as I have planted them.

Cheers.


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## Bullet (Apr 19, 2014)

Thanks for the update 
Sounds like you are making good progress


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