# Seachem Flourish Excel -what will happen if I start dosing?!



## eutimio (Aug 22, 2012)

It's 3:00 AM ...it's been well over 3 hours since I started reading about Excel
I have a bottle that I bought a year ago and I was thinking to start using it on my 12 g tank to improve the overall appearance of my plants(they don't look bad they just grow very slow)..should I bother or just stick with flourish and NPK?
I read about it melting Val's and crypts which is what I have in my tank...any of you have first hand experience with it?
Also I've got a 5w LED fixture(fluval edge 42 led's light fixture) which is barely enough for fish to see let alone plant growth but somehow they survive..
If I would use it though it would be half the dose every day but I'm scared as I hate to see any more plant melt(had enough of it until they got established)
Also pressurized co2 I understand is working hand in hand with lighting so if I got low lighting but lots of co2 then I get nowhere right?
I saw those small pressurized containers for nano tanks at the LFS..not sure if they're worth it though..
Let me know what you know or experienced...thx!


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

The Excel should not melt your crypts and people have had success using 1/2 dose with Vals. Crypts are supposed to grow slow, but not vals. So if all you want is your vals to grow faster, I'd use fertilizer, not Excel.

Try a DIY CO2 before you invest. Yes...just increasing your light and ferts will probably speed up vallisneria growth without adding CO2.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

I dose my tank with a cap full of flourish excel daily (I have about 7 java fern up to 10" and 3 anubias around 5" dia, no CO2 and dual T5HO 6500k). My plants seem to do really well and the java fern shoots off new baby growth like crazy. Can't say how it will do with Vals' and Crypts, but it seems to work well for my JF and anubias so far.


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## eutimio (Aug 22, 2012)

Thx for that! I'll start dosing then..
Is there any calculator to know exactly how many ml of each fertilizer to use?(NPK,flourish ,excel,etc)the cap isn't the most accurate especially when you dose smaller tanks..


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

The cap is actually a pretty good measurement because it holds exactly 5ml. Direction on the bottle actually say to use the cap (1 cap full per 10g on initial use or after 40% water change, then 1 cap full per 50g ever day)


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