FishProfiles.com Message Forums

Hey all, another question. I was wondering if these plants would do okay not having excel?

Wisteria
Amazon Sword
Java fern
Crypt wenditti(sp?)
hornwort
tiger lotus (red)
dwarf sag.
Vals

I know that vals will die if they are dosed with excel so I was wondering if I should just get rid of them or if the others will be okay without excel

Some other info:
45 gallons US
1.6 wpg
root tabs
nitrogen
flourish
potassium
iron
phosphorus


thanks

tigermom

Tigrmom:

I don't know who told you that Vals will not tolerate Excel. Let me assure you that they will do great! I removed >200 of them that continued to grow like weed in my tank after I started dosing excel.

That infomation seems to have come from the Uni of "THEY" there is just too much of this type of info around and a high percentage of it is totally wrong.

With your plant feeding program this is what I did I had a full test done and contacted Seachem with the results then then gave me the correct ferts, how much and how often. After a few months I had another test done and Seachem adjusted some of the dosages.

I only use Seachem products in the Betta tank.
I use Flourish Excel 1ml every day
Flourish nitrogen 1ml at water change and mid week
Flourish potassium 2ml at water change and mid week.
I also use their fert tabs as they recommeneded.

I also buy it on the WWW and I save about 45-50%

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

hmm...well, i've been looking on the net for the past few days for a solution to my melting vals problem. they were doing fine until i started adding excel - now, one week later, 80 percent of them have melted down to the roots. ph, kh, gh, nitrates, nitrites, phosphates etc are all well within tolerance for my vals - the only wildcard is the excel. i found a few people who mentioned the vals sensitivity to excel. now i don't know what to think...



jay

I lost jungle vals to excel and almost my red lilly. All plants were doing great excel was added vals melt away, excel stopped, remaining vals grow fine again, excel added, vals melt away, and red lilly shrinks to a single 1" leaf when it was a foot tall with 20 leaves. Stop excel, vals are gone, but the lilly makes a full recovery. Nothing else changed during that time. I've also heard alot of first hand accounts from trustworthy peopled that excel killed their vals.

Now maybe there's another factor here that has to be present for the excel to cause the problem. I have no idea what it is though. All I know is that excel can most definitely kill off vals and other plants and I would prefer not to risk it again even if there are a few people who haven't had issues with it.

Keithm, thanks for providing a simplified fertilizer regimen.
The possibilities for the val 'melt down' described above are aplenty - from general water parameters out of control, a potpouri of fertilizers, swings in pH, algae.

Some people have used excel with no problems until they try to spot treat algae on a plant with it only to have it die or recover but never regaining its former beauty. Some plants can thrive on it until they receive a concentrated dose.

Excel always worked fine in my planted tanks with crypts and vals. I've never noted any plants die from it.

Personally I have seen it both ways. I think the key to having a melt down with excel is over doing it from the get go. I think if you start slow and work your way up to a higher dose you should be fine. I have over dosed and melted away crypts and vals at work. The boss wasn't very thrilled....

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Well thanks everyone everything has been really helpful

Im going to use the excel for now and hope I have some good results, if not i guess ill just get rid of the plants or something Ill let you all know how it goes!!

thanks

tigermom

Well, I have been using about 3/4 of the dose to start out and I was going to up the quantity to the suggested dose after about 3 weeks. On the seachem website, it mentions dosing every other day when used with 'sensitive' plants.

I'm probably going to get rid of the vals because everything else seems to be just loving it. On a side note the one val that I purchased which is growing from a bulb seems to be doing fine. All of the others have pretty much melted away.

Jay.

Hi,
I don't know where this "Val" came from, but I have yet
to see a val with a bulb at the root end. All "Vals" look
like this:

http://www.aquariumplants.com/PhotoGallery.asp?ProductCode=va72

I have seen some "onion plants" and they do grow from a
white bulb like section, and I don't think they are a
truly aquatic plant.

Frank

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

I don't know if they are growing submerged only, but certainly close to the water and semi-submerged in the wild. In it's native it is referred to as water lily.

More info see this link:
http://www.aquaticplantresources.net/plant_profiles/viewtopic.php?t=22&highlight=crinum+thaianum

yeah, well i was wondering if it was an onion plant. I got it in a bunch of vals from a local shop. Looks just like a val, even upon very close inspection except that it has a bulb.

http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/threads/34986.1.htm?4#my old thread.