# Over dosing Excel for Algae Control



## andy485 (Aug 19, 2005)

I have read that overdosing Flourish Excel will help in Algae controll. I have a 90 gallon tank and dose 10ml Excel a day. Since I have went to a strict fert schedule my algae growth has stopped. I have one problem with my Micro Sword which is covered in BBA I think. It has not spread any where and I do not want to uproot and bleach dip since the micro sword is finally starting to shoot runners everywhere. Would Excel help this problem? How much should I overdose and for how long?


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## Salt (Apr 5, 2005)

Instead of overdosing, I would follow the label and do a 40% - 50% water change, then dose 5 mL per 10 gallons (45 ml in your case). Since you very likely have less than 90 gallons, I would probably do 40 ml, and switch daily dosing to 8.5 - 9 ml.


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## ens124 (May 26, 2005)

Recently I had a fair bit of BBA and green spot algae which was caused by a sudden explosion in the growth ot malaysian trumpet snails in my 84g tank and threw the KH and pH out of sync. Once I have recovered the KH and pH after 50% water change, I dosed with 40ml of Excel together the change and alternate between 8 and 15ml for 4 days. After this I changed another 50% and dosed 40ml again. I then alternate between 8 and 15ml for another week and then return to normal dosage. At the end of the 2 weeks all the BBA and green spot algae had disappeared. There has been other postings where up to 3 times the standard dose has been used.


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## riverrat (Sep 6, 2005)

It's fine to use the 10ml like you have before. But do not just dump it into the tank. Instead use it as a spot treatment. Put the 10ml into a syringe and squirt it directly on the plant affected with the bba. Turn off the filter while you do this to allow some contact time. Turn your filter back on after 5 or 10 mins. Do this for a few days and I think you will like the results. 


good luck
riverrat


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## stcyrwm (Apr 20, 2005)

I've had good luck with this technique also.



riverrat said:


> It's fine to use the 10ml like you have before. But do not just dump it into the tank. Instead use it as a spot treatment. Put the 10ml into a syringe and squirt it directly on the plant affected with the bba. Turn off the filter while you do this to allow some contact time. Turn your filter back on after 5 or 10 mins. Do this for a few days and I think you will like the results.
> 
> good luck
> riverrat


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## racialfish (Aug 15, 2006)

Instead of just adding the excel to your tank use a turkey baster and squirt it on the BBA, this will kill it much faster.


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## turtlehead (Nov 27, 2004)

One thing about overdosing or using excel to kill algae is that you have to spray it where the algae is growing, not just all over the tank. I find that spraying about 1ml - 5ml at one spot will kill the algae, in my case the bba. I could see it turn red the next day and die the day after that. I my experience, it only works when it is done like that. You don't need to overdose to kill bba just spray at it.


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