# DIY CO2 or Excel?



## MRBLUBS (Sep 10, 2011)

So in about a week my dual T5HO lighting system will arrive for my 20 gallon tank. At the moment I have Anubius, Java fern, Crypt, and water wisteria but plan on adding Amazon sword, giant hygro, frogbit, banana plant, red ludwigia, dwarf saggiteria and money wort (maybe dwarf hairgrass). Now for ferts I have Flourish root tabs and Flourish Comprehensive supplements for the planted tank. 
Im thinking of building a Co2 system with a soda bottle as I think I'll Defently need the Co2 to control the algae. 
Now would a DIY Co2 system be the best option (dont want to spend money on an actual one) Or could I just dose with Flourish excel Bi weekly? Or would that not be enough?
Are DIY CO2 sytems as good as they seem to be, as Im getting lots of mixed reveiws and experiences.
Thanks


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## misant777 (Mar 21, 2014)

I didn't care much for the DIY approach. Been there, done it. Regular, consistent CO2 from a bottle has had the best results thusfar, for me. 

Flourish Excel is not a CO2 replacement, though it's marketed as such. That's deliberately misleading and speculative crap from Seachem's phytochem flunkies and it's not nearly as simple as that. What is simple, is that Excel is just glutaraldehyde. 

Metricide does everything Excel does, just as well and much more affordably. It's great for killing single cell organisms and rupturing the cell walls, spilling cytoplasmic contents, which leads to a whole host of circumstances well beyond the scope of "bioavailable carbon". Don't buy that line, or that product. 

You say you don't want to spend money on a pressurized CO2 system, but you're willing to spend big bucks on overpriced junk? That doesn't make sense. Save the $ you'd spend on a few bottles of Excel, and just go to a welding supply shop and buy some used gear, or hit up craigslist, or someone here...


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## MRBLUBS (Sep 10, 2011)

Really? Didn't know that about excel.... Thanks for the heads up.
I was looking around the net for some pressurized Co2 systems and the one that would fall into my budget rang is the nutrafin co2 plant system. It seems to have pretty good reviews. Would this system work good? I'm not looking for rapid growth just some extra umph and too keep the algae down. Also could I possible combine this with Flourish excel or API co2 booster for better results?
Thanks


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## micheljq (Mar 25, 2013)

I tried DIY CO2 with a 2 liter pepsi bottle on 20G. I can say growth is spectacular even with diy CO2. On the long run, it costs more. Also CO2 levels are not stable so I had algae issues, a lot of algae together with fantastic growth of my ludwigia repens and other plants.

Fertilisation must go accordingly, with CO2 fish waste cannot provide enough nutrients, growth can be 6 - 10X faster.

I did do it 2 months and stopped for many reasons.

There are people who have the patience and are keeping pretty tanks in the long run with it, other switch to pressurized CO2.

You will surely have algae on the first months, if you keep on regular water changes, manually remove algae, regular trimmings, because expect to trim plants a lot, I suppose it is feasible.

Michel.


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## MRBLUBS (Sep 10, 2011)

Trimming? Neve had to do that before! But I certainly won't mind that! 
Yeah I've been looking forward to the algae removal....... But at least it won't be the only thing growing. Hopefully. 
Thanks for the help!


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## Tugg (Jul 28, 2013)

Ditto to misant777. DIY is intense time/labor and grows you some excellent algae. I love seachem products, but excel isn't one of them. Some plants do well with it, some others have problems... Not to mention glut is an antiseptic that is effectively poison.

In both cases, the effort you put in could instead be used to pinch a few bucks and make a little cash to buy a co2 setup. When looking for your first used rig, don't look for "aquarium" products. Look for home brewer, hydroponics, welding, or soda systems. I paid $40 for a regulator and 20#bottle. Also, keep it local. Internet sources have more consumers competing to buy so the price is higher. Craigslist or a local forums for the mentioned groups will save you cash.

Another option is moving to dirt. The decomp of organics produces a fair amount of co2 for a moderately lit tank.


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## krissy (Jun 3, 2014)

Pressurized Co2 isnt not nearly as hard as it seems. I also do not like Excel.. Use it once in a blue. Some plants melt with excel.


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## BruceF (Aug 5, 2011)

Here is my 2 cents. Start an npk fert regime before you bother with co2.


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## yunney (Oct 4, 2014)

Flourish excel work great in my 40 Gallon tank, and it also help to control the algae very well.


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## TankAaron (Aug 8, 2014)

Tugg, what's that you said about dirt, and CO2? Is that more on the Walstad method?


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## Fish bone (Sep 7, 2014)

Isn't an on/off solenoid required with co2?


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