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Does seachem flourish excel lower nitrates?


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Aquarium: 30 gallon with 4 dwarf gourami, 4 guppies, 12 neons, 6 amano shrimp, 4 otto cats. Also with 2 anubias, 2 monte carlos, 2 java ferns, 2 amazon swords, and one crypt.

I recently started dosing 5ml per day of seachem flourish excel about 2 months ago because I do not have real CO2 (i know its not the same but its better than nothing lol). I test my water before and after water changes and actually document levels in a spreadsheet and graph it in order to spot any changes/differences over time. After dosing flourish excel for a while, ive noticed that i am doing LESS THAN HALF the water changes I was before. Before I got excel, I had to do 50% water change like 2-3 times per month just to keep my nitrates below 40 ppm. After dosing excel for awhile, Im only doing 50% water changes ONCE A MONTH! Thats crazy right? It's cool but, what is it doing? What ingredients are causing my nitrates to increase so slowly now? Not only that but my plants really are flourishing (no pun intended). I know most people would just accept it and move on, but I want to find out exactly what is in flourish excel that's causing this.

I'm trying to understand the science behind it because its such a drastic difference (and im just a fish nerm). Has anyone else had similar observations after dosing this?

Sorry for the long/complicated question, THANK YOU in advance!

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Growing plants consume nitrate that's why many of us use fertilizer for our planted tanks. The plants are using up nitrates and other nutrients faster than they are accumulating from fish waste.

If you had a bucket of water with 40ppm nitrate and you dumped in some excel I don't believe it would have any impact on the amount of nitrate.

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Blame Seachem, but make sure you’re talking the right Excel. When you say “instead of C02” it makes me think that you’re meaning the algaecide/“liquid Co2” product, but my understanding is that Flourish Excel is the fertilizer product.

Otherwise @Jack.of.all.aquariums nailed the reason above

Edit: was wrong, flourish is the glut-lite product 

Edited by AdamTill
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Actually, if you dose flourish excel, which IS the "liquid carbon" version (flourish--no excel--is an all-in-one fertilizer without carbon) you are not adding nitrogen, but you are adding "carbon" which accelerates plant use of available nutrients, until there is a defeciency, so your observation makes sense to me. You have made the plants happier, so indirectly you have lowered your nitrates by using the excel.

Edited by Brandy
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1 minute ago, Brandy said:

Actually, if you dose flourish excel, which IS the "liquid carbon" version (flourish--no excel--is an all-in-one fertilizer without carbon) you are not adding nitrogen, but you are adding "carbon" which accelerates plant use of available nutrients, until there is a defeciency, so you obserrvation makes sense to me. You have made the plants happier, so indirectly you have lowered your nitrates by using the excel.

Potentially knocking algae back means healthier plants at times too, I believe. 

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1 minute ago, AdamTill said:

Potentially knocking algae back means healthier plants at times too, I believe. 

True, but algae also takes up nitrates so that can be a double edged sword on its own. I would rather have algae than runaway nitrates. But pretty healthy plants are best of all, so congrats @Griffinbbb!

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