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Anyone try Glutaraldehyde or Excel for CO2 in your res?

!!!

Now in technicolor
Veteran
I came across Seachem's Flourish Excel. To put it in the most basic way, it contains a source of carbon that plants can take up in water/soil.

http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/FlourishExcel.html

Flourish Excel™ is a source of bioavailable organic carbon. All plants require a source of carbon. This is typically obtained from CO2, but, may also be derived from simple organic compounds (such as photosynthetic intermediates). The use of either CO2 injection or Flourish Excel™ does not necessarily negate the use of the other. Because the processes of producing photosynthetic intermediates and building onto them occur simultaneously, one can derive a substantial benefit with the use of Flourish Excel™ either alone or in conjunction with CO2 . The combination is particularly ideal for situations when continuing to add CO2 could result in dangerously low pH levels. Flourish Excel™ also has iron reducing properties which promote the ferrous state of iron (Fe+2), which is more easily utilized by plants than ferric iron (Fe+3).

...

By dosing with Flourish Excel™ you bypass the involvement of CO2 and introduce the already finished, structurally similar compounds. It is in its structural similarity that Flourish Excel™ is able to be utilized in the carbon chain building process of photosynthesis. Simple chemical or enzymatic steps can easily convert it to any one to any one of the above named compounds (or a variety of others).


It contains 1.5-2.5% glutaraldehyde (GA) which is usually used as a sanitizer. Here are some things I've gathered from a basic search.

Metricide is a source of glutaraldehyde which may be cheaper than buying Flourish Excel. Gluterate is another brand which contains 2% GA.

GA inhibits algae growth and provides carbon to the plant. It's used in aquatic plants for disinfection and keeping algae at bay.

GA helps the plant uptake nitrogen and iron.

GA is also used for beating piss tests but it's generally tested for AFAIK.

The carbon source of plants is CO2 carbon dioxide, which it takes from the air or dissolved in water. Plants cannot assimilate anything else. Science has long looked for replacements, and the only compound that can replace CO2 is the stuff called "EXCEL". It's a fairly simple carbon compound dissolved in water. When absorbed by the plant tissue it brakes down into CO2 + something else (forgot). It is sold at aquarium stores.


The way plants incorporate nitrogen into their tissues is by using an enzyme called glutamine synthase to make glutamine in the following reaction:
(NH4+) + Glutamic acid ----glutamine synthase ---> glutamine

Glutamic acid looks like this:
glutamic_acid.gif

and glutamine looks like this:

gln.gif


Gluteraldehyde (excel) looks like this:
TR490.gif


Just look at the similarity between gluteraldehyde and glutamic acid and glutamine! The drop in nitrates makes total sense because the plant must be using gluteraldehyde as a backbone for adding nitrogen to. This is probably why the nitrate levels in the water drop after adding gluteraldehyde, because the plant can absorb more nitrogen without having to waste energy making the backbone for it.

I wonder if instead of being a CO2 substitute, is gluteraldehyde really just helping the plants absorb nitrogen faster (and therefore helping them grow faster)? After all, if it was providing CO2 then it would drive photosynthesis faster and produce pearling, and I have never seen plants pearl after adding excel, nothing like adding CO2 and seeing pearling.
 

hush

Señor Member
Veteran
Never used it on above ground plants, but it does wonders in my little planted aquarium!
 

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