# A cheaper liquid source of carbon by  AE Design Aqua Carbon



## jimbo (5 Oct 2009)

http://www.aquaessentials.co.uk/index.p ... ts_id=2988

aqua essential own brand liquid carbon, 250ml for Â£4.49, 500ml for Â£7.99 & 1 liter for Â£14.99? i'm pretty new to the planted aquarium world & i'm yet to set up my 1st planted tank it's still in progress. I came across this product which is cheaper than excel or carbo which i will probably get instead as it's abit cheaper.
Has anyone tried it here? it's apparently the same thing as excel & carbo which is called glutaraldehyde which is just a hospital or dental disinfectant & also wort treatment apparently.

Check out this thread about glutaraldehyde on APC it's long but also very informative.

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/foru ... excel.html

I'm planning to go down the non co2 injection path & use the carbo or excel middle ground approach as I only have a nano tank. But I still want to save as much money as I can along the way.


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## SunnyP (5 Oct 2009)

I have found the Aqua Essentials Liquid Carbon to have a slower growth rate than the EasyCarbo, which I find is the best. I think it has been more diluted than EasyCarbo sloution of glutaraldehyde. Maybe its just me.


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## JamesC (5 Oct 2009)

jimbo said:
			
		

> glutaraldehyde which is just a hospital or dental disinfectant & also wort treatment apparently.


I like the 'just' a hospital or dental disinfectant. IMHO it is very nasty stuff even at the concentration that is supplied in the bottles and should be only used for short term use. For clearing up algae then ok but for a CO2 source I'd look into getting a CO2 system installed as it's much better and safer. If you have a young family in the house I would really think twice about using it in an enclosed space. To what I can gather the Seachem version seems to have a much better shelf life than all the other copies which is probably down to the stabilisers being used.

We had a big discussion about it before - http://ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=6854

James


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## Dan Crawford (5 Oct 2009)

jimbo said:
			
		

> I'm planning to go down the non co2 injection path & use the carbo or excel middle ground approach as I only have a nano tank. But I still want to save as much money as I can along the way.



I don't think George will mind me saying this but he dosed EasyCarbo as a CO2 alternative exclusively on a fast growing 60cm and for the first few months it seemed fine but i think after that it seemed to be seriously desperate for CO2 and the tank suffered. I think it can be an alternative in a slow growing tank but it's not a long term alternative for CO2 IMO.


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## AdAndrews (5 Oct 2009)

Dan Crawford said:
			
		

> he dosed EasyCarbo as a CO2 alternative exclusively on a fast growing 60cm and for the first few months it seemed fine but i think after that it seemed to be seriously desperate for CO2 and the tank suffered. I think it can be an alternative in a slow growing tank but it's not a long term alternative for CO2 IMO.



Similarly i found this with my 60cm tank, about 4 months and it was starting to go


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## jimbo (5 Oct 2009)

JamesC said:
			
		

> jimbo said:
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I read on another forum that they stabilize seachem's version with heat. Apparently it makes it less toxic and longer lasting, some people on APC forum buy glutaraldehyde from hospital supply shops in the us which has to be kept refrigerated to keep it stable. They implied that keeping it at room temperature it would slowly stabilize over time.


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