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EasyCarbo max dose

Andy Pierce

Andy Pierce

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Joined
27 Nov 2020
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761
Location
Cambridge, UK
I was checking out some "pro tips" from Jurijs Jutjajevs of Tropica, and in this one: he discusses how to get rid of staghorn algae by "spritzing" them with a homebrew microbubble formulation of EasyCarbo, which is interesting, but then he also meantions "standard disclaimer: don't use more than the recommended amount" before going on to say that warning labels notwithstanding, he uses 100 ml EasyCarbo in a 500 L tank, which would be 5x the max listed dose (2 ml / 50 L) and 10x the recommended usual dose (1 ml / 50 L). I have been using 1.25 ml / 50 L EasyCarbo daily plus weekly spot treatment with no obvious ill effects on fish, shrimp or snails. I do EI dosing with CO2 with weekly 50% water changes, and while would say I have a reasonably tolerable relationship with algae with a good scrape out needed every 3 weeks or so, I wouldn't mind potentially boosting up the EasyCarbo to see if I could stretch the heavy maintenance piece out from every 3rd water change to every 4th, or 6th etc.

For people who use daily EasyCarbo, could you please post how much you use daily (per 50 L water) and whether you've tried to push higher but dropped back down due to detrimental effects?
 
I was dosing 120ml of Excel in 500l tank to try and Eradicating Riccia? It failed to get rid of the Riccia as the dose wasn't enough, the only detrimental effect was my bank balance 🙄

Do plan to dose plants at a higher level, but to use a smaller tank for few weeks to keep cost down, moving soon so rescape/new tank is on the cards, so will do it before reusing plants with say tank with 100l of water in only.
 
Personally its not something I would want to overdose. Even at the normal rate I'm convinced it melted my Cryptocoryne Usteriana whereas every other plant seemed fine.
I'd rather look at other alternatives, another water change in the week, clean out any mulm in the tank or filter, ensure flow is high enough in the tank, reduce lighting etc.
One highly respectable planted tank enthusiastic hammered it home for me with, “there's a reason that there's a maximum dose on the bottle 😉 ”
 
Fred Dulley said:
I'd rather look at other alternatives, another water change in the week, clean out any mulm in the tank or filter, ensure flow is high enough in the tank, reduce lighting etc.
One highly respectable planted tank enthusiastic hammered it home for me with
Click to expand...

For Staghorn I would agree 100% :thumbup:, for Eradicating Riccia is another quest all together
 
Fred Dulley said:
“there's a reason that there's a maximum dose on the bottle 😉 ”
Click to expand...
Well... the bottle also says "EasyCarbo is a very powerful and effective source of carbon for aquarium plants." which we all know isn't really true, which then calls into question everything else on the label as well. 😉
 
I had been using 2ml/50l with no impact on fish but did loose a few new born shrimp so dialled it back to 1ml/50l. No idea if the easy carbo was the reason for lossess as I guess a few runs in every batch will not make it.
 
I used Seachem Excel in US which is 1.5% glut, and the dosing direction is: On initial use or after a major (> 40%) water change, use 1 capful (5 mL) for every 40 L (10 US gallons). Thereafter use 1 capful for every 200 L (50 US gallons) daily or every other day.

Based on Seachem dosing direction, I calculated the initial high dosage is 2 ppm and daily low dosage thereafter is 0.4 ppm. According to the toxicity test data I compiled below, fish can tolerate up to 5x and shrimp 20X the initial dosage, or 10 ppm to 40 ppm glut respectively with no harm. So glut has low toxicity to fish and shrimp, and you can safely dose several times the recommended dosage with no harm to live stock.

I regularly dose 2 ppm after weekly water change to prevent algae, and have dosed as much as 4 ppm daily for 10 consecutive days to eliminate mosses. Glut's half life is 10 hours and will be biodegraded completely in 24 hours, so there is no cumulative toxicity effect you should worry. If your goal is to eliminate algae, you need to dose no less than the high initial dosage as the low daily dosage will not be sufficient.

I do not know the concentration of glut in EasyCarb, but if you can convert the dosage to ppm to see if it is within the safety guideline.

Toxicity of glutaraldehyde
96h acute Bluegill sunfishLC50 = 11.2 mg/L
Bluegill sunfish NOEC = 10 mg/L
48h acute Oyster larvaeLC50 = 2.1 mg/L
96h acute Green crabsLC50 = 465 mg/L
96h acute Grass shrimpLC50 = 41 mg/L
48h acute Daphnia magnaLC50 = 0.35 mg/L
Daphnia magna NOEC = 0.32 mg/L
96h algal growth inhibition Selenastrum capricornutum ILm = 3.9 mg/L
Algal inhibition Selenastrum subcapitataIC50=1 to 1.8 mg/L
96h algal growth inhibition Scenedesmus subspicatusEC50 = 0.9 mg/L
Bacterial inhibition Sewage microbesIC50 = 25-34 mg/L
96h O. mykiss (Trout hatch rate)IC50 = 1.82 mg/L
96h C. dubia (Daphnia reproduction)IC50 = 4.7 mg/L
*EC=Effective concentration; IC=Inhibition concentration; LC=Lethal concentration;
NOEC=No observed effect concentration
 
I think a lot depends on the time frame you plan to dose it for. A lot of the toxicity tests are only done over a 48/96 hr time period and doesn't give any info regards long term exposure.

I'd been dosing at the normal recommended levels for about 2months and noticed general fish health seemed to decline. Could be totally unrelated to excel but I've now stopped using it.
 
John q said:
I think a lot depends on the time frame you plan to dose it for. A lot of the toxicity tests are only done over a 48/96 hr time period and doesn't give any info regards long term exposure.

I'd been dosing at the normal recommended levels for about 2months and noticed general fish health seemed to decline. Could be totally unrelated to excel but I've now stopped using it.
Click to expand...
Yes, all reported toxicity tests are acute, not chronic exposure tests. Chronic tests have been conducted by hobbyists in practice though by following Seachem dosing instruction and some even double to triple the daily dosage with no harm reported. The exceptions are sensitive plants such as Vals, Hornwort and mosses which Seachem has warned against.

Dosing daily may not kill shrimp but may affect their reproduction as some claimed. But it's hard to tell as there can be many reasons shrimp fail to reproduce even without dosing.
 
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