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Shelf life

idris

Member
Joined
3 Jan 2011
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816
Location
Herts
Does glutaraldehyde have a shelf life.
I found some a the bottom of a box of aquarium junk that's likely 4 or 5 years old and am wondering whether it's worth using?
 
This was taken from a planted tank post some years ago.

"Flourish excel does not "expire". Once opened you can further increase quality of product by refrigerating, although this is not necessary. Keep in room temperature as large flux in temperatures can "degrade" quality, none the less it is still useable.
--
Seachem Technical Support"

There's some information online that suggests medical grade glutaraldehyde stays stable in refrigerators for between 1~4 years, although to be fair I only skimmed over these references.
 
My medical grade Glutaldehyde, Metricide, has printed shelf life of 2 years on the bottle. But once activated with the stabilizer, it has to be used up in 14 to 28 days as labeled in Metricide 14 and Metricide 28, respectively. I’m not certain the purpose of the stabilizer which is sodium nitrite, so don’t ever add it in aquarium use as it is toxic to fish.

I have big tanks and use up one gal glut in a year. I dose at 2 ppm (initial high dosage per Seachem) after weekly water change as a preventative measure against algae. I figure it is better off use up the bottle once opened as the content has finite shelf life. I have no visible algae on the plants, but it may be helpful to prevent algae on the glass lid and hardscape surfaces.
 
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