# My Excel Only 46 Gallon Tank



## hbosman (Oct 5, 2006)

I see a bubble ladder in there. Are you doing any yeast based co2?


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## Birds'nBunny (Sep 3, 2008)

hbosman said:


> I see a bubble ladder in there. Are you doing any yeast based co2?


Haha, you have sharp eyes! I knew someone was going to spot that! 
The short answer is "no."
The long answer is that I've started getting set-up to add CO2. I'm going to be leaving my tanks in the care of a house sitter while I'm out of town for several months. I'm guessing the sitter will probably forget to add Excel every day since he's going to be doing quite a bit of other pet-related stuff as well. I thought the addition of low-level CO2 might be the best alternative. I'm going to start adding CO2 next week to see what changes. I don't know what the best solution is, really. I hate to leave everything in someone elses hands, but since I'll be snowboarding in Canada, it's worth it!


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## yikesjason (Jul 2, 2008)

snowboarding in Canada for a few months? You must be one of the glacier people on Mt. Hood the rest of the year. 

My 125 was Excel only for a while. Now I run co2 with some excel added a couple of times a week. If I could just find some great deals on Excel, I would probably stay excel only. I was going though a 2 liter bottle in about 3 months. Not bad for the bottle I got on craigslist for $20. But those don't come around that often. How much are you using? Where do you get it?

The tank looks nice.


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## Birds'nBunny (Sep 3, 2008)

Jason,
I don't have a cheap source for Excel unfortunately. But I only add 4ml a day to my tank so the bottles last for awhile. 
I've found the key is being careful to dose every day. I used to be pretty lax about it, and my plants never looked that great. Once I start dosing consistently, I saw a big improvement.

Sometimes I'm a glacier person, but in summer I usually prefer playing golf. : )


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## Birds'nBunny (Sep 3, 2008)

I guess I need to re-title this thread because this tank is no longer Excel-only. Today we hooked up our new pressurized CO2 system. I got a nice, used regulator from TPT member Kali (Thanks Kali!) and a 5lb tank from Airgas. I "supervised" while my fiance' did the installation. When I asked him if he needed me to print out the instructions that Kali had so helpfully provided, he laughed at me. He used to be the brew master at Mt. Hood Brewing Co. so he knows his way around a regulator pretty well. 

No problems setting it up, and now it's happily bubbling away. As Kali wrote at the end of his instructions, I'm ready to "cut cut cut trim trim trim"


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## problemman (Aug 19, 2005)

nice looking tank


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

that's a nice-looking tank with a good selection of plants for low-tech.

i'm sure you'll appreciate the new CO2 system.


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## jart (Jan 17, 2003)

Nice tank! Hopefully the CO2 will get rid of the BBA.


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## Birds'nBunny (Sep 3, 2008)

jart said:


> Nice tank! Hopefully the CO2 will get rid of the BBA.


Thanks! 
The BBA hasn't gotten any better or worse yet with the CO2, but I also haven't been pro-active about removing it so that's not surprising. Most of the plants are looking a little perkier. One good thing is that my Hygro sp. bold has put out a bunch of new shoots, and is looking much healthier now. Before I started the CO2 I didn't think it was going to make it, but now it seems to have gotten a new lease on life.

I feel like I'm part of the in-crowd now that I have CO2. I'm all ready to head into the Equipment Forum and start bitching about the inconsistent flow rate I'm getting from this Clippard needle valve, just like one of the cool kids. Luckily, it's been turning itself down, not up, which is inconvenient rather than dangerous.


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## kali (May 8, 2009)

Birds'nBunny said:


> I feel like I'm part of the in-crowd now that I have CO2. I'm all ready to head into the Equipment Forum and start bitching about the inconsistent flow rate I'm getting from this Clippard needle valve, just like one of the cool kids. Luckily, it's been turning itself down, not up, which is inconvenient rather than dangerous.


 you thought that bad try milwaukee NV lol. sorry it does that sometime thats why i up-grade to victor regulator and parker NV , before i sold that to you , i did order the fabco NV-55 from rex, it was sold before the NV getting to me , i was totally forgot about that too ( rex got back problem and did take a lil times to mails out thats why) but the fabco is here now and got no use for me anyways . let me know if you want to do a lil DIY and swap that Nv out for fabco? ,PM you anyways .


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## yikesjason (Jul 2, 2008)

So, how has your tank done with a couple of months of co2? Have you made any other upgrades?


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## hbosman (Oct 5, 2006)

Hopefully, you started adding KNO3 to the fert program. With co2, your plants will run out of nitrates and probably phosphates as well.


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## kali (May 8, 2009)

birdn'bunny out of town for a while ...dunno if she back yet? anyways if you back some update please.


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## Ariel301 (Sep 7, 2009)

Very pretty, and very green! You should get some new pictures on here when you can, so we can see what difference the CO2 has made. 

I take it from your name and picture that you're a bird and rabbit person. What kind of birds have you got? I raised cockatiels for a while. Would love to have a big parrot, but my husband's afraid of birds.


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## susankat (Oct 14, 2007)

Try some glucohydride, works just like excel, is cheaper and can get it a most pharmacies.


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## x2h (Dec 23, 2008)

Nice tank. i dose excel only too, literally. no ferts. no nothing. but i start to see some holes on my java fern leaves!


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## Dunga (Oct 25, 2005)

Hi,

this is my low tech Excel only tank. 
It's a 85 gallon tank.
I add some flourish too.

Cheers.

Fauna:

5 Clown loaches
10 Sidthimunkis dwarf loaches
6 Yoyo loaches
1 Sumo loach
3 Ottos
1 Coridora sterbay
1 golden CAE
1 Angelfish
1 Dwarf puffer

Flora:

Hygrophila corymbosa
Microsorum


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## trailsnale (Dec 2, 2009)

Curious if OP now prefers co2 vs excel/lower tek method?

Tank was fantastic looking. Can't imagine it would get better... but would like
his/her thoughts.

Thanks,


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