I am trying to get this little nano of mine to the point of wild growth and it seems to be slow going... I am dosing Excel for CO2 and am wondering if anyone has seen consistent pearling with this product in place of actual CO2 injection ??? I have a hunch that this is my problem...

3-gallon
26-watts CF light
Eco-Complete Substrate
EI Dosing (to scale)... Dosing NO3, PO4 and Flourish Comprehensive
Using Flourish Excel for CO2 - ???

I have found Excel to be an excellent product for spot treatment of BBA, but have not relied on it as a source of CO2... ?

I use Excel in my 2 1/2 gallon nano tank, and haven't seen any pearling. The plants all grow, but slowly. For example I have a bit of R. rotundifola which is bigger than when I put it in there, but you can't see any day to day difference. It looks very healthy and has reached the water surface now. My light over that tank is a 27 watt PC desk lamp, about 6 inches above the water.

Ya, I wonder how much CO2 Excel really gets in there... At this point I think CO2 is the only limiting factor and am planning a little DIY CO2. Maybe I should run a test or two in the tank and see where my kH and pH are at...

I've seen a little pearling, not a lot.

CO2 will certainly produce a lot more.

Regards,
Tom Barr

I have a low light, water column-dosed tank in which the plants pearl when they are in the sun. This happens only when the sun is low in the sky, in the spring and fall, and only to those plants on which the sunlight falls, about 1/4 of them.

In that tank I use no CO2 and no Excel. The pearling is simply the result of strong light on healthy plants for a few hours.

Bill