Will Seachem Excel Harm my plants/fish/inverts?

I have a hair algae problem in my dirted planted freshwater community tank. The battle is being fought by manually removing as much of it as I can, having my light (24in Finnex FugeRay Planted+ LED) on no for just a handful of hours a day, and limiting food for my fish & inverts.

In another thread (see https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/algae-problems-and-how-to-deal-with-them.188662/ and ) I read that Seachem Excel is a good way to deal with hair algae (as long as start with small dosage and work up to normal daily dosage).

I vaguely recall reading in another thread on here that Excel can be harmful. Can't recall if it is potentially harmful to plants, fish, or inverts.

Below is everything I have in my tank. Please let me know if the Excel would be harmful to any of them. I'd like to try Excel as an additional way of battling the hair algae but I don't want to hurt anything in my tank.

The hair algae tends to tangle itself in the roots of my Java Ferns (they are floating until I tie them onto my driftwood) and into the fine leaves of some of my plants (Myriophyllum aquaticum and Cabomba carolinians) along with getting tangled at the base of my Anacharis.

Fish
Cockatoo Cichlid (Apistogramma cacatuoides),
Cardinal Tetras
Corydoras aeneus

Inverts
Malaysian Trumpet Snail (Melanoides tuberculata)

Plants
Dwarf Sword (Echinodorus tenellus)
Green Cabomba (Cabomba carolinians)
Green Myriophyllum (Myriophyllum aquaticum)
Giant Hairgrass (Eleocharis montevidensis)...replacing this with more E. tenellus soon
Java Fern (Microsorum pteropus)
Crinum calamistratum
Anarcharis

Many thanks in advance for your help.

 

Excel is a form of liquid carbon. It impedes algae in part by allowing plants to have an additional carbon source, thus making them able to consume more nutrients, and in a sense, starve the algae. The Anacharis is the only thing you'll have a problem with, I believe excel will melt it. All of your other plants however would benefit from regular use. It shouldnt harm your inverts, and if you want to play it safe, you can do a 1/4 dose for 3-4 days, then 1/2 dose 3-4 days, then 3/4 for 3-4 days, then dose normal daily or every other day depending how much plant density your tank has. Regarding your Anacharis, if you raise your dosing slowly over a longer time period, you might be able to acclimate the plant to excel.

 

Excel is a form of liquid carbon. It impedes algae in part by allowing plants to have an additional carbon source, thus making them able to consume more nutrients, and in a sense, starve the algae. The Anacharis is the only thing you'll have a problem with, I believe excel will melt it. All of your other plants however would benefit from regular use. It shouldnt harm your inverts, and if you want to play it safe, you can do a 1/4 dose for 3-4 days, then 1/2 dose 3-4 days, then 3/4 for 3-4 days, then dose normal daily or every other day depending how much plant density your tank has. Regarding your Anacharis, if you raise your dosing slowly over a longer time period, you might be able to acclimate the plant to excel.

Many thanks. This is exactly what I was hoping to hear. I'll have to go grab some today.

 

The only plants that I have heard that are bad with Excel are of the Vallisneria genus, vallisneria americana, vallisneria spiralis, etc.

 

Anacharis isn't good with it either

 

Excel is a form of liquid carbon. It impedes algae in part by allowing plants to have an additional carbon source, thus making them able to consume more nutrients, and in a sense, starve the algae. The Anacharis is the only thing you'll have a problem with, I believe excel will melt it. All of your other plants however would benefit from regular use. It shouldnt harm your inverts, and if you want to play it safe, you can do a 1/4 dose for 3-4 days, then 1/2 dose 3-4 days, then 3/4 for 3-4 days, then dose normal daily or every other day depending how much plant density your tank has. Regarding your Anacharis, if you raise your dosing slowly over a longer time period, you might be able to acclimate the plant to excel.

None of my LFS carried this so I had to order it on Amazon. Will try the extremely cautious dosing method suggested.

You can see the latest photo of my tank at

It will be slightly out of date because today I received a shipment of plants from Peabody's Paradise. Roughly 32 E. tenellus and two bunches of Green Myriophyllum (Myriophyllum aquaticum).