anyone hear of this product ? eSHa PROTALON-707

Emg

Emg

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Jan 16, 2005
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Northeast Connecticut
emgstanks.blogspot.com
I've been having a red/hair algae problem in a 29 tank I have....and had heard some good things about this product and would like to give it a try. It's supposed to be safe for fish and plants and also adds nutrients for the plants.

I've been trying to figure out how to get rid of this algae...can't seem to find an SAE to deal with it....I only feed the tank once a day, sparingly, and there are only 3 otos, 2 dwarf gourami and 2 blue rams in this tank...along with all the plants. There is a penguin 170 biowheel running in it and a 65watt compact flourescent light fixture.....somethings out of balance, I just don't know what so I wanted to give this stuff a try but can't find it here in the USA.......anyone ever hear of it or know where I can get some this side of the pond ??


Some pics...click on the thumbnails for larger pic.....



I couldn't get this thumbnail to work for some reason.....so I posted the full size...the driftwood is fuzzy with the stuff...you can see the reddish black color of it in this pic........
algaeissue.jpg



Thanks !
 
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Looks like it's a Dutch product. I did find a few good reviews on it but who knows if there was some bias involved.

It's such a pain when things get out of balance. I'm going through the same in my 20g. I've noticed that spot treating infected areas with Excel is quite effective against most algae types but only in the short term.
 
Thanks for the reply Reiv...I do dose the tank with flourish excel per instructions each day....doesn't seem to help...though if I didn't the problem may very well be worse than it is I suppose.......

I spoke to someone at another forum about this product and she uses it has beautiful planted tanks. She had nothing but good things to say about it.....I did email the company that puts it out and asked if they have a source at this end....just waiting on a reply from them.
 
No!
Stay away from this crap!
Stay away from any algicide or snake oil cure all.

New folks get impatient and desperate and that is why these useless things have a market. They think it's the fertilizers they added or the method etc, all adding fertilizers do is relieve the other nutrient stresses the plants had, and then they go after the CO2.

So adding ferts isolates the issue, it can only be CO2 if the nutrients are in good shape, you have enough plant biomass(fully planted tank, do not wait for thinmgs to grow in, plant heavy from day one!!!!!!), regular water changes and dosing.

Excel adds what? Carbon.
95% of all algae related issues are=> CO2 related.

That's why it works well. The molecule is also rather large and blocks some algae transport uptake systems, while plants have less issues with this.

Still, you get only about 1/3 the growth as you would with proper CO2.

Reiverix, I've never once seen an aquarium product algaicide that works with plants and kills algae that did not have huge bias and every product I've test with exception to copper with some plants did not do well.

Strong oxidizers will kill algae, eg H2O2, bleach etc, but no algicide product does anything to address the long term issue.

That is what you need to focus on then you do not have algae probelms nor even think nor consider a snake oil.

I would bet I've cured more algae issues with advice + adding ferts than any algicide product to date.

Regards,
Tom Barr

www.BarrReport.com
 
No worries Tom. I wouldn't use algicide since Excel works fine and gives the plants a boost. Emg, in my 20g Excel is working against the BBA and staghorn (the tank has been a mess since I redone it) but the hair algae is having to be removed manually. I just keep picking away at it. One day it might even be gone :cool: I'm probably going to add some more stems.
 
Green algae do quite well with normal plant like conditions, but they can be beaten back well and removed without any chemicals.

Simple things like a good pruning and preening will go a very long way as will a pack of shrimp. You can do this in conjuction to rid any algae for that matter.

But the Protalon-707 is no miracle, no chemical algicide is.
You do not have algae because of a lack of herbicide/algicide and those issues can be corrected. I still find it amazing that folks will spend so much time, $ searching and wasting their time when they could get in the tank with a little elbow grease and knock the algae way back with no harm at all to the plants and have the plants grow better from the changes I suggest.

But it's the same thing everytime, and about 2-3 years, a new miracle algae cure comes out.............



Regards,
Tom Barr
 
Well it can be beneficial in that combined with "elbo grease" you can eradicate a current algae outbreak and then go after the root cause of nutrient imbalance............speeds up the process of getting the tank back on track. I have used chemicals to eradicate a BGA problem and it worked for me.....but as you said, I was desperate. Didnt harm anything though, both fish and plants are doing great.
 
Thanks much Tom for your reply ! I have high regards for anything you have to offer where planted tanks are concerned ! Reiv and Knash too ! I appreciate the advice lots !

I actually have been doing quite well keeping the algae in check....I just get tired of dealing with it. My tank doesn't look too awful bad because I am in there with the elbow grease and regular water changes and pruning etc....just would like to get it where I don't have to do that so much and can just enjoy it...lol... I have been into aquariums since 2003 and this is the first time I had considered trying any of the chemical type "fixes".

Here's a pic of the tank itself.......you can click on it to enlarge...


Those little red lilies in there are doing fantastic...not a speck of algae on them...yet... they've been in there for about a month now. I started them from bulbs. At one point I took that driftwood out and soaked it in hot water and bleach, scubbing the heck out of it....then soaked it in a good dose of chlorine/chloromine remover before putting it back in the tank...but it didn't take long for the algae to cover it again... :rant:

I do have some plant spikes in around the roots of the swords and aponogetons....do those only cause the plant not to take nutrients from the tank if they can get it so readily from these things ?? Could that be causeing a problem ?

Also....on the use of flourish excel.....is that helping the issue???...or not ?? I couldn't quite understand what you were trying to say as far as that product is concerned. I did notice that the plants were looking much healthier after I started using it, but I don't remember if I had the hairalgae before or not......guess tank logs are a good thing, if I can ever get myself to actually keep some faithfully !! :rolleyes:

Thanks again for all the help and advice....I see I came to the right place here....lol....other places I went for advice, everyone just kept telling me how nice my tank looks.... :rolleyes: Anything else you folks can offer will be much appreciated ! :)
 
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Boy, your tank sure looks nice:) :) :)!!!!!!!
Excel is an excellent carbon source for smaller tanks. A 29 would be the limit that I would find it to be cost effective in using it.
There is nothing comparable to injected CO2 for supplying a water table with carbon IMO. I think that's what Tom meant in his post. He just gets his back up when people want to use some of these 'miracle chemicals' in tanks because they are 100% unnatural and can cause more problems than they cure.
Excel will not make the algae go away instantly. But keep using it and you'll see improvement over time.

Len
 
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