Curious about the science behind Excel, Paraguard, and Stressguard

[Dave Browning]

According to the Seachem MSDS (http://www.seachem.com/support/MSDS.pdf), Paraguard, Stressguard, and Flourish Excel all use the same active ingredient... a dialdehyde known as glutaraldehyde. I am assuming the concentrations are greatest in Paraguard, less in Stressguard, and least in Flourish Excel. I know that glutaraldehyde is a disinfectant used in a limited number of hospital applications, such as sterilizing surgical instruments and other equipment.

I am very intrigued however at the use of glutaraldehyde as a source of organic carbon. I notice that the bottle of Flourish Excel lists the ingredient as "polycycloglutaracetal".

Of course I understand that I may be stepping over the line asking about this publically... I love Seachem products and I certainly understand if this is getting too far into the boundry of revealing trade secrets. *My* interest is *purely* scientific. So if it's possible, I would love to know some more about the science involved. Mainly, is there a difference between Glutaraldehyde and Polycycloglutaracetal? How did you come about discovering that plants can use it for carbon when there is low CO2 present? Are there any published scientific articles on the subject? Or is this exclusively Seachem research and a Seachem trade secret? :)

[Tech Support JR]

Sorry to take so long in answering your query... we are have just finished up a move to our new (and larger!) building this past week. To answer you question: this is an exclusive Seachem trade secret. It is based on many years of in house testing and research that shows a tremendous increase in growth similar in nature to that seen when CO2 is used. Polycycloglutaracetal is an isomeric form of glutaraldehyde... however it is less reactive and more easily utilized by plants as a carbon source. Once we have patented the product we would then be in a position to release detailed scientific studies (for trade secret reasons until then of course).

[CJN]

I searched the web and found this post about Excel which was more than a year ago! So, is it now safe to disclose more about it? Is it actually some form of glucose?

[Tech Support CH]

Excel is a proprietary blend. The best I can do as further details is to provide the link to our article on it. Its located: [url]http://www.seachem.com/support/Articles/CO2PlantedAquarium.html[/url]

[Jimbo205]

Could you please repost that link?
I tried that and could not find that page.

[Tech Support CH]

If you go to the top of this page you will see the Library/Support button. When you touch it a drop down menu appears. Click on Articles. The article on Excel is toward the bottom of the article page and is called CO2 in the Aquarium.

[CJN]

Hehe... typo in that link actually...

[Tech Support CH]

I corrected the typo. Link should work now.