Excital red slime remover review

S

steelcaveman

Premium Member
Step one - take a pic. I took the phosban reactor off the tank for a month, that was a mistake. I put it back on today for the green algae seen in the pic. I also changed all the water filters & membrane. The TDS meter was in the double digits.
As seen in the pic - there is cyno on the rock.
I also have some in the fuge.
I added Excital per the instructions 10 hours ago and removed the carbon. The water is yellowish. The good news is that the skimmer is running just fine.
The LFS suggested dosing 7 days instead of the amount suggested of 5 days.
Per the bottle - 10 days till visible results. WE SHALL SEE!
 
Never head of it. Can you post a picture of the bottle as well?
 
What does it smell like? Did you taste it? LOL
 
Hehe. Some people are crazy enough to try. I was NOT suggesting you do. ;)
 
After three doses.
Corals do not care for this stuff.
Specifically - alveopra, goniopora, chalices, zoos. Rest of the corals appear unaffected.
The Alk appears to drop with this product - but can't verify this as I did not test the water before adding the product.
The pic tells the story- very little if any improvement after three doses.
On a positive note - The cyno does appears to be slowly detaching from the live rock.
 
I have completed the five treatments as instructed on the bottle.
I will not be treating for seven days as suggested by the LFS.
The reason is that my corals look terrible today.
See pic. I hope the all survive - but the chalices look terrible.
So far there is no improvement - as noted in the pic.
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I sent a few questions to the manufacturer.
1) when should be carbon be put back in the tank?
2) why are my corals looking terrible? Bottle reads, "100% safe"
3) if a second dose is needed - what time frame between treatment?
4) How long after the last treatment should one wait to do a water change?
5) if corals die from your product - do you offer any protection to your customers?
6) if the product does not work - do you offer a refund?
 
I've been watching this post (with high hopes) and so far, I'm not impressed with the results (or lack thereof). I have used chemiclean in my Biocube and it works within a day, then a 25% water change a few days after that and we're back in business.
 
It has been 7 days since the first dose.
The corals on the top half of the tank look terrible.
The corals on the bottom half appear fine.
The cynaono looks worse than it did after the first treatment.

I have a theory as to why my corals near the top of the tank look terrible, but the one at the bottom look fine.
I am going to run some water tests and find out.

Verdict - worse than snake oil.
Bottle states "100% safe" and has a photo of what appears to be a torch coral on the bottle.
"Naturally Defeats & Prevents Outbreaks of Cyanobacteria"
"Red Slime Remover"
None of the claims on the front of the bottle appear to be accurate at this time.

Easy-Life did not respond to email.
 
I've had nothing but good results with Chemi-clean. If I were you, I'd blow off all you can with a turkeybaster. Siphon out what you can. Treat the tank, and in about four days it'll look great. Follow the directions or ask me for details. I've used both the powder and the liquid versions.
 
My theory - Excital is lugols mixed with a very concentrated carbon source.
Lugols - based on the color of the liquid, no smell.
Carbon source - my diatom issue literally vanished in a few days, and I had read an article a few years ago about dosing lugols and Microbacter to kill cyano.
By dumping the contents into the top of the aquarium the bath that the coral received would not be good.
To test my theory I have done the following:

Tested the tank water.
Results:
Phosphate - zero. Left it stand for an extra 30 minutes - reading is still zero.
Silicates - zero.
Iodate - too high to read on the test kit - over .2ppm
iodide - .06ppm
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Mixed fresh batch of saltwater - iodate 0ppm
Added 1ml of Excital to 25oz of the fresh saltwater - iodate .03ppm - but hard to tell as the product is color of lugols.
This is where it gets interesting.
I went to rinse out the vials and the vial with the Excital turned very dark yellow.
I tested the tap water for iodate - reading was off the chart.
This would explain my very high iodide and iodate readings from my tank water.
My old RO membrane was bad and did not filter the water properly.
I accidentally had left the R/O unit in the flush position with the water running for a few days - likely reason it was failing.
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Today I am going to do a large water change and siphon out the cyano.
Then lights out for three days.
I need to reduce my iodate concentration - as the current readings are not safe for corals.
I am going to add active carbon tomorrow.
I am also going to wait on doing any other cyano treatments to see if Excital does anything beneficial.
Plus the contents of the bottle are unknown, don't want to make matters worse.
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Regardless of my iodate readings in my tank - I still contribute my coral losses to Excital and the cyano issue have not improved.
IMO the additional idodate in the Excital appears to be what put my corals over the edge.
Lesson - test your iodine levels.
 
+1 on cemi-clean. I have used it and it works great. Just make sure you have an air pump line to oxygenate the tank.
 
Leaving an RO system in flush mode for an extended period definitely does damage, as you mentioned above. I can't emphasize how important it is to set a timer and turn it back to the normal position once the chime elapses. 1-2 minutes is more than enough, honestly.
 
Here is the 10 day pic.
On Saturday I scrubbed and siphoned all the cyno.
It does appear to be providing a benefit, as it did not grow right back.
Unfortunately many of my corals look terrible.
Still no response from the Manufacturer.
The LFS is going to discuss the matter with the Eheim rep that distributes this product.
 
No response from manufacturer.
Done about 40% in water changes and ran Chemiclean as the cyano started up in the sand bed.
Tank looks great now - less the $1,500.00 in corals that are now dead.
I still do not know what is in the bottle.

Latest I've heard is that it work kind of like Clarity + ChemiClean without the active ingredient + something else.
Basically messes with your biological filter causing an ammonia and nitrate spike and causes your SPS corals to choke.
Which would explain why the SPS and chalices died and the larger LPS look fine.

I was able find some reviews in Germany that had results like mine.
If the item does not list the ingredients - do not put it in your tank.
I cannot believe I was stupid enough to put this in my tank. [smilie=swear.gif]
 
Update -
I heard from Eheim. Pleasant surprise.
They are standing firm that the product did not cause my coral loss.
On a good note - most of my corals did make a full recovery.
They did offer some compensation, to keep the LFS happy, but I have not received anything.
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Regarding the product -
1) need to remove cyano prior to treatment - not indicated on the instructions.
2) the products coloration affects the cyano's ability to process light.
3) contains a food source for another bacteria that out competes cyano - did not understand that part of it - the bacteria is not in the bottle.
4) results may take up to 30 days.

On a happy note, no cyano.
 
Kudos to Eheim and the LFS (Exotic Aquatics). They replaced the corals. I have always been a huge Eheim pump fan. A good relationship with a great LFS makes this hobby worthwhile.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
 
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