I ordered some for my planted aquarium and it finally arrived yesterday. I'm having a little bit of a pH tap issue, and I'm wondering if I should be extra careful with using it, and if it might lower my pH or kH. Also this stuff smells awful! It had been sitting out in the sun and heat for a couple hours and it was very very hot. I hadn't even unwrapped it or opend the seal and the stuff actually burnt my nostrils! It became less strong as it cooled down...but its still stinky. Could the heat have harmed the product?

Sorry Kissy, I can't help you with this one. My goldfish treat live plants like a salad bar so I have very little experience with live plants or the chemicals used when raising them. But here's a link to the Seachem's Flourish Excel FAQ section. Your question isn't answered here, but they do have a link where you can ask a new question. Seachem is probably your best bet to get the answers to your Flourish Excel questions.

http://www.seachem.com/support/FAQs/FlourishExcel_faq.html

That sort of smell is nothing I've experienced, so I agree with Bak2it about asking Seachem directly if it's been chemically altered or something by the heat.

It does have a warning on the bottle not to swallow or splash any in your eyes, so the heat turning it into a gas probably gave you a taste of what to expect if you got some in your eyes!

Organic carbon has no effect on pH or KH like carbon dioxide does (which turns into carbonic acid or something, eg acid = lower pH).

Thanks Awrieger

Hey, look what I found! A subforum moderated by a member of seachem to answer seachem questions http://www.plantgeek.net/forum/viewforum.php?f=33

Seachem replied to my post concerning the strong smell and they think it could have been chemically altered because of the strong heat. He's even offering to send me a new bottle, how nice is that?!?