co2 verus excell

Tom, you have mentioned that excell is about 1/3 as much as co2.i had a co2 regulator crap out on me and had to send back to dealer for warranty.been excell-erating these tanks. all my tanks have several species of crypts,java fern,anubius and java moss.noticed that since i've been using excell only, plants look great.my question is,can a person use press.co2 in a smaller amount and reduce nutrients to get same activity as excell w/o getting into trouble?i will be getting connected to co2 again when i get reg back.i allready have co2 equipment,and its much cheeper in the long run than excell.all of my tanks are medium light for the exception of one.would you stay with excell? i'm seeing that these kind of plants look better when they don't grow so fast. regards,cornhusker