C02 And Flourish

If I have 5 or 6 beginner plants can I use flourish instead of a c02 system? I can't afford the c02. I've done well not using anything but i've never had more than 3 or 4 plants at once. I've never even used root tabs. I do however have a lot of fish to fertilize naturally I guess. 25 fish total. I also wonder if the fish give off c02 like we do?
1 common pleco
7 corys
6 swordtails
1 angelfish
3 guppies
3 roseline sharks
4 kuhlI loaches
Any info would be appreciated.

 

A good all in one fertilizer is ThriveC for low tech planted tanks. It will work much better than flourish. If you have root feeders such as swords then it would be good to get root tabs. You can cut them in half and put each half on either side of the root feeding plants u have
Edit... double check about the thrivec some is for lower ph and some is for shrimp.. but it will tell you which one will work best depending on inhabitants and water parameters

 

ok thanks!

 

I use thrive C. Thrive C has less nitrogen therefore giving off less nitrates compared to regular thrive. Regular thrive will give 6ppm of nitrates per dose. Thrive + is for high tech tanks with a ph of 7 or lower and contains two forms of nitrogen and it puts in 7ppm of nitrates per dose. Thrive + is mostly suited for those using a co2 system where their ph drops to 7 or below because of it. Thrive S is for shrimp/snails and has no copper in it whatsoever.

I have a nerite and the thrive C contains 0.0001% copper but it doesn’t affect him at all.

However, I dose 1.5ml of thrive C twice a week in my 6 gallon and it seems to do well. I get new growth on my plants once a week or so. It’s not enough for me though so I’m looking into co2. Just remember that thrive is based on EI Dosing so you can dose as much or as little depending on needs of your plants. Thrive C suggests 20-30% weekly water changes and regular thrive suggests 40-50% weekly water changes depending on your nitrate readings (you may need to higher or lower that percentage based on how much fert you dose and how high or low your nitrate levels are).

Flourish doesn’t do anything from my experience. I used to use that before I made the switch to thrive C.

If you barely have nitrates in your tap (5ppm or below), go with regular thrive. If you want a little liquid carbon boost (non glut based unlike excel) but have some nitrates in your tap, go with thrive C. Never tried the thrive S so I don’t have anything to say about that one.

They also make root tabs but if you don’t have any root feeders then liquid fert is good enough.

 

I currently have 0 nitrates and my tap has 0 nitrates. I just recently did a major cleaning on my tank because of black beard algae and at the time of the cleaning still only had about 1 ppm. removed and cleaned all plants except my new sword plant. The plants died and now are just green sticks, i'm sure they'll die soon. The sword is new so it's still kind of small. I was looking into getting anubis, Alternanthera ReineckiI Rosanervig, Ruffled Amazon Sword Echinodorus Major Martii, Bacopa Lanigera, Hygrophila corymbosa minima compact, Lobelia Cardinalis Dwarf, Java Fern, Ammania Gracilis Red, Staurogyne Repens, Echinodorus Aflame Tissue Cup Red Amazon Sword, Greenpro Lucky bamboo dracaena sanderiana green, Bolbitis Asiatica Potted Exotic. Ok so OBVIOUSLY I would not get all these but I was researching which ones might work. I'm sure many of these are more advanced plants so I'm still reading up on them. I do plan to root tab and if the thriveC or just thrive would be sufficient for maybe 5 or 6 of them would be great. My tank is a 90 gallon so with the number of fish I thought that would help with nitrate level but really doesn't. Should I get a few more fish? Also, what kind of dosage would I need? I could do like 3 times a week for thrive? Thanks for all the help!!

 

I would start with adding root tabs and dosing maybe one to one and a half times a week to see how that works for you .

 

Ok, are there any plants on the list that you would NOT recommend me getting? I've only had swords and a couple kinds of rotala (not sure which ones) I had a snail problem before I got the assassin snails and they ate all but my rotala. Then the black beard algae took over my remaining rotala so not real knowledgeable about these except that before the stupid snails and algae bloom they were healthy. I would love a mixture of colors and shades. I really wanted some of the soft almost fuzzy looking plants but until I make sure no more black algae I want broader leaves that I can rub it off of. Thanks for all the info you've been giving. I can't wait to get more plants. My tank looks so empty.

 

Ide wait for a more seasoned plant pro to chime in for recommendations

 

ok

 

I currently have 0 nitrates and my tap has 0 nitrates. I just recently did a major cleaning on my tank because of black beard algae and at the time of the cleaning still only had about 1 ppm. removed and cleaned all plants except my new sword plant. The plants died and now are just green sticks, i'm sure they'll die soon. The sword is new so it's still kind of small. I was looking into getting anubis, Alternanthera ReineckiI Rosanervig, Ruffled Amazon Sword Echinodorus Major Martii, Bacopa Lanigera, Hygrophila corymbosa minima compact, Lobelia Cardinalis Dwarf, Java Fern, Ammania Gracilis Red, Staurogyne Repens, Echinodorus Aflame Tissue Cup Red Amazon Sword, Greenpro Lucky bamboo dracaena sanderiana green, Bolbitis Asiatica Potted Exotic. Ok so OBVIOUSLY I would not get all these but I was researching which ones might work. I'm sure many of these are more advanced plants so I'm still reading up on them. I do plan to root tab and if the thriveC or just thrive would be sufficient for maybe 5 or 6 of them would be great. My tank is a 90 gallon so with the number of fish I thought that would help with nitrate level but really doesn't. Should I get a few more fish? Also, what kind of dosage would I need? I could do like 3 times a week for thrive? Thanks for all the help!!

Plants love nitrates. Some of the plants you listed are root feeders and some are column feeders. Some will grow fast and they require (absorb) more nitrates where others are slow growers which will require (absorb) less nitrates ... let this be your guide in making the decision of which thrive product will work best for you. Some of the plants mentioned would also prefer quality soil substrate where others can be attached to rock/driftwood. Some of them will also do much better with co2.

If I were you I’d start with the basics... swords, Anubias, ferns, and my favorite... bucephalandra (they’re like Anubias... hardy, don’t require much except for good light and some good flow). Tie rhizome plants to driftwood and fertilize or if you must plant, plant only the roots and not the rhizome. Root tab the swords and dose thrive (or thrive c) once a week for month or so. Test nitrates and see how your plants are doing. If nitrates stay below 10ppm and your plants look like they could use more fert, then up your dose to two times a week. Again test for nitrates and observe your plants. Keep doing this until you see a balance of healthy plants and nitrates below 20ppm before your next water change. You can basically do whatever you need to with EI Dosing... the directions on the fert bottle are just suggestions and they are the minimum requirement to get some micro and macro nutrients into your tank.

For me (as an example), my nitrates go back down to 5ppm by the third day after a water change with fert dosing. This tells me that the 5ppm left over will be sucked up by my plants within the day so I will need to dose fert again.

As long as you keep testing for nitrates until you find a balance, you’ll be fine.

It’s up to you if you want more fish or not. The more nitrates they produce, the less nitrates you’ll want in your fertilizer especially if you have slow growing plants (just keep that in mind).

Also, I emailed Colin (NilocG owner) about thrive C’s nitrate content and it only contains 3ppm of nitrates per dose compared to regular thrive that has double the amount at 6ppm per dose.

If you decide to get fast growers in the long run, regular thrive would be best. But if you decide to stick with slow growers, I say go with thrive C.

 

Thank you so much!