Easy Green Or Nilcog Thrive?

[Fishbro5]

I have been recommended by MANY users on this forum to use Nilcog Thrive as it is more comprehensive than Flourish. Has any one had any experience with Aquarium Co-op's Easy Green? Which fert do you guys think is best?

 

[AquaticJ]

I’m actually about to do the opposite, I just finished my Easy green and want to try the Thrive. The Easy Green had big clumps of salt at the bottom of the bottle and it would clog the pump head. I also haaate the pumps, what if I need to use half the dose? I also don’t like how much these both raise the nitrates. I have heavily stocked tanks and don’t want to be adding 20-30 ppm of nitrates when it’s already there. I’m still deciding lol.

 

[abarb]

I have thrive c and my plants are growing well. My light is pretty bad though. Thrive c has less nitrate than thrive.

 

[kallililly1973]

I've been using Thrive since I started live plants. Never used Easy Green so I can't compare. But Thrive has really worked for me in my 5 planted tanks.

 

[Fishbro5]

Thanks everyone, I think Thrive is definitely the winner based on all the good feedback!

 

[Wraithen]

Just to add to the mix, you can buy his starter kit for dry ferts and mix your own. I just used a quarter the recommended nitrate salts. You can use rotalabutterfly and mix it as concentrated or as dilute as you want. Pro tip, add a little bit of excel to prevent algae growing in the bottle if you can't keep it out of the light. His bottles are also marked at 0, 15, and 30 ml. They are similar to those 2 stroke oil bottles where you squeeze a certain amount into the reservoir so you don't need a syringe or measuring cup or anything.

 

[Guanchy]

I use Easy Green I personally is my favorite fertilizer so far. Ever since I started using my plants have been doing amazing. I have never used Thrive but I also hear great things about it.

 

[-Mak-]

Easy green and Thrive have similar N and K, everything else is different. Easy green doesn’t have copper, which is a micro nutrient.

Also for those who don’t like the nitrate, Thrive only adds 7 ppm nitrate per dose. At the high tech recommendation, which is 3 doses per week, assuming your plants don’t use ANY at all, that’s only 21 ppm added, max.

 

[Fishbro5]

Easy green and Thrive have similar N and K, everything else is different. Easy green doesn’t have copper, which is a micro nutrient.

Also for those who don’t like the nitrate, Thrive only adds 7 ppm nitrate per dose. At the high tech recommendation, which is 3 doses per week, assuming your plants don’t use ANY at all, that’s only 21 ppm added, max.

So if my tank isn't high tech do I just do 1-2 squirts a week? I've decided not to use Co2, it seems a little bit too complicated.

 

[-Mak-]

So if my tank isn't high tech do I just do 1-2 squirts a week? I've decided not to use Co2, it seems a little bit too complicated.

Yep!

 

[Wraithen]

So if my tank isn't high tech do I just do 1-2 squirts a week? I've decided not to use Co2, it seems a little bit too complicated.

It's really going to depend on what your plants use. High tech and low tech, in regards to fertilizer, just makes assumptions on how much your plants will eat. You just have to dial it in. Just remember, in normal amounts and ratios, some excess fertilizer won't do anything. As long as your lighting isn't too much, you won't get algae blooms or anything. You are just throwing a bit away with water changes.

 

[Fishbro5]

Cool, thanks for the help guys!

 

[fa4960]

Make your own solution by using rotalabutterfly.com to calculate the needed amounts. Purchase the chemicals yourself, still cheaper than various starter kits in the long run, under the assumption that you can get small amounts of the less used components.

For preservation you can use Potassium Sorbate to avoid mould etc.

You can check some of my posts for my experiences. Also happy to share my Excel files for offline calculation based on same formulas as rotalabutterfly.com.

 

[Vishaquatics]

I prefer Thrive to Easy Green.

Also, what is up with the negative stigma against nitrates in a planted aquarium? I dose anywhere from 70-90ppm nitrate per week and my fish are super healthy. They are breeding like crazy and grow very fast.

In a lowtech tank, 7ppm nitrate per dose is not enough to hurt fish.

 

[Wraithen]

I prefer Thrive to Easy Green.

Also, what is up with the negative stigma against nitrates in a planted aquarium? I dose anywhere from 70-90ppm nitrate per week and my fish are super healthy. They are breeding like crazy and grow very fast.

In a lowtech tank, 7ppm nitrate per dose is not enough to hurt fish.

A lot of people that are new to plants will not have a lot of plant mass soaking up nitrates and they are afraid of high doses accumulating. Once the momentum starts going, then you have to adjust to higher nitrate doses. My tank consumes nitrates with or without plants so I have to start dosing and feeding in higher levels and it's starting to show. I'll be whipping up a hotter batch tomorrow myself.