Info Before You Buy Flourish And Ferts In General

As you know I have been a user of the Seachem line for a very long time. But like many things I have no loyalty to them. It is simply a product to fill a need. I am approaching the time that I will be needing to order more 2 and 4 liter bottles. The cost is not insignificant.

I am always looking for a more cost efficient way of accomplishing my goals. This thread is helpful in that regard.

Thank you for the words Thunder. Chemically speaking I have no doubt that each Seachem fertilizer is high quality. I too am looking at moving away from liquid ferts, regardless of the higher macro/micro composition of some, as the fact is they are still mostly water. The flexibility of dry dosing is looking very appealing to me right now.

 

Thank you for the words Thunder. Chemically speaking I have no doubt that each Seachem fertilizer is high quality. I too am looking at moving away from liquid ferts, regardless of the higher macro/micro composition of some, as the fact is they are still mostly water. The flexibility of dry dosing is looking very appealing to me right now.

The cost is getting out of hand for me. With the aquariums I have and the lights (the 150 tall has a Finnex plant 24/7 CC and a Current plant plus pro) the plants are consuming the ferts at an alarming rate. I have backed off on the feeding to see what would happen, and the plants are showing the results. Pin holes (they do love their potassium) and the red myrio in the 150 is thinning in the bottom half. So I brought the ferts back up. I have enough for about a month. I need to solve this before I place another large order.

 

The cost is getting out of hand for me. With the aquariums I have and the lights (the 150 tall has a Finnex plant 24/7 CC and a Current plant plus pro) the plants are consuming the ferts at an alarming rate. I have backed off on the feeding to see what would happen, and the plants are showing the results. Pin holes (they do love their potassium) and the red myrio in the 150 is thinning in the bottom half. So I brought the ferts back up. I have enough for about a month. I need to solve this before I place another large order.

The other stickied fertilizer guide in this subsection has some basic info on dry dosing EI:
https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/a-beginners-guide-to-plant-fertilizers.363013/

Very knowledgeable user, unfortunately no longer an active account for some reason. Which means we won’t get an update on the other dry dosing method, PPS pro, but perhaps other internet resources will have something on it

 

-Mak- thank you for making this post! I've been doing research on plants a lot lately. But none on fertilizer! I just have one question. If I got a variety of "beginner" type plants, will thrive work for all the plants? Or will I need to do more if I have lots of plants? I grew legal cannabis a while back, so I understand the NPK ratio a bit and how plants need light and fertilizer etc. I ain't no scientist though so I never got a full grasp on it! Haha but again thanks so much you've helped me tons!

 

-Mak- thank you for making this post! I've been doing research on plants a lot lately. But none on fertilizer! I just have one question. If I got a variety of "beginner" type plants, will thrive work for all the plants? Or will I need to do more if I have lots of plants? I grew legal cannabis a while back, so I understand the NPK ratio a bit and how plants need light and fertilizer etc. I ain't no scientist though so I never got a full grasp on it! Haha but again thanks so much you've helped me tons!

For sure Thrive will! You may not even need regular Thrive, ThriveC is good for very low tech setups. The only thing to note is that if you have soft water (below 5 GH), a GH booster is probably needed regardless of the type of liquid fertilizer you use

 

For sure Thrive will! You may not even need regular Thrive, ThriveC is good for very low tech setups. The only thing to note is that if you have soft water (below 5 GH), a GH booster is probably needed regardless of the type of liquid fertilizer you use

Awesome man thanks! And I'm thinking of getting a really good led light but that's all haha so would we call that medium tech? Hahaha jk. I know my water is quite hard! Calcium build up on everything here.

Hey do you use led? Any brands you would recommend? I've heard of the watt per gallon rule but can't find any leds that powerful at lfs

 

Awesome man thanks! And I'm thinking of getting a really good led light but that's all haha so would we call that medium tech? Hahaha jk. I know my water is quite hard! Calcium build up on everything here.

Hey do you use led? Any brands you would recommend? I've heard of the watt per gallon rule but can't find any leds that powerful at lfs

My favorite that I've used is Chihiros, which is sort of like a discount ADA looking thing but actually puts out good PAR levels for the price. It fits best on rimless tanks though. Also remember that powerful light with no CO2 leads to algae.

Watts per gallon is outdated, PAR is what you're looking for as watts don't have to correspond to intensity. This is an excellent read

 

My favorite that I've used is Chihiros, which is sort of like a discount ADA looking thing but actually puts out good PAR levels for the price. It fits best on rimless tanks though. Also remember that powerful light with no CO2 leads to algae.

Watts per gallon is outdated, PAR is what you're looking for as watts don't have to correspond to intensity.

Thanks for the read man! Definitely makes sense. I used to grow legal cannabis and I did tons of research on led grow lights. I have a few of them but they are like 100 watts and you cannot look at them at all lool way to bright for fish! I'll definitely be doing research on aquarium grow lights now haha

 

Thanks for the read man! Definitely makes sense. I used to grow legal cannabis and I did tons of research on led grow lights. I have a few of them but they are like 100 watts and you cannot look at them at all lool way to bright for fish! I'll definitely be doing research on aquarium grow lights now haha

Glad to help! I'm the one here who knows nothing abut terrestrial grow lights haha. There are some monster aquarium lights that you definitely should not look at as well.

 

Flourish was recommended to me at Petco and since I have been using it I have had many plants melt completly and become a total loss from lack of nutrients.

 

I have been using liquid fert's for over 10 years. I use Thrive, iron, potassium, nitrogen, excel, phosphorus and advance.
I also use root tabs.
My plants seem to do very well.
I do not use co2, Lights on about 7 hrs a day

 

I have been using liquid fert's for over 10 years. I use Thrive, iron, potassium, nitrogen, excel, phosphorus and advance.
I also use root tabs.
My plants seem to do very well.
I do not use co2, Lights on about 7 hrs a day

Are all those you use different products or one with all that in it?

 

Are all those you use different products or one with all that in it?

All different bottles

 

I wanna ask, is Seachem Flourish Comprehensive gonna help me with a small 10 gallon tank which has Amazon Sword, Hairgrass, Water wisteria, guppy grass and some other small plants?

 

I wanna ask, is Seachem Flourish Comprehensive gonna help me with a small 10 gallon tank which has Amazon Sword, Hairgrass, Water wisteria, guppy grass and some other small plants?

How many fish are in the tank? If you have a high bioload, the fish poop and uneaten fish food might provide the nitrogen the plants need. But if you have an aquarium like mine, a 10-gallon tank with only a betta, you're probably going to need more macros than Flourish provides.

 

I have two 5 gallon tanks that are moderately planted (but as plants grow in it will definitely be heavy). I would love for my plants to grow much faster than they are and so far whenever I stick a Flourish tab under one they take off.

What fertilizer would you recommend? The first tank has a male betta and 4 pygmy cories and the second has a male betta, cherry shrimp, and soon to be 4 dwarf cories. It has two ember tetras right now but they're going to my friend. I'm most concerned for my cabomba aquatica, it's not doing great.

 

How many fish are in the tank? If you have a high bioload, the fish poop and uneaten fish food might provide the nitrogen the plants need. But if you have an aquarium like mine, a 10-gallon tank with only a betta, you're probably going to need more macros that Flourish provides.

I have one male betta, 4 guppies and 3 snails.
Snails is a question for another topic, I only had one Nerite snail and out of nowhere I got 2 small snails in the tank, which I'm not sure if it's ok to leave them there or no, but yes that is what I got in the tank.

 

Have you tested your nitrates recently?

 

Have you tested your nitrates recently?

It you asked me, yes I have - 29mg/l

 

That's a good amount of nitrates for the plants you have. As a point of reference, some people prefer 15-25 ppm. If those nitrates are from fish food and waste, your bioload seems to be supplying enough nitrogen. Have you tested the nitrates in your water source?

Although the nitrates are adequate, the other macros or micros might not be. If you aren't seeing signs of deficiency but just want to be sure the basics are covered, you might try Flourish Comprehensive and see how it goes.

 

That's a good amount of nitrates for the plants you have. As a point of reference, some people prefer 15-25 ppm. If those nitrates are from fish food and waste, your bioload seems to be supplying enough nitrogen. Have you tested the nitrates in your water source?

Although the nitrates are adequate, the other macros or micros might not be. If you aren't seeing signs of deficiency but just want to be sure the basics are covered, you might try Flourish Comprehensive and see how it goes.

Yes, nitrates in my tap water are showing between 20-22 mg/l.

I had another post before about it and I’m not sure if the readings are correct I got some really weird results so as soon as I can I’ll get some different test kits then the Tetra strips, ph level is going up to 8.8 / 8.9.

I can see some dots on the leaves on the amazon sword but I see a lot of new growths so It should be fine. I had I think some brown algae on the leaves too so I cleaned that up with a soft brush and did water change. Also, from 10h I put the light to be ON for 8h.

 

This is image has helped me better understand micro nutrient needs for plants.

Image

 

So, after reading through this, I've come to the conclusion that both my Java Fern and Anubias are experiencing nutrient deficiency in my 38G.

I have been dosing Thrive once/week and will now bump up to 2x/week:
Water change: 50% Sunday.
Thrive dosage: Monday (7/ml)
Thrive dosage: Thursday (going forward - 7/ml)

I had the thought that too much fertilizer may cause algae, but apparently that's not true. I believe that the algae growing on both the Java Fern and Anubias is possibly due to not enough nutrients.
I do not have a source of CO2, yet am willing to use Excel on the tank (@ 1/2 dosage) to at least reduce the existing green spot algae on plants/aquarium sides. Yet perhaps going forward - the 2x Thrive dosage will eliminate the need for that. We'll see.

I have one of those newer led lights above the aquarium (covers the length), yet I really have no idea how bright or not it is - since we used to measure in watts/gallon? The brand is JC&P from Amazon.ca, yet there are so many out there. I'm going to presume it's a heck of allot brighter than the previous fluorescent fixture that came with the aquarium 30+ years ago.

 

So, after reading through this, I've come to the conclusion that both my Java Fern and Anubias are experiencing nutrient deficiency in my 38G.

I have been dosing Thrive once/week and will now bump up to 2x/week:
Water change: 50% Sunday.
Thrive dosage: Monday (7/ml)
Thrive dosage: Thursday (going forward - 7/ml)

I had the thought that too much fertilizer may cause algae, but apparently that's not true. I believe that the algae growing on both the Java Fern and Anubias is possibly due to not enough nutrients.
I do not have a source of CO2, yet am willing to use Excel on the tank (@ 1/2 dosage) to at least reduce the existing green spot algae on plants/aquarium sides. Yet perhaps going forward - the 2x Thrive dosage will eliminate the need for that. We'll see.

I have one of those newer led lights above the aquarium (covers the length), yet I really have no idea how bright or not it is - since we used to measure in watts/gallon? The brand is JC&P from Amazon.ca, yet there are so many out there. I'm going to presume it's a heck of allot brighter than the previous fluorescent fixture that came with the aquarium 30+ years ago.

Oh wow, this is a very old thread

The OP's post is very misleading though. The MICRO percentages in flourish's description does not mean much because these micros may not be in a form that plants can absorb.

I don't want to be the bearer of bad news but your plants are likely not suffering from nutrient deficiency. Anubias is an extremely slow growing plant, sometimes only growing a few leaves in 2 years. Java fern is also fairly slow growing and will need years to overtake an entire tank.

 

Actually - I have 2 different Anubias species in my 38G & they are both growing quite well.
There are new leaves visible at least every month. Same with the Java Fern.
Purchase date: Feb.21/2020

The problem is:
1. Anubias - a couple of the leaves in each of the 2 plants have holes in them, with some necrosis and algae build up on all the leaves.
2. Java Fern - many leaves are getting black holes, necrosis - dying off.

Whereas, I'm having no issues with Vallisneria/Dwarf Sag/Crypt/Bolbitus (not sure exact types of each).
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I was not discussing Seachem Flourish - I was talking about NilocG Thrive and increasing the frequency with which I dose the 38G aquarium.

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Edit: I also have a 10G aquarium with 1 Anubias plant that is well over 10 years old. It sees new leaves ~ 3-4 weeks, at minimum. It is in excellent shape with no holes/no necrosis/no algae on the leaves.
It receives 0.75ml of Flourish per week + 1ml Excel. Yet, that's not the focus of my post - the 38G is.

 

Actually - I have 2 different Anubias species in my 38G & they are both growing quite well.
There are new leaves visible at least every month. Same with the Java Fern.
Purchase date: Feb.21/2020

The problem is:
1. Anubias - a couple of the leaves in each of the 2 plants have holes in them, with some necrosis and algae build up on all the leaves.
2. Java Fern - many leaves are getting black holes, necrosis - dying off.

Whereas, I'm having no issues with Vallisneria/Dwarf Sag/Crypt/Bolbitus (not sure exact types of each).
--------------
I was not discussing Seachem Flourish - I was talking about NilocG Thrive and increasing the frequency with which I dose the aquarium.

If your plant actually has a deficiency in some nutrient, a single dose should have a visible effect on the symptoms. If it has no effect then your plant is either not ready to increase uptake in this nutrient OR it is not deficient in it OR whatever you are dosing does not actually contain this nutrient.

You should never even have to consider upping the dose, or doing weekly doses.