Seachem Vs. Nilocg Fertilizer Comparison Chart

Hello everyone.

Since starting my tank in December I've been using Seachem Flourish as my water column fertilizer and Seachem Flourish Tabs as my substrate/root fertilizer.

I've been looking at alternatives because I haven't been that impressed with my results so far. I also wasn't too hip on having to juggle multiple products or do daily dosages of various products, it's just too time consuming.

Just so you know, to run the entire Seachem solution you would need Flourish, Flourish Excel (not really a fert but on their dosage sheet) , Flourish Phosphorus, Flourish Nitrogen, Flourish Trace, Flourish Iron, and Flourish Advanced. So if you are counting with me, that's 7 products. No way I'm about to try and manage that...

So, I've decided to give NilocG's products a go. His Thrive product and ThriveTabs I have on order and both should be here this week. I've heard really good things about Thrive and the ThriveTabs will just be a bonus add.

Being the nerd that I am, I put together a little product comparison sheet showing the differences in the two "solutions." While I know that comparing Flourish only to Thrive is sort of short changing Seachem as their solution has you using quite a few products to get their "complete" solution, this chart compares what I was using to what I will be using and using Flourish only as a fert seems popular so I figured it was worth sharing with others who may be doing research.

Seachem Flourish vs. NilocG's Thrive



Seachem Flourish Tabs vs. NilocG's ThriveTabs

 

I think you may have switched up the labels, but glad you tried the Nilocg products. Many of us use them and love them. They are a better value, and paired with a GH booster, offer a greater amount of nutrients. Useful tables!

 

I think you may have switched up the labels, but glad you tried the Nilocg products. Many of us use them and love them. They are a better value, and paired with a GH booster, offer a greater amount of nutrients. Useful tables!

Fixed!

 

I like the Flourish Tabs and use those but I use Thrive S (shrimp safe version) and I'm very happy with it. I don't use Excel as it will melt Vals so I stay away from it. But I dose Thrive S twice a week and Flourish Tabs every 6 weeks or so. Still fidgeting with my root tab dosing schedule but I like both products and have been happy with how they've worked.

 

Just wanted to touch on what -Mak- mentioned, many of us that use nilocg products also use gH booster (equilivent to seachem equilibrium) in low amounts to “boost” but not enough to raise gH... which makes up for the ca/mg differences in the liquids... also adds some Fe and K, which raises up the level even more...

I’ve used both the mts capsules and thrive tabs from nilocg, as well as seachem... main preference for me is seachem based on the size of the thrive tab (they are huge and hard to plant in tight spaces), plants seem equally happy with both. Not sure the full analysis of the thrive tabs is available as of yet as it’s a newer product...(wasn’t a few months ago)

 

A while back, I actively switched ALL of my planted tanks over to nilocG products, quite simply because they're more potent. And I run injected CO2, and have an average "dry" PAR level of around a guesstimated (don't have a par sensor quite yet, but will soon) 80-100 (likely a higher light level, thus requiring more ferts etc.) Seachem's ferts are generally intended for low light, low tech. aquariums, which I did start with. My tap water already contains calcium for example, and my nitrates usually stay between a reading of 20-40, therefore not necesssarily requiring any bottled nitrogen. However,I DO use Flourish potassium and iron, alternating doses every day. And Seachem's root tabs as well. High tech tank or not, always use a base reference with the macros, as most "all in one" or "all purpose" ferts have about 90% of the necessary micros already included. Thrive is very good, as is Aquarium Co-Op's Easy Green, which I think is a bit better than Flourish overall. Gonna stay with Thrive here. It's the Prime water conditoner of ferts, IMO is all.