[roy12j]

Hello Everyone,

Does anyone use the above products listed? I have recently started a planted aquarium for the first time and purchased these two supplements to be used. I have had the plants in the tank for almost three weeks and I have been dosing with the flourish excel for the whole time and Trace Elements for about two weeks. I have an Amazon Sword, Cryp, and Dwarf Sagittarius. I have learned recently that Seachem Flourish Excel could kill Sagittarius. Is this true? Also, with the dosing of these two products, will I need root tabs also? Any information that could help would be awesome!

 

[Savetheplants]

Excel has something called glutaraldehyde in it which is used as a disinfectant and preservative. Maybe it can affect Sagittarius plants. Sword plants like to have root tabs. The trace elements are in tap water but I put them in on days I don't change the water when I dose macros.

 

[ortkenj]

I believe Trace Elements is basically a watered down Flourish, you'd be better off just using Flourish. Yes, Excel can affect sag, as they can with vals. Also, I'd stop with Excel if I were you. Some may have success with it but majority don't really see a difference. It may even have a negative impact, like with Sag and Vals. Not using excel would be one less worry. You are better off learning how to balance your aquarium than depending on excel for growth or algae maintenance (as it is mostly used to target those pesky unsightly things due to the glut)

 

[roy12j]

I believe Trace Elements is basically a watered down Flourish, you'd be better off just using Flourish. Yes, Excel can affect sag, as they can with vals. Also, I'd stop with Excel if I were you. Some may have success with it but majority don't really see a difference. It may even have a negative impact, like with Sag and Vals. Not using excel would be one less worry. You are better off learning how to balance your aquarium than depending on excel for growth or algae maintenance (as it is mostly used to target those pesky unsightly things due to the glut)

Okay, thanks! I will have to do some research on how to properly balance the tank.

 

[ortkenj]

Okay, thanks! I will have to do some research on how to properly balance the tank.

It is just a matter of providing the correct amount of nutrients to the plants to make sure algae does not get ahold of them for its own growth, as well as providing the correct amount of light in correlation to plant mass and nutrients. I believe in you, it becomes light work as you master it

 

[Savetheplants]

Seachem sells Flourish Nitrogen, Flourish Phosphorous and Flourish Potassium. They are expensive. It's quite a racket. They're just water and plant nutrient salts mixed in concentrations that are convenient to dose. You can get these same salts from greenleafaquariums.com in powder for ten times less money. There is also a good all-in-one fertilizer called Thrive by Nilocg. These are three good options for your macro fertilizing with powder being the hardest but not too hard to use. The hardest fertilizer to use is inexpensive and the easiest to use is expensive in this line up. Thrive is a good compromise.

You also need to dose micro fertilizer on alternating days from your macros. You dose macros and micros each three times a week. Traces go in on macro dosing days. Seachem Flourish is a micro fertilizer. To make a long story even longer you will want to dose Iron. I just saw a pump bottle of Micros and one for Iron on nilocg.com. greenleafaquariums.com sells micro mix with Iron.

There are three things you will need. Macros, micros and optional trace elements. Excel is used as an alternative to CO2 that certain plants can use for Carbon. It's also good for killing algae and as a preservative for DIY liquid fertilizer mixes. It's maybe not what you expected. Don't throw it out. It may come in handy some day.

I know this can be confusing. I almost overdosed my Potassium the other day and sometimes I grab the wrong bottle of fertilizer. You do have to pay attention but you will get good at it.

 

[roy12j]

Seachem sells Flourish Nitrogen, Flourish Phosphorous and Flourish Potassium. They are expensive. It's quite a racket. They're just water and plant nutrient salts mixed in concentrations that are convenient to dose. You can get these same salts from greenleafaquariums.com in powder for ten times less money. There is also a good all-in-one fertilizer called Thrive by Nilocg. These are three good options for your macro fertilizing with powder being the hardest but not too hard to use. The hardest fertilizer to use is inexpensive and the easiest to use is expensive in this line up. Thrive is a good compromise.

You also need to dose micro fertilizer on alternating days from your macros. You dose macros and micros each three times a week. Traces go in on macro dosing days. Seachem Flourish is a micro fertilizer. To make a long story even longer you will want to dose Iron. I just saw a pump bottle of Micros and one for Iron on nilocg.com. greenleafaquariums.com sells micro mix with Iron.

There are three things you will need. Macros, micros and optional trace elements. Excel is used as an alternative to CO2 that certain plants can use for Carbon. It's also good for killing algae and as a preservative for DIY liquid fertilizer mixes. It's maybe not what you expected. Don't throw it out. It may come in handy some day.

I know this can be confusing. I almost overdosed my Potassium the other day and sometimes I grab the wrong bottle of fertilizer. You do have to pay attention but you will get good at it.

Seachem sells Flourish Nitrogen, Flourish Phosphorous and Flourish Potassium. They are expensive. It's quite a racket. They're just water and plant nutrient salts mixed in concentrations that are convenient to dose. You can get these same salts from greenleafaquariums.com in powder for ten times less money. There is also a good all-in-one fertilizer called Thrive by Nilocg. These are three good options for your macro fertilizing with powder being the hardest but not too hard to use. The hardest fertilizer to use is inexpensive and the easiest to use is expensive in this line up. Thrive is a good compromise.

You also need to dose micro fertilizer on alternating days from your macros. You dose macros and micros each three times a week. Traces go in on macro dosing days. Seachem Flourish is a micro fertilizer. To make a long story even longer you will want to dose Iron. I just saw a pump bottle of Micros and one for Iron on nilocg.com. greenleafaquariums.com sells micro mix with Iron.

There are three things you will need. Macros, micros and optional trace elements. Excel is used as an alternative to CO2 that certain plants can use for Carbon. It's also good for killing algae and as a preservative for DIY liquid fertilizer mixes. It's maybe not what you expected. Don't throw it out. It may come in handy some day.

I know this can be confusing. I almost overdosed my Potassium the other day and sometimes I grab the wrong bottle of fertilizer. You do have to pay attention but you will get good at it.

If I were to get root tabs would this give my plants the macros they would need? Or will I have to buy a macro-specefic fertilizer, like you have mentioned?

 

[Savetheplants]

The best result I ever got out of Amazon Sword Plants was by using root tabs. But I was also dosing the water column. You can get great results from nutrient rich substrates or soil. I'm not sure how much you have to dose using those. Keep it simple. Maybe just get the Nilicg Thrive and the Nilocg Micro.

 

[roy12j]

The best result I ever got out of Amazon Sword Plants was by using root tabs. But I was also dosing the water column. You can get great results from nutrient rich substrates or soil. I'm not sure how much you have to dose using those. Keep it simple. Maybe just get the Nilicg Thrive and the Nilocg Micro.

The best result I ever got out of Amazon Sword Plants was by using root tabs. But I was also dosing the water column. You can get great results from nutrient rich substrates or soil. I'm not sure how much you have to dose using those. Keep it simple. Maybe just get the Nilicg Thrive and the Nilocg Micro.

I only ordered the thrive because it is advertised as containing both micro and macro elements. Is this true? In that case, I should not need the micro, right? I appreciate all of oyur help! Defintely starting to get a grasp on my fert regime!

 

[Savetheplants]

I only ordered the thrive because it is advertised as containing both micro and macro elements. Is this true? In that case, I should not need the micro, right? I appreciate all of oyur help! Defintely starting to get a grasp on my fert regime!

I was looking to see if Thrive has micros at work today on my break. Work ruins everything. It's like they actually expect you to work or something. Now that I'm off, I see that Thrive does have micros. That really simplifies things. I've never used it before. Sounds pretty great.

I had an interesting thought after my last post that you could just dose Potassium as your macro and let the fish dose the Nitrate and Phoshate. Fish are very scientific precise dosers. Also beware of root tabs that leach nutrients into the water. You can always back off on the Thrive if you have to and dose Potassium separately. You would have to then dose micros separately to compensate.

Lastly, I will leave you with two things to check into. First, check out using CO2 either pressurized or DIY with yeast. CO2 is what allows you to turn up your lights. Second, check out low-tech tanks. I think low-tech is when you rely on your substrate as a primary nutrient source like you were asking about.