It bothers me when they don't list the contents on their front page. It appears I would have to go out of my way to see what is in this fertilizer. List of ingredients? Something to tell me what kind of iron chelation and amounts? I don't like that. The first thing you should see is what the product is, not what it can do.

 

List of ingredients?

It says, at least per the picture on the bottle: Contains Nitrate, Phosphate, Potassium, Iron, Magnesium, Copper, Boron, Manganese, Molybdenum, and Zinc.

Bump: Nilcog also has a Macro and Micro liquid fert, in separate bottles. All ingredients and amounts are listed.
http://nilocg.com/liquid-npk-m/

 

Yea, I know what you mean. The liquid ferts like flourish are expensive over time, but they get the job done. I have just started learning to make my own liquid ferts from dry for pennies a year, instead of dollars a month. I killed some fish by adding too much nitrate....but I'm not going to give up because I like saving money. Premixes are a convenience and I like that too. Until you feel like mixing your own, I think the seachem ferts are good enough.

 

His diy ei liquid package has the amounts right on the bottles. I got the package shipped with a pound of gh booster for 32$. One bottle of flourish is 15$ from my local petsmart.

If you use his ei liquid package on a low tech tank it would last you a long time. Using metricide instead of excel too and your saving some serious cash.

 

So I ordered Flourish Excel and Flourish Iron from dr.foster and smith for $5 a bottle. I still have my bottle of Flourish comprehensive I got from my LFS for $9 and I have half a bottle left even after using it for 8 months. I think this will be best for me since these bottles should last me a little over a year. Once the bottles come in the mail I have to figure out a dosing schedule.

I was thinking on dosing the excel, iron, and comprehensive on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I do a 25-30% water change on Saturday and add Prime.

I hear some people dose excel every day. I don't think this is necessary for my tank as my anubias has good growth but I just want a little extra boost. A select few of my leaves are a bit yellow, not terrible but noticeable, hence the flourish Iron. Also noteworthy is that this tank is low light (single t8) and low demanding plants. Anubias, marimo moss balls, java moss, and some anacharis I thew in the corner just to see how it does.

Bump:

Bump: Here is a picture just for reference.

 

Bump:

Bump: Here is a picture just for reference.

Really beautiful tank. I love the use of Marimo Balls. I've never really liked those things but the way you use them in your tank is inspiring. It makes me want to go out and buy some and duplicate your tank. I want that tank in my house.:bounce:

 

I see marimo moss balls in your tank - I wouldn't use Excel. They are a form of algae and excel will kill them

 

They are a form of algae and excel will kill them

Yes they are a form of algae but excel in small doses will not harm them. People normally run into issues when the dose is doubled or when putting excel directly onto the marimo.

 

ok - do as you will.


for Nicolg's stuff - I trust him. He's a member on here and is pretty active. You could always just PM him.

 

So what's the difference then between Thrive Thrive All In One Liquid Fertilizer | 500ml Bottle - NilocG Aquatics and the Liquid Dosing Liquid NPK+M - NilocG Aquatics

 

Two bottles versus one. Three days of dosing versus six. Colin's thrive has his own proprietary blend versus EI though.

Ive been using thrive for about 2 weeks versus dry dosing. To be honest I am getting better growth from some stubborn plants I've had trouble with in the past. Too early to tell 100 percent but it seems to be a good mix. I was planning to going back to making my own solutions already since I have some suspicions around dry dosing causing my issues.

Long term I think thrive will be too costly to dose for my 48g tank though.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

I do not believe the Aquarium Hobby is overseen by the US Dept. of Agriculture's or FDA guidelines on product information. Lately I am concerned about quality and trust fertilizers and livestock feed that are overseen by each agency. If it doesn't have a USDA stamp, or is 're-packaged' product, there may be a quality and content issue. So buying dry fertilizer and mixing my own gives me the most confidence in the final product. If I can't mix my own, then I would appreciate a listing label of percentages and types.

**The USDA and FDA are some of the USA's most valuable agencies IMHO. They are responsible for the quality oversight of food from it's fertilization and feed (livestock) to our tables. I believe this issue over labeling contents may also involve FDA guidelines. If you label something listing percentages/contents, you may be subject to audit by the agency.? All others, 'Buyer Beware'.

 

Regulated or not, aquarium brands and even house plant fertilizers have a "guaranteed analysis" listing percentages.....just sayin


Edit: Not sure about ADA, but I know Seachem and Tetra does because Im sitting here looking at it.

 

I appreciate everyones feedback, in the past I have provided the breakdown for most everything else, but for the time being I wont be doing so for this. If thats a deal breaker for you I respect that and understand. I hope that everyone has a nice day. Thanks.

 

Thrive will probably be my go-to vacation fert form now on. I travel a lot and telling care-takers to add various fractions of white powders into tanks is just a bad idea. Too many things can go wrong.

With Thrive, it's brain-free and thought-free. It's simple. If the tank holds up well while I'm away, I may consider using it on a regular basis.

As far as ingredient non-disclosure, well, that's a strategic misfire that I somewhat understand and accept. I'd think the 'secret sauce' is in the process and chelation rather than quantity of actives. Given that EI folks are controlling micro-mangers of their tank environment, this may frustrate some of us. But from a business perspective, there are probably 10 convenience-seeking, non-micro-managers for every EI person. So NilocG may be on to something after all.

 

I used to micromanage as well but after talking with Colin for a long time I finally trusted him enough to try it out on my baby. I'm glad I did because I've been very happy with results and though I do add Fe once per week and I double the dosage on Mondays after my WC, I think for most tanks it will do just fine with the recommended dosage. That being said, each tank is different and what works for some, may not work for others. I do think you're right though that the real secret to thrive is the process and chelation rather than quantity of actives.

 

Interesting. I just bought some thrive for a planted 20g aquarium. It will be a fresh setup and I will be starting with this dosing method. Can Post weekly pictures if anyone is curious about the progress.