Flourish vs Brightwell Aquatics

[phin]

I need to dose nitrogen and phosphorus. Tank is only 18 gallons, so a 250ml bottle of each would last me plently long.

I'm debating between Brightwell Aquatics FlorinGrow and Flourish Nitrogen as my nitrogen supplement and Florin-P and Flourish Phosphorus as my phosphorus supplement.

Does anyone have a suggestion on which to use? I beleive the dosage with the Brightwell Aquatics would be 1-2 drops of each per day. The flourish products would be closer to .7ml once per week. Looking for a little advice.

 

[armymp327]

never heard of the other ones but i would recommend flourish as im sure most others would. I used flourish for awhile before making the switch to dry ferts, and i always had good results with them.

 

[phin]

I use BA FlorinMulti daily instead of Flourish. for the same price I got 500ml bottle, I add 3 drops per day. Will probably last me forever. i've used flourish before and seem to run through it quickly.

For comparison:




FlorinMulti:

• 0-0-0.48; Potassium (K) as Soluble Potash (K2O) (min) 0.48%; Boron 0.00006%; Carbon 0.005%; Calcium 0.14%; Chlorine 0.39%; Cobalt 0.000009%; Copper 0.00003%; Iron 0.003%; Magnesium 0.05%; Manganese 0.0002%; Molybdenum 0.000009%; Sulfur 0.16%; Zinc 0.0004%.
• Sources of Nutrients: Potassium sulfate, Calcium chloride, Magnesium sulfate, Potassium iodide, Iron EDTA, Zinc sulfate, Manganese chloride, Sodium tetraborate, Copper sulfate, Cobalt chloride, Sodium molybdate.
• Other Ingredients: Purified water, Nickel chloride.

Seachem Flourish:

• Total Nitrogen 0.07%, Available Phosphate ( P2O5) 0.01%, Soluble Potash 0.37%, Calcium (Ca) 0.14%, Magnesium (Mg) 0.11%, Sulfur (S) 0.2773%, Boron (B) 0.009%, Chlorine (Cl) 1.15%, Cobalt (Co) 0.0004%, Copper (Cu) 0.0001%, Iron (Fe) 0.32%, Manganese (Mn) 0.0118%, Molybdenum (Mo) 0.0009%, Sodium (Na) 0.13%, Zinc (Zn) 0.0007%.
• Derived from: Potassium Chloride, Calcium Chloride, Copper Sulfate, Magnesium Chloride, Ferrous Gluconate, Cobalt Sulfate, Magnesium Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Boric Acid, Sodium Molybdate, Zinc Sulfate, Protein Hydrolysates.

_______________________________________________________________
Florin-Gro:

• 1.5-0-0; Total Nitrogen (N) as Nitrate (min) 1.50% (444 mg/oz.; 15,000 ppm)
• Sources of Nutrients: Sodium nitrate.
• Other Ingredients: Purified water, Kelp extract.

Flourish Nitrogen:

• Total Nitrogen (N) 1.5%, Soluble Potash (K2O) 2%​
• Derived from: potassium nitrate, urea (iminium salt)

______________________________________________________________
Florin-P:

• 0-0.35-0; Total Phosphate (P2O5) (min) 0.347%
• Source of Nutrients: Potassium diphosphate, USP.​

Flourish Phosphorus:

• Total Phosphate (P2O5) 0.3%, Soluble Potash (K2O) 0.2%​
• Derived from: potassium phosphate

 

[armymp327]

well if the current fertilizer is working for you, and is cheaper then id say stick with it. but i can only speak on what ive used, and ive had good results with flourish, the brand you are using does seem to have a much smaller dose but as you said, its meant to be used daily so that would explain why.

 

[aqua_chem]

I don't get your logic. The Flourish line has more nutrients, and more of your nutrients with the exception of potassium. How would Brightwell's line last you longer?

 

[calfishguy]

I need to dose nitrogen and phosphorus. Tank is only 18 gallons, so a 250ml bottle of each would last me plently long.

I'm debating between Brightwell Aquatics FlorinGrow and Flourish Nitrogen as my nitrogen supplement and Florin-P and Flourish Phosphorus as my phosphorus supplement.

Does anyone have a suggestion on which to use? I beleive the dosage with the Brightwell Aquatics would be 1-2 drops of each per day. The flourish products would be closer to .7ml once per week. Looking for a little advice.

Just to add 250ml bottle of phosphorus or nitrogen won't last long. I have to dose over 30-40ml of phosphorus a week in my planted 29. It's not highlight either. IMO your much better off getting the 500ml bottle you get more for your buck.

 

[Zimmanski]

Just to throw it out there, dry ferts from GLA that would contain everything you need would cost $30 and last you years in a small tank, where as just the two 250ml bottles would probably cost you more and last weeks. I have just come to terms with this myself and started recently with the dry ferts thanks to a couple members on this forum, now I smile ear to ear while dosing my tanks instead of questioning when I can afford to buy yet another bottle of mostly water from seachem or BA.

 

[armymp327]

true, i use the GLA PPS-PRO package and it is very simple to use, just 5ml from each bottle a day and thats it, i expect that 30 dollar purchase to last me at least 1 1/2 years for my 38 gallon.

its the same as flourish or anything else, all you are doing is saving a ton of money and adding the water yourself

 

[Zimmanski]

true, i use the GLA PPS-PRO package and it is very simple to use, just 5ml from each bottle a day and thats it, i expect that 30 dollar purchase to last me at least 1 1/2 years for my 38 gallon.

its the same as flourish or anything else, all you are doing is saving a ton of money and adding the water yourself

Yep, I was hesitant at first too and used premixed ferts for months. But with dry ferts its just x grams of this, x grams of that, mix in a bottle with distilled water, then 1ml/10 gallons/day. I made up my first mix and still have literally pounds of the stuff left.

Edit: Here is a link to an album on my profile, it includes both a seachem dosing regimen and the GLA PPS pro system. I'll be done trying to convince you after this post. And back to your original question, I have used seachem and BA both and yes the BA is appealing due to the small doses, but between the two I will always choose Seachem
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/members/65395-albums11979.html

 

[phin]

Yep, I was hesitant at first too and used premixed ferts for months. But with dry ferts its just x grams of this, x grams of that, mix in a bottle with distilled water, then 1ml/10 gallons/day. I made up my first mix and still have literally pounds of the stuff left.

Edit: Here is a link to an album on my profile, it includes both a seachem dosing regimen and the GLA PPS pro system. I'll be done trying to convince you after this post. And back to your original question, I have used seachem and BA both and yes the BA is appealing due to the small doses, but between the two I will always choose Seachem
Aquarium Advice - Aquarium Forum Community - Zimmanski's Album: Dosing Charts, GLA and Seachem

Thanks for the advice. I went ahead and ordered the ferts I needed from Green Leaf Aquariums. I ordered a pound each of Mono Potassium Phosphate and Potassium Nitrate. Including shipping, it cost me $14, and you're right, it will last me much much longer than liquid ferts. I didn't order any other supplements as I still have a 500ml bottle of FlorinGro. I add 3 drops daily (~1/5mL) - it will last me years.


Mono Potassium Phosphate (KH2PO4) - $5.00 / Pound
$5.00
Potassium Nitrate (KNO3) - $3.00 / Pound$3.00

 

[Zimmanski]

Sounds good, you'll need something to mix the ferts in, you turn the dry ferts into liquid ferts and dose that. The GLA website has the gram amounts to add to each 500ml of distilled or RO/RODI water, you can use tap but the ferts won't dissolve completely and will settle so you have shake it up every time you want to dose it. Distilled water is like 68 cents per gallon at Walmart. I created an excell spreadsheet with the gram amounts and dosings for a 10, a 20, and a 75 gallon tank that you might want to look at, it's in my photo albums on my profile. You'll want to separate the nitrate from phosphate so you can dose to your needs, I separated the spreadsheet into three sections(or bottles) but you can take out the other ferts from the equations and be fine.

Edit: guess I could make it easier and attach the pic haha, here it is.

 

[phin]

Sounds good, you'll need something to mix the ferts in, you turn the dry ferts into liquid ferts and dose that. The GLA website has the gram amounts to add to each 500ml of distilled or RO/RODI water, you can use tap but the ferts won't dissolve completely and will settle so you have shake it up every time you want to dose it. Distilled water is like 68 cents per gallon at Walmart. I created an excell spreadsheet with the gram amounts and dosings for a 10, a 20, and a 75 gallon tank that you might want to look at, it's in my photo albums on my profile. You'll want to separate the nitrate from phosphate so you can dose to your needs, I separated the spreadsheet into three sections(or bottles) but you can take out the other ferts from the equations and be fine.

Edit: guess I could make it easier and attach the pic haha, here it is.

Thanks. I do water changes with RODI water from the grocery store ($0.69/gal), so I always have some on hand. I have a digital scale that measures to the 0.1gram to measure my buffers and gh remineralization mix, so accurately measuring to mix with 500ml won't be a problem. @ 1ml/10g I have a perfect dropper (comes with infants' ibprofin) than measures to 1.875ml - perfect for my 18 gallon tank. Thanks for all the help.

As for how long the dry ferts will last me on an 18 gallon tank:

1lb of Potassium Nitrate = 453 grams = 13.72 of 33g/500ml solutions. @ 1.875 ml/day, one 500ml solution will last me 266.667 days, so 453 grams of potassium nitrate will last me over 10 years.

For 1lb of Potassium Phosphate, at only 3g per 500ml, 1lb will last me over 110 years.

 

[Zimmanski]

Thanks. I do water changes with RODI water from the grocery store ($0.69/gal), so I always have some on hand. I have a digital scale that measures to the 0.1gram to measure my buffers and gh remineralization mix, so accurately measuring to mix with 500ml won't be a problem. @ 1ml/10g I have a perfect dropper (comes with infants' ibprofin) than measures to 1.875ml - perfect for my 18 gallon tank. Thanks for all the help.

As for how long the dry ferts will last me on an 18 gallon tank:

1lb of Potassium Nitrate = 453 grams = 13.72 -500ml solutions. @ 1.875 ml/day, one 500ml solution will last me 266.667 days, so 453 grams of potassium nitrate will last me over 10 years.

For 1lb of Potassium Phosphate, at only 3g per 500ml, 1lb will last me over 110 years.

Haha I thought about trying to do that math, then didn't haha. Just keep the product in a cool dry place and it may or may not keep for that many years, but still years