Plant Supplement

[Viperboy]

I got Flourish Comprehensive and Leaf Zone by API and was just wondering which would be better to use to help my plants out?
TIA

Ray

PS 29gal planted .... about 1.25WPG and dosing flourish excel every now and again

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Never heard of Leaf Zone.....

Flourish Comp is just for trace elements, and is better than Flourish Trace. But it won't give you your macros, like nitrogen, phosphorus, or potassium. Micros is just half the battle, Macros is the other half, depending on how heavily planted, bioload, and how much lighting.

 

[rich311k]

With your lighting you probably dont need to dose anything unless you see a growth or algae problem. Your water changes should be enough.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

I agree as well. Trace elements like in the Comp and also added Potassium won't hurt either. I'd probably just do small doses of Comp once a week just to suppliment the traces, and if you can get Potassium, that will be beneficial as well. But like rich states, with your setup, you really don't need it, as long as you do regular water changes, as they will renew all the trace elements.

 

[Viperboy]

Yea just did a PWC today after i found i had broke my python thing that goes on the faucet and went to the store and got a new one for $10 ... but i just want more growth and good growth and i dont want em to die since my tank is still fairly young ..... but leaf zone if by API .. i hadnt heard of it either then i looked it up and i think it has some potassium in it ... i got these in a package deal from the plantxchange

Ray

 

[Lonewolfblue]

I just looked it up. It's Potassium and Iron. I wouldn't dose both that and Comp, as I believe an OD on iron could lead to more algae problems. If I had a choice, I'd probably use just the Leaf Zone for now.

 

[Viperboy]

ok thanks bud

 

[fish_4_all]

I would also recommend upgrading your lighting if you really want faster growth. It made a huge difference in my tank. I used an 80 watt standard steal fixture over 2 10 gallon tanks and it is working great. $23 total with good bulbs.

 

[Viperboy]

well if i put a true 65watt CF bulb in my fixture i would be at 2.25ish but i dont think i wanna do that just yet cause im not ready to build a CO2 system all by my lonesome ... but i guess i could just dose the excel since im doin it already ... we will see ill price some of the 65watt bulbs at my LFS ... i have the combo 10k and acitnic bulb which i think makes it 32 1/2 watts (correct me if im wrong) ... this is my fixture i upgraded to about a month ago

http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=29601;category_id=1869

Ray

EDIT: If i wanted to upgrade my lighting i believe this is the bulb i would want to get ... http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=30621;category_id=1845 (again correct me if im wrong cause i would like to know)
TIA

 

[fish_4_all]

I think that is right. Also remember that even at half light, the CF gives you 135% compared to the normal calculations. That would be 1.5 watts already and maybe approaching a point where you need CO2 anyway. It is really easy to do, even a power diffuser although I still don't have a power head I can modify to make one. I use a passive one in my 10 gallon tanks and the plants love it. Give it a try and it just might give your plants the boost they need.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

The CF will give you about 135% total light. So remember that in your calculations....

I'm using Excel in my 29G, and I'm at 3w/g. I do have an algae problem, but I think I've got it figured out now. From my research, it's brown algae, which is common in new tanks. So I'm just going to stay with my dosing calendar and see what happens from here.