Tetra Florapride Help

[SeverumGuy]

I've been dosing florapride in my 55g tank for almost two months now. I do a 10g waterchange every week and I add enough florapride to make up for the fresh water being added. The bottle says to add some at each water change or once a month. Should I be adding enough florapride for the whole tank with every waterchange or am I doing it right? Also, is it possible to add too much ferts?

 

[Coleallensmom]

Florapride mostly contains Potassium and Iron. I used it for a while when my tank was only lightly planted with some swords and some java fern. I think it is possible to add too much ferts, but I added Florapride at every water change (following dosage instructions) and it was enough to keep the swords and java fern very healthy. Now that I have a lot more plants in my tank, I've switched over to Seachem's Flourish.

 

[SeverumGuy]

Thanks, I'll look in to Flourish. What does it add to the tank?

 

[Coleallensmom]

There are several different kinds; I currently have Flourish Comprehensive and Flourish Excel. This is the ingredient listing for the Comprehensive:

*Flourish™ Comprehensive Plant Supplement contains a rich assortment of important trace elements, vitamins and amino acids, formulated especially for aquatic plants in a freshwater environment. Formulas each sold separately.
Guaranteed Analysis:
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%
Size: 8.5 fl oz

This is the ingredient list for Florapride:

*Tetra FloraPride nourishes aquatic plants, promotes production of chlorophyll, does not pollute the natural environmental conditions in the aquarium. Tetra FloraPride promotes the growth of aquatic plants through a combination of mineral nutrient (Potash) and trace element (Iron). This product does not contain phosphates or nitrates.
Ingredients:
Potassium Sulfate, EDTA, Iron Chloride, Sodium Hydroxide, DPTA, Ammonium Heptamolybdate, with Demineralized Water.
Guaranteed Analysis:
Soluble Potash (K2O) 3.00% Iron (Fe) 0.19% Molybdenum (Mo) 0.0005%
Size:
Net Wt. 8.45 fl. oz. (250 ml)

 

[SeverumGuy]

I'll definitely look into Flourish Comp. Is it better to dose Comp and excel at the same time?

 

[Coleallensmom]

Seachem has a complete line up of fertilizers under the Flourish name that you can mix and match depending on the needs of your plants. In my lowlight tank, I am dosing with Flourish Comprehensive. In my higher light tank I am using both the Comprehensive and the Excel.

Hopefully someone who is a bit more knowledgeable then me will chime in here and give you some more advice. What type of plants are you growing?

 

[SeverumGuy]

I'm growing two types of java ferns, three types of mosses, anubias, two types of amazon swords, some kind of grass, and a few other plants that I can't recall the name. Some are low light and some are moderate to higher light. I'll get the names of the rest tomorrow. I'll be going to where I got them from.

 

[kbuser92]

I've had great luck with FloraPride alone in my 10 gallon that's pretty heavily planted. Every other water change, I add enough for the whole tank (every other change because I'm WAY overstocked right now and I do 2 a week...until I get my 30 gallon set up *hopefully* in the next couple weeks...don't overstock.)

As long as you have enough light for your tank and the plants, it works great and it works fast. Good luck!

 

[SeverumGuy]

Well, I'm still having plants that lose leaves from turning yellow, so I know there's something missing.

 

[mudraker]

Anubius and swords are heavy root feeders and are probably benefiting from the micro nutrients in the florapride.

If you have stem type plants (the ones you can't remember...) they may be starved for macronutrients such as nitrogen and phosphate which Flourish provides, though in small amounts.

Your med/high light plants also require more CO2 than your tap water provides.

Excel increases the amount of available CO2 and is a good start for the med/high light plants but may or may not be enough.

If you have Vals or Arachnis (try to find out what all the plants are if you can) Excel could make them melt at first. Arachnis usually recovers, Vals may or may not.

Others on this forum can give you much more detailed info for sure.

 

[SeverumGuy]

I should be able to get all the information I need from the LFS tomorrow. I just figured I'd try to find out and get all the opinions and options I could. The store is very knowlegeable and experienced with literally everything. I'll post what I find out after I go.

 

[Coleallensmom]

Good luck! I'd def try to pick up some roots tabs and at least the Flourish Comprehensive.

 

[SeverumGuy]

I got some root tabs, phosphate remover, and seachem iron. He told me that will solve the problems I'm having. Another issue is my lighting so I'm going to work on getting a T5 fixture.

 

[mudraker]

Why the phosphate remover?

Sounds like an expensive boondoggle to me.

 

[mudraker]

And go super easy on the iron.

What kind of root tabs did you get? They are not all the same and might contain the same micros as the Florapride. If they are micro tabs they should contain iron already.

 

[fort384]

Why the phosphate remover?

Sounds like an expensive boondoggle to me.

+1

Would want to know about your lighting, plants, any deficiencies your plants are exhibiting, and co2 before recommending ferts. Floraride is good for a low light tank and already adds K and Fe. Not sure why you would need seachem Fe in addition. If you are running higher light, co2, and have a ton of plants, I would consider adding N and then maybe P. Would really like to understand the phosphate remover...

 

[TheCrazyFishLady]

Why the phosphate remover?

Sounds like an expensive boondoggle to me.

What is "boondoggle"?

 

[mudraker]

Boondoggle: A waste of time and money that will do more harm than good.

 

[TheCrazyFishLady]

Ahh. Thank you. I looked it up and something about the Boy Scouts came up.

 

[kbuser92]

if you have more of the florapride left, i'd say use it up at the dosage for the full tank before you go out and try something different (i don't like wasting, but hey, it's your choice.) :] you may need to add supplemental CO2 like mudraker said, or you may need more light. proper lighting for most plants is between 2-4 wpg, with more being better. if you have special needs plants or some with high lighting needs (>4 wpg) you may need to find out what exactly you need to add or do differently.

plants are just like fish; they each need certain things to keep them alive, and (usually) even more for them to thrive.