Flourish

[ksteady]

Well I keep seeing people speak of Flourish, mostly the excel stuff. I was given a bottle of Flourish ( regular stuff ) at my LFS. So today while I was there grabbing a few things I thought I would see if they carried the excek stuff, and they sure do. There was also several other types of Flourish iron, potassium, and such.

My question is this.... What stuff do I really need for routine dosing? For what I can tell it seems the bottle I have is a mix of everything and the others would be to supplement my tank if its lacking one particular nutrient. Is this right ?

 

[bluerose]

Be careful with Excel- it will melt certain plants... I have used it with success very carefully but one dose too many and I lost all my Anacharis.

For low-light tanks all you'll need generally is the 'original' or 'comprehensive' Flourish. I have both a plant substrate and use Flourish 1-2x/week and my plants are happy campers.

 

[rkilling1]

My question is this.... What stuff do I really need for routine dosing? For what I can tell it seems the bottle I have is a mix of everything and the others would be to supplement my tank if its lacking one particular nutrient. Is this right ?

That really depends on what type of setup you have. Plain old Flourish is a good trace mix.

 

[neilanh]

It is a trace mix, it doesn't contain all the necessary nutrients, that's correct.

 

[ksteady]

So I should be using something on top of the Flourish I take ? Read some posts about ferts late last night. None of it made much sense, was probably to tired while reading it all.

Whats the short answer to knowing when I need more than just Flourish.... Should I be starting something else right at the start or what a while ?

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

When you need ferts, the easiest way to see it is test your nitrate. If it drops to 5-0 the you need ferts.

Nitrate is the most used fert by plants. So if you are lower light non CO2 and have plenty of fish in the tank you prob will not need any ferts.

Ferts are trace like you have, then macros which are the big 3 N, P, K= Nitrate(nitrogen)/phosphate/potassium.

 

[neilanh]

Can you give some details about your setup? if you're running a low-light setup with certain types of plants, you may not needing any supplementation. Can you let us know how much and what type of lighting you have and what plants you have? I assume this is on your 90g?

 

[ksteady]

Yes I am only running the one tank atm and its the following setup so far... ( willing to add whatever I need )

90 gal
Ehiem 2028 filter
216 watts of t5 lights ( 2 x 6700k, 1 10000k, 1 pink light that not sure color rating on )
Pressurized CO2
Flourite substrate

So far in the tank is

Hydrocotyle
Limnpphila
Swordplant
Alternanthera Rosaefolia
Cryptcoryne
Jave Fern
Ludwigia Natans
Ludwigia
Corkscrew Vals


Here is a FTS on my setup. PLease keep in mind I am a rookie and have moved nearly everything in the tank around 5 times by now during the week and abit my tank has been running. I am finding out that I am not the artist I thought I was, and in fact my planting skills are week.... lol . I think I am off to a great start though, just trying to make sure my plants are getting everything they need.

Thanks in advance for the help guys... This site is treating me very well so far.

 

[brutus]

nice start.Have you seen this link? Aquascaping 101 might give you some basic ideas.

 

[brutus]

one of the best is here.2007 AGA Aquascaping Contest think the 2008 pics will be out in a few days

 

[mgamer20o0]

well on the 90 gal tank i would look into dry ferts. will save you a lot in the end. excel is basically a liquid forum of co2. not as good as the gas. since your using the gas no need for excel. i would hold off adding ferts until you need them its very easy to cause a imbalance and cause algae problems.

 

[shrek_vn2002]

one of the best is here.2007 AGA Aquascaping Contest think the 2008 pics will be out in a few days

oh my.... i looked at those pics and just want to throw my tank out of the window...

Thanks for the link... i got some idea to scap my tank !!

 

[brutus]

yes this weekend the new 2008 pics will be on

 

[mgamer20o0]

personally i hate that site.... only for the fact people set the bar for their tanks so high...... no one is going to have a tank like that right away. even for the pics its not like its in running order..... many people remove filters heaters or what not before hand...... plus they spend hours and hours on the tank getting it 100% how they want it. nothing is wrong with that just people should know not everyones tank will look like that.....