Flourish Comprehensive!
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Jferrante
Aquarium Advice Activist
well if you don't have some kind of source for fertilizer the plants will just get sick and die. Tap water has very tiny amounts and nowhere near enough. The substrate usually provides something. Soils have a lot of various minerals and nutrients. Quartz tends to have ferric iron if it's pinkish and Ferrous iron if it's brown but it's not going to be quick to leech into the water.
So it seems as though you do need it or something similar. Since an aquarium is a controlled environment you have to add this stuff because it's not getting it from nature. Growth is the sum of many factors and this one of them. In my searches it appears Flourish Comprehensive is the easiest to use but you'd still need root tabs or a fertile soil for plants that don't use their leaves as much to take up nutrients. The methods that seem the most effective (and for good reason) are either PPS-Pro or El dosing or the full spectrum of seachems flourish. But in my opinion dosing a half dozen bottles every time seems like a lot of work while with PPS-pro you just premix the exact formula your looking to use ahead of time.
But you could premix anything essentially. Comprehensive is a good basic fertilizer and I've heard people talking about equilibrium too but idk much about that one yet but it's to use with the fertilizers to balance everything off.
The El dose though is kind of intense and might be too focused on fast growth I personally think slow and steady is better for hardiness.
I'm new to aquarium plants but I've grown several different kinds of gardens and worked in a garden center for a year and it's pretty close when it comes to certain things. There are just more poisons in aquatic life. most of the herbicides, pesticides, insecticides are extremely lethal to aquatic wildlife. while on land it's trapped in the dirt till the water from rain dilutes it so much that it becomes nothing.
So it seems as though you do need it or something similar. Since an aquarium is a controlled environment you have to add this stuff because it's not getting it from nature. Growth is the sum of many factors and this one of them. In my searches it appears Flourish Comprehensive is the easiest to use but you'd still need root tabs or a fertile soil for plants that don't use their leaves as much to take up nutrients. The methods that seem the most effective (and for good reason) are either PPS-Pro or El dosing or the full spectrum of seachems flourish. But in my opinion dosing a half dozen bottles every time seems like a lot of work while with PPS-pro you just premix the exact formula your looking to use ahead of time.
But you could premix anything essentially. Comprehensive is a good basic fertilizer and I've heard people talking about equilibrium too but idk much about that one yet but it's to use with the fertilizers to balance everything off.
The El dose though is kind of intense and might be too focused on fast growth I personally think slow and steady is better for hardiness.
I'm new to aquarium plants but I've grown several different kinds of gardens and worked in a garden center for a year and it's pretty close when it comes to certain things. There are just more poisons in aquatic life. most of the herbicides, pesticides, insecticides are extremely lethal to aquatic wildlife. while on land it's trapped in the dirt till the water from rain dilutes it so much that it becomes nothing.
Brian_Nano12g
Aquarium Advice Addict
Flourish comp is good for low light planted tanks. It's good for water column feeders like anubias, stem plants, and java fern. Root tabs for root feeders like Swords and Crypts.
When you step up to moderate or high light, that's when flourish comp isn't that comprehensive as its name implies. You'll need a good regimen of macros (NPK) and micros -- (i.e. EI or PPS-Pro dosing) -- and carbon source like co2 or glut.
When you step up to moderate or high light, that's when flourish comp isn't that comprehensive as its name implies. You'll need a good regimen of macros (NPK) and micros -- (i.e. EI or PPS-Pro dosing) -- and carbon source like co2 or glut.
Coursair
Aquarium Advice Addict
I pair it with API LeafZone so Macros and Micros are covered. I also use DIY root tabs and Excel in my lowlight tanks.
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