Flourish and Flourish Excel
- Thread starter OhNo123
- Start date
Disclaimer - I know nothing about inverts.
I have had good luck with Flourish and Excel. In fact, I think they help quite a bit. If you are going to use them, expecially Excel, then do yourself a favor and buy a big jug online. 250ml is $9.99 at the LFS but 2L (2000ml) is $25.
I have never done the dry fert thing. I am sure it's cheaper and more exeact, but I've been lazy so far and have just used the Flourish products.
How big is you tank & what are you lights. If you haven't already read the boards about lighting and CO2 then check those out. Lights (1st) and CO2 (2nd depending on plants) are probably even more important than fertilizer.
I have had good luck with Flourish and Excel. In fact, I think they help quite a bit. If you are going to use them, expecially Excel, then do yourself a favor and buy a big jug online. 250ml is $9.99 at the LFS but 2L (2000ml) is $25.
I have never done the dry fert thing. I am sure it's cheaper and more exeact, but I've been lazy so far and have just used the Flourish products.
How big is you tank & what are you lights. If you haven't already read the boards about lighting and CO2 then check those out. Lights (1st) and CO2 (2nd depending on plants) are probably even more important than fertilizer.
I use the complete Flourish line (along with proper lighting and pressurized CO2), and I can honestly say the Flourish products are worth it.
But like maxthedog123 said, you're better off to buy the 2 liter jug instead of the tiny bottles.
Hi OhNo! In my experience Flourish products are perfectly safe for all aquarium fauna including inverts. Flourish Excel however contains a mild algeacide that can be harmful to some plants if overdosed. Those include Hornwort, Anacharis and probably also Cabomba and Foxtail (Myrio). Basically fine-leaved plants may be affected. I ultimately switched to dry ferts and CO2 just for the sheer cost of dosing Seachem products every week but you sure can't beat them for the quality and convenience. I recommend Seachem completely!
mellowvision
Seafood Lover
I just started using flourish excel and prime today, in an effort to regain control of my spiralling out of control 10 gallon. I'll let you know how it goes.
I'm using both products in my 10g and I've always had good results with both.
I really only recommend using Excel in lowlight setups. High light systems would do much better with CO2 injection. But Excel could be used with CO2 as a supplement...especially since it does seem to have an impact on algae growth.
I really only recommend using Excel in lowlight setups. High light systems would do much better with CO2 injection. But Excel could be used with CO2 as a supplement...especially since it does seem to have an impact on algae growth.
mellowvision
Seafood Lover
yeah, I have diy co2.. the excel is an interim effort to kill the thread/hair algae that sprung up in the last week. the tank was doing really well and then I borked it... it went like this:
planted it, got the cycle going, and lightly stocked with 2 cherry barbs
started up the co2 and 40w of light on a 10 hour schedule
added an amano shrimp and oto when the cycle was stable
cherry barbs had 2 babies
went on vacation for 4 days
returned to green water like I've never seen.
killed co2 and shortened light. did massive water change. did research...
tried a 3 day blackout. the condensation nearly blacked out my whole building! lol. I was close to a problem. the blackout didn't work.
bought a cheap UV sterilizer and blasted the tank for 3 days. this cleared the greenwater.
waited a week to reintroduce the co2 and ferts... BAD MOVE
started seeing my micro swords getting clumpy and dirty with some minor brown algae... decided to do a little pruning. in the process ended up removing about 20 plantlets. they were all over the place. a lot of new growths. I think this was too much to remove at once... then next day...
started seeing thread algae. this was a week and a half ago.
about 3 days ago, changed the light cycle to 5 on 2 off 5 on.
as of yesterday, the hair was getting pretty bad, enough to catch amanos... kept seeing them get tangled and jump out of it....
so I did some more research and decided to stop using the amquel conditioner and kent's ferts, and get some prime and excel. we'll see how it goes. I think in the long run, I need to either reduce the 40w of light on the 10 gallon, or figure out what fert is missing and dose that... but I don't know what I'm doing. my biggest errors were letting the co2 die on vacation, waiting to turn it back on after the blackout, and removing all the plantlets last week.
planted it, got the cycle going, and lightly stocked with 2 cherry barbs
started up the co2 and 40w of light on a 10 hour schedule
added an amano shrimp and oto when the cycle was stable
cherry barbs had 2 babies
went on vacation for 4 days
returned to green water like I've never seen.
killed co2 and shortened light. did massive water change. did research...
tried a 3 day blackout. the condensation nearly blacked out my whole building! lol. I was close to a problem. the blackout didn't work.
bought a cheap UV sterilizer and blasted the tank for 3 days. this cleared the greenwater.
waited a week to reintroduce the co2 and ferts... BAD MOVE
started seeing my micro swords getting clumpy and dirty with some minor brown algae... decided to do a little pruning. in the process ended up removing about 20 plantlets. they were all over the place. a lot of new growths. I think this was too much to remove at once... then next day...
started seeing thread algae. this was a week and a half ago.
about 3 days ago, changed the light cycle to 5 on 2 off 5 on.
as of yesterday, the hair was getting pretty bad, enough to catch amanos... kept seeing them get tangled and jump out of it....
so I did some more research and decided to stop using the amquel conditioner and kent's ferts, and get some prime and excel. we'll see how it goes. I think in the long run, I need to either reduce the 40w of light on the 10 gallon, or figure out what fert is missing and dose that... but I don't know what I'm doing. my biggest errors were letting the co2 die on vacation, waiting to turn it back on after the blackout, and removing all the plantlets last week.
Sounds like a nightmare. I've been there...lol. That's why I stay with low light setups now. The high light systems look incredible, but can be a PITA at times. I've rectified a lot of algae problems by introducing large clumps of water sprite to the tank after a series of 50% water changes and reintroduction of ferts. Proper co2 levels play a huge role, as well. The Excel should definitely help.
mellowvision
Seafood Lover
yeah. by comparison, I set up a tank next to it that I've used almost no ferts on, that has 2 screw in 15 watt bulbs. it's a 15 gallon tank, filled to the 10 gallon point... but it has an island hanging at water level in one corner. it blocks a ton of light.... I planted the tank entirely with dwarf sag from another tank, that was already showing signs of bba... didn't even rinse it, was just rushing to plant it.... that was a couple of weeks ago. there isn't a spec of algae in the tank that I can see... it's amazing. low light is really the way to go. I don't need no stinking HC carpet!!!!
I think a lot of peeps also see outbreaks of algae due to adding too many root tabs to the substrate too soon. It's a good idea to allow the root feeders to develop their roots first, then add the tabs.