Seachem Flourish

KPainter

Cool! I'm in Rockledge/Viera. Already ordered the Flourish. Gotta love Amazon prime. lol

Byron

Plants need 17 nutrients, and all of them do occur naturally in a tank with fish--to some degree. Fish food for instance has everything plants need, so as it passes through the fish and becomes waste, the bacteria in the substrate break it down and the minerals are taken up by plants. Other nutrients can occur in the water from water changes depending upon how hard the water is. And some like oxygen, carbon and hydrogen [water] is just there.

It is possible to have plants growing well without anything being added. But it depends upon the source water, fish load and fish food.

I have very soft water, so right from the start I have to add minerals or the plants just die. The amount needed depends upon the individual factors I mentioned above. For most of us with natural method planted tanks, meaning those that are low-tech relying on nature more than equipment, a basic complete liquid fertilizer is sufficient. Seachem's Flourish comprehensive Supplement is one, Brightwell Aquatics' makes FlorinMulti which is basically the same. These are two i am familiar with, and they are adequate for most of us. If you have very soft tap water, addition hard minerals (calcium, magnesium, potassium) will be needed as the two products mentioned do not contain enough of these.

Byron.

KPainter

Thanks, Byron. My water isn't soft, so the Flourish should be fine. Appreciate the info!

freemike

Just my thoughts even thought I'm not nearly as knowledgeable as most here. I just know that my plants quit dying after I switched from aqueon plant food to seachem flourish comprehensive. My java ferns both narrow and broad leaf have started propagating in the tank. The Wisteria I have is growing like a weed to be honest. I do run DIY CO2, 8 hours of light in 4 hour cycles, and add a dose of excel with water changes. Although I have not tried the tabs because I simply can not get those in my area.