I've heard great things about both of these fertilizers, one being comprehensive and the other a form of CO2. I'm curious, could/should they be used together? Would there be any benefit of using both, or any drawbacks? The plants I have are Anacharis, Hornwort, Water Sprite, Amazon Sword and a Micro Sword. I'm already using flourish excel and it seems to be helping.
Would either one or both combined have any effect on pH? I've read that plants can cause a pH swing if certain nutrients are deficient in the water (they start using something different in place of what's lacking and that causes the pH change, or some such thing), is this true?
Comprehensive is a fertilizer that is well rounded if you are not using a fertilizer at all or any nutrient rich substrate I would definitely use it. That will help a lot. Excel is just a liquid Co2 supplement. It does have downsides. The chemicals it is made of (I since forgotten the name) can be deadly to fish if overdosed. It also has some adverse affects on some plants. It can make certain plants completely melt such as vals.
Excel worked very well for me before I tried using pressurized CO2 (started last week!). Think of it as an inexpensive CO2 supplement (cheaper than a good quality CO2 system anyway!). Excel increases plant growth rates by 2-4x. As mentioned, it's not a fertilizer, it's a carbon compound that plants can use as an intermediate in the photosynthesis pathway. Works great on Swords at recommended doses. Never had any issues with toxicity, but I never overdosed it either. It breaks down in a tank in about 12 hours and seems to inhibit algal growth. From experience, it melts Vals, Egeria/Elodea, and Hornwort for certain. The chemical in Excel is not really nice for humans, so handle with care (wash after use) and don't inhale deeply when using - it has the potential to do bad things to the lungs. Nothing to be paranoid about, but just a caution.
So it sounds like I need to grab a bottle of flourish comprehensive the next time I'm at the LFS. I'm using regular gravel right now and will probably switch to sand at some point, but not for a while. Thanks for the tips. I'll keep that in the back of my mind about breathing the excel, it's good to know. They should put a little note about that on the bottles. I think most people typically aren't going to spend a lot of time sniffing their aquarium chemicals, but you can never be too sure. :roll:
It's interesting that you had problems with excel and Hornwort and Egeria, because my Anacharis is sprouting a bunch if new stems and the Hornwort has grown more than anything else in the tank so far. It's growing like a weed and, after only two weeks, will need trimmed soon. Maybe other circumstances are involved, or just beginner's luck. I do dose the excel precisely (with a medicine dropper) every morning, and never give the "recommended" huge dose after a water change because I read multiple opinions that the larger dose is what causes the melting. I haven't seen a shred of algae in my tank.
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