Fertilizers

[marg]

What brands of Fertilizers (liquid preferably) do people on the Forum use in their tanks?

My 4 foot community tank is pretty basic - no Co2 and just standard lighting (can't afford anything fancy yet - waiting for my Lotto numbers to come up then I can go berko :lol: ).

I would like a reasonably priced fertilizer but there are so many brands on the market and it gets pretty confusing for me.

Perhaps proteus could start a poll on this subject?

Your advice would be very much apprreciated.,

Regards,

Marg.

[Proteus]

Flourish Excel and/or Florena

[Ben]

Hi Marg

Seachems, Flourish™ is the one i use an recommend.
A small amount goes a long way! 5 ml per 250 litres of water!

http://www.seachem.com/products/product_pages/Flourish.html


Cheers
Ben

[marg]

Hi Ben and Proteus,

Sounds great - 5ml. for 250 litres - wow!!

I will order some in the morning.

Thanks very much for your help.,

Regards,

marg.

[petros]

Hello there! The guy at the pet store recommended the Seachem as the best. I just bought the Flourish , the Iron and the Pottasium nad Im waiting for the results! As Ben says they must be OK, Marg!

[Grae]

I use seachem

Flourish
Flourish Iron
Flourish excel
All are good and work out cheap if you buy them in 2l bottles......

Graeme

[oscar]

I use Seachem Flourish, Trace and Iron.

I also run CO2.

You'll notice a ifference within days of using the Seachem products.

The swords especially go berserk with the addition of the iron.

[Ben]

Marg, when you start using the plant Fertilizer you could do a little review for us all. Maybe some Pictures. If you need help uploading them just get us a yell!

Cheers
Ben

[Davo]

I have used Greg Watson's CSM+B Plantex and KN03 when I was using the Estimative Method which is championed by Tom Barr.

If you want to buy some of Greg Watson's products PM me as the stuff I bought from him was quarantined by customs but I eventually got them (for no extra cost).

If anyone is interested in the EI method look up www.barrreport.com
It is very interesting and easy to use.

Dave.

[apalsson]

Marg,

I use Seachem fertilisers for my 6' planted tank. I noticed you said you don't have high lighting so you probably don't need to be nearly as aggressive in dosing as the dosing schedule recommends.

I would start out with Flourish (broad spectrum), Iron and Excel and then possibly Trace.

Admittedly, these products are not cheap but they are good quality and hassle free. I run a daily dosing schedule consisting of Flourish, Iron, Excel, Trace and Potassium.

I considered the Tom Barr method but didn't want to go through the hassle of a 50% water change (375 litres) every week.
With the Seachem schedule I run, I change 15% of the water bi-weekly.

Hope this helps

Ari

[marg]

I purchased Flourish Excel from APW - do I need to add any other Products along with this?

I have never really worried too much about Plants - as they died I just replaced them - I just concentrated on learning all that I could about my Discus, but now that I am becoming a bit more confident and am not so worried about my Discus as they all seem to be going fine, my interest has turned into making my Community Tank a bit more interesting (and after seeing all the nice Plants APW have in their Catalogue I am really keen).

Unfortunately I am on a limited Budget and cannot afford any fancy Lighting at this stage, what other than Flourish Excel should I be using? I am a keen Gardener, and would love to have an attravtive "Garden" in my Community Tank.

My Community tank has Discus, Bolivian Rams, one largeish Black Ghost Knifefish, one large Clown Loach, some Bristlenoses, a few Cardinals and 5 Corys.

Also - I have plenty of interesting pieces of Driftwood that I can use - what Plants would Peoples' reccomend, keeping in mind lighting requirements.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Regards,

Marg.