Which Plant Food/Suppliments to Buy

[Harry Muscle]

I'm in the process of getting things ready for my 55G planted tank and I'm
gonna be doing a big order from BigAl's very soon, so I'm looking for
feedback about which plant food/supplement would be best to order. I know
that the best way is probably trial and error by seeing what your plants are
lacking, etc. but I'm looking for recommendations on where to start, since I
really would like to order everything together (since it's cheaper that
way).

This is what I was thinking. I'm not up to any CO2 injection, so I thought
of using Flourish Excel to help out with the carbon. Would dosing this if
my plants don't need it cause any problems (ie: algae)? I was also thinking
of maybe ordering Flourish. Is that a good idea? Is it pretty common to
use the "all in one" Flourish supplement, or is it more common to find out
exactly which elements the plants need and use the separate bottles? Btw,
I'm located in Toronto, ON, Canada, in case anyone knows what the water here
is usually lacking.

If you were in my situation, what would you order before knowing exactly
what your plants will react to? I know it would be best to wait, but I can
save if I order everything right now.

Thanks,
Harry

[Harry Muscle]

"Aquatic-Store.com" <sales a@t Aquatic-Store.com> wrote in message
...
> Flourish Excell is a great addition to smaller tanks but with a large
> one you will quickly use your bottleas daily you must dose one capfull
> for 55 gal so after about 2 weeks you would need to get a new 220 ml
> bottl. You can buy this in 2l and 4l bottles though and that will
> help.
> Regular flourish is the main fert i use and as long as you start low
> and do not overdose you will be fine.
> I also suggest iron and potassium.
>
SNIP

At BigAl's it mentions that a 250ml bottle will treat 50G for 1-2 months.
So according to them a 2L bottle would last between 8 and 16 months, which
doesn't sound too bad. Btw, what are the dosing instructions on the bottle?
Does it say how many ml to add every day or does it just say "a cap full"?

Thanks,
Harry

[Aquatic-Store.com]

Flourish Excell is a great addition to smaller tanks but with a large
one you will quickly use your bottleas daily you must dose one capfull
for 55 gal so after about 2 weeks you would need to get a new 220 ml
bottl. You can buy this in 2l and 4l bottles though and that will
help.
Regular flourish is the main fert i use and as long as you start low
and do not overdose you will be fine.
I also suggest iron and potassium.

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Kasselmann aquarium plants book 65.99

Marcus

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On Fri, 26 Dec 2003 18:01:27 -0500, "Harry Muscle"
> wrote:

>I'm in the process of getting things ready for my 55G planted tank and I'm
>gonna be doing a big order from BigAl's very soon, so I'm looking for
>feedback about which plant food/supplement would be best to order. I know
>that the best way is probably trial and error by seeing what your plants are
>lacking, etc. but I'm looking for recommendations on where to start, since I
>really would like to order everything together (since it's cheaper that
>way).
>
>This is what I was thinking. I'm not up to any CO2 injection, so I thought
>of using Flourish Excel to help out with the carbon. Would dosing this if
>my plants don't need it cause any problems (ie: algae)? I was also thinking
>of maybe ordering Flourish. Is that a good idea? Is it pretty common to
>use the "all in one" Flourish supplement, or is it more common to find out
>exactly which elements the plants need and use the separate bottles? Btw,
>I'm located in Toronto, ON, Canada, in case anyone knows what the water here
>is usually lacking.
>
>If you were in my situation, what would you order before knowing exactly
>what your plants will react to? I know it would be best to wait, but I can
>save if I order everything right now.
>
>Thanks,
>Harry
>

[Toni]

"Harry Muscle" > wrote in message news:u63Hb.15824$d%>
> If you were in my situation, what would you order before knowing exactly
> what your plants will react to? I know it would be best to wait, but I
can
> save if I order everything right now.
>


I use the Flourish line in a 90g and don't find it all that expensive- it
works really well and I have no algae. I'm keeping a good variety of plants
in a low light/low tech tank- even the Red Tiger Lotus are doing well. Much
of the success I've seen is because I added a whole heaping bunch of fast
growing stem plants to begin with, so algae never really got established. As
time went on I tried new plants, got more of those that did well, and didn't
mourn those that didn't.

I use Flourish Excel, Flourish, Flourish Trace, Iron, Potassium, and the
root tabs. There are dosing directions on the bottles, or Seachem will snail
mail you a handy dandy dosage chart if you email them and ask.


--
Toni
http://www.cearbhaill.com/discus.htm

[Dave Millman]

From the Seachem website:


> DIRECTIONS: On initial use or after a major water change, use 10 mL for every 80 Liters (20 gallons). Thereafter use 1 mL for every 40 Liters (10 gallons) daily or every other day. Use the enclosed dispenser to measure 1 mL (top mark). For larger volume tanks, note that 1 capful = 5 mL.
>
>