Flourish and Flourish Excel

[mshaeffer]

Can Flourish and Flourish Excel be used together? I have a 10 gallon tank, and I have been using Excel, and my tank looks great. Now, none of the local stores carry it. All I can find is regular Flourish, so I picked up a bottle.
What are the differances in the two?
Should I use the Flourish, or wait untill I can find the Excel?
Do I need to do anything to the sant before adding the regular Flourish?
Will my tank be ok going a few days to a week without the Excel?

Thanks in advance
Mike

[Tech Support CH]

Flouirsh Excel is a carbon supplement whereas Flourish is a trace element, vitamin and ammino acid supplement.

Plants in general need a range of nutrients. Some of them are provided by the fish waste and others are not. There are three Macro nutrients: Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium. If you have Ammonia, Nitrite, or Nitrate (5-30 ppm) you have enough Nitrogen. If not add Flourish Nitrogen. If you have a phosphate level of 1-2 ppm you have enough Phosphorus. If not add Flourish Phosphorous. Potassium is rarely provided unless you add it, I recommend Flourish Potassium.

The micro nutrients usually need to be added. Once or twice weekly additions of Flourish will take care of this. Plants also need a carbon source this is normally provided by carbon dioxide that the fish exhale or if you add CO2 to your tank. We also have a supplement that provides carbon to the plants it is called Flourish Excel. This is used when you have a planted tank and are not adding additional CO2 or when you want to supplement the CO2 your adding. Many people find that this product also helps the plants out compete the algae. Hard water plants (like swords) also need calcium and magnesium. You can test these in the water by testing your General hardness (GH). If you have at least 100 ppm of GH you should be fine. If not you can add Equilibrium. Iron is another important nutrient. Usually this is chemically removed by the roots from the substrate. So you will either want to have a nutrient rich substrate such as Flourite, Flourite Red, or Onyx. If you don't have a nutrient rich substrate you can add Flourish Tabs to your substrate to allow the plants to be able to get these nutrients. Plants can also take Iron up in the water. So we have Flourish Iron that you can add. It is a very usable Iron that is attached to a carbohydrate (a source of carbon).

Carbon in your filters can pull a lot of the Trace nutrients out so I would either supplement those twice a week or switch to an absorbent resin such as Purigen.

Another concern for most planted aquariums is pH. There are Phosphate base buffers that are very stable on the market. But those usually encourage algae growth and will also cause your iron, calcium, and magnesium to precipitate. You will want to use a carbonate based buffering system. This can be achieved by Acid Buffer and Alkaline Buffer. It is also recommended to use a carbonate hardness (KH) test kit.

Most of our supplements are designed to be added to the water. The Flourish tabs are meant to be placed in the gravel.

So the basics of what is recommended are: Flourish, Flourish Excel,Flourish Iron and Flourish Potassium.

If you do not have nutrient rich substrate you will want Flourish Tabs. If you don't have a General Hardness of 100 ppm or Higher you will want to add Equilibrium. If you don't have a Nitrogen source you'll want Flourish Nitrogen. If you don't have a Phosphate source you will want Flourish Phosphorus. To adjust your pH you will need Acid Buffer and Alkaline Buffer.

[waltergault]

I have a 20 gal long planted tank with fish. Currently I am using Flourish regular and Iron and I have a Co2 system running. I also have a nutrient rich substrate and 65 w lighting. What else do I need to have an aquarium with lush plant growth without algae? Or, what products would you recommend?
Out of the tap my pH is 8, GH 9, KH 6, but I have lowered my pH to 6.5-7, GH 6, KH <2

Thanks.

[Jimbo205]

I personally find that the Seachem Daily Dosage Schedule posted on this website to be the best guide to use. And the support by Seachem cannot in my opinion be beat!
But I would also highly recommend re-reading the previous answer that they gave you. They pretty much mentioned everything that you might need. You may want to test your levels to see what you need or what you don't. If you get tired of testing your water, I would again recommend using the Daily Dosage Schedule and weekly water change of 5% water per week.

If you prefer a thorough hard copy of all the Seachem Products they have a booklet called H2Grow which is excellent.

Almost all local fish stores will special order a supply if they do not currently have it in stock. Find a store that you feel comfortable with and you find helpful, supportive and informative. And even if they do not have a clue what they are doing, you can still get your supplies special ordered through them and receive fantastic support straight from Seachem.

Last but not least, check out their websites that they have links to. You can learn an endless amount from the hobbyists on those sites.

I happen to like Seachem's support because they always speak in ways that the average person can understand. Sometimes on some websites they can be hard to understand unless you can remember your high school and college biology or chemistry classes.

By the way, did I say that Seachem has REALLY GREAT SUPPORT?

Enjoy the hobby and dive on it, the water is fine. :smile:

[Tech Support CH]

Waltergault-
I would recommend Flourish Potassium at least. I would also recommend that you test your Phosphate and Nitrate. If either of these levels are zero you will want to add the corresponding nutrient. If you would like a copy of the H2Grow brochure that Jimbo205 mentioned please PM me your mailing address.

Jimbo205-
Thank you for the compliments and for answering others questions with very informative answers.

[waltergault]

thanks for the info

I have some more questions. What are the most effective ways of preventing algae from growing on plants? In the 20g I have string algae and patches of furry green algae on my plants. I have heard that this is due to phosphates in the water but shouldn't the plants be using the phosphates? Also is some algae on the rocks and plants okay or will the ideal planted aquarim have hardly any algae? I am not sure what the balance should be.

Thanks.

[Tech Support CH]

Providing the plants with optimum growth conditions will be your best measure against algae. Adding potassium is where I would start because plants can not use phosphate or nitrate when they don't have potassium available. If you are lacking phosphate or nitrate I would add that too. If this not not improve your algae issue I would recommend adding Flourish Excel. Its a very easy to use carbon source. It is similar to CO2 but easier to use. It will help your plants outcompete the algae.

[waltergault]

Thanks for the quick reply.

[Tech Support CH]

You are welcome.