# Anybody used Nutrafin Plant GRO ?



## ppaskova

Hi

I have 10 Gl planted tank tank with Windowlov, Java fern, criptocorn, Amazon sword and hygrophilia Thai and higrophilia deforms. After I started putting Flourish Excel in my tank I noticed increased hair algae and holes in the top leafs of my hygrophilia (and some Java fern) plants. Pet smart and PJ pets recommended to start using Nutrafin Plant Gro to help plants and stop using Excel. I'm wondering if anybody used this product before and how safe it is for plants, fish and shrimps. Also if any special advice / instructions for putting it in the tank needed (For example. I always mix my flourish excel with watter in the cup before putting in the tank as it could be dangerous to put it in directly) Any help is appreciated.


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## fishclubgirl

Excel is a source of carbon and not a general fertiliser. Though I have never tried Plant Gro, I do use a general fertiliser and am pleased with the results.


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## ppaskova

fishclubgirl said:


> Excel is a source of carbon and not a general fertiliser. Though I have never tried Plant Gro, I do use a general fertiliser and am pleased with the results.


Which one do you use ?


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## Canadianbettas

*I'm no expert*... but I think plant grow only has trace elements... micro nutrients or something....

I use Excel for Carbon, and for my ferts I use dry Ferts the ei dosing method...
I dose with 
KN03 (N)
KH2P04 (P) 
Trace Elements 
These are actually quite cheap to compared to buying liquid ferts.... you just need a good measuring spoons or a good digital scale

Plantgro ill slightly increase growth but careful, I used that before I used Dry ferts...

plantgro gave me alot of algae problems...... either that or i had too much light lol


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## Chris S

The other option for liquid fertilizers, if you don't want to measure, are the Seachem brands. You would need the same types, which can be pricey: Nitrogen, Potassium, Phosphorus and micro's. Excel would provide a source of bio-available carbon.


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## qwerty

It's really hard to give you good advice without knowing more details like how much and what kind of light you're using, and what sort of substrate you have. 

Assuming that fertilizers are indeed your only problem though, I would go with the dry ferts IMO. It'll cost you less than $20 a year, which is a hell of a lot cheaper than any other option. I recently switched and will never go back.

Unless you're keeping plants that are specifically sensitive to it, anyone who tells you to stop dosing excel probably doesn't know what they're talking about.

But like I said, it's really hard to give you proper advice without knowing more details. 

Generally speaking though excel is fantastic, and dry ferts will make you feel dumb for using aquarium market fertilizers.


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## fishclubgirl

qwerty,
Those were some of my thoughts about the substrate, lighting and would be curious to know what the water's like as well. However, I beg to differ about feeling "dumb" using store bought liquid ferts. As I run 18-20 tanks and breed angelfish, bettas, plecos and livebearers, using liquid ferts makes sense as it makes fish keeping easier. This is just a hobby and something I do to have fun. As I try to "keep it simple but stupid", liquid ferts it is!!!


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## Chris S

fishclubgirl said:


> qwerty,
> Those were some of my thoughts about the substrate, lighting and would be curious to know what the water's like as well. However, I beg to differ about feeling "dumb" using store bought liquid ferts. As I run 18-20 tanks and breed angelfish, bettas, plecos and livebearers, using liquid ferts makes sense as it makes fish keeping easier. This is just a hobby and something I do to have fun. As I try to "keep it simple but stupid", liquid ferts it is!!!


I would say running that many planted tanks would absolutely call for using dry ferts!


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## ppaskova

Lights are up for 6hrs per day (as more, introduces more algae). My WPG is 1.8 WPG My watter is:
GH - 180
KH - 40
PH - 7
NO2 - 0
Ammonia - 0
NO3 - 30
I don't know if it helps. I've been advised to use micronutrigens for my plant but I have not seen such a product / fert by seachem, this is why I got hagen.


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## Chris S

While the WPG rule doesn't really apply, I would still say that 1.8 WPG for 6 hours is not really enough light - I imagine your swords and hygros will have some trouble growing.

Seachem's trace mix is called "Flourish" (not "Flourish Excel").


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## qwerty

In my experience measuring dry fertilizers with a tiny measuring spoon was no more difficult or time consuming than measuring liquid fertilizers with a syringe or cap threads.

I will say though that finding a suitable trace mix gave me at least a week's worth of headaches and did get quite frustrating, not to mention hoping that the copper content was low enough to be suitable for my shrimp. 

So you're right about there being something to be said for keeping it simple.

Back on topic though...

In case you are not aware "trace" and "micronutrients" are the same thing. 

Seachem does make a "micronutrients" product, but it is labeled "trace". 

Seachem's "flourish comprehensive" also includes trace nutrients.

Tap water is also a good source of trace nutrients. So basically I don't think your problems are your micros.

You have pretty low light and probably don't need much fertilizer at all, especially if you have a good substrate.

I would personally just use an all around fertilizer like comprehensive, or perhaps consider seachem's root tabs (I'm not familiar with brands outside the seachem line so I'm not exactly sure what's in what you have or what you were recommended). I would use it minimally as directed, or perhaps less. 

I've only had one tank with light comparable to yours and I had it for a year before upgrading the light, and in that time it ran without problems using seachem flourite substrate, seachem flourish root tabs, and flourish excel whenever I remembered. 

Of course every tank is different and you keep different plants than me, so what worked for me might not exactly work for you the same, but just to give you an example.

So really I think your only problem was that what you thought was a fertilizer product (excel), was just a carbon source, so you ended up with deficiencies because you weren't really giving your plants anything except carbon.


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## ppaskova

Chris S said:


> While the WPG rule doesn't really apply, I would still say that 1.8 WPG for 6 hours is not really enough light - I imagine your swords and hygros will have some trouble growing.
> 
> Seachem's trace mix is called "Flourish" (not "Flourish Excel").


I tried Flourish in the beginning and it introduced a lot of algae right a way !!!!


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## qwerty

Just so we're clear, since you're new to the hobby (and I know this confused me at first when people would talk about it)... Seachem's whole line of plant fertilizers is called "flourish".

There's "flourish trace", "flourish iron", "flourish excel", "flourish comprehensive", etc... Just so we're 100% clean on that and not treating "flourish" as if it's one unique product. However when people say just "flourish" they're probably referring to "Flourish Comprehensive".

Seachem's trace mix is called "flourish trace". Seachem's "flourish comprehensive" also has trace nutrients in it, but also has macro nutrients in it. Thus it contains everything plants need in at least some quantity (with the except of carbon, but that's what "flourish excel" is for).

A really great book that discusses macro and micro nutrients for plants at a fairly cheap price is Hiscock's _Encyclopedia of Aquarium Plants_.

Unfortunately I don't think any of us can give you specific instructions like "dose this on these days in this quantity and you wont have algae or plant problems". Even with methods like EI there's an element of trial and error to find what works for your individual tank.

Have patience and remember that plants do things slowly, and will therefore respond to the changes you make very slowly.

I would continue dosing excel though. It's not going to cause algae and it's not going to harm anything, and your plants to benefit from the carbon source when they're growing.

Like I said, for your lighting I'd think you could get away with just using comprehensive or root tabs, and good old fish waste, if your substrate is good. You may even consider dosing less than the bottle recommends.

Seachem does have a fertilizer calculator floating around somewhere I believe. You may find that useful.

On another note, less than 2wpg tends to questionable. But the wpg measurement doesn't really mean a whole lot in practical application. I would keep in mind though that you're on the lower end of low lighting and to make decisions with this in mind.

Otherwise, just take the algae in stride and view it as a process of learning. Algae can drive you nuts if you let it.

(This just occured to me, but you took the plant out of the little plastic pot or ceramic ring it came in when you bought it and removed the foam from around the roots, correct? When I first dabbled with plants I was not aware you were supposed to do this )


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## ppaskova

Yes all my plants removed from original packaging before being planted. I also use flourish tabs as I have amazon sword. And they helping it. I'll try to restart using Flourish Comprehensive and use twice less that bottle recommends as I'm doing for flourish excel already, using twice less the doze. Let's see what going to happen. All my plants are low light or low to mid light plants and they should be fine (so far they wore for 8 months) under it.


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## Chris S

qwerty said:


> Just so we're clear, since you're new to the hobby (and I know this confused me at first when people would talk about it)... Seachem's whole line of plant fertilizers is called "flourish".
> 
> There's "flourish trace", "flourish iron", "flourish excel", "flourish comprehensive", etc... Just so we're 100% clean on that and not treating "flourish" as if it's one unique product. However when people say just "flourish" they're probably referring to "Flourish Comprehensive".


Actually, to confuse it further - the flourish line does have a product called just "Flourish".


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## ppaskova

Chris S said:


> Actually, to confuse it further - the flourish line does have a product called just "Flourish".


I think this is the one i have


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## qwerty

Chris S said:


> Actually, to confuse it further - the flourish line does have a product called just "Flourish".


Right, right, my bad, that's what I meant by "Flourish Comprehensive". Since it says underneath the "Flourish", "comprehensive supplement yadda yadda...".


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## fishclubgirl

Actually I thought you gave a very good description of the Seachem line and some good beginner's advice. Kudos to you!!!


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## ppaskova

qwerty said:


> Right, right, my bad, that's what I meant by "Flourish Comprehensive". Since it says underneath the "Flourish", "comprehensive supplement yadda yadda...".


Yes. This is the one I used today together with excel. I put 1Ml of flourish and 1Ml of excel into my 10Gl, let's see if it helps. Next time I'll put it in in 1 week.


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