I'm confused

[Adrienne]

I thought that if you used flourish excel you didn't need to use anything else but from what I've read on here today thats not right.

Should I be using something else as well to help my plants grow.

[cichlid7]

you still need good lighting

[Slightly Blue Dalmation]

yeah my big difference came when upraded from 4 t8's to t5's as well as flourish excell

[VinsonMassif]

Here is the Seachem Planted products website

Excel is a source of bio-available Carbon. For good all round plant health they recommend macronutrients such as Iron, Potassium and Phosphorus as well as Nitrogen.

For an in depth website for aquatic plants and everything associated with it I recommend http://www.barrreport.com/

There is a fabulous article on dosing plants without test kits called the Estimative Index

IMO if you have made the effort to have decent lights for your plants you will benefit from dosing macro nutrients for your plants. It is only a small effort in the scheme of things. But read around to see what the experts recommend

[Matthew]

Back when I was a boy there was no CO2 injection and no flourish excel for our tanks, most people didn't use fertilisers yet still had great plants. In short you don't need to add things to your tank for plant growth, a well stocked aquarium will provide the nutrients required through fish waste (from both ends).

However you can add a number of products that will help your plants grow, I found just using flourish excel did help the plant growth, and by lighting standards I am at the lower end of the required watts.

Because I am sure I will be told off for this post I am using Co2 presently and flourish excel, laterite as a substrate and prob a number of other recently available products that make plant growth easier that I can't think of presently.

[alanmin4304]

It is all a matter of personal preference. I like to think I can grow plants OK. I don't use CO2 other than from fish and use flourish excel to control black beard algae. My lighting is only moderate and I only grow plants that the average Joe Blow might be able to grow. I use the system I used 30 years ago and it still works for me. I have tried different lighting but prefer the old way. There are some plants I don't try to grow because of their light or water requirements but that still leaves a lot. Everything about aquariums is a compromise (with fish and plants) so do what works for you. Contrary to popular belief Mrs Google is not gods mother in law.

[alanmin4304]

Flourish Excel is an avilable form of carbon and can be used instead of, or in conjunction with CO2 but you still need other nutrients regardless of their source. There are three main requirements for plant growth: Lighting, carbon and other nutrients and for the idea to work you need all three. Having one or two will achieve little.

[Adrienne]

My tank has now been running for 5 months. In that time the only two things that have grown well are the val and bba (the later is slowly being checked back). The swords are growing but very very slowly. I think my problem is that as it is a discus tank it gets a 30% water change 2x a week and a very very thorough vacuum 1 - 2 x times a week. The lighting is slightly on the low side still.

I use flourish excel at nearly 2x strength every night. Would the fact that I use a sump decrease the flourish effectiveness in any way or is it just that I suck the nutrients out of the soil on a regular basis. Should I use fertiliser tabs?

[VinsonMassif]

IMHO the mulm from the fish is ok to settle in the gravel around the plants. Just GV the open spaces. Swords do better under med/high light, and are heavy feeders. They would benefit from root tabs if you want to put them in.

They recommend you not OD the Excel because it may interfere with your bio-filter. Also the plants need the carbon for photosynthesis, so it would be better to dose when you turn the lights on IMO.

Using a sump would slightly dilute any ferts you include, unless you factor in the total tank volume. But how big is your sump, I wouldn't think it would be that significant if you are dosing daily.