# Planted Tanks > Plant Talk >  Brand of plant fertiliser used

## Rokerites

Just curious what brand of plant fertiliser felolow hobbyists use for their planted tank.
I have been using Seachem almost all the time. If anyone has other recommendation, please do so . thanks
By the way, how do fellow hobbyist rates Seachem stuffs?

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## AquaObsession

I use seachem (Flourish and Iron) together with KNO3 and PO4.

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## Splendid Warrior

I use ADA Brighty K daily; ECA and Green Brighty Step 1 once every 3 days; Green Gain after trimming.

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## troyz

HI bro, I use Seachem Flourish, iron , trace n Dr. Mallicks KNO3 N PO4...i simply love KNO3 NPO4...My plants grow like weeds :Grin:

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## Rokerites

Oh sorry guys, I have miss out the much acclaimed ADA :Embarassed:  
My appologies.

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## aquascaping1982

I have been using Seachem Flourish.

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## Wzierbovsky

My tank's just 4 days old, and using a mix of ADA soil and base fertilizer. I'm using just Seachem Flourish in my tank at the moment; but gonna go pick up some additional liquid fertilizers soon from NA.

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## Weirong

I prefer to use Dr. Mallick ferts as you can mix them according to whatever your plants need.

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## leeruisheng

I'm using Tropica Master Grow together with Seachem Nitrogen and Phosphorus.

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## Cacatuoides

> I prefer to use Dr. Mallick ferts as you can mix them according to whatever your plants need.


Hi Weirong,

Could you elaborate on which of Dr Mallick's product you use to mix? Thanks!

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## eddyq

I am using JBL Ferropol liquid fertiliser and KNO3 and PO4.

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## Ah_ZhaN

I am dosing Dr Mallick's KNO3, KH2PO4 and Ferka Aquatilizer.

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## medicineman

The macros I use chemical store supply. The micros I use my own brew. I've left brand ferts some time ago for the sake of my research. It saves me dozens of bottles of brand name ferts and get acceptable result out of it as the bonus.

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## ragn4rok

I am using TMG  :Smile:

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## kadios

Dr Mallick's LGM and LQA supplemented with K2SO4, MgSO4 and KH2PO4.

Cheers!

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## StanChung

ADA all the way. [see how long I can last! ouch ouch ouch!]  :Opps: 
Brighty K, Step 2, ECA, Green Brighty Lights Special, Green Gain and multi long bottom's.
I use other ferts for other tanks. Dennerle, Plant Nutrition, +++ [collectoritis]

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## blackBRUSHalgae

very useful information for planted tank enthusiast

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## the_r0ck

I used to use the entire Seachem range and to be honest, following the Seachem's recommended dosing method/schedule works really well. However its too expensive for me. Switched to Dr Mallick's KNO3, KH2PO4, LushGRO Micros and Seachem Equilibrium.

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## samuelgoh

I used the following

-Ferka Aqualitizer
-Ferka K+, 
-LushGRO KNO3
-LushGRO KH2PO4
-Seacheam Iron

OT a bit, thinking of getting rid of the Ferka Aqualitizer and adding in either Seachem Trace or LushGRO Micros and Seachem Equilibrium.

Any comments ?

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## Plantbrain

I've used TMG going on 15 years?
I've tried Kent, Sera, ADA and Flourish etc.
Many folks have ended up going back to TMG.

As far as macro nutrients, it does not matter, NO3 is NO3, PO4 is PO4, K+ binds with no organic molecules, so it's the same, Ca++, Mg, SO4, Cl etc

Does not matter where it comes from, it's still the same stuff. 
KNO3 runs 15$ for 50lbs here.
Why should I buy it diluted with a name brand on the the bottle and pay extra for water/shipping?

15$ is what one little bottle of the ADA cost, and the 50lbs will last till I have grandkids and they have planted tanks. I also know precisely what is in it, KNO3, pure and simple, a dosing calculator can easily help anyone dose it dry.

I've been testing a new trace of my own design.
It'll be about 10-20X cheaper than Flourish and TMG.
And it'll be sold dry via Greg Watson etc.

Unlike the macro nutrients(other than say Mg), chelators vary in the name brands as do the ratios. Few measure the other trace metals other than Fe.
It used a mix of chelators, a weak highly bioavailable one and stronger longer lasting one, and unlike just Fe, these same mix of chelators will be applied to all the trace metals, not just Fe only.

Plants all use the same building blocks so delivery is all that's left.
Chelators that are specific for the KH's we typically find can do this easily.

At that point, I'm free of any name brand, cost 20X less, easy to determine concentrations, cheaper to ship and grows the plants better.

Regards, 
Tom Barr

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## neon

> I've used TMG going on 15 years?
> I've tried Kent, Sera, ADA and Flourish etc.
> Many folks have ended up going back to TMG.
> 
> As far as macro nutrients, it does not matter, NO3 is NO3, PO4 is PO4, K+ binds with no organic molecules, so it's the same, Ca++, Mg, SO4, Cl etc
> 
> Does not matter where it comes from, it's still the same stuff. 
> KNO3 runs 15$ for 50lbs here.
> Why should I buy it diluted with a name brand on the the bottle and pay extra for water/shipping?
> ...


Wah ! 50lbs(~22.6KG) for $15US ~ $18SGD. In Singapore, KNO3 1kg cost $8-$9 SGD. That's a lot of profit for just pure chemical form. May be AQ member can do MO from local supplier.

Tom, who is Greg Watson ? Is it a store or forumer ? what is the dry trace pack size/weight ? Must it be premix with water as storage first? How many doses can each pack last for a 6'x2'x2' tank ? Roughly how much would it cost ?

Cheers

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## Plantbrain

The USA grows a lot of food, so we have a massive economy driven by such products. California alone, in a small percentage of the state 's land, grows far more rice than all of Japan. And we have 49 more states.........

You should be able to get it from the mainland or China pretty cheap.
But who knows with SG...they might call you a terrorist :Smile: 

Greg was someone that started helping folks by selling the bulk ferts for PMDD and then EI methods. He visited forums etc but it was mainly just a hobby.

It did very well and he recently sold the business to a local CA friend of mine.
They are committed to helping folks and have excellent service, so I'd imagine they will only get bigger.

I'll be adding my own developed trace element mix coming up, one for marine plants, one for Fresh water, and another super red*(does not use Fe or lowering NO3 to produce red color, nobody has a clue what is in it and I'm not telling).

These will be sold dry and be about 15-20X cheaper than Seachem or TMG.
But.......they will be better, they have the advantages of both and then some, without the issues. Even if they could copy it, they would never drop their prices by 1000%  :Grin:  Shipping is also 10X less since you do not pay for shipping the water. Eg 1 lb will make 50 liters and run about 50$. Try shipping 50 liters, that would run not quite 100lbs in weight. Where do you put that much stuff also?

I think I'll have the only marine specific pH trace for macro/plants available on the market. It'll be less, about 25$ lb. 

But bottoming out the markets on such product lines and bringing the products to the people direct makes a specialized market niche that cannot be competed with.

Other folks can do it also, clubs can do group buys(very popular here) to reduce cost and buy in bulk.

I am looking for a person, a hobbyists that sells such ferts there locally in SG also to sell the Matrix Micro nutrients also. I have 2 in the USA, one in the UK and will have one in Oz as well. 

Regards, 
Tom Barr

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## besh

tried OTOTO and also Mr. Aqua.

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## Rupert

I use Dr. Mallick lushgro ferts, they are comparatively very very cheap, many people on the forum use lushgro and have developed spreadsheets so that you can mix the contents to get ppm levels you need. 

Calculator link below
http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...5&postcount=56

I was buying 3 ltrs Macro & 1 lt Micros of Dr Malicks ferts all the time. Crusader on the forum will even deliver for a small extra cost with made a big difference if one gets busy.

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## kaym

Where can i get Dr Malick's ferts? And how much do they cost?

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## tanhb

> Where can i get Dr Malick's ferts? And how much do they cost?


You can find it at NA. 1kg of KNO3 and 1/2kg KH2PO4 should cost you less then $20. I believe it can last you for more than a year.  :Grin:

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## kaym

Looks complicated to mix them in quantities.... afraid of overdosing. Is there a simpler chart by means of tank size. Eg 5 gallons = 1/2 cap.

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## StanChung

Hi kaym,

I presume you are keeping shrimps of the expensive kind?  :Very Happy: 
Best you start a new thread to get a more direct answer.  :Very Happy:

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## Aeon

Dr. Mallick LUSHGro K2SO4 & Micros
Calcium Carbonate
Powersand Special & Aquasoil

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## Plantbrain

It's not more complicated than making cookies or pork buns.

Add 1 teaspoon of KNO3 to a 80 gallon tank will add 10-11ppm of NO3.
If you have 50% weekly water changes, then it can never build up to 20-22ppm and that assumes zero uptake by plants also.

So 10-20ppm of NO3 is the maxmimum.
If the plants use more than 10-11ppm per week then you will need to add more but you do so every 2-3 days.

Now you can add 1 teaspoon to 100mls of water and dose that 100mls/7 and this will give you 10-11ppm/7 = 1.4-1.6 ppm of NO3 per day if you 14mls per day of this solution.

That's an additional step and adds the KNO3 daily instead, you can try to do it with powders but the samller amount sare harder to add accurately.
So you can add them to water.

See the claculator.
Do not get scared about the ppms etc.

Just add the suggested amounts for your tank size for NO3, PO4, traces and GH.

That's all and add good cO2 that's stable.

Regards, 
Tom Barr

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## Ben Lim

Just started using Wondergro Aqua+ & Wondergro Micro+

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## uklau

> Just started using Wondergro Aqua+ & Wondergro Micro+


Bro, it's Wonder-gro Macro+ & Micro+  :Grin: .

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## dannyfish

i use mr aqua

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## Jaffar

I am using Seachem Flourish & Trace. So far, there is no problem for my 2ft planted tank. To make my planted more vibrant, I intend to add macro nutrients using Dr Mallicks product.

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## heeroyu16

I'm using easylife pro-fito and monster root so far my 2 month tank is doing well.

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## o2bubble

I'm using ADA special lights, brighty K, ECA, Green Gain

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## ragn4rok

I'm using Wonder-Gro series...

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## yck

i use jbl , cheap and good  :Grin:

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## o2bubble

Actually, I feel after trying out many fertilisers and still experimenting with some, there is NO ONE BEST fertiliser in the market. It's more of a combination of a few to suit the health of your tank that you want. For example, I'm using ADA fertiliser to complement my ADA substrate as they are design to work in pair while now toying around with Seachem phosphate to reduce and eliminate GSA by increasing phosphate level. Result is good after 3 days with no GSA or other algae appearing  :Smile:  I'm using Dennerle S7 to supply the needed vitamins for plants and fishes as well and results are very good too!

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## jason6142004

i am experimenting between tetra, ocean free and seachem. but i dont dump all in together. i test each of them in various tub of moss

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## torque6

Looks like most of us using sechem trace elements and the lot for plants.

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## tetrafreak

I am using aqumedi floravit which i got from c328. 

They recommended this when i asked for a small bottle of general fertilizer for my small lightly planted shrimp tanks. 

Anybody's ever used this before? Got it in a hurry and later discovered they do not list out the ingredients, only "a lot of active substances, vitamins, trace elements and iron"!

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## beetlejuice403

Huh... looks like the one I'm using doesn't even get mentioned in here...  :Embarassed: 

Was recommended this (Plant Gibberellin by Azoo) from the owner of a LFS... Sigh!!!

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## ongtw

i just started using wondergro macro+ and micro+ for my 1.3ft cube tank.

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## wllm33

anyone use those slow release fert for the water lilies one bought from the horticulture farms?
they dissolve in the water just the same.

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## blink_willie

I am currently using EasyLife ProFito.Apparently it's a concentrated complete fertilizer.So far so good! :Grin: All my plants are doing well and my shrimps are ok too.

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## sammajor

Been using the JBL liquid fertilizer for the past few months. So far so good.

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## Garry83

I use seachem iron

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## Garry83

And pottasium with qianhu liquid fertilizer.. So far very good

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## plantedpot

Borneo Wild Growth, Vivid, substrate a and b, phyton, gain. Seachem potassium, nitrogen, phosphorus, iron, flourish, trace, dennerle planta 7 gold, ISTA 

Sent from my Mi 4i using Tapatalk

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## Danny Archer

Currently I'm using ADA brighty K and step 2 with seachem products, have had good growth but I'm looking to try dry fertilisers and EI dosing

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## Goalkeeper

Saw on AA Facebook there's Seachem advance....is this another duplicate to their other products?

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## geol9

Apt complete, all in one n p k

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## erwinx

APT EI, because it is the cheapest of all the all-in-one ferts available in Singapore. 

While APT Complete is much better value than other ferts, APT Complete is basically diluted APT EI and they charge you the same price. 

I used to dose 4ml of APT Complete a day. Now I does 2ml of APT EI and save 50%.

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