A comprehensive guide to all-in-one fertilizers for the planted aquarium

[@freshflowaquatics]

Do you use fertilizer? If so, what kind?

[@alternativeaquascaping517]

I used to do a lot of EI method where i mixed my own individual nutrients, but now that i don’t professionally farm plants in massive vats anymore i just use the seachem/aquavitro line because theyre already mixed for me and that extra cost is totally worth it to me 👍

[@freshflowaquatics]

@@alternativeaquascaping517 Totally agreed, Id rather spend on a premixed fertilizers than have to mix my own. Worth the cost 😊

[@mandyk4988]

Thanks for this. I’m looking for an all in one for my two 5g betta tanks. My plants look miserable and it’s frustrating because I a bit of a newbie and I actually do ok with everyday plants but aquatic plants are a mystery to me

[@Jessery]

​@@alternativeaquascaping517I've been using the full Seachem Flourish line for well over a decade but I've always wondered if their AquaVitro line was worth switching to. I remember being really excited when the AV line first came out but was always hesitant to give it a shot. Maybe a "if it ain't broke..." situation going on? If you've had experience with both, would you recommend one line over the other? Or are they similar enough to not worry about it, in your opinion?

[@alternativeaquascaping517]

@@Jessery the flourish line is a good line, but not the best for every tank, which is impossible for any fertilizer to accomplish. The aquavitro line is much more concentrated and has a different chemical makeup. I really like their nitrogen product as it uses more ammonia/urea than their Seachem line. This makes it closer to the ADA Nitrogen which works phenomenally, and is better suited for larger tanks in the 120 gallon plus range. This also holds true for the rest of the aquavitro line.

[@whereswrld]

This video is a hidden gem. You are extremely knowledgeable and can communicate it effectively. Thank you!

[@freshflowaquatics]

Thanks so much @whereswrld ! Glad that wasn't too much rambling about ferts 🤣

[@docyusuf258]

Thanks a lot. The table you made was really helpful 🙏

[@freshflowaquatics]

No problem! Glad the video and table were helpful, thanks for dropping a comment 😊

[@RH_01779]

Have watched a few videos on this topic and this video is by far the most informative. Thank you

[@freshflowaquatics]

Thanks so much Alex. I thought it might be a little excessive, but glad to hear it was useful for you.

[@samuelpotter6006]

Really informative, clear and easy to understand, thankyou for your help 👍🏼

[@freshflowaquatics]

Thanks for dropping a comment! Glad that the video was helpful. What fert do you use?

[@yashtapase3821]

Hello sir I found a fertilizer it's ratio is 15:10:30 or 26:5:16 Which one is good NPK ratio I have ferns and hygrophilas

[@magwarblood]

Very well put together 👌

[@freshflowaquatics]

Thanks Reef Roid!

[@Vysakas]

Great video. Super helpful to choose the right fertilizer.

[@freshflowaquatics]

Thanks so much, glad it was helpful.

[@DarkenedSilhouette]

Wow you need more likes! Thank you for making this video 😊

[@freshflowaquatics]

Thanks so much, glad it was helpful! 🌿

[@johnnydubbsaquascaping]

Great video and very informative, I have never dosed regularly and have just put in some leaf zone when water changing. As per your comments I only by leaf zone as it is cheap but it does not have a lot of macros or micros in it so my plants may be missing something. I think root tabs can help pick up the slack for any root feeders.

[@freshflowaquatics]

Thanks, glad it was helpful! Root tabs can definitely go a long way. I didn't talk about them in this video since it was already kinda long, but I am a big fan of root tabs as well.

[@apontutul]

Thanks a lot for the chart. Much appreciated

[@freshflowaquatics]

Glad it helped, thanks for dropping a comment.

[@m1964c]

Loved the video. Only problem I have is with a 180 gallon tank I walk thru a pump bottle so fast. 😕 I was blessed to get my tank (entire setup) for 500.00. I do want my plants to look good also. Now that I’ve had real plants the plastic ones look terrible! 😑. I can’t go back to plastic now. I have 1 large Angel fish and the rest are small fish. A lot of plants. Do u think using Seachems Flourish and Seachems, excel and Seachems advanced growth would give some help? I can make them (money wise) last longer than 18 pumps a day in my tank. 😁. I greatly appreciate the plant education.

[@freshflowaquatics]

That's a great deal! I wouldn't want to go back to plastic plants either. If you are trying to go the cheapest route, it might make sense to make your own liquid fertilizer with powders or salts. I've never done that myself so I can't advise you on it. Check out this big bottle of NilocG Thrive - amzn.to/3MIrcAY - it's $80, but it should last you a LONG time. The dosage will depend on if you use CO2 and have high levels of lighting. If you are running a low energy system, then you won't end up needing to dose 18 pumps a day. I think that would go a lot further than the same amount of Flourish and Advanced Growth ~ If you look at the table you'll notice that Flourish has a very low concentration of nutrients, so you'd need to pump. You'd need 40 pumps of Flourish to get the same nitrogen content as 1 pump or NilocG's Thrive. You could throw in some Excel if you wanted, but that would come second the Thrive in my opinion. Hope this answer was helpful!

[@m1964c]

@@freshflowaquaticsThank u for info. 😁

[@jarritosisthebestdrink]

Thank you this was very informative

[@freshflowaquatics]

Glad it was helpful, thanks for dropping a comment

[@angiewilson9736]

I've got a 10 gal tank that I put 2-3 gal of treated hard tapwater for my Crayfish/Crawdad. It's basically at a guestimate of 7 Ph. I'm trying 2 plant as a baby beginner. Plants I've gor are the: Microsorum Pteropus 'Windlov' and Microsorum Pteropus 'Whale Tail' I need to aquire a couple of smal 'drift woods' to attach them to as i just learnt that they're both rhysomes and they dont like their roots buried.... 😅 Atm, they sadly are buried in the pea gravel substrate temporarily. 😶‍🌫️😶‍🌫️😶‍🌫️ I'm psyched that i stumbled onto your epic video for aquatic plant fertilizer! And I'm leaning towards the Thrive brand for my t Aquarium/tank.... Which of the three that you show here would you suggest that would best suited for my plants & crayfish? 🙂

[@freshflowaquatics]

Thanks so much, I'm glad that this video was helpful for you 😊. Those two are terrific beginner plants! They should definitely be pulled out of the substrate so that their rhizomes can access oxygen from the water column. A couple questions I think about when deciding which fertilizer. Do you have strong lighting and CO2? A heavy fertilizer would be good to match that. If not, a weaker one or simply dosing at lower levels would be good for that tank. Since those two plants are pretty slow growers, you'll really want to monitor your nitrates the first few times you put in fertilizer. Check how long it takes for your plants to chew through the nitrates and use that as an indicator that it's time to put in some more. I would lean towards APT 3 from 2 hr aquarist for your tank since it's low on macro nutrients. Thrive is great for heavily planted tanks with tons of stem plants, but might be overkill for two slow growers.

[@angiewilson9736]

I would say the lighting is med-low level. And we have a water pump that circulates the water in a soft waterfall to keep the oxygen hopefully higher. Since it's only our Crayfish in attendance in the tank I'm not exactly sure how much Co2 he gives. I'm hoping with the live plants that needing to change the water may become less. Have been changing every 3-4 days it seems & am hoping for perhaps 1x per week if that's a reasonable length of time. APT sounds great 👍 wasn’t aware the Thrive was for much more plants than 2 so I appreciate that! 😊

[@hawkxxl]

Good info 👍

[@freshflowaquatics]

Thanks so much!

[@jackm9566]

I find Seachem quite safe, long lasting with good results. API is also working consistently good as long as used in a combination with root tabs. Before looking at nutrients you need to get the aquarium's temperature right 22-25 Degrees Celsius. Most common plants won't successfully take up the nutrients in a too cold or hot environment. You can buy and dose the most expensive fertilizer range, and not get good plant growth, until getting the temperature right. It's like drinking gym supplements and not exercising.

[@freshflowaquatics]

Hey, thanks for dropping a comment. Appreciate the tips on temperature! I definitely find that plants seem a little healthier and happier on the lower range of the spectrum you provided.

[@mandyk4988]

Thanks for this. I’m looking for an all in one for my two 5g betta tanks. My plants look miserable and it’s frustrating because I a bit of a newbie and I’m actually do ok with everyday plants but aquatic plants are a mystery to me

[@freshflowaquatics]

Hope it was helpful. Nutrients can make a world of difference for aquarium plants. Two other big things to consider... What kind of lights and substrate are you using?

[@lakedistrict9450]

Great. Thanks

[@freshflowaquatics]

Glad to help, thanks for stopping by the channel.

[@robertomunoz5189]

On your 75g what type of fertilizers do you use? How much? How often? I've used Apt 3 and currently using seachem individual nutrients. I've always had gpa and gda problems. I'm thinking about trying thrive.

[@freshflowaquatics]

At the moment I'm using 11ml of APT 3 a day - I've gone up to 14 a day when I had more stem plants. The amount that everyone uses will vary, so follow the method I talked about in the video to track how much nutrients your tank is using. I usually think of GDA as a result of a tank have juvenile plants. Are your plants still filling out or having a hard time growing? The individual seachem nutrients are quite challenging to figure out.

[@arnabiarnab3037]

If you have fish on the tank…. Wouldn’t the fish be fertilizing the tank as well

[@freshflowaquatics]

Yes, it's not going to include all of the elements that plants need, but you'll get a lot of the macros covered.

[@FHScapes]

In high tech aquascapes it's not enough

[@SoFloCichlids]

Great video! I was looking for a video like this that breaks down nilocg stuff. I just got a bottle of thrive+ and I dose 1 pump per day for my 20 gallon high tech tank. So far my plants seem to be doing better. However, I’m going to try and get it down to every other day. I don’t want to risk getting an algae outbreak. I was previously using easy green, but I wanted something that had a bit more micros and higher nitrates. The calcium is great because my water is pretty soft. Do you know if the calcium in the thrive is helping prevent ph crashes?

[@freshflowaquatics]

Thanks a lot, I'm glad it was helpful! If they do well with a pump every other day why not. Kind of counterintuitive, but sometimes giving them too few nutrients can lead to algae cause the plants start to shed leaves and break down. It's possible that the calcium could help a little bit. I have soft water too, and I like to add limestone to a lot of my tanks to help. Limestone is made of calcium carbonate - The calcium helps with GH and the carbonate helps with KH both of which are good to have in some quantities to help buffer water and reduce sudden pH shifts.

[@roxannep.4197]

Love this video! But I’m just trying to understand, if I have fish and I can keep my nitrates around 10 ppm, am I covered with the macro nutrients and should only get something with micro nutrients? Or should I still get something with both macro and micro?

[@freshflowaquatics]

Thanks so much @roxannep.4197 ! Theoretically you should be fine with just micros if you can keep your nitrates around 10 ppm. Another option is to consider a low tech all in one or APT 3 that has a lower macro to micro ratio - that's probably what I would opt for. Are you doing high lighting and CO2 or more of a low energy system?

[@roxannep.4197]

@@freshflowaquatics Thanks for you reply! I have a low tech system with some heavier root feeders and faster growing plants including jungle val, various crypts. But I also have anubias and java ferns that nutrients in the water column. No CO2. I was also looking at APT 1 as an option for low tech systems with fish

[@freshflowaquatics]

@@roxannep.4197 APT 1 is definitely an option for low tech tanks. I use it in tanks with big fish like angels or severums. I would lean towards APT 3 but you'd probably be fine with any of the items we've talked about!

[@roxannep.4197]

@@freshflowaquatics thanks so much for your input! This was very informative!

[@freshflowaquatics]

@@roxannep.4197 You're welcome, happy to have helped!

[@marlonallansupetran7120]

I think it's better to compare the fertilizers based on the ppm of each of the nutrients using the recommended disage.

[@freshflowaquatics]

Why do you think it's better that way? I like percentages because that's a more common unit of measurement in day to day life vs PPM. Also, percentages are really easy to compare against each other on tables... Not that you couldn't do that with PPM, but just my preference.

[@letsgonow5641]

GlossoFactory Low Tech ive been using for the past 2 mos.

[@freshflowaquatics]

I've never heard of that, I'll have to check it out. Thanks for sharing!

[@HasaN-0686]

The best fertilizer is the one you make according to your own tank. Tropica Apt Seachem. I got the performance that I couldn't get these days, from DIY fertilizer.

[@freshflowaquatics]

Nice, that's cool that you make your own fertilizer.

[@Rick-ve6yp]

This is interesting: I have a bottle of APT 3 (product code APT 3 - 300) that I just received today. The nutrient levels at 5ML/100L are as follows. K -3.8 ppm, No3 - 1.8 ppm, Po4 - .7 ppm, Fe - .05 ppm, + magnesium and trace elements (no figures given). Can you speculate on why the difference?

[@freshflowaquatics]

I'm not positive on why, but I think that the smaller bottles don't always have as much space so they have less details? My bottle gives the full run down and it's the 1000 ml bottle. It should be the same exact ingredients and percentages.

[@Rick-ve6yp]

@@freshflowaquatics The volume of the bottle should have no bearing on the percentages, that is parts per 100 (per cent) as you say. I think I'll write and ask the source, I just wanted your input. Thanks.

[@freshflowaquatics]

@@Rick-ve6yp Agreed, the volume will have no bearing on the percentage. I just meant that the packaging is smaller on the 300 ml bottle so there is less space and they might label things differently than they do on a 1000 ml bottle. Let me know what you find out!

[@anonymonsters]

I use 2hr Aquarist's APT 3 and this is making me think that I might try swapping over to one of the NilocG ferts because my plants generally look like they're not getting quite enough nutrients...

[@SoFloCichlids]

I’ve never understood why those types of ferts exist? Is it for better control? They seem to be very low in all nutrients compared to the other AIO ferts.

[@anonymonsters]

@@SoFloCichlids with 2hr aquarist specifically the goal is to limit nitrates with the intent of bringing out brighter reds in red plants!

[@freshflowaquatics]

Yeah, sometimes I feel like my Buce and Anubias aren't getting enough on APT 3. Might be worth giving it a shot. I've had a lot of success with NilocG!

[@freshflowaquatics]

It's got a higher percentage of the micro nutrients vs macronutrients to bring out the reds. It's also advertised as being good at keeping algae down while giving plants what they need.

[@freshflowaquatics]

Definitely true!

[@SoulRedeemer77]

I dont understand the point that macro elements can be obtain from fish food, waste,plant decay? So we have lots of fish and plants. Do we need only micro elements?

[@freshflowaquatics]

Fish waste contains nitrates and other elements that plants need to grow. If you have enough of it in your tank, then all you need to do is supplement with micros, which are not found in fish waste. There should never be enough fish food or decaying plant matter laying around in a tank that it would contribute to nutrient load IMO. If you're looking for an exact process to follow, measure your nitrates. If they are around or under 10, consider adding both micros and macros. If they are over then just use micros... If your plants still look like they could be growing better with only using micros, try some macros too. One thing to note though is that there are other elements important for plant growth. I'm only talking nutrition in this video, but light, flow, CO2 if you want, etc

[@SoulRedeemer77]

@@freshflowaquatics ty for very informative

[@thorntoncasey]

Where does easy green rank on the list?

[@SoFloCichlids]

It’s very similar to regular thrive. But I could be wrong.

[@freshflowaquatics]

@SoFloCichlids is right, it's pretty similar to NilocG Thrive. Some subtle differences that might be worth looking at. I updated the chart to include Easy Green since that's a big one. You can find it on my blog www.freshflowaquatics.com/blog-3/is-there-a-best-all-in-one-liquid-fertilizer-for-the-planted-aquarium

[@orlandobarrandey9257]

Where can i get this nilocg micro with 0.95 iron because im believe that's a typeo. It should be 0.5. Correct me if I'm wrong

[@freshflowaquatics]

Hmmm, this is odd. I looked at my bottle to see if I had a typo and it definitely says .95% Iron (Fe). So I went to the link that I ordered from on Amazon and the images show .5% Iron. Maybe I'll reach out to NilocG Aquatics and see if they can shed some light on it. Good catch though, and glad someone's paying attention to my videos 🤣 Link for where I ordered mine - amzn.to/4aTl2rQ

[@civrn368]

Magnesium cannot be properly absorbed without calcium. I know I have to buy a calcium mag supplement for my garden plants for this reason but perhaps different in aquatic plants. Something to look into. Great video! Thank you.😊

[@Lukas-sz4mo]

Tropica Specialized price is not correct. At least in Europe, cost for 500ml is $ 16.39.

[@freshflowaquatics]

Thanks for your comment, didn't realize there was such a discrepency. Looks like its WAAAAAY more expensive on this side of the pond. Double checked and my price is accurate. Maybe one of the reasons people here don't use it much even though I know it's a good product. Also, prices will vary as more time lapses between when I made this video, if there are sales, etc...

[@detlefh.7090]

And why the heck do you think any manufacturer should include chlorine to their fertilizer recipe? By the way, there will never be a "best" fertilizer since each tank requires adapted nutrient formulas for best results even if you used RO water to begin with.

[@freshflowaquatics]

Hey, thanks for dropping a comment.

[@judejude520]

The cleast break down on the whole youtube!

[@freshflowaquatics]

Thanks @judejude520 , I was hoping that 25 minutes of fertilizer talk wasn't overkill 🤣

[@Fauxchemill]

Could some of the day off be because you were dosing them with fertilizer so they grew to big or flourishing well and now they're just going back down to a more natural or how am I supposed to say this a normalish size. Sort of like if you were taking steroids and you were all jacked up and then when you got off the steroids you were smaller? I don't know if I'm making any sense but in my head it sounded better. 😂

[@freshflowaquatics]

Lol, I hear Sunday is off day if you're on the roids. I'm not sure why they recommend that... I do think that doing smaller amounts every day is beneficial.

[@Fauxchemill]

@@freshflowaquatics I'll start with this methodology then. Thank you much