Hi guys! Since making this video Aquarium Co-op has changed Easy Green to have several times higher the NPK and it's generally more concentrated now. Still no copper. Nilocg Thrive has gone down in N and P just a little bit, and the nutrient percentages have been slightly modified.
alot of factors come into play , light low medium high, co2 or no , filtration , flow , live stock , plant density, plant demands very from one to another . Its trial and error you let natural be and then you tweak
Tbh I use API leaf zone and it’s working perfect just like all the other fertilizers and the thing abt this one is that it Doenst even change anything from your water chemistry which is always a good thing API leaf zone is just more concentrated on potassium and iron which makes it so good.
Unless you have a very lightly stocked tank, you will get nitrogen and phosphorus from dry fish food. Most people have hard water which contains minerals like calcium and magnesium. So Leaf Zone covers the missing macro, potassium.
Aquarium Co-Op is my favorite and I have been told that iron can solidify in a bottle so I also have their iron to supplement my red plants. Works for me.
Thanks, I'm an American living in Taiwan and I don't have heavily planted tanks but I've noticed that my plants are having problems I guess I haven't been giving them fertiliser. I put in the recommended dose. Hopefully after about 2 or 3 weeks. What I've been noticing is that some of the leaves have been dissolving or they turned black I get little black spots. You can see skeleton of the plant. I watch Coopp video on plant issues. Thank you for telling me how often I should do a water change and put plant food in. According to what the man said at the pet store I should give my tanks four to five drops. They're not very large they range from half a gallon to 3 gallons.
Pectec told me about your channel. Loved this video. I was wondering if my plants were getting everything they needed. I have subscribed, and am looking forward to the rest of your videos.
Just watched this after George Farmers stream he just did. Good job running through the options and showing the breakdowns. I've been using NilocG dry ferts and they are great. I think Colin is decent guy. Had an issue with a CO2 reg I bought from him and he personally answered my email.
I went over to EI Dosing a few months back. As long as you stich to the routing and 50% water change it is easy and get good results. I like you videos.
From what I read, if you’re doing EI dosing in a low tech or low/med light tank, your water changes need only be 25% weekly. Anyone familiar with this guideline? Think I read it from the thrive+ seller on amazon.
Great video! Loved your delivery of information. Never even heard of Thrive until this video. Was gonna go with aquarium coops fertilizer and I still might but great to know there's other options. Thank you!
I know this was a year ago but great info one tip get a teleprompter downloaded to your computer and fit it in a small window underneath the camera lens or right above.
I'm using easy green, and my plants are still dying in places, with leaves falling off and holes appearing. That sounds like a bad potassium deficiency. They otherwise look great. Some green spot algae, so phosphate must be low as well.
Yes, there is a difference. Certain plants can also take in fertilizers through their leaves and when the tank has those combined with floating plants, a water based fertilizer makes sense. Root tabs though will not help floating plants by any means
While Excel Flourish is not a fertilizer, Excel also has a line of products for N, P, K, Trace elements. What's your view/experience on those? And thank you for sharing your knowledge and expertise with us 🙂
I haven't used them, but seachem's products are high quality so I'd expect them to be pretty good. I don't use them because it's too hard to keep track of five different bottles of fertilizer :P
Thanks for making the comparisons. I have Flourish and Easy Green. Based on the plants I keep and my lighting and the knowledge gained from your video, I think Easy Green is perfect for me. I pretty much thought that already before this video, but that might have had a lot to do with bias because I like the Aquarium Co-Op channel. Now I have a better understanding of why to back that up.
hello, I would like to hear your opinion/video on root tabs, I am afraid using osmocote. As you can see in name pic, I have a mangrove tree in a goldfish bowl with 2 golfish and also have a 50 gal heavily planted with 1 10 yo and another 2 yo goldfish.thanks
I haven't used osmocote before, but a lot of people use them without issue. Seachem's root tabs generally have the same issue as flourish, low macros. API root tabs have high macros but no micros.
i have used the pellets from aquariumplants.com but i am always afraid because i have goldfish and they eat alot, so i guess their poop is enough, besides, i have read things about alcohol and how mangrove love it, sugar as a fertilizer and for nitrates, and i just thought about coconut water as a liquid fertilizer, i looked and some people use it. today i started putting a little bit of Himalayan salt where my mangrove tree is with two small goldfish. I have use seachem equilibrium as a fert and i have seen the difference. thanks for the reply
The bottle says once a week, but flourish is really dilute and so I would do twice a week in moderately planted tanks + high stocking, and get additional supplements in heavily planted
Great information! I switched to using dry ferts because I have a lot of planted tanks. Green Leaf Aquariums has a great starter package for using dry ferts (measurements on the bottle). NilocG also has great starter kits and is very helpful.
Has anyone ever used Liqui-Dirt? If so is safe? Does it work? I can’t seem to find any info! Says on the bottle safe for all animal life and waterways but I cannot for the life of me find any info of anyone ever using it in their tanks or anything like that.
Makeila's Aqua I really haven’t tried anything else, so I don’t really have a measuring point. However, I can’t really complain it seems to be doing the job. I was wondering which thrive you would recommend, I have some Amano shrimp and I saw a thrive that was shrimp safe? Also have fairly low ph waster because I use ro water re mineralized by equilibrium. So, I was stuck on deciding which thrive to choose. Also, this is the first UA-cam video I have watched that explained in depth the macros and micros each contained and what you should be looking for, great job and thank you!
The shrimp Thrive is less concentrated, kind of like how easy green is. I use the regular old Thrive and haven't had problems with my cherries and amanos using the low light dosage. It works for any ph, but the Thrive+ is designed for advanced planted tanks with low ph. Thanks for the feedback! I actually tried to keep this pretty general to shorten the video length, but I'd love to do a more in depth macro/micro info video ^w^
Do you have shrimp in your tank? I was thinking about using the Thrive that is made for shrimp. It says it does not have copper and it’s more like pps-pro so you don’t need to do the huge water changes each week.
Great video! You explain everything well without complicating it, thanks for that :) 1 Question though, I'm from the UK and I can't seem to find "Nilocg Thrive" anywhere :( are there any alternatives that are available in the UK?
I liked how you did your video, showing the nutrient composition with it, so smart. I've been trying to narrow down which fertilizer, I'm still stuck between easy green and thrive, but the thrive live has so many options, still confused.
Awesome video , lot of helpful information to compare different fertilizers on the market i use ease green but i wonder if there anything in special to help the plants with their root system
They're not very common outside of Asia, except from a few aquascaping specialization stores. Also, I haven't tried them nor have I researched them a lot, so I'm not sure I could give the best info on them!
Can you do a beginner video? Mostly about how to start and what sort of plants to start with? I want to get into planted tanks, but it seems really daunting to me😅 Love your content by the way😀
It's up to you and your setup, if you have a soil based substrate root tabs aren't needed but they are a good idea to use with inert substrates like flourite, sand, gravel etc :)
Depending on what plants you are growing you can use one, the other, or both. Some plants are heavy water column feeders while others get the majority of their nutrients from the substrate. If it gets “planted” I would use root tabs.
Thanks for the video, it was very informative. Now I know which fertilizer to invest in. Also, I think your channel could take off if you purchased a nicer camera.
Flourish fertilizer is still the best overall since its out their in the market in all petstore etcc.... anything better than that you got to order online or only some store has it.
Mando Cabrera hahah yep. Even though i say that but thrive and easy green is the best for me. Im just saying flourish will be the go to fertilizer to most especially new people and their marketing is really big. Only when hobbyist such as this person gives us more info then we will know what to get cause im pretty sure flourish will be the first thing beginners get
Hi guys! Since making this video Aquarium Co-op has changed Easy Green to have several times higher the NPK and it's generally more concentrated now. Still no copper. Nilocg Thrive has gone down in N and P just a little bit, and the nutrient percentages have been slightly modified.
I used Excel to get rid of algae in my tank. Cory suggested it in a video. Works great. But I really don't know anything about it.
For easy green do I need to add like co2 booster
Is thrive safe for fish?
Is fertilizer safe for fish?
I've heard copper is toxic to shrimp, so maybe that's why no copper? Anybody else have any ideas about this?
this is the most in-depth look at fertilizers I have seen, good stuff! :)
I use Api Leaf Zone now and I have to admit my plants are growing better than they were using more complete liquid fertilizers.
alot of factors come into play , light low medium high, co2 or no , filtration , flow , live stock , plant density, plant demands very from one to another . Its trial and error you let natural be and then you tweak
I have Anubis in a fishless 5 gallon tank and use Leaf Zone and they been doing just fine.
I used plant zone for about half a year, and it worked pretty well for the price and type.
Tbh I use API leaf zone and it’s working perfect just like all the other fertilizers and the thing abt this one is that it Doenst even change anything from your water chemistry which is always a good thing API leaf zone is just more concentrated on potassium and iron which makes it so good.
I use it too, and have friends who do, it works fantastic really
I'm so glad to see these comments because i just bought one and started using it
Unless you have a very lightly stocked tank, you will get nitrogen and phosphorus from dry fish food. Most people have hard water which contains minerals like calcium and magnesium. So Leaf Zone covers the missing macro, potassium.
Been looking everywhere for a simple and clear explanation on all this and this is the best one I've found. Great video!
Thank you!
Great video. Lots of pertinent information without an agenda. I can’t believe I didn’t see this sooner.
Thank you! :)
You do a great job. You speak clearly and are easy to understand.
I run Easy Green right now and I'm very happy with it.
Thank you for the feedback, I appreciate it!
This is sooo helpful. I’m starting off my first planted aquarium. I’m most likely going to go with Aquarium Co-Op Easy Green
Glad to hear it! :D
Me too
I agree, very helpful! It was really great to get all of that information back to back! I also went with easy green, should arrive sometime this week.
Good vid, I never learned so much so quickly about fertilizer before
Bro, this video is perfect, it gets right to the point and has a concise and informative way of describing each fertilizer
Great video I like the quick overviews and hearing your opinion on the macros
Are all of these fertilizers safe for fish?
Well put together video. I hate when people ramble aimlessly. Subbed.
Thanks, I appreciate it!
I just discovered your channel -- Pecktec recommended you in one of his videos. You do good stuff -- smooth, clear and to the point. Well done!
Thank you!
Great video and accurate info. I'd be interested in more in depth videos on fertilizers like this.
Easy Green rules! Aquarium Co-op is a good group of people...
Haven't tried it, but agree about Aquarium Co-op! :D
Does easy green require a 50% weekly change
i use easy green and supplement it with Leaf Zone for the iron.
@@MakeilasAqua Flourish is toxic to shrimp
@@MakeilasAqua Easy Green is safe for shrimp
Wow, this is still helpful in 2021. Just bought some Easy Green
Wow, first video I saw from you. And I'm very impressed. Informative and helpful. Keep up the good work
Thank you!
What ferts to use with discus?
Aquarium Co-Op is my favorite and I have been told that iron can solidify in a bottle so I also have their iron to supplement my red plants. Works for me.
Thanks, I'm an American living in Taiwan and I don't have heavily planted tanks but I've noticed that my plants are having problems I guess I haven't been giving them fertiliser. I put in the recommended dose. Hopefully after about 2 or 3 weeks. What I've been noticing is that some of the leaves have been dissolving or they turned black I get little black spots. You can see skeleton of the plant. I watch Coopp video on plant issues. Thank you for telling me how often I should do a water change and put plant food in.
According to what the man said at the pet store I should give my tanks four to five drops. They're not very large they range from half a gallon to 3 gallons.
Thank you. You have a cool style, and the painting behind you is awesome!
Thirsty
Best fertilizer video, thanks for putting in the work
Pectec told me about your channel. Loved this video. I was wondering if my plants were getting everything they needed. I have subscribed, and am looking forward to the rest of your videos.
I'm really grateful for the feature he did. Glad you're here!
Thanks for your vids. Most informative ones out there for someone trying to learn
you should check Easy Life products baby gurl. Great vid. Thanks for posting.
Did the packaging change for Nyloc Thrive all in one
Just watched this after George Farmers stream he just did. Good job running through the options and showing the breakdowns. I've been using NilocG dry ferts and they are great. I think Colin is decent guy. Had an issue with a CO2 reg I bought from him and he personally answered my email.
That's awesome to hear! I haven't talked to him personally but he gives off a nice vibe in the newsletters.
You do so well.Understand you so well.Your not to fast.And give great information 👍🏼👍🏼
Thank you! It's my goal to be informative while still understandable and relatively entertaining :D
I went over to EI Dosing a few months back. As long as you stich to the routing and 50% water change it is easy and get good results. I like you videos.
Robert Fletcher what would be the result if I skipped the 50% water changes weekly? I currently do 25% basically weekly.
From what I read, if you’re doing EI dosing in a low tech or low/med light tank, your water changes need only be 25% weekly. Anyone familiar with this guideline? Think I read it from the thrive+ seller on amazon.
Great video! Loved your delivery of information. Never even heard of Thrive until this video. Was gonna go with aquarium coops fertilizer and I still might but great to know there's other options. Thank you!
Glad to help!
Thank you so much! This video has been so helpful!!
Which type of fertilizer will be best for a java fern and Anubias tank beside the co2?
would you please tell me what is the best fertilizer for anobiaus and moss.
If the root tab contains copper would it kill your snails and shrimps?
Thanks so much. The time stamps were awesome!
I was just about to purchase leaf zone too lol good thing I watched this video
can you put links please
Just want to ask if thats safe with a betta fish?
What about Fluval Plant Micro Nutrient?
Great analysis and comparison! Well done.
Thanks very much!
Was hoping to see Fluval in there too.
You taught me so much in such little time it .all really does make sense .your knowledge amazes me I definitely hit that subscribe button!!!
I know this was a year ago but great info one tip get a teleprompter downloaded to your computer and fit it in a small window underneath the camera lens or right above.
Do you have a Direct link of we’re you buy the Na thrive?
Great informative and educational video! Thanks :)
Have you used Dustins fish tanks style iron or fertilizers. Great info on UA-cam also sells red clay for soil added nutrients
can I use npk granules in capsule which is used in garden plants
I'm using easy green, and my plants are still dying in places, with leaves falling off and holes appearing. That sounds like a bad potassium deficiency. They otherwise look great. Some green spot algae, so phosphate must be low as well.
Which is the best fertilizer for carpet seed growing ?
These seeds aren't real carpeting plants, but a soil would be best for dry start and submerging in the long run
I have 20 gallon co2 and high prime HD light .what should I buy?
Definetly Thrive or UNS Plant Food if you're not doing dry ferts
Why do you use liquid fertilizer and not root tabs? Is there any different?
Yes, there is a difference. Certain plants can also take in fertilizers through their leaves and when the tank has those combined with floating plants, a water based fertilizer makes sense. Root tabs though will not help floating plants by any means
While Excel Flourish is not a fertilizer, Excel also has a line of products for N, P, K, Trace elements. What's your view/experience on those? And thank you for sharing your knowledge and expertise with us 🙂
I haven't used them, but seachem's products are high quality so I'd expect them to be pretty good. I don't use them because it's too hard to keep track of five different bottles of fertilizer :P
API Leaf Zone literally has less stuff in it than regular Flourish... leaf zone is only potassium and iron
Thanks for making the comparisons. I have Flourish and Easy Green. Based on the plants I keep and my lighting and the knowledge gained from your video, I think Easy Green is perfect for me. I pretty much thought that already before this video, but that might have had a lot to do with bias because I like the Aquarium Co-Op channel. Now I have a better understanding of why to back that up.
I'm glad to hear that the video helped!
I have had massive success with the flourish, but it’s mainly due to my tank’s high bioload that supplies the nitrogen
hello, I would like to hear your opinion/video on root tabs, I am afraid using osmocote. As you can see in name pic, I have a mangrove tree in a goldfish bowl with 2 golfish and also have a 50 gal heavily planted with 1 10 yo and another 2 yo goldfish.thanks
I haven't used osmocote before, but a lot of people use them without issue. Seachem's root tabs generally have the same issue as flourish, low macros. API root tabs have high macros but no micros.
i have used the pellets from aquariumplants.com but i am always afraid because i have goldfish and they eat alot, so i guess their poop is enough, besides, i have read things about alcohol and how mangrove love it, sugar as a fertilizer and for nitrates, and i just thought about coconut water as a liquid fertilizer, i looked and some people use it. today i started putting a little bit of Himalayan salt where my mangrove tree is with two small goldfish. I have use seachem equilibrium as a fert and i have seen the difference. thanks for the reply
Howoften would you add flourish to a tank?
The bottle says once a week, but flourish is really dilute and so I would do twice a week in moderately planted tanks + high stocking, and get additional supplements in heavily planted
Will the copper in the thrive effect invertebrates like shrimp?
No, it is safe :>
Great information! I switched to using dry ferts because I have a lot of planted tanks. Green Leaf Aquariums has a great starter package for using dry ferts (measurements on the bottle). NilocG also has great starter kits and is very helpful.
do carbon filters really take nutrients needed for plants?
Has anyone ever used Liqui-Dirt? If so is safe? Does it work? I can’t seem to find any info! Says on the bottle safe for all animal life and waterways but I cannot for the life of me find any info of anyone ever using it in their tanks or anything like that.
Can you use Thrive &Flourish Excel together I have a 90 Gallon Low tech tank
Yes, no issues. If you want to save on shipping Nilocg also sells a carbon booster product
Great video mak!
Thanks!
Great video! I was thinking about switching to thrive myself, I currently use easy iron and easy green from aquarium co-op.
How are they working out for you? They look really appealing for less demanding plants and probably work with smaller water changes!
Makeila's Aqua I really haven’t tried anything else, so I don’t really have a measuring point. However, I can’t really complain it seems to be doing the job. I was wondering which thrive you would recommend, I have some Amano shrimp and I saw a thrive that was shrimp safe? Also have fairly low ph waster because I use ro water re mineralized by equilibrium. So, I was stuck on deciding which thrive to choose. Also, this is the first UA-cam video I have watched that explained in depth the macros and micros each contained and what you should be looking for, great job and thank you!
The shrimp Thrive is less concentrated, kind of like how easy green is. I use the regular old Thrive and haven't had problems with my cherries and amanos using the low light dosage. It works for any ph, but the Thrive+ is designed for advanced planted tanks with low ph. Thanks for the feedback! I actually tried to keep this pretty general to shorten the video length, but I'd love to do a more in depth macro/micro info video ^w^
do these fertilizers affect's fish health?
Nope!
Is the api good for a low tech planted tank
Yes. It works well in mine.
i had amazing results with leaf zone. Co2 is the key, not enough is talked about it.
Excellent, informative video... Thank you!!!
how about tropica fertilizer?
A combination of their Specialised and Premium would function similarly to one of the EI fertilizers, I expect
Very helpful breakdown. I know a lot of people advise against Florish, but I haven't heard anyone say why the other ones are better🖒
Do you have shrimp in your tank? I was thinking about using the Thrive that is made for shrimp. It says it does not have copper and it’s more like pps-pro so you don’t need to do the huge water changes each week.
Seachem fertilizer is expensive and u have to buy each bottle for specific nutrients which gets expensive
Great video! You explain everything well without complicating it, thanks for that :) 1 Question though, I'm from the UK and I can't seem to find "Nilocg Thrive" anywhere :( are there any alternatives that are available in the UK?
Check out George Farmer's Aquascaper Liquid Fertilizer!
I liked how you did your video, showing the nutrient composition with it, so smart. I've been trying to narrow down which fertilizer, I'm still stuck between easy green and thrive, but the thrive live has so many options, still confused.
Awesome video , lot of helpful information to compare different fertilizers on the market
i use ease green but i wonder if there anything in special to help the plants with their root system
Any particular reason you didn't include ADA line of fertilizers? Step 1,2,3, Brighty K etc?
They're not very common outside of Asia, except from a few aquascaping specialization stores. Also, I haven't tried them nor have I researched them a lot, so I'm not sure I could give the best info on them!
Dang I found this extremely helpful! Your awesome!!!!
Do all these liquids serves the same purpose?
Same purpose, yes, to fertilize plants, but each is quite different in composition :)
Makeila's Aqua Then which one you would prefer for my tank? I got anubias Nana and petite. Right now I'm pouring Flourish Excel every alternate day.
Flourish would probably be adequate if those are the only plants!
Thanks for your insights, I personally use nilocg thrive. I was doing pps before, but I got tired of dosing everyday.
I think I would too! Though I try to spread my Nilocg doses into 2-3 times per week so it's a little more balanced ^^
Rommel R what is pps means
Is Aqurium Co-on safe for fish?
Definitely!
Can you do a beginner video? Mostly about how to start and what sort of plants to start with? I want to get into planted tanks, but it seems really daunting to me😅 Love your content by the way😀
I'll definitely start up again as soon as school lets out :)
Makeila's Aqua sweet! looking forward to it😁
You seem to have forgotten the fact that theses should be used in combination with fertilizer tabs. After 40 years I save the money and make my own.
Accurate video and well done
Thank you so much for this video
The flourish one has low nitrogen levels because the fish creates nitrogen from food waste and fish waste turns into that
That’s why it’s low in nitrogen
Thrive is the best!!! None compare
Knowledge. You are Educated thank you
R u supposed to use these in conjunction with, or in place of, root tabs?? Great vid!
It's up to you and your setup, if you have a soil based substrate root tabs aren't needed but they are a good idea to use with inert substrates like flourite, sand, gravel etc :)
Depending on what plants you are growing you can use one, the other, or both. Some plants are heavy water column feeders while others get the majority of their nutrients from the substrate. If it gets “planted” I would use root tabs.
Good information, well done.
awesome thakn you, i just ordered the combo root tab and liquid Nilocq :D
Does thrive kill shrimp and fish?
Jordan Yang they have thrive for shrimp also.
I’m using normal thrive in my shrimp tank w/ no issues 75 gallon I dose 8 pumps a week.
Thanks for the video, it was very informative. Now I know which fertilizer to invest in. Also, I think your channel could take off if you purchased a nicer camera.
Thank you too! I'd love to get a better camera soon
What a great video!
Flourish fertilizer is still the best overall since its out their in the market in all petstore etcc.... anything better than that you got to order online or only some store has it.
Still, not too hard to order something better or buy dry ferts :)
Makeila's Aqua no doubt 😉
And, you have amazon which delivers almost next day on everything.
Mando Cabrera hahah yep. Even though i say that but thrive and easy green is the best for me. Im just saying flourish will be the go to fertilizer to most especially new people and their marketing is really big. Only when hobbyist such as this person gives us more info then we will know what to get cause im pretty sure flourish will be the first thing beginners get
Good stuff. thanks!
Great information!
Thanks!
Flourish seems like it's the best fertilizer for a dirted tank since you'd already have plenty of phosphorous and nitrogen.
Great job!
Yes great videos, keep it going! :)
Hopefully I can get it up to a video at least once a week, thanks!
You did a great job on this video. ;)
Thank you!