# Flourish vs Flourish Excel?



## covertune

I've been dosing my 10gal with 1ml of Seachem Flourish Excel daily and that's been all well and good. Yesterday I grabbed a new bottle of it from the LFS.. or so I thought. Turns out I got Seachem Flourish instead. Can anyone tell me, in laymens terms, what the difference is? Will the Flourish be ok for my plants AND my shrimp? I don't dose with anything else, no Co2 either. And it looks like I only need to use 0.8ml once a week of the Flourish, is that right?

I'm all about keeping it SIMPLE, lol.

Thanks!


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## effox

I don't believe the Seachem Flourish contains the same ingredients to act as a co2 source nor algacide as Excel does. I haven't used it yet though, so I can't give you any other details than that.


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## Sploosh

I'm using Flourish comprehensive, as I heard excel in higher doses can be hard on shrimps, though that's just 50/50 internet info, no experience with it myself. From what I've heard excel is used to help plants that need co2 in a tank that doesn't have it.
With the comprehensive I have found that I needed to go a little higher than recommended dosage, and after switching to twice a week from once a week, the plants seem to be much happier, that's just based on my tanks needs though.


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## 2wheelsx2

Excel supplies carbon and Flourish supplies trace minerals. When you does Excel, you're relying on water changes and fish waste to supply all your fishes' needs. When you only dose Flourish, you're relying on atmospheric CO2 to supply carbon, and also the CO2 your fish respire. If you really want to keep it simple, keep the lighting low and don't dose anything.


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## effox

Yes, I've read shrimp also don't like Excel that much, esp. at higher doses. I stopped dosing my shrimp tank with it when I had one, I didn't want to risk it.


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## 2wheelsx2

Excel in higher doses is hard on everything, even humans. I stay near the recommended dosage when I use it.


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## covertune

So should I actually be dosing Flourish AND Excel?


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## 2wheelsx2

If your tank is in balance and there is no algae and the plants are growing well, there is no need to dose anything. Dosing is to make up for insufficiencies.


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## TomC

covertune said:


> So should I actually be dosing Flourish AND Excel?


 I use both, along with a separate bottle of iron.


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## discuspaul

2wheelsx2 said:


> Excel supplies carbon and Flourish supplies trace minerals. When you does Excel, you're relying on water changes and fish waste to supply all your fishes' needs. When you only dose Flourish, you're relying on atmospheric CO2 to supply carbon, and also the CO2 your fish respire. If you really want to keep it simple, keep the lighting low and don't dose anything.





2wheelsx2 said:


> If your tank is in balance and there is no algae and the plants are growing well, there is no need to dose anything. Dosing is to make up for insufficiencies.


This explains the suject very well.


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## covertune

I thought dosing would help my plants grow faster. Doh.


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## 2wheelsx2

Dosing would only help your plants grow faster if all requirements are met: 
1. Light for photosynthesis
2. Carbon (CO2 mainly. Injected, atmospheric, from the fish, etc. or a more complicated carbon source like Excel)
3. NPK - Nitrogen, phosporus, potassium

So it's no different than terrestrial plants except that terrestrial plants utilize soil which is rich in organics (proper soil and not sand or gravel) and can get CO2 from the air continuously. Trace such as Flourish is only going to address minor deficiencies if present. They won't help your plants grow faster unless the 3 things above are all in abundance.


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## TomC

covertune said:


> I thought dosing would help my plants grow faster. Doh.


Dosing excel makes my plants grow very much faster.


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## crimper

TomC said:


> Dosing excel makes my plants grow very much faster.


If you don't dose CO2 then Dosing Excel will be your source of Carbon after your plants suck up all the dissolved CO2 on your water 

Seachem Flourish = Trace


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## shift

Any plant nutrients i tend to do a 1/2 dosage on shrimp tanks.. safer


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## shady280

I use flourish excel and iron with my shrimp and all is well. I've been dosing everyday with excel lightly to get rid of a bba problem caused by poor lighting. Once it's gone ill back way down. What is also odd is I tried API liquid co2. It melted lots of my plants with even small doses. Maybe with my bba problem I should add a drop or 2 in. I've also got some hydrogen peroxide if I get impatient.


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