Seachem Flourish Comprehensive vs Tropica Premium Nutrition

[Gemmsy]

Looking to introduce my first liquid fert to my tank and reviews mainly point me to these two.
Main difference from outside is that for smaller tanks under 100 litres it is going to be easier with the Tropica brand due to the higher dose of a few pumps rather than measuring out a couple of ml every week.

It also appeared that since they cost similar for the same total volume, and Tropica rec’ dose was 3-6x higher than Seachem.... You would expect Seachem to be 3-6x stronger for all micronutrients..... Leading me to see Seachem as a better deal.

It seemed to be wildly in favour of Seachem for value so I found the ingredients lists and compared directly.

Now i am of the opinion it depends what nutrients you prioritise. And it seams that Tropica simply recommend a much higher dose in general, it’s not that it is weaker in every nutrient. In some It is actually far stronger.

Another note that looking at the price comparisons, you get nailed in each case for buying the smallest bottles so go for 200ml plus in any case.

So...Interested to see what you all conclude from this.

My plan for now is to go for the Tropica for ease of use for now (few pumps rather than few threads on a cap). Perhaps I’ll try the Seachem down the line after some months of testing or when I move to a bigger tank.

Cheers
G.

 

[mbsqw1d]

Have you looked into TNC? Do you keep fish or just plants? TNC have Complete and Lite, Lite does not dose nitrogen and phosphate whereas Complete does. Flourish doesn't dose Nitrogen and Phosphate AFAIA. You pick up seperate bottles from Seachem to do that.

 

[seangee]

I am using a bottle of TNC lite I bought when flourish was unavailable. Performance is quite similar. All my tanks have different requirements established by trial and error. This ranges from half the recommended dose to almost double. You use 10x as much TNC which is easier with the smaller tanks although I tend to use a syringe anyway.

One of the frustrating things about flourish is using a syringe when the bottle is half empty. My bottle of TNC is almost finished. I have now bought another bottle of Seachem but will dilute it with RO and use it in the TNC dispensing bottle. Being out by 1/2 ml is far less significant when you are dosing 10ml against 1.

 

[Gemmsy]

Have you looked into TNC? Do you keep fish or just plants? TNC have Complete and Lite, Lite does not dose nitrogen and phosphate whereas Complete does. Flourish doesn't dose Nitrogen and Phosphate AFAIA. You pick up seperate bottles from Seachem to do that.

I haven’t looked into that one yet, but I will. Yep I keep fish too so didn’t want the N or P hence using the Flourish and Premium Nutrition in the comparison.

 

[Gemmsy]

I am using a bottle of TNC lite I bought when flourish was unavailable. Performance is quite similar. All my tanks have different requirements established by trial and error. This ranges from half the recommended dose to almost double. You use 10x as much TNC which is easier with the smaller tanks although I tend to use a syringe anyway.

One of the frustrating things about flourish is using a syringe when the bottle is half empty. My bottle of TNC is almost finished. I have now bought another bottle of Seachem but will dilute it with RO and use it in the TNC dispensing bottle. Being out by 1/2 ml is far less significant when you are dosing 10ml against 1.

I like the idea of watering down with RO that makes a lot of sense.
Trial and error does seem like the only way to test it all really by the sounds of it.

That is a massive difference in dose - I suppose there are so many variables in plant type and needs, environment and how hi-tech you’ve gone etc there is no way the manufacturer can do much better.

Still, fairly dramatic differences in those nutrients listed, especially when you multiply up to the recommended dose. Interesting. You would think market leaders would be closer than that in terms of generic fert ratios.

 

[Retired Viking]

I also water down with RO. I premix the flourish and RO and add a little every other day to my tanks.

 

[Gemmsy]

Looked at TNC Lite briefly, slightly less expensive than Tropica Premium Nutrition with very similar Ingredients and dose.
Tropica 6-12ml/100l/week
TNC lite 10ml/100l/week
(Understand this is flexible but nice to see two manufacturers sharing a ballpark)

 

[Gemmsy]

I also water down with RO. I premix the flourish and RO and add a little every other day to my tanks.

Sounds like the way to go with Flourish and small doses. Like most things I’ve seen in aquatics consistency is often better than specifics by the looks of it.

 

[Brendanpat]

Hi . I was using tropica on my 105 litre tank . Was getting a lot of algae . I have since got new plants ,new light and changed to seachem flourish comprehension 2weeks ago . Still a bit soon to tell but all good so far . I'm dosing 1.5ml a week with an old calpol/nurofen syringe squirter thing . It's so easy and accurate to use

 

[Gemmsy]

Hi . I was using tropica on my 105 litre tank . Was getting a lot of algae . I have since got new plants ,new light and changed to seachem flourish comprehension 2weeks ago . Still a bit soon to tell but all good so far . I'm dosing 1.5ml a week with an old calpol syringe thing . It's so easy and accurate to use

Hi,
Which Tropica was it specifically, Premium Nutrition?

What was the dose before?

Is the new light more or less powerful?

That’s good news! I guess time will tell.

 

[seangee]

Sounds like the way to go with Flourish and small doses. Like most things I’ve seen in aquatics consistency is often better than specifics by the looks of it.

I start all my tanks at 1/2 the recommended weekly dose and only adjust if needed. A few weeks ago I switched one of the small tanks from 5ml per week to 0.5ml per day. The plants definitely responded well to the more consistent supply. I have now switched all 3 tanks in that room to daily doses. Easy to do at the moment because my fish room has turned into my home office and its where I spend every work day - so when the tank lights come on it prompts me to add the ferts

 

[Brendanpat]

Hi,
Which Tropica was it specifically, Premium Nutrition?

What was the dose before?

Is the new light more or less powerful?

That’s good news! I guess time will tell.

Yes premium nutrition. I cut down to about half the dose because the tank wasn't to heavily planted ,about 2 and a half pumps a week . But it didn't help much . My original light was a 16watt aquael sunny . I changed it to the 16 watt plant version .it has the red and blue leds in it aswell as white .. just trying things to keep algae down and get the plants thriving . Easier said than done ..

 

[Gemmsy]

Yes premium nutrition. I cut down to about half the dose because the tank wasn't to heavily planted ,about 2 and a half pumps a week . But it didn't help much . My original light was a 16watt aquael sunny . I changed it to the 16 watt plant version .it has the red and blue leds in it aswell as white .. just trying things to keep algae down and get the plants thriving . Easier said than done ..

Would be interesting to see if just the light change made any difference! And/or how low the dose would have needed to go to stop the algae.
If the change to Excel really does make a difference it would be interesting to look at plants/setup against the ingredient differences in the two ferts to see if anything stands out as a cause for future ref.

 

[Gemmsy]

I start all my tanks at 1/2 the recommended weekly dose and only adjust if needed. A few weeks ago I switched one of the small tanks from 5ml per week to 0.5ml per day. The plants definitely responded well to the more consistent supply. I have now switched all 3 tanks in that room to daily doses. Easy to do at the moment because my fish room has turned into my home office and its where I spend every work day - so when the tank lights come on it prompts me to add the ferts

How many other aquariums have benefited from the spare time and working from home that lockdown brings I wonder, I know mine has

 

[Brendanpat]

How many other aquariums have benefited from the spare time and working from home that lockdown brings I wonder, I know mine has

I'd say alot has . I just got my first tank in march when I was off for 6 weeks. Since then I've upgraded to bigger one . Planted the tank and having loads of fry babies . Sold my first batch of fry to my lfs on Saturday there . Have another 40 + a week and a half old ..