Re: The Seachem Flourishes

[Greg Morin <greg at seachem_com>]

> Now there is Flourish Trace, focusing on trace elements.  My question is - If
> Flourish Trace focuses on trace elements, then what does the original
> Flourish do for you???  Does Flourish Trace focus on a different 
> subset of trace
> elements,  or is it just a more concentrated version of the original 
> Flourish.?
> Personally, I always thought I was adding the original Flourish for the trace
> elements it contained.  Imagine my surprise when Flourish Trace popped up...


Flourish' main focus is to provide a source of micro and trace 
organic (vitamins, amino acids) and inorganic (minerals such as iron, 
boron, zinc, etc, etc.) What we have learned in the subsequent years 
since we introduced Flourish is that the inorganic components (the 
minerals) are typically depleted much more rapidly then the organic 
components. This is attributable to both utilization as well as 
chemical oxidation and precipitation. That's why we came out with 
Flourish Iron first; in order to maintain iron with Flourish alone 
you may need to possibly add Flourish so frequently that the organics 
can build up to a point where the plants cannot use them rapidly 
enough. With Flourish Iron one can dose daily or every other day and 
still dose Flourish once or twice a week and not be concerned that 
the iron is becoming depleted before it is time to dose again. The 
same concept applies for Flourish Trace; it can be dosed more 
frequently than Flourish _if needed_. With Flourish Trace it is a 
little trickier because you can't test for the trace elements it 
provides (at least not easily!). So for Flourish Trace we recommend 
one try it in conjunction with Flourish for a month or two to see if 
they notice a difference in their plants. If so they should continue 
to use it, if not, then it may not be necessary as Flourish alone may 
be providing all that is needed.
> I am actually a big fan of Flourish.  I currently use Flourish and Flourish
> Iron, although sparingly since I am unclear as to how much is 
> actually needed.?
> That leads me to rest of my questions.  All other things being nominal:
>
> How often should you dose?
>
> When is it better to dose, the light or dark cycle of the tank?
>
> How much to dose (on the high or low side)?


Of course we always recommend to start with our recommended dose, but 
every tank is different, so a degree of experimentation is necessary 
if you want to try to find that "just right" dose level. Dosing 
levels are going to depend on source water, fish load, plant load, 
light cycle, efficiency of chemical filtration and any biofiltration 
and other parameters I'm sure I've overlooked ;-)
--

Gregory Morin, Ph.D.  ~~~~~~~President/CEO~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Seachem Laboratories, Inc.      www.seachem.com     888-SEACHEM
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~