Over the last twelve months, the number of people who have been adding plants to their aquarium or trying their hand at a full aquascaped setup has been increasing at a dramatic rate and it’s great to see.
We always recommend that people add live plants to their tank no matter their setup due to how many benefits they offer you so we are happy to see so many people integrating live plants into their tanks.
One thing that we commonly see people having problems within their tanks is making sure that there is enough nutrients in the tank to allow their live plants to thrive.
We already have an article going over the importance of iron in aquariums for live plants and we recently published our Easy Green vs Flourish comparison article to try and help our readers choose the best fertilizer for their needs.
After publishing those article though, we noticed a number of people reaching out who wanted a Flourish Excel vs Flourish comparison due to wanting to stick to the Seachem brand.
With Seachem usually being considered one of, if not the best brand when it comes to aquarium fertilizer products, we decided that we would publish this article going over the two to try and help our readers work out what one is the better option for them.
What Is The Seachems Flourish Line?
Seachems flourish line is a range of products produced by Seachem that are specifically designed for use in planted tanks to help a wide range of different plants thrive.
With there being a number of viral photographs of various aquascapes on social media recently, the Seachem Flourish line has seen a huge spike in popularity due to so many influancers within the planted tank keeping space recommending it.
That said though, the Seachem flourish line has had an outstanding reputation within the planted tank keeping community for many years.
Rather than being a single product called “Seachem Flourish” as many beginners think, it is actually a number of different products that all specialize in slightly different areas.
Many people on social media do just use the term Seachem Flourish when talking about fertilizers for planted tanks though.
What Is Seachem Flourish Excel?
Seachem Flourish Excel is one of the most popular products within the Seachem Flourish range with it having an excellent reputation amongst people who keep planted tanks.
The main selling point of Seachem Flourish Excel is that is helps to deal with both CO2 issues and Iron issues with live plants in the same product with the delivery system being optimized for rapid growth too.
This unique combination helps push it to the forefront of aquarium fertilizers with the product also being very beginner friendly.
In our opinion, Seachem Flourish Excel is the best source of bioavailable organic carbon currently available on the market and although there are a number of rival products on the market, they tend not to perform as well as Seachem Flourish Excel.
In addition to the bioavailable organic carbon, Seachem Flourish Excel also offers unique ingredients that help to promote the ferrous state of iron within an aquarium rather than the ferric state of iron.
Although plants can use both states of iron, it is much easier for them to utilize ferrous iron in its Fe+2 form helping the plant to grow at a much faster pace than if it had to rely on ferric iron in its Fe+3 state.
Other Products In The Seachem Flourish Line!
As we mentioned earlier in the article, the term “Seachem Flourish” is commonly used to refer to a single product but Seachem Flourish is an actual line of different products from the same range.
We will quickly go over some of the other products in the Seachem Flourish line that can be an excellent addition for most people who are new to keeping planted tanks.
Seachem Flourish Iron!
In our opinion, Seachem Flourish Iron is the second best product in the Seachem Flourish line with Seachem Flourish Excel being the only one that beats it in terms of the amount of bang you get for your buck with the growth rate of your plants.
Iron is an underrated nutrient when it comes to plant growth and so many people overlook it until they are having problems with their plants.
Thankfully, Seachem Flourish Iron is cheap, usually stocked in most fish keeping stores and very easy to use allowing a beginner to quickly, easily, and cheaply get their Iron levels in their tank in order.
Seachem Flourish Potassium!
Seachem Flourish Potassium is probably the third most popular product within the Seachem Flourish line and although it is an excellent product that can work wonders, Seachem Flourish Excel and Seachem Flourish Iron are usually going to be the two main products that most people need, especially beginners.
Still, if you are keeping a heavily planted tank or trying to hand at a full blown aquascape then Seachem Flourish Potassium can be another excellent product to add to your collection.
Potassium helps to counter a number of common problems with aquartic plants and unlike some of the competing potassium supplements from other brands, Seachem Flourish Potassium does not contain phosphate or nitrate minimizing the potential downside.
Seachem Flourish Nitrogen!
Although Seachem Flourish Nitrogen is an excellent product within the Seachem Flourish line that definitely has a solid use case, we would not recommend it for beginners to keeping planted tanks.
It can definitely help but the added cost vs the price of the product is usually not worth it until you have more experience with your planted tank and you are keeping more difficult and sensative plants in your tank.
If you are having issues with your tank’s nitrogen levels for whatever reason then Seachem Flourish Nitrogen should be your first stop though!
