Your aquarium plants require nutrients and fertilizers to survive, and this is exactly what I’m about to help you find. Let’s take a look at the top five best aquarium plant fertilizers.
Best Aquarium Plant Fertilizers
- NilocG Aquatics Combo Pack
- Seachem Plant Pack Fundamentals
- Tropica Plant Care Nutrition Capsules
- Fluval Plant Gro+, Plant Micro Nutrient
- Aqueon Aquarium Aquarium Plant Food
Top 5 Best Aquarium Plant Fertilizers: Reviews
Let’s now take a closer look at each of the top five best aquarium plant fertilizers that the market has to offer.
1. NilocG Aquatics Combo Pack: Our Top Pick
This is by far one of my favorite products when it comes to fertilizers for aquarium plants, and one of the reasons for this is because it actually comes with two separate things. First, it comes with the liquid solution, which is designed to be inserted right into your tank water.
It then also comes complete with the caps, which are designed to be placed in substrate. Both the liquid and the caps are designed to be 100% nutritionally complete for your plants. They come with all of the macro and micronutrients that your freshwater aquarium plants need to survive.
However, these products are also designed in such a way so that they are not harmful to your fish or other plants.
All you have to do is to be careful that you don’t use too much of these fertilizers, or else they may increase the nitrate levels in your tank significantly. I do like how dosing is made easy with this product because it makes it easy to choose the right amount without overdoing it.
Pros
- Ideal for freshwater tanks
- Easy to use
- Dual products – liquid + caps
- Great price
- Lasts for a long time
Cons
- May raise nitrate levels
If your aquarium plants require a complete nutritional boost, this is probably the best product on the market at this time.
2. Seachem Plant Pack Fundamentals
- This product is easy to use
- This product adds a great Value
Here we actually have a triple product, which means that it comes with everything you need to keep your aquarium plants alive.
First, you get Seachem Flourish, which is a fantastic growth stimulator for aquarium plant leaves and stems. It comes with many different amino acids, vitamins, and trace elements, including iron, calcium, manganese, potassium, biotin, and much more.
You then get Flourish Iron, which as you can probably tell is designed to provide your plants with plenty of iron.
The third product is Flourish Excel, which is designed to provide your plants with a source of readily available organic carbon. This is something that I really like, because it means that you can effectively replace the CO2 injection that your aquarium currently gets. It’s a much cheaper alternative.
Other than that, the other important point here is that each bottle comes with 100 milliliters of the product in question. One cap full, or about 5 milliliters, should be enough for 10 gallons. It is therefore quite cost-effective.
Pros
- Three in one product
- Provides plants with complete nutrition
- Safe for fish
- Cost effective
Cons
- May change water chemistry
Here’s another nutritionally complete product that is fantastic for aquarium plants, one that comes pretty close to our top pick.
3. Tropica Plant Care Nutrition Capsules
Here we have some extremely simple plant care nutrition capsules. In other words, these are special fertilizer capsules that are designed to be placed under the substrate or within the substrate.
They have a special slow-release mechanism which means that they dissolve extremely slowly in the water, therefore providing your plants with nutrients over a prolonged period of time.
This is beneficial because it means that you don’t have to keep adding more nutrients into the water every day, and it also helps prevent you from over feeding your plants. This should therefore also help prevent nitrate and other substance levels from becoming far too high.
All you have to do is place tabs in your substrate and forget about them. This product should help provide your plants with all of the nutrition that they need to survive and thrive. That being said, it’s definitely not the most cost-effective product out there.
Pros
- Complete nutrition
- Easy to use
- Slow release
- Safe for plants and fish
Cons
- Somewhat expensive
If slow release tabs that involve minimal work sound good to you, then this would be the product I’d recommend over all others.
4. Fluval Plant Gro+, Plant Micro Nutrient
- All in one micro-nutrient, iron enriched formula promotes vigorous growth, deep colors and a strong...
- Prevents mineral deficiencies and promotes disease resistance
Something that I personally really like about this product is that it comes with so-called chelated nutrients, which means that they have been specially processed to allow for easy absorption by your aquarium plants.
This product comes complete with all of the micro and macro nutrients that your aquarium plants to survive and thrive, including a whole lot of vitamin B which helps to improve their long-term health and color. It also is enriched with iron and other important minerals to help prevent disease from occurring and to help promote disease resistance.
This is a four-ounce bottle, and it doesn’t cost very much at all, not to mention that you only need a little bit of it. A single bottle should therefore last you for quite some time.
Even better is the fact that this product is safe for all aquarium inhabitants including your fish. Overall, this might just be one of the best aquarium fertilizers out there considering the extremely low price that it comes in at.
Pros
- Great price
- Lasts a long time
- Nutritionally complete
- Fortified with B vitamins
- Safe for plants and fish alike
Cons
- May change pH levels
If your plants need quality macronutrients to keep them going, this is by far one of the leading options out there!
5. Aqueon Aquarium Aquarium Plant Food
- Source of nutrients for freshwater plants
- Contains kelp extract to encourage strong root development
If your aquarium plants require nutrients, this is another great product to consider. This is a totally well-rounded and multi-system plant supplement that comes complete with all the micro and macronutrients that your plants need to survive.
With nutrients such as soluble potash, calcium, magnesium, sulfur, boron, iron, manganese, zinc, and much more, your plants should be able to thrive with this supplement.
Furthermore, this product also contains kelp extract which is designed to help encourage strong root development. Where freshwater plants are concerned, this is one of my favorite plant fertilizers, especially because it only takes 2 teaspoons for every 10 gallons of aquarium water, and this only once per week.
It’s a relatively affordable product as well, and a single bottle should last for quite some time. What’s also nice is that it is impossible to overdose with this product, therefore being safe for fish and plants alike, not to mention that it even has the ability to reduce ammonia and nitrates in the tank.
Pros
- Affordable
- All of the micro and macronutrients your plants need
- Reduces ammonia
- Safe for fish
- Impossible to overdose
Cons
- May impact water parameters
If you’re looking for an aquarium plant fertilizer that can actually reduce ammonia levels, then this is the best product to consider.
Aquarium Plant Fertilizers Buyers Guide: What To Look Out For
Before you go out and buy any old aquarium plant fertilizer, there are a few very important points you need to keep in mind.
Nutrient Content
Some of the most important nutrients that your aquarium plants require include nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Aquarium plants also require many other nutrients, including, but not limited to, carbon, manganese, magnesium, calcium, iron, boron, folate, and others. Always look for a product that is 100% nutritionally complete.
Type of Fertilizer
There are two main types of fertilizers that you can use for your aquarium plants, including those that you pull right into the water and those that come in the form of tabs or capsules that you place under the substrate.
Tabs or capsules are ideal for beginners who are just filling up their aquarium and need slow-release nutrients that will feed their plants for many months to come. However, liquid or powder fertilizers that you put right into the water are ideal for weekly dosing.
Water Chemistry
It is unrealistic to expect that if you place nutrients inside of your aquarium that they won’t change the water chemistry. However, there are products out there that affect water chemistry much less, especially where the pH levels and nitrate levels are concerned.
Furthermore, as you can see from one of the products above, some of these aquarium plant fertilizers actually have the ability to reduce ammonia levels in the tank.
Safety
You should also ensure that the product in question is safe for fish. The fact is that there are plenty of aquarium plant fertilizers that are designed for strictly planted tanks that do not contain any fish. If you have a tank that does contain fish, these types of fertilizers need to be avoided, because they could harm the aquarium inhabitants.
Cost
Although it’s usually not the first thing I pay attention to, the cost is important here. Aquarium plant fertilizers are things that you’ll have to keep buying, so finding something that is somewhat cost effective is relatively important for your budget.
