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Aquarium plant fertiliser buying guide

Updated: October 2026

You have a tropical community tank, a coldwater tank, or a shrimp tank, and the amazon.co.uk results mix four different liquids under one search. This aquarium plant fertiliser buying guide is about which type to buy before any brand ranking. The [aquatic plant fertiliser comparison](/hub/fertiliser-soil-and-bark-mulch/aquatic-plant-fertiliser) holds the nine bottles, the prices, and the review counts. The Products Compared editorial team read those amazon.co.uk listings on 19 October 2026. This is not a laboratory test. If you buy through our links, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. By the end you should know whether the first bottle is a complete-style feed, a lite feed, a trace supplement, or liquid carbon.

You have a tropical community tank, a coldwater tank, or a shrimp tank, and the amazon.co.uk results mix four different liquids under one search.

Our top picks

Seachem Seachem Flourish 250 ml

Best overall

Seachem Seachem Flourish 250 ml
6.7/10about £8.90
View offer
Easy Life Easy-Life ProFito 500 ml

Rank 2

Easy Life Easy-Life ProFito 500 ml
8.6/10about £9.49
View offer
AquaDesign AquaDesign PLANT+ 500 ml

Alternative

AquaDesign AquaDesign PLANT+ 500 ml
7.3/10about £10.99
View offer
On this page
  1. 1.What you are actually buying
  2. 2.Match the bottle to the tank
  3. 3.When the gap is carbon or roots
  4. 4.What the price bands do not decide

What you are actually buying

Four liquids sit in this set, and they do different jobs. AquaDesign PLANT+ is sold as an all-in-one complete liquid, dosed at 10 ml per 30 litres a week, with a 3 ml pipette and a listing claim that it is safe for fish and shrimp. Easy-Life ProFito and AquaDesign PLANT LITE both say they add no nitrate and no phosphate. Seachem Flourish is a micro and trace supplement that, on the listing, does not contain significant nitrogen or phosphorus. AquaDesign CARBO is liquid carbon, dosed every day, and a bullet says it kills unwanted algae. A 4.6-star row does not tell you which job you have picked up. Flourish has 9,794 reviews at 4.6 and the listing still describes a trace supplement.

Match the bottle to the tank

Practical Fishkeeping's beginners' guide treats light, nutrients, and carbon as one triangle. It says a stocked tank often already makes enough nitrate and phosphate for any but the fastest plants, in tropical or cold water. A lite bottle is the starting point: ProFito at 10 ml per 100 litres, or PLANT LITE at 10 ml per 50 litres a week. A dense tank with injected CO2 and medium to high light is the one that runs short of nitrogen and phosphorus, and that is when a complete-style feed belongs in the basket. Flourish does not close that gap on its own. Seachem publishes nitrogen at 0.07% and phosphate at 0.01% per gram, and says the label dose adds about 0.0005 mg/L of phosphate. Those are the maker's figures, not an independent UK assay. The complete versus lite page stays on this one choice.
Seachem Seachem Flourish 250 ml

Testsieger

Seachem Seachem Flourish 250 ml
6.7/10about £8.90
View offer

When the gap is carbon or roots

CARBO supplies carbon. It leaves iron, potassium, and traces to another bottle. The kept 2,500 ml listing was about £19.99 on 19 October 2026, scored 4.6 from 71 reviews, and the dose is 1 ml per 50 litres a day, with a maximum of 2 ml per 50 litres. Practical Fishkeeping says liquid carbon is less efficient than injected CO2 and that an overdose is toxic. Reviews on the CARBO listing disagree, and the active ingredient is not named. Root tabs are a separate purchase, and no root-tab ASIN is in this comparison, so a liquid bottle is the water-column product. The daily maximum is on the liquid carbon page.

What the price bands do not decide

On 19 October 2026 Flourish 250 ml was about £8.90, ProFito 500 ml about £9.49, and both PLANT+ 500 ml and PLANT LITE 500 ml about £10.99. ProFito 1,000 ml was about £14.71, PLANT+ 1,000 ml about £14.99, and the three 2,500 ml AquaDesign bottles about £19.99. Those shelf prices are a snapshot. Shelf price is a poor guide to the month. A 100 litre tank at the printed rates uses about 33 ml of PLANT+ a week and about 10 ml of ProFito, so the complete-style bottle can cost more per week even when the shelf price looks close. PLANT LITE 500 ml has nine reviews, too small a file to treat as a settled result.

Common questions

Do I need fertiliser if the tank already has fish?
Fish waste supplies nitrate and phosphate, and Practical Fishkeeping says that is often enough for any but the fastest plants in a stocked tank. Iron, potassium, and traces can still be short, which is what a lite or trace bottle is for. Few fish, strong light, and injected CO2 is the case that more often needs nitrogen in the bottle as well. If you will not test, start lite and watch new leaves for two to three weeks.
Should the bottle contain nitrate and phosphate?
Choose the bottle that says it adds neither when the fish load is average or high and the plants are ordinary growers. Choose a complete-style feed when a fast, high-light tank keeps testing near zero nitrate. ProFito and PLANT LITE print the no added nitrate or phosphate line. PLANT+ is sold as all-in-one, and the short bullets stored for this comparison do not print a percentage.
Is liquid carbon a fertiliser in the same sense?
CARBO is sold as a liquid carbon plant fertiliser, and the listing doses it every day within a stated maximum. It is the carbon part of the triangle. A nutrient bottle still has to cover iron, potassium, and traces. Practical Fishkeeping treats injected CO2 as the more efficient carbon supply, with liquid carbon as the slower habit and an overdose risk if you pass the maximum.
Does a shrimp-safe bullet mean the liquid contains no copper?
On PLANT+ and PLANT LITE the shrimp line is a listing claim, and the file does not include a copper analysis. Flourish's amazon listing states no shrimp claim. Seachem publishes 0.0001% copper and its own comment on toxicity. Neither figure is an independent UK laboratory result, so a safety bullet and a published trace of copper can both be true of a brand's paperwork.
Are root tabs the same purchase as a liquid?
Tabs go under rooted plants in the substrate. A liquid goes into the water, which is what plants on wood can use. This comparison has no root-tab ASIN. A monthly tab under Vallisneria, which some Flourish reviewers mention, is an extra product beside the liquid, with its own dose.
Does a 4.6-star rating mean the bottle is a complete feed?
Flourish and both ProFito sizes are 4.6 on amazon.co.uk, and all three say they do not add meaningful nitrate and phosphate. Stars and the review count tell you how many people rated that listing. They leave the nitrogen question to your fish load, your light, and a test if you run one. Match the type first, then use the stars as a check on that particular size.

Related pages

How to dose aquarium fertiliser

Aquatic plant fertiliser

Best aquarium plant fertiliser for your tank setup

Complete vs lite aquarium fertiliser for your tank

Liquid carbon aquarium fertiliser and the daily cap

Sources

Public UK and maker sources from the research digest, used for this page in October 2026. Prices, stars and review counts are from the nine amazon.co.uk listings captured on 19 October 2026. A shrimp-safe bullet is a listing claim. Flourish's copper figure is the maker's statement, not an independent UK lab test. CARBO's algae line is not confirmed here as an HSE authorisation.

  1. Practical Fishkeeping, growing aquarium plants (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  2. Practical Fishkeeping, gas versus liquid carbon (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  3. Seachem Flourish (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  4. Seachem Flourish dosing instructions (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  5. Easy-Life ProFito (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  6. GOV.UK, manufacturing and marketing fertilisers (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  7. GOV.UK, product labelling (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  8. HSE, regulated biocides (retrieved 19 October 2026)