Iron PPM

A

Aries

"Umm...., what is that!!??"
Jan 19, 2003
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Ohio, Dayton
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How much Iron PPM should be in a moderate to heavily planted tank? I tried searching for this but could not find PPM - only amounts to dose. Currently my experiments have ranged from 0.10 ppm to a one time test of 1.00ppm (did a water change on that one because I figured that was WAY too much).

I really do not have an algae problem yet - I see some growing but that was mainly due to my experiments getting the proper daily dosing of ferts (I do it daily to keep minimum levels - plus it is easier for me).

Thanks!!

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Specs are:

30G (4 Juvinile Yellow Labs, 2 Adult Yellow Labs, 2 Adult Blue Zebra, 3 SAE)
Fluval 404 at half power
CO2 injection into Fluval (poor mans diffuser) - creating external reactor
Average CO2 = ~20ppm
96W PC 6700K ColorMax Bulb (on straight for 12 hours) = 3.2WPG
Flourite Gravel (no peat or soil)
PH Lite On = 7.4 (CO2 on)
PH Lite Off = 7.6 (CO2 off).
Ammonia = 0ppm
NO2 = 0ppm
NO3 = ~5 to 10 ppm
Phosphate = .5 (trying to raise it slowly to 1.0ppm)
KH = 16-17 depending on time with CO2
GH = 23
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First off, forget iron test kits. They are extremely inacurate. Also dont worry about dosing iron unless you see any yellowing of your plants. In fact, dont even use iron, but buy something like Flourish for your plants which will give them all the micro requirements as well as just enough iron! Make sure you go half the dose according to bottle instructions when you begin though, and keep an ee on algae.
 
Depending on need you may or may not have to add extra iron. Yes trace mixes (at least the ones I've used ) do contain iron, but in my case it wasn't enough. and yes if you get too much it can cause trouble. I don't know how well the test kits do or don't work, because mine is on back-order. I recently bought some CSM+B+Fe from gregg watson so I wouldn't have to supplement iron seperately from my trace mix. And I can say that The STuff from Gregg Watson has made a significant improvemnt in my plants over the flourish I ws previously using. I am interested in further responses to this thread as well.
Dave
 
There use to be nothing but ppm recommendations in the past for Fe.

Fortunately I found a way to side step that **** test.
Interesting to see you had trouble finding a recommendation for it:)

That's a good sign I suppose.

Fe is used as a proxy for the other trace metal cations(Mn, Cu, Zn etc).
If you are low on Fe, you are likely low on these others.

So add a broad based product rather than Fe only.

I've add 2ppm based on the amount of dosing to a known volume.
I've never found traces bad for tanks in quite high excess ranges, no algae no issues other than brownish colored water:)

That's a lot of traces!

I add based on a 3 week test.
Everything else is in good excess non limiting ranges and then I add less and less till I get a negative response from the plants, then add a tad more than that. You can also add more and more till you get no positive effect fronm the plants. This is the typical weay I gauged the Traces in the past.

Adding a known amount of trace to a know volume over a know time peroid is consistent, same for dry ferts like KNO3/KH2PO4.

That allows you to get away without doing testing.
Most folks did not get into this hobby to test, rather, they got into it to grow plants.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 
That makes good sense. I guess I will stop dosing Fe seperately and keep to my trace to see if there is any negative affect.

I have noticed my Fe test to be inconsistant - dont know if inaccurate but inconsistant. For example, I add Fe in the morning say - 5 ml of Flourish Iron, but when I test in the evening - I can not read anything at all (I do get readings when I just test right after I dose though).

Thanks for the info all!!!

Aries
 
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