Is a temporary rise in Chelated Iron a concern?

B

Biggworm

Registered Member
Apr 15, 2005
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www.loudlove.com
Hi Folks, long time lurker first time poster. Hats off to the people on this forum, I've learned a lot and avoided many of the rookie "gotchas" (sp?) thanks to the wealth of information available.

I have a heavily planted 30 gallon community tank (6 Red Eye Tetra's, 6 Black Neon Tetra's, 6 Hengali Rasbora and 1 Siamese Algae Eater) and my water parameters have been very stable (weekly 20% water change) since adding fish 2 months ago following a 6 week fishless cycle.

PH 7.0
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate 10ppm
KH 72ppm
Free (non chelated) Iron 0 mg/L
Chelated Iron .5mg/L

Following my regular weekly dose of ferts (can't remember the brand) the chelated iron level will peak at .75mg/L for apx. 24 hours and then fall back to .5mg/L.

My questions are should this be cause for concern and does this cause the fish any stress? The plants are all quite healthy and since setting up a DIY CO2 system they have noticeably grown. Any information is appreciated.
 
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I've had green water blooms b/c of overdosing chelated iron. Then again this was a tank with wild native caught fish and plants in it so I was also inadvertantly "seeding" it with wild algal spores, so add those two factors and you get green jello looking water.

I'm not sure what level of iron is toxic to plants and fish. When in doubt, cut back. Low iron isn't acutely dangerouse, whereas high iron (at whatever the level is) IS toxic. Good luck!
 
Thanks for the reply Mako. I'm going to reduce the amount of ferts. I add to below what the manufacturer recommends and see if this doesn't resolve the issue. I haven't noticed any ill effects to the fish and plants but it never hurts to ask.
 
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