Iron deficiency?

[Aquafreak]

Have a look at my Corymbosa compact.
Does the red leaves look like an iron deficiency? It's a lot more red than yellow, which I assumed was iron deficiency. I dose Flourish Iron daily keeping Fe at around .1.
Will try to up the dosage of Fe now, but wanted to clarify whether this is the problem with the abnormal colored leaves.

Thanks for your attention

[plantbrain]

Most times folks think iron and it's NO3.

Try adding more iron and see. Most folks underdose iron.
MY iron levels go from 2ppm to zero but it depends on what time afterwards I measure it, what type of test kit I use, how long I wait, for the color to develop, and it still doesn't tell me what I need to know: are the plants getting enough iron?

So try getting the NO3, CO2, GH, K, PO4 all in good shape, then, add more traces. Add more till you have no more positive _plant_ response. Give about 3 weeks for each amount you add to note effects.

I use a volume of traces to tank size and also lighting level to measure this.

Example:
So an 80 liter tank would take 5mls 3x a week of TMG at high light.
Adding more will not help improve the plant growth beyond this amount.

Regards,
TomBarr

[Aquafreak]

Thanks for the reply, I'll try a bit more iron and see what happens.

[wetmanNY]

Or you could add a chelator, so that your iron doesn't all precipitate out within a matter of hours.

[Aquafreak]

Where do I find them? Mine you I ain't in US.

[plantbrain]

Tropica Master Grow, SeaChem Flourish etc.

Regards,
Tom Barr

[Aquafreak]

Seachem Flourish is chelated? I have Flourish Iron atm

[plantbrain]

Yes, both are, SeaChem's is less tightly bound than TMG.
They use different chelators. I have not seen much different truthfully but in theory gluconates are more bioavailable. But that doesn't seem to be much of an issue at the end of the day and will never make or break any tank I've ever seen nor will see in the future. But given the choice, all things being equal, I'll take the gluconate over the DPTA(I think this is the one Claus said they used).

Gluconate is the one they use for us in vitamins.

Regards,
Tom Barr

[Aquafreak]

Great, I won't have to buy Flourish, and btw I just got the Seachem Equalibrium and giving that a shot for potassium and other mineral supplement. Too bad I can't buy a potassium test kit over here, checked quite a few LFS, but no luck, they've never ever seen nor heard of a potassium test kit.

[superstein61]

Originally posted by Aquafreak
Great, I won't have to buy Flourish, and btw I just got the Seachem Equalibrium and giving that a shot for potassium and other mineral supplement. Too bad I can't buy a potassium test kit over here, checked quite a few LFS, but no luck, they've never ever seen nor heard of a potassium test kit.

Don't bother with a Potassium test kit. From what I have learned, they are not reliable nor easy to use. If you pay a ton, Iyou could probably get something that works ok but most folks do not test for Potassium levels

[Aquafreak]

Glad to hear most folks don't have potassium test kits, I hate being left out.