Anybody out there dosing iron (Fe) in their tanks?
My macroalgae (C. taxifolia) has been doing poorly lately. It gets bright yellow splotches on it, which spread, and eventually the whole "leaf" bleaches and turns clear. My understanding is that Fe will increase macroalgae growth. According to Reef Aquarium Vol 3. Fe will also benefit the zooxanthellae in corals.
So, I'm thinking about giving it a try. However, I would first like to hear of others experience using Fe in their reef. And before anyone says it (as I'm sure some one will). I do not believe that you should "only dose what you can test".
Lastly, is there a DIY recipe for a reef Fe supplement?
hey there,
i would hold of on dosing iron for right now. please tell me about your nitrate and phosphate levels. reason being when my caulerpa (cactus) begin doing what you listed i usually dose a calcium nitrate solution that i make. i have a 30 gal cube that is entirely macro algaes and i dont believe i have any stuggle with iron.
some salts have appropriate levels of iron in them. but if you do decide to dose what you want is iron chelate in a dry form. from there you can dissolve an appropriate solution into a gallon if water and drip it into your tank.
iron will aid macroaglae growth, but im assuming you have a sandbed. metal accumulation in the sand bed can lead to old tank syndrome and shorten the life of your tank. i would assume that this would only happen if you were to over dose though.
this is the site i use to buy fertilizers and live plants for my macroalgae tank, i reccomend them very strongly as their prices are not only the best, the quality is too.
Jamie- You can make sure they know you are talking about them by putting an @ symbol in front of their user name ... like this
@slapshot
.
Sorry all must have missed this. Yes I dose iron. I believe it is more important to Cheato but all my macros grow better after I dose. It doesn't seem to affect anything else. So I dose about 5 ml directly into the sump once a month. Now I have 350 gallons of water so the actual amount is quite small. As for making your own it's not that expensive to buy so I just do that. Hope that helps.
hey there,
i would hold of on dosing iron for right now. please tell me about your nitrate and phosphate levels. reason being when my caulerpa (cactus) begin doing what you listed i usually dose a calcium nitrate solution that i make. i have a 30 gal cube that is entirely macro algaes and i dont believe i have any stuggle with iron.
some salts have appropriate levels of iron in them. but if you do decide to dose what you want is iron chelate in a dry form. from there you can dissolve an appropriate solution into a gallon if water and drip it into your tank.
iron will aid macroaglae growth, but im assuming you have a sandbed. metal accumulation in the sand bed can lead to old tank syndrome and shorten the life of your tank. i would assume that this would only happen if you were to over dose though.
this is the site i use to buy fertilizers and live plants for my macroalgae tank, i reccomend them very strongly as their prices are not only the best, the quality is too.
My last nitrate test was 3 or 4 weeks ago and was 30 ppm... two weeks prior to that it was 100 ppm (that's another story)! I have not tested phosphates in a long time. I stopped because they were always at the bottom of the scale or undetectable.
That's a good call on looking at my salt mix... I hadn't thought of that.
My tank has been running for ~18 years so the time for old tank syndrome (if you believe is such a thing) has come and gone.
Thanks for the link.
I appreciate the input.
Tom
---------- Post added at 03:35 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:33 PM ----------
Originally Posted by slapshot
Sorry all must have missed this. Yes I dose iron. I believe it is more important to Cheato but all my macros grow better after I dose. It doesn't seem to affect anything else. So I dose about 5 ml directly into the sump once a month. Now I have 350 gallons of water so the actual amount is quite small. As for making your own it's not that expensive to buy so I just do that. Hope that helps.
Tom I don't know if you remember, but you posted when I asked a question about iron and a theory about it possibly feeding cyano. It was on another forum ( that I won't mention) a few years ago. I would be interested in your findings if you do start dosing Iron.
Dosing Iron
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