Chaeto Absorbing Iron and other trace elements?

[Dlealrious]

Hi Guys, i was wondering if Chaeto absorbs alot of Iron? I dose trace elements including Iron but my Iron level is always 0? I was wondering if the Chaeto absorbs it all or just holds it and lets it back into the water column? Just wanted to check before upping the dose. My chaeto grows really well and nutrients are kept in check. A fellow reefer suggest getting rid of Chaeto for something like Siporax due to this.

 

[miPapareef]

Is there any other reason you want more iron, besides a zero on iron test? If it isn’t broken don’t fix it.

I thought iron was one of those elements that if detected it’s bad. I really doubt there is insufficient iron for other organisms in your tank, just because there is chaeto.

 

[Ron Reefman]

I dose a very small amount of iron with food when I fed the tank. The entire reason is to help the chaeto grow better, NOT for anything else in the tank.

 

[CNDReef]

If you have green corals that are bland in color adding iron to the tank can help color them up. Also iron is something that is depleted out of water very quickly. Do a search on the chemistry forum and Randy has explained iron in marine tanks multiple times.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Iron tests should be zero, unless you have some unusual plan. No kit, not even ICP , can detect anywhere close to the typical iron level on a reef. Surface ocean water is often as low as 0.000006 ppm.

Macroalgae does absorb lots of iron, manganese and other elements.

Iron also likely precipitates out after dosing.

Here's my comment from my article on ICP testing:

My Triton Testing Results: By Randy Holmes-Farley
http://www.reefedition.com/my-triton-testing-results-by-randy-holmes-farley/

Iron (Fe). The natural iron level varies a lot with depth, but surface seawater may have only 0.006 µg/L. The Triton LOD = 0.3 µg/L. I dose iron, and when I dose it I boost iron to roughly 1-2 µg/L, which would be detectable. This sample was taken more than a week after the last iron dosing, and none was detected as it gets depleted in the meanwhile. I’ve not yet seen a Triton test result for a real aquarium sample that had detectable iron, but that doesn’t mean these tanks are necessarily deficient. Iron is also a case where the form is critical, and ICP cannot distinguish form. Binding to organic matter, for example, can alter the bioavailability of iron.

 

[Dlealrious]

Thanks all for your replies. Ill have a read of the article thanks Randy. Only reason i was asking is i'm trying out a local reefer's line of Trace elements. He suggested to keep Iron at 0.05 which is the lowest value on test kit. I do remember seeing before about iron but couldn't find this when i did a google search. My green's are pretty good, i just came back from 6 week holiday so tank is just bouncing back now with new T5 added last week.

 

[Dlealrious]

Awesome read thanks Randy!! I will send off my ICP in 3 more weeks. Will give it a month of dosing this line of trace to see where things sit. Iodine was another which is really hard to test(im using red sea kit) the sample of 0.6 is hard to tell as the colour of sample doesnt really match the colour on the test kit. Though my reading is pretty close to the standard of 0.6