Diy Iron question for Randy

[Spare time]

Hey @Randy Holmes-Farley do you know if walgreens brand iron or natures bounty iron are a safe substitute for fergon? Also, is the titanium dioxide and dicalcium phosphate a concern?


Natures bounty: Ingredients: Dried Ferrous Sulfate 205 mg (equivalent to 325 mg Liquid Ferrous Sulfate which provides 65 mg elemental Iron per tablet), Vegetable Cellulose, Crospovidone. Contains <2% of: FD&C Blue No.1 Lake, FD&C Yellow No. 6 Lake, Silica, Titanium Dioxide Color, Vegetable Magnesium Stearate


Walgreens: Ferrous Gluconate, Microcrystalline Cellulose, Dicalcium Phosphate, Croscarmellose Sodium, Contains 2 % or less of: FD&C blue no. 1 lake, FD&C yellow no. 5 lake - tartrazine, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, magnesium stearate, polydextrose, polyethylene glycol, polyvinyl alcohol, silicon dioxide, talc, titanium dioxide (color)

 

[Llyod276]

I'm no chemist but what if you just drop a screw in your sump somewhere with flow and let it rust?

 

[Dan_P]

Hey @Randy Holmes-Farley do you know if walgreens brand iron or natures bounty iron are a safe substitute for fergon? Also, is the titanium dioxide and dicalcium phosphate a concern?


Natures bounty: Ingredients: Dried Ferrous Sulfate 205 mg (equivalent to 325 mg Liquid Ferrous Sulfate which provides 65 mg elemental Iron per tablet), Vegetable Cellulose, Crospovidone. Contains <2% of: FD&C Blue No.1 Lake, FD&C Yellow No. 6 Lake, Silica, Titanium Dioxide Color, Vegetable Magnesium Stearate


Walgreens: Ferrous Gluconate, Microcrystalline Cellulose, Dicalcium Phosphate, Croscarmellose Sodium, Contains 2 % or less of: FD&C blue no. 1 lake, FD&C yellow no. 5 lake - tartrazine, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, magnesium stearate, polydextrose, polyethylene glycol, polyvinyl alcohol, silicon dioxide, talc, titanium dioxide (color)

Natures Bounty appears to contain unchelated iron while Walgreen’s ferrous gluconate is chelated. The chelated iron will likely degrade more slowly in a saltwater aquarium. Seachem Flourish is iron gluconate. The other minor ingredients are of no concern.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I'm no chemist but what if you just drop a screw in your sump somewhere with flow and let it rust?

Pure iron is expensive. Screws are alloys of potentially toxic metals.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

You cannot get Fergon from Walgreens?

https://www.walgreens.com/store/c/fergon-high-potency-iron-supplement/ID=300396625-product

 

[Llyod276]

Pure iron is expensive. Screws are alloys of potentially toxic metals.

Carbon reactor, gfo...etc...

 

[Spare time]

You cannot get Fergon from Walgreens?

https://www.walgreens.com/store/c/fergon-high-potency-iron-supplement/ID=300396625-product

It just wasn't available nearby so I was curious about these two as alternatives for a refugium system at my work.

 

[Spare time]

I'm no chemist but what if you just drop a screw in your sump somewhere with flow and let it rust?

I would have no clue how many iron pieces we would need in a system this big nor where to get pure iron screws

 

[Llyod276]

You guys... today is just not your day. Take a joke dudes. Dosing screws is the equivalent of putting ketchup in your radiator.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Carbon reactor, gfo...etc...

Have you tried it?

I used GFO 24/7 and still dosed iron, and still saw none detectable by ICP.

Iron depletes VERY fast, especially if not chelated.

Iron dosing is among the cheapest and easiest things to do for trace elements in a reef tank.

 

[N.Sreefer]

Have you tried it?

I used GFO 24/7 and still dosed iron, and still saw none detectable by ICP.

Iron depletes VERY fast, especially if not chelated.

Iron dosing is among the cheapest and easiest things to do for trace elements in a reef tank.

What exports the iron so quickly has that been determined? Would horticultural grade powdered chelated iron work? The price is def right and theres nursery's in just about every town that sell it. Bet the op could source it locally. My chemistry knowledge is lacking so sorry if that's a stupid question.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

What exports the iron so quickly has that been determined? Would horticultural grade powdered chelated iron work? The price is def right and theres nursery's in just about every town that sell it. Bet the op could source it locally. My chemistry knowledge is lacking so sorry if that's a stupid question.

Precipitation (it is quite insoluble when not bound to organics) and consumption by organisms (all photosynthetic organisms).

Human iron tablets (like my Fergon DIY) are by far the easiest and cheapest high quality iron, IMO.

 

[Spare time]

Precipitation (it is quite insoluble when not bound to organics) and consumption by organisms (all photosynthetic organisms).

Human iron tablets (like my Fergon DIY) are by far the easiest and cheapest high quality iron, IMO.

I assume the titanium dioxide not an issue in the diy tablets?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I assume the titanium dioxide not an issue in the diy tablets?

No.

 

[Spare time]

Thank you all

 

[AlbertGF]

Hi @Randy Holmes-Farley, only one question. I read many posts about your DIY Iron supplement with ferrous sulfate and sodium citrate. I know your prefer Fergon tablets but they are impossible to find in my location (nor ferrous gluconate). However I can buy ferrous sulfate 7H2O and sodium citrate and I think this will be the easiest way for doing my DIY Iron supplement. The problem is that I find out that there exists at least 3 forms of sodium citrate, monosodium, disodium and trisodium citrate. Which of them do I have to use? Will the proportion of 50.7g to 25g be the same? Are there other proportions or formulas regarding the different forms of sodium citrate? I think I got monosodium citrate anhydrous, will it work with your formula?

Thank you in advance.

Sorry for posting my question in this thread but there are a lot of threads talking about your DIY Iron supplement and I didn't want to start another one.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Hi @Randy Holmes-Farley, only one question. I read many posts about your DIY Iron supplement with ferrous sulfate and sodium citrate. I know your prefer Fergon tablets but they are impossible to find in my location (nor ferrous gluconate). However I can buy ferrous sulfate 7H2O and sodium citrate and I think this will be the easiest way for doing my DIY Iron supplement. The problem is that I find out that there exists at least 3 forms of sodium citrate, monosodium, disodium and trisodium citrate. Which of them do I have to use? Will the proportion of 50.7g to 25g be the same? Are there other proportions or formulas regarding the different forms of sodium citrate? I think I got monosodium citrate anhydrous, will it work with your formula?

Thank you in advance.

Sorry for posting my question in this thread but there are a lot of threads talking about your DIY Iron supplement and I didn't want to start another one.

This recipe of mine is intended to be for trisodium citrate:

I selected a dose of about 0.1 to 0.3 mL of a solution containing 5 g of iron (as 25 g of ferrous sulfate heptahydrate) in 250 mL of water containing 50.7 g of sodium citrate dihydrate. This liquid is dosed 2-3 times per week to my system with a total water volume of about 250 gallons. This iron(II) citrate has turned brown and cloudy since I first made up the bottle years ago, suggesting that it is oxidizing to iron(III) and some is precipitating from solution, but I still use it. Over the past 4 years, I’ve dosed nearly all of the 5 grams of actual iron to my tank.

 

[AlbertGF]

This recipe of mine is intended to be for trisodium citrate:

I selected a dose of about 0.1 to 0.3 mL of a solution containing 5 g of iron (as 25 g of ferrous sulfate heptahydrate) in 250 mL of water containing 50.7 g of sodium citrate dihydrate. This liquid is dosed 2-3 times per week to my system with a total water volume of about 250 gallons. This iron(II) citrate has turned brown and cloudy since I first made up the bottle years ago, suggesting that it is oxidizing to iron(III) and some is precipitating from solution, but I still use it. Over the past 4 years, I’ve dosed nearly all of the 5 grams of actual iron to my tank.

Thank you!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

You're welcome.

Let us know how it turns out.

 

[AlbertGF]

You're welcome.

Let us know how it turns out.

Hi Randy,
One more question, is the correct equation this one?:

Na3C6H5O7*2H2O + FeSO4*7H2O = C6H5FeO7 + Na2SO4 + Na + 9 H2O
If that is correct there is a Sodium atom that is left alone, is that reaction possible?

The other doubt I have is that in your formula you add two parts of citrate for each one of ferrous sulfate by weight (50.7 to 25) and in the equation the proportion is one molecule to one molecule. Being that the weights are similar for each molecule (294.10 citrate and 278.01 Iron) shouldn't us be mixing that ratio and not 2:1?

Let me say that I have no idea about chemistry and I don't speak (write) english very well so I apologize if I have said any stupid thing.

Thank you so much!