Low iron. Should I dose?

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Do you test your iron?

Iron testing is not really useful, IMO. Trial and error dosing is more useful. Natural levels cannot be detected by any kit or by icp-oes.

 

[WrasseyReefer]

Iron testing is not really useful, IMO. Trial and error dosing is more useful. Natural levels cannot be detected by any kit or by icp-oes.

I have a 90g mixed reef with a 29g sump with a refugium. I’m curious to try to dose iron to help my macro algae grow better. What dose would you recommend I start with? Any specified product?

 

[flagg37]

In my current tank, I chose to shut down my fuge/macro algae because when I would dose the iron it would promote the algae in the dt more than the chaeto in the fuge. So just be warned; I was told a rising tide raises all ships.

 

[WrasseyReefer]

In my current tank, I chose to shut down my fuge/macro algae because when I would dose the iron it would promote the algae in the dt more than the chaeto in the fuge. So just be warned; I was told a rising tide raises all ships.

That’s my concern as well. Sounding like I’m better off leaving things be rather than rocking the boat.

 

[billyocean]

@billyocean what are your thoughts? You don't dose iron, right?

I don't dose iron specifically. It's in some of the trace I dose once a week. With water changes it should have enough in the salt I would imagine..even if it doesn't show up on test.

 

[MnFish1]

Just tested my iron with Red Sea. Came out to 0-0.05, and 0.15 is suppose to be the target. Should I dose iron to get it up? Is it really important for corals? Don’t want to chase numbers just for the sake of it.

Most of the tests do not measure low enough to tell you - I would say 'no'. @Randy Holmes-Farley. EDIT - I see Randy has already answered - the same as I would have recommended - its odd - sometimes I come to a thread - with no answers - answer and there are 10 people who have already answered.

 

[killer2001]

Do you test your iron?

Nope, I do 2 "drops" from an eyedropper daily in my 45 gallon (DIY fergon tablet). Chaeto/Algae growing like crazy in the refugium, and in the main display I only get diatoms on the glass but thats because I also dose silica most likely.

 

[WrasseyReefer]

Nope, I do 2 "drops" from an eyedropper daily in my 45 gallon (DIY fergon tablet). Chaeto/Algae growing like crazy in the refugium, and in the main display I only get diatoms on the glass but thats because I also dose silica most likely.

Do you dose silicates to grow sponges?

 

[killer2001]

Do you dose silicates to grow sponges?

That, and I'd rather have diatoms take over any available surface area vs dinos, plus the pods seem to enjoy snacking on the diatoms too.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I have a 90g mixed reef with a 29g sump with a refugium. I’m curious to try to dose iron to help my macro algae grow better. What dose would you recommend I start with? Any specified product?

My recommendation is a DIY:

Fergon tablets (from a drug store).

One Fergon tablet (ferrous gluconate) contains 27 mg of iron. Dissolve that in about 27 mL RO/DI (my recommendation, but other concentrations are OK, just don't dilute too much), the concentration is about 27 mg/27 ml ~ 1 mg/mL.

I dose ~1 mL to my tank with a volume of about 300 gallons once or twice a week.

 

[floridareeflabs]

What type of iron are you suggesting is a problem for tangs? I suspect many reports like this are coincidences.

We have seen Flourish by seachem have negative effects specifically with Powder Blue Tangs. We are confident not coincidence as happened with two isolated systems and only the PB Tangs died while other tangs were fine. So, we just recommend researching if you have these.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

We have seen Flourish by seachem have negative effects specifically with Powder Blue Tangs. We are confident not coincidence as happened with two isolated systems and only the PB Tangs died while other tangs were fine. So, we just recommend researching if you have these.

OK, I'd just caution others that this is not a simple research and find the bad products. You have an experience and opinion that it is bad, but whether that is real or not, and whether it is distinctly different from other forms is less clear and not easily found by just google searching.

How much were you boosting iron? Maybe you raised it too high?

FWIW, Seachem fluorish iron claims to be the same chemical as my DIY (ferrous gluconate). Many people have used the DIY and I've not heard of anyone having any fish problem using it. I didn't.

 

[flagg37]

This has become quite interesting. I never thought to look at what form of iron I was dosing. Leave it to the chemist to pay attention to stuff like that (thanks @Randy Holmes-Farley).

In my previous tank where my chaeto was growing successfully, I was using the Red Sea colors. The labeling of the bottle doesn’t specify what is in it. In my current tank, I dosed brightwell’s iron supplement. This is their label.

Now I’m going to go check our medicine cabinet to see what is in the iron pills we have.

 

[tbrown]

This has become quite interesting. I never thought to look at what form of iron I was dosing. Leave it to the chemist to pay attention to stuff like that (thanks @Randy Holmes-Farley).

In my previous tank where my chaeto was growing successfully, I was using the Red Sea colors. The labeling of the bottle doesn’t specify what is in it. In my current tank, I dosed brightwell’s iron supplement. This is their label.

Now I’m going to go check our medicine cabinet to see what is in the iron pills we have.

I believe if it's not chelated most hydroponic/aquaponic plants can't uptake it as easily. I would assume that'll translates into our reef tanks as well with corals and algae?

ETA: going off aquaponic research I did close to 12 years ago so I could be misremembering.

 

[jda]

I would not add iron unless you have a fuge full of macro algae and you don't change water. I grow chaeto in a 10g tank and can throw away 5g of it every few weeks. Changing water is enough for this, but if I slack on my water changes, I do add a bit of iron (ferrion, currently). I might add like a capful in a 300g system... so not much, but it does help it continue to grow.

 

[5280Reefer]

My recommendation is a DIY:

Fergon tablets (from a drug store).

One Fergon tablet (ferrous gluconate) contains 27 mg of iron. Dissolve that in about 27 mL RO/DI (my recommendation, but other concentrations are OK, just don't dilute too much), the concentration is about 27 mg/27 ml ~ 1 mg/mL.

I dose ~1 mL to my tank with a volume of about 300 gallons once or twice a week.

when I make this mix do I just does that or should I filter it in any way?