Chelated Iron

Joetee

Prolific Poster
Mar 26, 2006
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Lexington, KY
I dose all my ferts dry by weight in grams.
I dose CSM+B for trace dry also in grams.

If I wanted to add extra Chelated Iron to a high light, heavily planted 29 gal tank, how much should I add? (in grams please).

Also, would you recommend adding more than what is already in CSM+B?

Joe
 

rrkss

Prolific Poster
May 7, 2006
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Re: Chelated Iron

Iron dosing is trial and error. If you start seeing the growth tips on your fast growing plants turning yellow (not light green like normal) then you need to up the Iron to resolve this. My tank uses 3x more iron than is available in my trace mix so I have to supplement iron daily. Start small like 1/16 of a teaspoon or maybe 1 gram and work your way up watching how your plants respond.
 

Wet

Lifetime Members
Lifetime Member
Aug 25, 2006
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USA
Re: Chelated Iron

Assuming you are using 10% Fe chelate, your 29gal is more like 25gals after displacement of substrate and stuff, and you want to raise Fe by 0.1ppm (mg/L) increments:

(target ppm * tank gal * 3.77L/gal) / (.10mg Fe/mg Fe chelate) = mg Fe chelate to reach target ppm

(.1mg/L * 25gal * 3.77L/gal) / (.10mg Fe/mg Fe chelate) = 94.25mg (.09425grams) Fe chelate

So, ~95mg Fe chelate dry raises your tank by ~.1ppm Fe.

Tom Barr has said high Fe isn't necessarily more important than high traces, so you can just hit your higher Fe target with CSM+B alone if you want.

Also, this CSM+B calculator can do dry dosing if you enter 1mL for the dose and trace mix, if wanted.