Something strange with Fe level

borman

Prolific Poster
Dec 29, 2007
58
0
6
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Zaporozhye, Ukraine
Hello

I have very strange problem with the ferrum consumption and level in my tank

Im adding ferrum daily to maintain 0.1mg/l level. ( I use hand made Fe solution produced from Fe2S04+EDTA+ascorbic acid. Its have good stability)
Never test it before but seems that its was ok for al my plants

this sunday im completely replant all my Glossa and on the next day catch huge chlorosys on young leaves. Also all my Sagitaria subulbata became yellowish.(Rotala Indica, Moss, Ludwigia feels good with no chlorosis symptoms)
I check Fe level with JBL test - 0.. S I decided to add 0,2 mg at evening and 0,2 morning.. At evening i once again check test - 0. - Same thing on the next day +0,2 evening +0,2 at morning and at evening - level is 0. Also no visible improvement in plant state. Then I made test to check my solution. In simple untap water I add it to get 0,4 mg/l - stay it on night and in morning test it with JBL - 0,4 - So the solution is no reason.
BUT what the reason - plants eats more then 0.4 fe dayly :eek:
Or its another reason
- may be UV lamp, with work 24/7,
- may be something in canister filter (i did not clean it for 2 month),
- may be hight K level (25mg/l)
I also add NPK+Trace (all handmade) every day

Please help
 

Gerryd

Plant Guru Team
Lifetime Member
Sep 23, 2007
5,623
22
38
South Florida
Hi,

Are you using c02 at all? What size tank is it? Type of substrate and lighting, duration, etc. How much of the macros/trace do you dose?

Have your test kits been calibrated against a KNOWN reference solution for accuracy?
 

Tom Barr

Founder
Staff member
Administrator
Jan 23, 2005
18,699
791
113
borman;33402 said:
Hello

I have very strange problem with the ferrum consumption and level in my tank

Im adding ferrum daily to maintain 0.1mg/l level. ( I use hand made Fe solution produced from Fe2S04+EDTA+ascorbic acid. Its have good stability)
Never test it before but seems that its was ok for al my plants

this sunday im completely replant all my Glossa and on the next day catch huge chlorosys on young leaves. Also all my Sagitaria subulbata became yellowish.(Rotala Indica, Moss, Ludwigia feels good with no chlorosis symptoms)
I check Fe level with JBL test - 0.. S I decided to add 0,2 mg at evening and 0,2 morning.. At evening i once again check test - 0. - Same thing on the next day +0,2 evening +0,2 at morning and at evening - level is 0. Also no visible improvement in plant state. Then I made test to check my solution. In simple untap water I add it to get 0,4 mg/l - stay it on night and in morning test it with JBL - 0,4 - So the solution is no reason.
BUT what the reason - plants eats more then 0.4 fe dayly :eek:
Or its another reason
- may be UV lamp, with work 24/7,
- may be something in canister filter (i did not clean it for 2 month),
- may be hight K level (25mg/l)
I also add NPK+Trace (all handmade) every day

Please help

What is the KH (alkalinity) of your tap water/ aquarium water?
Often times the ETDA is not a good chelator at higher KH's.

also, you recently re did the aquarium and planted the plants, this takes time to readjust, dosing Fe alone is not going to resolve that.

Testing for Fe is very problematic.
I would not suggest that you do this.

I often add trace elements based on volume of the solution and the aquarium's volume.

This never changes, test kit errors and and chelation certainly do change.

So I add say 20mls of trace mixture(Say Tropica or Seachem) for each 300 liters of aquarium 3x a week, maybe 4 x a week.

This is plenty for any system and is "non limiting", no matter what the plant biomass, no matter what light you have, very high light etc.
You can and may try dosing less, but this is the upper bound.

Regards,
Tom Barr