How often to dose iron?

Discussion in 'Advanced Topics' started by LilMissMurder, Feb 2, 2025 at 3:03 PM.

  1. LilMissMurder

    LilMissMurder

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    I've noticed yellowing of new growth and on some of the tips of establish leaves of my rotala green. The colorata is getting on really well by comparison and the taller ones will be reaching the surface in a day or two.

    chlorosis.jpg

    I don't have any iron ferts, but I do have a potable syrup of 24mg/ml Iron bisglycinate chelate. Using this I made a 2L dosing solution that targets 1ppm Fe per 1ml dose per 10L of aquarium water. I have added 3 ml of this, but am unsure how often to add it since I have no means of testing it.

    From what I've read, plants rapidly absorb iron from the water column and you should retest 30mins after dosing. Until such time as I have at least some test strips for ballparking iron levels, is adding the equivalent of 1ppm for the whole tank volume daily going overboard? Any tips on what I should be looking out for? It seems the symptoms for excessive iron can present the same as low iron, but I'm going to assume a deficiency.

    I'm also somewhat surprised given how red the substrate is, but I can think of three things:

    1) The red colour is due to tonnes of insoluble Iron(III) oxide (rust to you and I) or even Fe3O4, although that's the black stuff.
    2) The aluminium sulphate I added at the beginning could have caused the formation of (insoluble) ferric hydroxide in the substrate, which will not go back into solution at my current pH of 7.8
    3) Root formation issues - not all of the rotala green exhibit this symptom but it's fairly pervasive.

    I actually have a LOT of live plant material in this tank, the mass of floaters is getting bigger by the day. I also suspect the colorata are hoovering up all the free iron in the WC starving their green brethren.

    upload_2025-2-2_16-48-53.gif
     
    Last edited: Feb 2, 2025 at 3:19 PM

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