Iron Test Kit Question

rapdor · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 24

Greetings I'm trying to create a heavily planted freshwater tank and
read that iron deficiency is commonly a problem. Also that pH above 7
causes plants to be unable to use the iron that may be available in the
tank. So maybe I should buy an iron test kit. But before doing so, I'd
like to know more about what they actually measure. I mean, how meaningful
is the raw number the test kit will give? Any advice much appreciated.

Archived from group: rec>aquaria>tech

Iain Miller · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 95

"rapdor" wrote in message$bo1.83847@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
> Greetings I'm trying to create a heavily planted freshwater tank and
> read that iron deficiency is commonly a problem. Also that pH above 7
> causes plants to be unable to use the iron that may be available in the
> tank. So maybe I should buy an iron test kit. But before doing so, I'd
> like to know more about what they actually measure. I mean, how
meaningful
> is the raw number the test kit will give? Any advice much appreciated.

Parts per million -IIRC. Some measure bothe Chelated and non-chelated Iron
levels. ISTR its the Non-Chelated that matters. Its a matter of keeping at
least some Iron in the tank and not overdosing it. If you have a heavily
planted tank and it has the maximum recommended concentration of Iron it can
be stripped down to zero in about ten days or less. So the trick is always
to feed little & often & just maintain the Iron levels somewhere in the
zone.

HTH

I.

Dan Drake · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 12

On Tue, 30 Sep 2003 14:36:50 UTC, "Iain Miller" wrote:

>
> "rapdor" wrote in message
> $bo1.83847@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
> > Greetings I'm trying to create a heavily planted freshwater tank and
> > read that iron deficiency is commonly a problem. Also that pH above 7
> > causes plants to be unable to use the iron that may be available in the
> > tank. So maybe I should buy an iron test kit. But before doing so, I'd
> > like to know more about what they actually measure. I mean, how
> meaningful
> > is the raw number the test kit will give? Any advice much appreciated.
>
> Parts per million -IIRC. Some measure bothe Chelated and non-chelated Iron
> levels. ISTR its the Non-Chelated that matters.

Hmm, I think it's the other way around. Non-chelated iron in water at any
reasonble pH for fish -- even well below 7 -- does one of two things:

1. If it's in the ferric oxidation state (+3), it instantly precipitates.
It's not soluble in a concentration as high as one part per Billion with
B except in very acidic water.

2. If it's in the ferrous state (+2), it oxidizes soon to the ferric
state. As the mathematicians say, this reduces the problem (not the iron)
to the previous case. You wouldn't want a aquarium with too little oxygen
for this to happen.

I have run experiments with things like ferrous citrate, which is nicely
soluble, and it goes away very quickly. The only way to keep iron in
solution is by chelation.

A recommended level of iron is 0.1 parts per million. Or milligrams per
liter, the same thing. I tend to maintain 0.15 because of some
experiences long ago that I think are probably irrelevant now. But you
don't want it to go much below 0.1, or you get yellow leaves.

It's not easy to make a test kit that gives such low readings accurately.
Lamotte makes two kits, and you need the low-level kit if you want
meaningful readings for planted tanks. Surprise: it's lots more
expensive. I don't know if anything from the usual aquarium suppliers is
good.

There's even a further complication. If the itron is chelated with EDTA,
there's no kit that will measure it, short of boiling the sample with
acid. (So I was told by a technician at Hach. I can verify that the
Lamotte kit can't see Fe EDTA at all at all.) The right stuff is HEDTA,
which binds the iron tightly enough to keep it in solution but not enough
to frustrate tests. Good iron fertilizers will use this. I think Dupla
uses it; anyway, its iron is detectable.

Oh, and the Lamotte kit now uses an inferior reagent that leaves a deposit
on the bottom of the test tube. Dilute HCl will clean it up.

--
dd@dandrake.com
http://www.dandrake.com/

In the days after September 11, Yahoo searches for Nostradamus
outnumbered those for Osama bin Laden and Sex, combined.

rapdor · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 24

thats encouraging do you add extra iron supplement?

"gizmo" wrote in message$nrb7mh$ucg$1@lnews.actcom.co.il...
> I have a 100 gallon tank PH oh 7.4 lush green leaves.
> I also know that plants can use iron at higher PH levels....
>
> gizmo
> "rapdor" wrote in message
> $bo1.83847@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
> > Greetings I'm trying to create a heavily planted freshwater tank
and
> > read that iron deficiency is commonly a problem. Also that pH above 7
> > causes plants to be unable to use the iron that may be available in the
> > tank. So maybe I should buy an iron test kit. But before doing so, I'd
> > like to know more about what they actually measure. I mean, how
> meaningful
> > is the raw number the test kit will give? Any advice much appreciated.
> >
> >
>
>

gizmo · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 37

I have a 100 gallon tank PH oh 7.4 lush green leaves.
I also know that plants can use iron at higher PH levels....

gizmo
"rapdor" wrote in message$bo1.83847@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
> Greetings I'm trying to create a heavily planted freshwater tank and
> read that iron deficiency is commonly a problem. Also that pH above 7
> causes plants to be unable to use the iron that may be available in the
> tank. So maybe I should buy an iron test kit. But before doing so, I'd
> like to know more about what they actually measure. I mean, how
meaningful
> is the raw number the test kit will give? Any advice much appreciated.
>
>

gizmo · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 37

Yes! very important also....
"rapdor" wrote in message$bo1.65855@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
> thats encouraging do you add extra iron supplement?
>
> "gizmo" wrote in message
> $nrb7mh$ucg$1@lnews.actcom.co.il...
> > I have a 100 gallon tank PH oh 7.4 lush green leaves.
> > I also know that plants can use iron at higher PH levels....
> >
> > gizmo
> > "rapdor" wrote in message
> > $bo1.83847@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
> > > Greetings I'm trying to create a heavily planted freshwater tank
> and
> > > read that iron deficiency is commonly a problem. Also that pH above 7
> > > causes plants to be unable to use the iron that may be available in
the
> > > tank. So maybe I should buy an iron test kit. But before doing so,
I'd
> > > like to know more about what they actually measure. I mean, how
> > meaningful
> > > is the raw number the test kit will give? Any advice much
appreciated.
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>
>