# Uv sterilizers and chelated iron precipitation problem



## thunderjack14 (Nov 28, 2014)

Hello everyone !

Question can anyone tell me if theirs a chelated iron that can withstand UV sterilizer and not precipitate in aquarium water when dosing it.

At first i was using chelated iron DPTA 11% then found out that this was good for P.H 7 and up and im running a discus tank and my P.H is at 6.5 so i changed it to chealted iron EDTA 13%. 

Not sure if the EDTA 13% will have a better bond and if the UV light will have a harder time to precipitate the iron. I got some EDTA 13% coming in a few days so time will tell all.

Every time water get fogy when i dose the iron with UV sterilizer on.

Tank parameters are as follows.

Aquarium has bin up and running for a year.

150 gallon tank with 18 watt coralife turbo twist Uv sterilizer.

Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0 
Nitrates 10 ppm
K.H 4 ppm
G.H 4 ppm
P.H 6.5
Phosphate 1.5 ppm
Chelated iron 0.5 ppm
Temperature is 86.5 f

Plants doing ok but its just the problem when i dose the iron water gets fogy. So if anyone knows of a better chealted iron source that can withstand the UV sterilizer just drop me some info on it please.

Thanks everyone.


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

Diana Walstad, in her book, "The Ecology of the Planted Aquarium", says that intense UV or near UV light causes the iron in the water which is usually not bioavailable, to become bioavailable for a brief time, and might cause algae to grow much better. Algae has to get the iron it needs from the water, since it has no access to the substrate. Thus, this could make life easier for algae. I'm not sure how this relates to the UV breaking down chelators, if it even does. I'm thinking about trying to test this idea sometime in the next 6 months.


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## thunderjack14 (Nov 28, 2014)

hoppycalif said:


> Diana Walstad, in her book, "The Ecology of the Planted Tank", says that intense UV or near UV light causes the iron in the water which is usually not bioavailable, to become bioavailable for a brief time, and might cause algae to grow much better. Algae has to get the iron it needs from the water, since it has no access to the substrate. Thus, this could make life easier for algae. I'm not sure how this relates to the UV breaking down chelators, if it even does. I'm thinking about trying to test this idea sometime in the next 6 months.


Ok thanks hoppy for the info i will check for the write up from Diana walstad The Ecology of the Planted Tank. I will see if the EDTA chelated iron works better with the uv light and repost.


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## Yorkie (Sep 8, 2014)

Hi Folks,

I'm pretty new here.

I installed a UV-C sterilizer on one of my tanks fairly recently. So, I am interested in any adverse effects it could possibly have on chelated iron or anything else for that matter! What was the outcome of this?

Yorkie


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

UV light does make iron more available. At the same time, however, UV rapidly degrades the chelator. Without the UV, iron fertilizers would last much longer and work better for plants.

I'm not sure what to recommend. If the plants are doing well--no iron deficiencies-- and water is not cloudy, I would leave well enough alone. Otherwise, I would turn off the UV for a few days after adding chelated iron. I would NOT just dose in more chelated iron fertilizer.

BTW, I use my UV sterilizing filter only for quarantining new fish (first month) and/or if there is ever a disease outbreak. Unless you have new fish coming in constantly, I'm not sure the UV sterilizing lamp needs to be run 24/7. 

Judicious and targeted use of expensive UV lamps that typically last only 6 mos. makes using UV sterilizing filters much more practical for the average fishkeeper. (I keep mine in a box ready for when I really need it!)


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## mysiak (Jan 17, 2018)

Related to UV running 24/7, I stumbled upon this article. It's quite long and I probably don't understand everything in it (so can't really comment it), but they are strong advocates of using UV at all times. Not for sterilisation purpose, but to keep "healthy" redox balance. Maybe someone with better understanding of redox could chime in if it makes sense. 

http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Redox_Potential.html


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