# ferrous gluconate



## vandejo2 (May 27, 2010)

Hi, I am dosing ferrous gluconate that I purchased from aquariumfertilizers.com. No matter how hard I try I cannot keep this stuff in my water. I can does .4 mg/l and there will be no trace of iron in the water after 7-8 hours. I am wondering how long fe gluconate actually lasts in water exposed to good lighting. Does anybody know? should I be dosing chelated iron. I am running co2 at 35 mg/l and use about 4.5 wpg on a 20g long


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## Elohim_Meth (Nov 4, 2007)

It is similar to my experience. I dose 0.5 ppm Fe with ferrous gluconate and after 6 hours photoperiod there is only 0.1 ppm. The same result was with Fe+EDTA chelate and with ferrous citrate. I had done a simple experiment, I let sit 1 L of aquarium water with 0.5 ppm Fe for night and at the morning there was still 0.5 ppm. 
You've got a plenty of light, your plants consume a lot of iron. Just dose more, 1-2 ppm Fe will be quite OK. Don't forget to add other traces as well.


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## vandejo2 (May 27, 2010)

Thanks for the input man, have you noticed megadoses of iron being hard on fish or inverts?


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## Elohim_Meth (Nov 4, 2007)

My Cardinal Tetras are feeling good, not a single loss for years. And so do RCS. 
Actually 0.5 ppm Fe is not a big deal, I've heard of folks dosing 1-3 ppm.


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