# [Wet Thumb Forum]-mixing iron chelate



## imported_russell (Sep 14, 2004)

i am thinking about adding fe to my tank by way of iron chelate. i was just wondering how much to mix and how much to add. i was also wondering how many ppm i should shoot for.

or, should i dose it dry so it doesn't oxidise in the bottle?


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## imported_russell (Sep 14, 2004)

roger...anyone...


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## brad (Jul 10, 2005)

0.1ppm. It should be fine in a dark bottle. The chelator should keep it from oxidising in the bottle. You probably shouldn`t mix up a year`s supply but enough for a couple of weeks should be fine. You can also dose it dry.


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## imported_russell (Sep 14, 2004)

i worked with aaron (grandmasterofpool) and freemann on apc chat, and we figured that if i added 1/32 teaspoon over the course of a week, that should do for my 30 gallon.

what i am doing is adding 1/32 of a teaspoon of iron chelate to a small glass of water. each day of the week i will add roughly 1/7 of the water to my tank. it kindof stinks because i have to mix a new batch each week, but if it really works, i should see some nice improvement. 

i had a good talk with luis navarro today about the importance of iron in aquatic plants. iron is one of the main molicules in chlorophyll. without it, your plants will not be able to grow as well. several of us are experimenting with extra Fe along with our regular doses of csm+b. 

a lot of the good aquascapers have found lots of fe to be crutial in healthy growth. i will post my results in a month or so.


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## Roger Miller (Jun 19, 2004)

> iron is one of the main molicules in chlorophyll. without it, your plants will not be able to grow as well.


The second statement is right; your plants will not grow without iron. The first statement is not right. There is no iron in chlorophyll -- the metal in chlorophyll is magnesium. However, iron is still essential to photosynthesis because there is quite a bit of iron in the proteins that transport electrons during the reaction.

Roger Miller


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## imported_russell (Sep 14, 2004)

ok, that must have been what they said. i was close??


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## Jane of Upton (Jul 28, 2005)

In reading the ingredient lists on aquatic plant fertilizers and pond (pond lily) fertilizers, I've seen ferrous gluconate and ferrous sulfate pretty often. These are the "chelated" forms. If I can remember correctly, "Ferrous" denotes iron in the +3 state, Wheras "Ferric" denotes it's in the +2 state (???). Anyhow, with that as my basis, and the caveat that I'm low tech, I used a mortar and pestle to grind up a ferrous gluconate vitamin pill - cheap, no enteric coating, no colors, etc. and added these to my base level of substrate. I added a pea-size volume of powder - maybe 1/8 teaspoon - for the entire floor of a 39 gal tank. My crypts and swords have never appeared iron deficient. 

Odd methodology, but its worked for me.
-Jane


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## Roger Miller (Jun 19, 2004)

> Originally posted by Jane of Upton:
> In reading the ingredient lists on aquatic plant fertilizers and pond (pond lily) fertilizers, I've seen ferrous gluconate and ferrous sulfate pretty often. These are the "chelated" forms.


Ferrous sulfate is not chelated. We usually consider ferrous gluconate to be chelated, but that might not be technically correct.



> If I can remember correctly, "Ferrous" denotes iron in the +3 state, Wheras "Ferric" denotes it's in the +2 state (???).


Other way around. Ferric iron has the +3 charge and ferrous iron has the +2 charge.



> Anyhow, with that as my basis, and the caveat that I'm low tech, I used a mortar and pestle to grind up a ferrous gluconate vitamin pill - cheap, no enteric coating, no colors, etc. and added these to my base level of substrate. I added a pea-size volume of powder - maybe 1/8 teaspoon - for the entire floor of a 39 gal tank. My crypts and swords have never appeared iron deficient.


I know of other people who did that, using much larger amounts of ferrous gluconate. I'm not sure whether the experience is consistent.

I used to use ferrous gluconate tablets as substrate amendments. When a plant started looking a little pale I stuck 1/4 to 1/2 of a tablet into the substrate below the plant. It worked well, but was a tad labor-intensive. I kept that up until someone found out that Seachem Iron (which is ferrous gluconate) cost less per mg of iron then the cheapest iron gluconate tablets they could buy at their grocery store. I didn't check prices here to see if that was right, but the fact that the prices were even close lead me to stop using the tablets.

Roger Miller


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## dissident (Sep 6, 2005)

Russell, 
I have had that same Q for months. There doesnt seem to be an exact formula anywhere for dosing iron chelate and Fe tests seem to be for the most part useless. Target is .1 ppm Fe but good luck measureing that.

IME on my 65gal dosing Fe i found that 1/16 teaspoon per week worked fine. Rmember Chelated Fe does take time to disolve into the water column (few days, if you add powder directly to the water like I do), and do not dose your micros at the same time. It breaks down the Chelates from what I have read and makes the Fe almost useless. Also be sure to add Mg as well, Mg helps the plant's uptake of Fe so if your Mg is too low all the Fe in the world won't help. I have just used chuck's planted aquarium calculator for dosing MgSO4.


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## imported_russell (Sep 14, 2004)

dissident, do you add it all at once? i was told to mix my amount in water, and dose some of it every day throughout the week. it seems like it would be more constant that way.


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## dissident (Sep 6, 2005)

Usually i will add it 2x a week 1/32 tspn, once durring whaterchange when i do all the macros, then on an off day from micro doses.

I have done it all at once for a while but felt it was causeing hair algae. I backed off to 2/week same amount and it cleared up in 2 weeks.

I have never mixed it in water before, the only thing is mix is my CSMB. If mixing it works fine for you then great, Im just shareing my experiences dosing 10% Fe Chelate.


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