Adding iron to reef

14 foot reef

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@Randy Holmes-Farley
Randy I did an ICP test from a different company than usually, just to get some comparisons across multiple companies. ICP Analysis is suggesting this dosage

ATI Iron required: 278.4369 mL​

This was calculated with the provided data:

Tank volume: 850 Gallons
Element concentration: 2.691 ppb
Target value: 20 ppb


This is for my 850 gallon SPS dominant reef, but unlike other ICP companies they tell me the dosing schedule.

I know iron is going to delete quickly and is hard to get correct consistently, but I believe the addition of iron to keep away from possible zero is a good thing.

My first question is, do you agree with this dosage, and second question is, if you do agree with this dosage, at what schedule would you add 279 ml of Iron to my 850 gallon system?

Thanks as always for your help with my reef, and everyone's reef here on Reef2Reef !!!!
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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IMO, there is more iron in your sample than many types of natural surface seawater, and whether you might benefit from more or not can only be determined by experiment.

Here's what I found and commented on for my system:

Iron (Fe). The natural iron level varies a lot with depth, but surface seawater may have only 0.006 µg/L. The Triton LOD = 0.3 µg/L. I dose iron, and when I dose it I boost iron to roughly 1-2 µg/L, which would be detectable. This sample was taken more than a week after the last iron dosing, and none was detected as it gets depleted in the meanwhile. I’ve not yet seen a Triton test result for a real aquarium sample that had detectable iron, but that doesn’t mean these tanks are necessarily deficient. Iron is also a case where the form is critical, and ICP cannot distinguish form. Binding to organic matter, for example, can alter the bioavailability of iron.

If you want to dose, I'd use Fergon tablets from a drug store.
 

Miami Reef

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Here’s Randy’s DIY Iron Fergon tablet recipe:

Iron is not detectable by hobby icp at natural levels, so seeing none does not mean any is needed, but it can easily be dosed diy.

My recommended DIY is:

Fergon tablets (from a drug store).

One Fergon tablet (ferrous gluconate) contains 27 mg of iron. Dissolve that in about 27 mL RO/DI (my recommendation, but other concentrations are OK, just don't dilute too much), the concentration is about 27 mg/27 ml ~ 1 mg/mL.

I dose ~1 mL to my tank with a volume of about 300 gallons once or twice a week.
 
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