[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Iron alone vs. iron in trace mixes
Here's a question I hope proves worthy of discussion. In addition to the
trace-element fertilizer I use (a combination of Flourish and Natural
Gold), I use a good amount of Flourish Iron. Even with all this, our iron
level in our tank (which is growing beautifully) is (only) about 0.1-0.15
ppm (Hach kit). Are there any pitfalls with using ONLY an all-in-one trace
mix like (regular) Flourish or Natural Gold to get the iron where you want
it?
Karl Schoeler's label says to adjust the N.G. dosage to bring the iron to
0.5-0.75 ppm. Given that SeaChem is a serious company, and that Flourish
and Flourish Iron are about the same price, what is the rationale for a
separate, iron-only product like Flourish Iron, other than one might dose
some other ingredient in reg. Flourish too high if monitoring iron alone? I
ask this given that some of us are dosing some products at at least 3 times
the label dosage and *most of us don't test for much other than iron*. Is
there a chance of putting our fish at risk, or of causing plant uptake
problems with an improper trace-element balance? I know we've discussed
iron levels and each of us can monitor iron levels, plant growth and algae.
But I'm wondering about trace-element balance vs. iron dosing.
Jared
___________________________________________________________
Jared Weinberger jweinberger at knology_net
______ http://www.knology.net/~jweinberger/ ________