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Re: adding iron
Tom's iron-rich blurb is very well taken; I recently posted to the sfbaaps
list re: the usage of Fe in excess of that put forth by PMDD literature.
It's reasonable to say that around the advent of PMDD, our knowledge of the
tolerance of various macronutrients, and our effective management of said
nutrients, wasn't quite as "advanced" as it is at present.
When a tank has achieved a point of consistent, continued stability in the
way of macro/micronutrients & CO2, it's hard to resist the urge to play with
varying proportions and ratios of nitrate, phosphate (as evidenced by
discussion here), and Fe. Over the past few months I've been maintaining Fe
very close to 1.5ppm, resulting in what I perceive to be much more vibrant
growth in various plants. There is extremely little in the way of visible
algae.
The difference in plant health is difficult to explicate, but after watching
various species closely over time, even subtle differences can be marked.
Deeper greens and faster growth seem to be the most significant differences
thus far, with, to be admittedly vague, more "sparkle" in the setup as a
whole. Tom mentioned richer traces as being counterintuitive... I think I
understand what he means, and I agree. Perhaps this is analagous to the
dosing of phosphate and nitrate, also perceived as counterintuitive in the
past. All things (nutrients, light, C02) accounted for and satisfied, the
"extra" dosing of traces (with Fe as a proxy, beyond that .1 mark) might
mean more ammunition for plants, resulting in the further minimizing of
visible algae and a healthier system overall.
Cheers,
------
ERIK LEUNG San Francisco, CA
http://Toshir0.tripod.com
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From: Thomas Barr <tcbiii at earthlink_net>:
[truncated] I have bad poor results when I run my iron down like many folks
seem to here. Plants do not look as good in any tanks I've ever had running
a tight low level of iron. It seems counter intuitive to many but adding
more trace nutrients will help if you have high light, CO2 etc. Many of
companies recommended levels are 2-3 x less since not everyone one has high
light, CO2 etc. Hard water also needs more than softer water. I've run the
iron pretty rich in my tanks (1.0ppm) over the years. It seems not to cause
me algae grief for some reason.......but I have good CO2, light, and macro
levels also.
-------->
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