Re: Seachem Iron Test Kit

["Giancarlo Podio" <gp at isaconsulting_com>]

Thanks again Greg, I did try it again over the weekend and low-range did not
give me the same value of the normal range as you mentioned and explained
why below. I still have a little difficulty with the normal range trying to
pinpoint the exact color but that is probably my eyes (they've been through
a lot). I've been using a mix of Flourish and TMG as fertilizer and have a
flourite substrate, not sure which type of iron each one uses though. Does
flourite contribute to the iron contents in the water column?

Thank you for all your help

Giancarlo Podio

----- Original Message -----

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

  a.. To: Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
  b.. Subject: Re: Seachem Iron Test Kit
  c.. From: Greg Morin <greg at seachem_com>
  d.. Date: Mon, 7 Apr 2003 12:40:07 -0400
  e.. In-reply-to: <200304051214.h35CE2Hr020479 at otter_actwin.com>
  f.. References: <200304051214.h35CE2Hr020479 at otter_actwin.com>

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

>
>
>Yes I'm comparing it but I can't tell any difference, the instructions also
>say to compare color to color chart correct? Shouldn't I be getting the
same
>results for both tests? I was hoping the low-range would give me a more
>accurate reading seeing my wife and I never seem to see the same color :)


Yes and no  ;-) The low range of the scale (i.e. below 0.05 mg/L) is
very light and almost immeasurable running the normal test (you'd
have to have some pretty good color discerning eyes). So we added the
low range option to make those really light colors easier to see, but
even when you do see them running the low range test, they are still
very, very light (which is how you match it to the scale). Basically,
if you can get a reading running the normal test that you are
reasonably confident in there is no reason to run the low range test.
The low range test is more for if you run a normal test and get
nothing or it's so low you're not sure if you see something or not,
you can run the low range to double check. You should get the same
reading for a low range as a normal test but as the concentration
goes up you would have to compensate by using additional powder
reagent as the 1 scoop is more than enough for values below 0.1 mg/L.
If you'r eat 0.1 or higher you may want to add another scoop if
you're trying to get the low range and normal range to match (we
don't mention this as the presumption is one would normally only run
the low range when trying to test for values below 0.1 mg/L)


>
>Should I be testing for chelated iron? The instruction sheet (and other
>people) suggest to keep an iron value of 0.1 to 0.2 mg/l, is this referring
>to chelated iron or not? (I assumed it was but might be wrong).
>


That depends, are you adding chelated iron? If you are using using
our Flourish Iron then you would not need to test for chelated iron.
The 0.1 - 0.2 recommendation refers to either chelated or not.

-Greg Morin

--

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Seachem Laboratories, Inc.  www.seachem.com     888-SEACHEM
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~