Sera Iron Test Kit vs. Flourish Iron

[Fishmutt]

I'm cycling my first tank (100g FW) and have everything but fish in there. I bought a 3 pack of Flourish, Flourish Excel and Flourish Iron to fert my plants. Flourish Iron says to dose once a week to maintain a healthy .1 mg/l concentration. I also bought a Sera Iron test kit to make sure I don't overdose the iron, but directions say a healthy concentration of iron is between .5 -1.0 mg/l. That's 5x to 10x what flourish says is healthy. I'm a noob, but I know too much Fe will kill fish.

Who do I trust?

Just did a test and I'm somewhere between .1-.25 mg/l. I held off dosing and will test again next week.

Plants are pretty healthy, maybe 1 or 2 yellow leaves here and there, but mostly nice and green.

 

[fort384]

0.5-1.0 is a bit high for my liking. I like to dose my high light tanks up to about 0.5 max. So long as you aren't bottoming out on Fe you are good to go.

 

[Fishmutt]

Thanks Fort. Sounds like it's best to keep a tank in the 0.1 to 0.5 range.

 

[aqua_chem]

0.5-1.0 is a bit high for my liking. I like to dose my high light tanks up to about 0.5 max. So long as you aren't bottoming out on Fe you are good to go.

Do you test your iron, or just calculate it based on mass?

 

[fort384]

I test it with a titration test. I only test it every few months though anymore.

 

[aqua_chem]

You have a titration kit for iron? I thought I was a geek

 

[fort384]

Don't underestimate my proclivity for being a nerd. Especially when it comes to limnology.