Seachem iron test - no reading

[Delapool]

I just wondered if anyone had used this test? I tried it tonight and got <0.1 ppm even after waiting 40 minutes for any chelated iron to show. Any tricks to it?

Would be keen to hear from anyone what sort of iron test results they get.

Will try low range iron test tomorrow. I had been dosing iron from API leaf zone and then dry ferts for the last week so was expecting some reading...

 

[Delapool]

Anyone that has tested for iron at all?

 

[Delapool]

Late post - did the low range test (which didn't seem quite logical) and then a test with the reference fluid. No luck with either. The water should go to purple and I get either light yellow for 0 or on the reference it was really a dirty yellow. Scratching my head here.

 

[Delapool]

Might as well keep posting results.

I realised that I made the reference with tap water so picked up distilled water (ph 6.8). On a red table cloth in darker light (no iphone light this time) I can kind of imagine 0.35 but this is knowing the reference should be 0.4.

Still, tested tank water again for Fe and very low (tank ph 7.6). Nitrates had climbed from 20 to 30ppm (overdosing dry ferts I suspect which includes iron) so I can only think the iron is either getting used up or is precipitating out as iron phosphate.

 

[Linwood]

I just got that test a few days ago, and had concluded I have very little iron and was unsurprised as I had been avoiding dosing since I had no idea how much I had. It does, however, seem worth running the reference test.

I need some top off water, so am making it now, will do a test a bit later in the day.

One problem is they don't say whether the reference test is chelated or not (do they?); since their own supplement is chelated, I would hope they would provide a matching reference?

 

[Linwood]

OK, I mixed up a liter of reference solution and tested it.

After about 5 minutes I'd say it matched 0.2, maybe 0.3. After about 40 minutes it was pretty close to 0.4. There's some subjectivity in picking the match point but it is well over 0.2.

So I'd say mine works. But in my small 45G tank I have yet to see anything more than a bare hint of color in the curvette, despite adding 2 caps yesterday of iron and one today. I'm going to keep adding one a day now and see if it gets a bit darker.

That's not inconsistent with my plants, which are growing nicely, but do not have a good dense green except in two areas where I have root tabs.

 

[Delapool]

Hi, thanks for the reply. Did it show as a purple colour on yours for the reference? Mine is nothing like a purple colour, more a dirty yellow. I thought this would be a really easy test but totally confused now.

I believe I may get excess iron or phosphate or iron phosphate when I add anything to lift kh. The signs are the base of the plant stem gets black patches and rots out as well as loosing leaves. Basically the plant is lost. The kh lift is barely a degree but I tried it last week and put in 4 times more kh buffer than I would normally. Lost all the plants over that week so I've decided no more kh buffer

http://badmanstropicalfish.com/plant_problems.html

I'm not sure if I should dose more iron or not. Previously I thought I could pick over-dosing in non-iron loving plants as they browned off on new growth. I'm getting some hint of that but the water is clear as for the test. So really confused. From reading 0.1 would be ideal. The other thought is maybe the plants soak up all iron they can get, even if too much - then if I lift ph it really is too much.

I'm dosing a dry fert mix with no phosphate as tank as 3 to 4ppm normally which seems on the high side. I also have API leaf zone with fe and k - dosed that last night. I dosed as no reading on test but wondering if I'm making a mistake. Plants - bah, humbug.

Any thoughts on your testing and dosing as it goes along would be much appreciated.

 

[Linwood]

Hi, thanks for the reply. Did it show as a purple colour on yours for the reference? Mine is nothing like a purple colour, more a dirty yellow. I thought this would be a really easy test but totally confused now.

Yes, mine with my tank water has a distinct purple hint on the higher dilution, and in the reference sample in the little test dimple was quite distinctly purple.

About like this appears at least on my screen -->

Did you use RODI or distilled water? Known to be good? Maybe something in your water source? I was buying RODI water and finally tested it -- about 350 TDS. I now have my own filter, but a quick double check is distilled - for $0.89 (US anyway) you can get a gallon.

As to the others -- sorry, I'm WAY too new at this, still struggling to figure out what "normal" looks like, much less why something isn't.

 

[Delapool]

Hmm, maybe I should check. The water last night I picked up from the hardware store and it just said distilled. This had the low ph of 6.8 whereas normal tap here is 8. There was also deionised water which I didn't get as I didn't know what it was and it was more expensive.

I'll try it again tonight and post how I'm doing it and try a few different ways. Thanks again, this is all pretty new for me as well as I'd just buy plants for the fish to eat but want to give them a better go.

 

[Linwood]

As best I understand properly deionized RO water is the same as distilled for most practical purposes, despite being produced in very different ways. The one catch on RODI water of course is whether the manufacturer is paying attention to filter maintenance.

For a test run if in doubt try distilled, I doubt any real distilled water is going to have any measurable iron or other reactive substances in it.

 

[Delapool]

Thanks for the info. I hope to retest tonight as last night was planting more plants. I tried some that just didn't seem to root well even with low water current.

On reading to date I get the impression it can be hard to get an fe reading if ph is above say 7.3 and below 8. It seems within this it is not very mobile or bonds fairly quickly.

One person on a thread was dosing 4 times above normal rate and still no reading.

 

[enrgizerbunny]

Following

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[Linwood]

On reading to date I get the impression it can be hard to get an fe reading if ph is above say 7.3 and below 8. It seems within this it is not very mobile or bonds fairly quickly.

Well, perhaps, but that wouldn't affect your getting a reference reading. And for what it is worth my tank is 7.8 and indeed, I am getting very low readings on the tank.

One person on a thread was dosing 4 times above normal rate and still no reading.

Me too. With 1 cap a day in 45 gallons and very little plants all I get is a trace of purple in the diluted sample. I'm going with 1 cap a day for a while and see if it catches up, I may try two for a while.

The problem is I don't see that Seachem says what the "normal rate" is. The instructions basically say does until you get 0.1, right? They say one cap per 50 gal, but they don't say how often (on the bottle).

Their dosing chart (here) says a cap 6 days a week, so maybe that's the expectation of normal.

 

[Delapool]

Oops - I missed that the reference solution needed to be mixed into a litre. l'll have to do that properly on the weekend but tried in a cup and got a nice purple colour. The family agreed it was about 0.8 which seemed possible. But I'll have to do it properly and take a photo for notes. A drop of reference liquid undiluted gives the muddy yellow purple (not a darker purple) I now realize.

Then I tried the DT and QT. QT pretty clear for a result (i.e. 0'ish), DT a very light hint of purple (maybe). I then dosed the QT with a double dose that should of been 0.26ppm (fingers crossed). Pretty much no difference I could see between dosed and un-dosed QT result. The dose should of done the tank for a week!

I'm going to try double dosing the DT and see what happens.

Also will try overloading the QT with Fe and see if I can get any sort of a proper reading. There is foxtail (which from memory doesn't need fe ferts) and water sprite so I will see if there is any difference. If I get any browning on old growth (link below), I'll stop. Also in reading I didn't come across a safe level for fish. The second link suggests 0.35 but other threads had up to 6ppm - perhaps as it is chelated it is safer.

Symptoms of Deficiencies and Toxicities - Greentrees Hydroponics

http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&r...nvA0kIKVbQcK9fhcao88Rrg&bvm=bv.71778758,d.cGU

 

[Delapool]

API Leaf Zone is 0.1% (1,000ppm) so I thought to try mixing that in a litre of tap water. The smallest measurement I could easily do was a 2.5ml dose (at 1,000ppm) which I worked out was too large but I'll post results and a pic (to follow). The API normal dosing looks to give 0.13ppm which looks ideal but a double dose should not do any harm as I understand from reading.

Volume Solution

ml / ppm
ml / ppm
1,000.0 / 0.03 from Tap Water Report

2.5 / 1000
1,002.5 / 2.52 Test 1

1,002.5 / 2.52 Start using water from Test 1
2.5 / 1000
1,005.0 / 5.00 Result 2

 

[Delapool]

Picture of results at 0.03, 2.5 and 5ppm dosing. Hopefully got the maths right. Next weekend I'll have to try and do smaller dosing.

 

[enrgizerbunny]

I don't measure my iron in my AP system, I just know my plants don't like to be deficient in it. The goldfish seem unaffected.

I dose a teaspoon of chelated iron weekly, or thereabouts.

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[Delapool]

Interestingly I've finally decided that when I was lifting kh it was causing the plants to rot at the stem base, get brown/black patches at base of plant and drop leaves. I don't know if it was high iron or phosphate or iron phosphate. The kh was only a degree as well that I increased. As a test (expensive one) I dosed 5 times the kh buffer I would normally use. Just replaced the last of my stem plants this weekend. I don't know how it all fits together but have decided to not add kh buffers for a bit and see how it goes....

The link has a little info on it maybe.

Problems you might have with the aquatic plants in your aquarium

Edit - I know I've asked here and a small kh lift should of been ok, this is all I can track it down to.

 

[enrgizerbunny]

I understand that high kh can cause iron uptake problems, but I wouldn't imagine a small increase would do that.

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[Linwood]

So all in all do you think the test kit is working for you now?

I still get barely a trace dosing one cap full daily of Flourish Iron, but I do have carbon in the filter and read that the chelated form is absorbed by activated carbon, so that may be an effect. Was planning to switch to Purigen, which at least rumor has does not remove chelated iron or other common fertilizers?