Iron Levels in reef tank??

Steven Nelson

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There are something like 19 different forms of ferric oxide, with varying degrees of bioavailability and toxicity. The same form used to treat anemia becomes highly toxic at higher concentrations.
I’ve never regarded any form of rust as desirable in any concentration, however in a large system, it exists on exposed screws and clamps, and other esoteric places, where it does little harm in small amounts left undisturbed.
A naturalistic system using mangroves or macroalgae needs iron supplementation.
A 1% daily water change is otherwise sufficient to maintain trace levels in systems where plants aren’t consuming higher amounts, however skimming will deplete iron faster than WCs will replenish it.
For years I crushed a Multivitamin (Nature Made Mens) and added it to my sump every other day or so.
A good one will also contain molybdenum, iodine and selenium in trace amounts - vastly cheaper way to dose than commercial aquarium products.
 

code4

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There are something like 19 different forms of ferric oxide, with varying degrees of bioavailability and toxicity. The same form used to treat anemia becomes highly toxic at higher concentrations.
I’ve never regarded any form of rust as desirable in any concentration, however in a large system, it exists on exposed screws and clamps, and other esoteric places, where it does little harm in small amounts left undisturbed.
A naturalistic system using mangroves or macroalgae needs iron supplementation.
A 1% daily water change is otherwise sufficient to maintain trace levels in systems where plants aren’t consuming higher amounts, however skimming will deplete iron faster than WCs will replenish it.
For years I crushed a Multivitamin (Nature Made Mens) and added it to my sump every other day or so.
A good one will also contain molybdenum, iodine and selenium in trace amounts - vastly cheaper way to dose than commercial aquarium products.
How big is your system?
 

Screwgunner

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Gotta jump in here. Like a silly bugger, I used a few of those large office paper clips (the black ones that are often used on clip boards) for some time in my sump. They rusted and clearly the rust leached into the tank steadily over time. I finally removed them but I don't think the rust ever harmed anything because the tank ran consistently well for a few years until my outbreak of flatworm.
Got to love flat worms
 

Gary67

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hello guys need help just got my ICP test kit numbers back my iron level is 85.019 PPB and that came up red on the chart is this to highor to low this shows this number to be in the billions if i'm reading this correct it did come in at these number need help guys also my zinc regestered at 29.987 PPB again another one that reeds in the billions i guess that was also PPB so i need some kind of help thanks
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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Can you post your actual results?

Are you dosing iron?

I do not know if that value is accurate or not, but if it is, it is way more iron than is present in the ocean and is a fine value.

Don't get caught up in ICP company guesses as to what they guess is good for your tank.
 

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