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hmott
08/04/2004, 05:04 PM
Anyone know of a good iron test kit? I checked and salifert doesn't seem to make them. Any other kits for iron good? Anything else I should be testing and/or dosing a macro/seagrass tank?

Also on the same subject anyone have preferences on iron supliments, I'm using kent's iron currently.

Should I be dosing anything else? Iron is all I remember reading about for sure by thought I remembered something about iodine also?

Without a test kit I'm only dosing about 1/4 of the recomended per week. Anyone have any suggestions on if I can go up to the recommended or should I wait?

sjvl51
08/04/2004, 07:57 PM
Per this article - http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/aug2002/chem.htm
"Deciding how much iron to add is fairly easy because, in my experience, it doesn’t seem to matter too much. Presumably, once you add enough to eliminate iron as a limiting nutrient, extra iron does not apparently cause harm (at least that I’ve detected in my tanks or heard of from others)."

FWIF, I use the Kent Iron with Mag. at the full recommended dosage. I'm not having any problems with my tank. Based on Randy's comments above, I wouldn't worry about overdosing iron (unless you decided to double or triple the recommended amount).

From Randy's article on iodine and macro algae - http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/april2003/chem.htm
"Neither species of macroalgae tested were shown to grow statistically faster with supplemental iodine. Perhaps larger studies would show such an effect. Nevertheless, it does not seem that a strong case can be made for iodine supplementation if the goal is growth of these two species, most especially in the case of Chaetomorpha sp., where the growth is very good with and without supplemental iodine."

Vickie