Anyone used seachem flourish iron with tangs?

Jemm

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Hi as title says, I've used some of this seachem flouris iron in attempt to help my macro algea chaeto, I've only added a very tiny amount

But I've just read some threads of people saying they've used this and ended up killing their tangs

Just wondering if anyone has any experience
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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How much did you add?

Ferrous gluconate (only ingredient in Seachem Flourish iron) is a widely used and perfectly safe way to dose iron. I recommend it in my DIY made from Fergon tablets.
 

mikereefing

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NO. I posted a thread a while back reporting the death of my yellow Tang to fellow reefers. I used the flourish iron (green labeling) that I normally use for my planted freshwater tanks to help with my chaeto growth. I added a very small amount ..maybe less than a cap for my 66g tank and 30g sump. Within a few hours my perfectly healthy yellow Tang was dead in the sand. My other fish were fine.
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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NO. I posted a thread a while back reporting the death of my yellow Tang to fellow reefers. I used the flourish iron (green labeling) that I normally use for my planted freshwater tanks to help with my chaeto growth. I added a very small amount ..maybe less than a cap for my 66g tank and 30g sump. Within a few hours my perfectly healthy yellow Tang was dead in the sand. My other fish were fine.

How did you decide on that dose?

While I do not believe that ferrous gluconate is any concern at appropriate levels, you dosed quite a bit, and the product may have been contaminated. That said, I'm still suspicious that it wasn't the ferrous gluconate.

"Less than a cap" is a hefty amount of iron for a reef tank. i presume that means a few mL. My DIY ferrous gluconate dosing recommendation is far less. But Red Sea recommends dosing to even higher levels, though, obviously, not using the Seachem product.

2 mL of 10,000 mg/L iron (= 20 mg iron) into 100 gallons pushes iron to 0.05 ppm.

My recommendation is to dose more like 0.001 to 0.002 ppm iron. That amount is still way above surface NSW levels of iron.
 

mikereefing

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How did you decide on that dose?

While I do not believe that ferrous gluconate is any concern at appropriate levels, you dosed quite a bit, and the product may have been contaminated. That said, I'm still suspicious that it wasn't the ferrous gluconate.

"Less than a cap" is a hefty amount of iron for a reef tank. i presume that means a few mL. My DIY ferrous gluconate dosing recommendation is far less. But Red Sea recommends dosing to even higher levels, though, obviously, not using the Seachem product.

2 mL of 10,000 mg/L iron (= 20 mg iron) into 100 gallons pushes iron to 0.05 ppm.

My recommendation is to dose more like 0.001 to 0.002 ppm iron. That amount is still way above surface NSW levels of iron.
I pulled up my phone notes and I marked that I actually gave half a cap (approx 2.5mL) that day last year. I have approx 80 gallons of water volume. At the time of dosing, I used the ATI recommendation on their blog for an iron concentration of 0.1 – 0.5 mg/l in a reef tank. I was targeting 0.25mg/l based on this recommendation. Using their flourish iron calculator, it states to use 8mL. So I actually used approx 1/3 of the recommended dose. It's pretty frustrating that there are so many different recommendations for iron levels in a reef tank, but at the time I went with ATI's recommendation which appears to be significantly higher than what you recommend.
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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I pulled up my phone notes and I marked that I actually gave half a cap (approx 2.5mL) that day last year. I have approx 80 gallons of water volume. At the time of dosing, I used the ATI recommendation on their blog for an iron concentration of 0.1 – 0.5 mg/l in a reef tank. I was targeting 0.25mg/l based on this recommendation. Using their flourish iron calculator, it states to use 8mL. So I actually used approx 1/3 of the recommended dose. It's pretty frustrating that there are so many different recommendations for iron levels in a reef tank, but at the time I went with ATI's recommendation which appears to be significantly higher than what you recommend.

Are you sure?

Because when I pull up someone's ATI ICP report, they recommend 0.5 ug/L as the target, not 0.5 mg/L.



SymbolValueCalculated reference valueDifferenceResultActions
Ironu.0.47 µg/l-0.47 µg/l
check.png
View
 

mikereefing

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Are you sure?

Because when I pull up someone's ATI ICP report, they recommend 0.5 ug/L as the target, not 0.5 mg/L.



SymbolValueCalculated reference valueDifferenceResultActions
Ironu.0.47 µg/l-0.47 µg/l
check.png
View


Scroll down to iron.
 

vetteguy53081

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I know this stuff as ferrous iron gluconate supplement and although a weaker form of iron can promote chlorophyl for freshwater use. I'd be reluctant to use it in a marine setting. iron can be harmful if over-dosed or added too quickly rater than gradually which may have been the case with your fish. If not using an iron test kit, you will not know the content of iron.
 

mtraylor

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All I can do hear is simply state. Dont do it. If you need iron, do a water change and you will be much better off. JMO
 

mikereefing

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Yup I certainly haven't dosed anything after that incident last year. I control my trace elements strictly through water changes. But for OP, I think the main thing I want to impart is that there may be confusion with dosing/recommended iron level ranges and that a reef product like chaetogro is a better solution for meeting the element demands of chaeto. I use chaetogro just fine without any problems in any of my fishes (especially yellow tang #2).
 

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