DIY Iron Suppliment

[tutmatt3]

Hey Randy,

Just checking, so all I was able to find at the pharmacy was Ferrous Sulfate. Is it okay to use this product? And if so, what recipe do you recommend? I saw a variation of #s of ML of water to mix with, but would love your input for this item in particular if its safe to use!

I have ~85 gallons of water

Thanks!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

It is OK to use, but will precipitate from the water faster than the gluconate complex will. Some iron will undoubtedly bind to organics in the water (e.g., humic acids) and stay suspended long enough to be useful.

 

[tutmatt3]

It is OK to use, but will precipitate from the water faster than the gluconate complex will. Some iron will undoubtedly bind to organics in the water (e.g., humic acids) and stay suspended long enough to be useful.

So if understood properly, it's better to source the other one ;)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

So if understood properly, it's better to source the other one ;)

If you can. :)

 

[tutmatt3]

Found it.. fergon is the brand name, not the ingredients I was looking for lol
Whoops

Any particular amount of r o d i, and ml dose you recommend for 85 gallon of water volume?

I am only doing a 5-gallon water change every week or two, so that's another reason why I plan to those. How often do you recommend dosing?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

This is my DIY iron dose using Fergon tablets from a drug store:
Take 1 tablet and dissolve in 100 mL RO/DI (overnight soak). Let the solids settle out and use the liquid. Then I dose about 1-5 mL to my 200 gallons (dose is not critical) occasionally.

One tablet is 27 mg iron, so that dose comes to about 0.3 to 1.4 mg.

Put into 200 gallons, that's about 0.4 to 1.8 ppb.

 

[tutmatt3]

Great! Thank you for the math breakdown. All I need to do is divide that a little more than 50% to get my dose. Since I have two extra heads on my dosing pump, I'll set it up for a weekly dose and keep an eye out to see what happens

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Sounds good.

Let us know if anything in the tank changes. :)

 

[tutmatt3]

Definitely will do! One last question, what are your thoughts on the increasing the amount of r o d i water, and having my dosing pump add it daily rather than weekly?

Maybe one tablet with 400 ml water, and I can do a 1 to 2 ml dose per day? Do you see any benefit in this?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

My only concern with diluting too much and leaving it around a long time is oxidation by O2 to Fe+++ and precipitation as ferric oxide/hydroxide.

If the solution turns brownish and has solids increasing in it, that may be the cause. Otherwise it is OK, and is likely worth a try.

 

[tutmatt3]

My only concern with diluting too much and leaving it around a long time is oxidation by O2 to Fe+++ and precipitation as ferric oxide/hydroxide.

If the solution turns brownish and has solids increasing in it, that may be the cause. Otherwise it is OK, and is likely worth a try.

Thank you very much. I'll keep an eye out!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

You're welcome.

Good luck. :)

 

[Halal Hotdog]

It is OK to use, but will precipitate from the water faster than the gluconate complex will. Some iron will undoubtedly bind to organics in the water (e.g., humic acids) and stay suspended long enough to be useful.

Hey Randy I am just starting to look into dosing iron. I have a bottle of Nature Made iron as pictured in the first post. You stated it is safe, however will precipitate faster. I already have an open bottle from lack of compliance on my wife's part. What dilution would you recommend?

 

[JeremyKnight]

@Randy Holmes-Farley

Reviving this conversation… I have been dosing this iron for about a month now. I mixed up a 1L bottle with 5 tablets dissolved in the solution, solids filtered out with syringe 10 micron filter. I have not noticed anything significant about dosing this. My macro algae has been doing well. My question is I have some growth in the bottle. It’s a white ball of “stuff” probably from the other ingredients in the tablet and bacteria doing its thing. My question is how long is this solution viable?

I noticed above that you said it will oxidize out into something else? Is this or should this be a small batch mix?

Thanks again

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

@Randy Holmes-Farley

Reviving this conversation… I have been dosing this iron for about a month now. I mixed up a 1L bottle with 5 tablets dissolved in the solution, solids filtered out with syringe 10 micron filter. I have not noticed anything significant about dosing this. My macro algae has been doing well. My question is I have some growth in the bottle. It’s a white ball of “stuff” probably from the other ingredients in the tablet and bacteria doing its thing. My question is how long is this solution viable?

I noticed above that you said it will oxidize out into something else? Is this or should this be a small batch mix?

Thanks again

I never mixed it that dilute, so you may get more than I did, but the bacteria in it cannot consume all the iron and I doubt the iron changed much. So I’d just ignore the fluff. :)