Testing for FE and my dilemma

WhatCouldGoWrong71

TheDryReef
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I test once a week, using my Mastertronic, for FE. Why? 1) it’s a inexpensive single vial test in my Mastertronic. 2) I found a tslot nut in my sump. I build everything out of 8020 and I have a fear that something could have or could fall in my system. I have a fairly extensive and complex 8020 build holding 16 different types of light fixtures over my display. There has to be 500 screws in that thing, lol.

Below are my weekly results. Obviously there has been a lift in numbers. I do dose A, K, flatworm, acro power and restarted RMS but have NOT specifically dosed FE.

What value threshold should I pay attention to if there were metal introduced to my tank? Or am I not thinking this correctly?

My dilemma-
I’m not a fan of subscriptions. I have 10 months supply of the year long ABC mix for my trident. Which I likely will start a thread about soon regarding potential drift.

I have a Alkatronic and a Mastertronic. I’m not there yet with my Alkatronic but I am there with my Master. I use it for I, FE, No3 and PO4 plus OLI. I don’t care to know my Ca and Mg twice a day. I think I’d be fine weekly with those two. But my DKH I like every other hour. I like knowing my I and FE weekly. But will have to sacrifice them , or at least 1, to get Mg and Ca up and running weekly on my master. I’m doing ICPs, but I’ll probably get in a 60 day cadence. The fear is a foreign object falling in my tank causing rust. I like the FE test to help identify that. But, ask me how the hell I would find it with a total of 56 sq ft of surface area across the entire system. Needle + haystack = best to play the lottery.

I’m not sure what to do. I just hate subscription plans. At least with the Master, I have a lot more control. Yes, I have hacked my Trident, but once you stretch it out, the drift is bad. Which has me starting to question this year’s supply (concentration that you mix) that I purchased. I am running into a meaningful delta between Trident and Alkatronic, but Hanna tends to want to get in bed with my Trident. (I always wanted to say that, I loved the movie Splash).
 
By FE, you mean iron? it is usually not detected with any home test, even when dosing (at least not at doses I recommend; Red Sea has a crazy high dose, likely to allow detection with their kit).
 
@Randy Holmes-Farley
Thanks for reading.
This is what I am using in my Mastertronic. Below are the weekly results. Are you saying that I should punt on this? I only have a 2 year supply left, lol.
 

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I don't know if it works in seawater, but I do know that one does not need to detect any with that kit to have a large amount relative to normal surface seawater. The peak of my dose, 1-2 ug/L, is well below the lowest reading on that card.
 
I get that the automator is capable of running the test so it's very little effort for you, but unless you've checked the test kit vs new salt mix, then with known spikes of Fe - you have no way of knowing if it can detect anything in that range in SW. So you have no idea if it's actually guarding against iron contamination and the zero effort test also provides zero information - sorry.
There are chem kits (Hanna) that can absolutely detect Fe over 10 or 20ppb in saltwater.
 
I get that the automator is capable of running the test so it's very little effort for you, but unless you've checked the test kit vs new salt mix, then with known spikes of Fe - you have no way of knowing if it can detect anything in that range in SW. So you have no idea if it's actually guarding against iron contamination and the zero effort test also provides zero information - sorry.
There are chem kits (Hanna) that can absolutely detect Fe over 10 or 20ppb in saltwater.
Thanks yeah, I was thinking or hoping that it could have been that simple. Off to secure another Hanna. Thank you for taking the time to read this. And now, I pick up a needed spot so down the road I can eliminate the subscription service for the trident.
 

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