Trace dosing for 5 gallon macroalgae tank?

[Reefer Dan]

Hello!

I am getting a bunch of display macroalgae later this week and I have a 5 gallon dwarf seahorse/pipefish aquarium. I am likely going to have to dose nitrates and phosphates (at least in the beginning); however, my question revolves around trace element dosing for macroalgae.

I’ve read of people dosing iron, chaetogro, calcium, alk, etc. recognizing a lot of macroalgae use up iron, etc, these aren’t things easily tested.

How much iron should I dose per day/week? @Randy Holmes-Farley i saw your diy iron recipe, but how do I scale it down for a 5 gallon?
Is chaetogro or tropic marin elements a/k better for a macroalgae tank? Any hints on figuring out dosing a small tank?
Any additional elements/nutrients I am overlooking?

Thanks!

 

[Reefer Dan]

I’ve also read some mixed information about dosing iodine for macroalgae. Any additional clarification on this would be helpful too.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I’ve also read some mixed information about dosing iodine for macroalgae. Any additional clarification on this would be helpful too.

In my testing, iodide dosing did not make chaetomorpha or caulerpa racemosa grow statistically faster, but it may be useful. Algae are big consumers of iodine.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Hello!

I am getting a bunch of display macroalgae later this week and I have a 5 gallon dwarf seahorse/pipefish aquarium. I am likely going to have to dose nitrates and phosphates (at least in the beginning); however, my question revolves around trace element dosing for macroalgae.

I’ve read of people dosing iron, chaetogro, calcium, alk, etc. recognizing a lot of macroalgae use up iron, etc, these aren’t things easily tested.

How much iron should I dose per day/week? @Randy Holmes-Farley i saw your diy iron recipe, but how do I scale it down for a 5 gallon?
Is chaetogro or tropic marin elements a/k better for a macroalgae tank? Any hints on figuring out dosing a small tank?
Any additional elements/nutrients I am overlooking?

Thanks!

I don’t see a reason that my iron dosing recommendation cannot be mathematically scaled down to 5 gallons.

 

[Reefer Dan]

I don’t see a reason that my iron dosing recommendation cannot be mathematically scaled down to 5 gallons

I agree, that’s why I was hoping for help scaling it down and figuring out how to dose it?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Oh sure.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/low-iron-how-much-to-dose.1013294/#post-11841479
From it:

IMO, it is not critical how much you dose. A little is fine. A largish amount is fine.

I have DIY recipes using Fergon iron tablets:

One Fergon tablet (ferrous gluconate) contains 27 mg of iron. Dissolve that in about 27 mL RO/DI (my recommendation, but other concentrations are OK, just don't dilute too much), the concentration is about 27 mg/27 ml ~ 1 mg/mL.

I dose ~1 mL to my tank with a volume of about 300 gallons ) once or twice a week.

Scaled to 5 gallons instead of 300 gallons, dissolve the tablet in 1.6 L of ro/di instead of 27 mL, and still dose 1mL once or twice a week.

 

[Reefer Dan]

Oh sure.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/low-iron-how-much-to-dose.1013294/#post-11841479
From it:

IMO, it is not critical how much you dose. A little is fine. A largish amount is fine.

I have DIY recipes using Fergon iron tablets:

One Fergon tablet (ferrous gluconate) contains 27 mg of iron. Dissolve that in about 27 mL RO/DI (my recommendation, but other concentrations are OK, just don't dilute too much), the concentration is about 27 mg/27 ml ~ 1 mg/mL.

I dose ~1 mL to my tank with a volume of about 300 gallons ) once or twice a week.

Scaled to 5 gallons instead of 300 gallons, dissolve the tablet in 1.6 L of ro/di instead of 27 mL, and still dose 1mL once or twice a week.

Perfect, thank you so much Randy.

One last question —would chaetogro be preferred to elements a/k for macroalgae?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Perfect, thank you so much Randy.

One last question —would chaetogro be preferred to elements a/k for macroalgae?

I don’t know.