Effect of Iron in triggering Algae

4074 Views 8 Replies 4 Participants Last post by Christian_rubilar, Feb 21, 2021

hoppycalif

Discussion Starter · Feb 2, 2021

Ms Walstad mentions in her book that available iron in the tank water can be a cause of algae growths. Algae has no access to any iron that is in the substrate, and they need iron to grow. I think I can test that idea using my 10 gallon tank, with a barrier in the middle, making it two 5 gallon, independent, tanks, each with the same light, the same substrate, and nearly identical plants. To do this I will start dosing Flourish Iron in only one of the two tanks. I would expect to see noticeable algae start growing in the tank with the iron. Today I dosed one tank with the 0.5 ml dosage per the Seachem recommendation. Both tanks get NPK and trace elements, including iron, every other day.

The iron is dosed in the left hand tank.

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davemonkey

· #2 · Feb 3, 2021

Very much looking forward to this. One of the things I noticed when dosing Flourish Iron (because of an Fe deficiency possibly due to issues with high pH (7.5 - 8 )and low uptake of chealated iron in my CSM+B) was the onset of either BBA or staghorn aglae on my Crypts and Buce. I ceased the supplemental Iron after a week of trimming impacted leaves. Currently waiting to see if I have stopped the algae bloom.

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hoppycalif

Discussion Starter · #3 · Feb 3, 2021

My pair of tanks has been in use for 6 months now, and algae has not yet been a problem During that time both tanks have been getting trace element mix, which has iron in it, routinely. If there is a problem it will be when there is more iron in the water than the plants can use. Today I changed to 1 ml of Flourish Iron, so there is a bigger surplus of iron.

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hoppycalif

Discussion Starter · #4 · Feb 15, 2021

Two weeks later, after increasing the iron dose from recommended dose, to twice that dose, to 4 times that dose, and still no algae problem in that, or the other tank. In fact I see no difference. Iron in the water may be a contributor to algae problems, but by itself it doesn't seem to be a problem. Of course I think we all knew that algae can't be stopped, or stopped, with a "magic bullet", no matter what you try.

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mistergreen

· #5 · Feb 15, 2021

What's your pH?
Iron might not be available if the pH is too high.

I notice Nitrate & Phosphate trigger algae too

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hoppycalif

Discussion Starter · #6 · Feb 16, 2021

I haven't checked the water parameters for awhile, but I found that STS lowered the pH considerably when I first started the tanks. I doubt that they have a high pH. Maybe I will remember to measure the pH tomorrow.

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Christian_rubilar

· #7 · Feb 21, 2021

hoppycalif said:
Ms Walstad mentions in her book that available iron in the tank water can be a cause of algae growths. Algae has no access to any iron that is in the substrate, and they need iron to grow. I think I can test that idea using my 10 gallon tank, with a barrier in the middle, making it two 5 gallon, independent, tanks, each with the same light, the same substrate, and nearly identical plants. To do this I will start dosing Flourish Iron in only one of the two tanks. I would expect to see noticeable algae start growing in the tank with the iron. Today I dosed one tank with the 0.5 ml dosage per the Seachem recommendation. Both tanks get NPK and trace elements, including iron, every other day.

The iron is dosed in the left hand tank.

There is no reason to add Fe in that tank.