Iron test?

[Carp890]

200ltr heavily planted tank, amazon Sword looking a bit sad. See picture.
I tested water with seachem test kit, put in level spoon of iron reagent into the test plate put in sample mixed, waited 5 mins no colour? Tried again no colour. No iron
Took sample to aquarium shop, see my pal dave, he tested sample with jbl test fe showed 0,1 iron which is correct?
What do you think, which one's correct. The seachem kit is complicated, jbl test far better I think. Any idears

 

[Colin_T]

I used the Sera Iron (Fe) test kit. Put some water in the phial, add a few drops, shake and wait, then compare to colour chart.

It is possible to have 0ppm of iron in the water if there are live plants in the tank. Most plants will use it as soon as it becomes available. When they have filled up on it, they only take what they need. This means the plants can strip iron out of the water every day and you might need to dose every day for a few weeks until they have stopped sucking it up.

You can see if the iron test kit works by doing a test and if it reads 0ppm, add a couple of drops of iron based plant fertiliser to the test sample and see if it changes colour

 

[Carp890]

Thanks Colin

 

[Carp890]

Will adding iron every day effect my fish health etc. I'm using microbe lift plants fe.

 

[Colin_T]

Will adding iron every day effect my fish health etc. I'm using microbe lift plants fe.

As long as you keep the iron level at or below 1mg/l (1ppm) the fish will be fine. But you need to test it before adding anymore and don't add any if there is an iron reading.

 

[Carp890]

I have carbon in my filter, will that effect the iron, should I remove it pal also running co2?

 

[Colin_T]

carbon will remove iron plant fertiliser so remove the carbon.

CO2 is unaffected by carbon in filters.

 

[Byron]

200ltr heavily planted tank, amazon Sword looking a bit sad. See picture.
I tested water with seachem test kit, put in level spoon of iron reagent into the test plate put in sample mixed, waited 5 mins no colour? Tried again no colour. No iron
Took sample to aquarium shop, see my pal dave, he tested sample with jbl test fe showed 0,1 iron which is correct?
What do you think, which one's correct. The seachem kit is complicated, jbl test far better I think. Any idears

I would not assume iron is the issue here, and would even go so far as to say it is not. It could be anything involving the 17 needed nutrients, or light-related. Or natural. How long have you had this plant? Do you use any fertilizer, and if yes, what exactly? What is the GH of the water?

 

[StevenF]

I agree with byron The picture doesn't show the commpe discoloration pattern of iron deficiency. Maybe a calcium or magnesium issue but nothing definitive. We need more details:

• water change frequency and amount of water changed.
• What fertilizers are being used. Brand name and the ingredients listed on the bottle would be helpful.
• A water quality report from your utility. You did list your location as manchester and I tried to lookout up but there are 30 towns and cities in the US with that name.

 

[StevenF]

Sorry double post.