Dosing Iron

[ReeferMedic]

Dose anyone here dose iron to their system? My chaeto will not "take off" for some reason. I've had it in my fuge for months. I've tried extended light cycles and it doesn't seem to grow much. Looking at possibly dosing iron to get the macro to grow. I've read Randy's article about it, but would like to hear some more personal experiences with this. Any info on this is much appreciated.......

 

[reefnroll]

Hey Don -

I had chaeto that wouldn't STOP growing... so much that I gave away and threw away bucketfulls at a time from my 40 gallon breeder.

Then, about 6 months ago I gave away all but about two handfuls... expecting that it would replenish in no time. In fact, the stuff went dormant on me, and soon started to die off (turn white). I considered everything (I thought), from some sort of shock (ripping out too much at once), to the various changes in my system having negatively affected the environment of the fuge, thus stunting the chaeto growth.

I didn't think it could be a lack of Iron because the stuff had grown so incredibly just months before... However, I finally decided to dose Iron as a last resort. I only had a small clump of chaeto still hanging on. Within 3-4 days of dosing I could see the new growth (bright green) on the chaeto. The little cump has now grown to the point where it is jamming the 40 and needs to be pruned again. I think that the over-pruning of my chaeto coincided with the stuff having already depleted the Iron in my system... so the remaning clump had nothing to feed on in order to bounce back. I had also really cleaned out the fuge during that pruning... sucking out all the detritus and general crap... which, while unsightly, may have been beneficial to chaeto growth.

One downside was that I did experience a pretty significant red slime outbreak in my fuge after dosing... but I'm pretty sure I overdosed. Once I saw the chaeto making a comeback, I went a little overbaord on the Iron . I now dose only about 10ml once per week.

b

 

[ReeferMedic]

I got some of that caeto from you Bec. I'm pretty much at the "last resort" point myself. What did you use for a supplement? Was it a prepared solution, or did you make up your own?

 

[reefnroll]

Just some store bought iron for reefs.
Nothing special. I think I had something that I picked up at a meeting years ago... just sitting on the shelf.

b

 

[Michael Mota]

I just started to dose iron myself cause the macroalgae was not growing at all, I mean very slow growth. This is the first week so we will see if it helps it to grow.

 

[merk1_99]

My chaeto has never grown, It remains the same size....Maybe I'll experiment with iron...

 

[Michael Mota]

We'll hers an update, the algae is looking a nice green color and seems to have allot of growth in a week and a half since dosing the iron. And this may be a fluke but some of the corals seem to have some better coloration, maybe its just me thinking that but we will see in time if it effects the corals in any way. Remember it is just my opinion and views of my tank only.
thanks