Question: How Much Iron do Live Plants Need?
Answer: In answer to the reader question:
"What ways are available to decrease excessive amounts of iron from my water. Also I understand that some iron is beneficial for live plants, but will also promote algae growth. So how does one obtain a happy medium. Thanks"
First of all get yourself a good iron test kit. I like the Hagen iron test kit, because it's easy to use. I like to see 0.25 to 0.50 mg/l levels (depending on the number of plants you are growing) in planted tanks in the water column.
If you are using tap water for water changes, you can test your water or get a print out from your local water utilities as to the level of iron in your tap water. I prefer to see people starting out using either a substrate that already has available iron in it (like Seachem's Flourite), or adding laterite (a naturally occurring iron additive) or iron balls to the substrate and using less iron in the water column. Too much iron will contribute to algae growth.
Regards, Don Matakis
Don is an Aquatic Grower & Senior Aquaculturist for Freshwater Aquarium Plants, a division of Aquatic Scapes.
