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How long EDTA/DTPA micros last in soft water ?
- Thread starter eminor
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John q
Member
Hiya, I don't have full access to this article so have no idea what the test conditions were, ie water hardness, availability of light etc. However there is a table that possibly sheds some light on the subject of Iron availability against time of various chleates.
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Thanks, if i read it right, if my ph is around 6.5 and i add edta iron, it will last long enough to dose once a week ?
DTPA seems so much stronger than EDTA, EDDHA is on another planet, never seen ferts with EDDHA, maybe because it's not cheap ?
hypnogogia
Member
I think it turns your water pink, hence not favoured.
John q
Member
Totally guessing here but suspect in our aquariums the chleates, and or the availability of iron will break down much quicker than suggested in the charts above.
Our aquariums are subject to high levels of light, phosphate and also the plants using the iron, these factors will all contribute to the % of iron available at a given point in time.
My gut feeling is dosing micros weekly would lead to issues.
Zeus.
Fertz Meister
Zeus.
Fertz Meister
The tank was shutdown when I moved, did it help - it can be hard to tell with conviction when you have very hard water and some plants can show signs of Fe deficiency eg pale/white leaves from time to time even when there isn't an Fe deficiency and it may also of been a Mg related issue.
I only have a 50l on the go ATM low tech just ticking over full of plants RCS and some amanos. I just fertilise it every so often with AIO mix with Fe EDTA.
Still have hard water, however from a bore hole so RO water is on the cards for next tank to avoid the hard water issues. With bore hole there is no double charge for the water or charge per cubic meter using it and the charge on top for sewerage.
I only have a 50l on the go ATM low tech just ticking over full of plants RCS and some amanos. I just fertilise it every so often with AIO mix with Fe EDTA.
Still have hard water, however from a bore hole so RO water is on the cards for next tank to avoid the hard water issues. With bore hole there is no double charge for the water or charge per cubic meter using it and the charge on top for sewerage.
DudeFromPantanal
Member
So if I understood right, if I want to add 0,09ppm Iron + micros EDTA per day in an ph around 7 in the tank.. I would need to actually add 0,18ppm per day in this case?
Sorry if its too obvious to interpretation but I am not an native english speaker. What are your opinion folks (@Happi; @burr740; @JoshP12; @dw1305 )?
Hi all,
It doesn't tell you how much plant available iron (Fe) you have, but it tells you <"you have some">, and that is actually all you need to know.
Cheers Darrel
Just an unknown really, that's why I recommend a visual method like the <"Pink Tint"> and / or <"Duckweed Index">.
It doesn't tell you how much plant available iron (Fe) you have, but it tells you <"you have some">, and that is actually all you need to know.
Cheers Darrel
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Oldguy
Member
Also water 'hardness' i.e. the amount of Ca and Mg ions present in the water column and phosphate concentration. Also UV though for most this will not be a factor. I dose Fe EDTA on alternative days after about three hours of CO2 injection and just as the lights come on.
My assumption is that the tank pH is 'low' and with the lights on active absorption by the plants will begin.
Apparently, what the table says is that at a pH of 7.25, half of the EDTA iron was lost after just 1 hour.
My guess is that, whatever validity that may have for our tanks, it shouldn't be extrapolated for other micros. It is a study on Fe only, other metals could behave very differently.
