Iron for plants in low conductivity aquarium

[raymond82]

Hi,

In a webshop I stumbled upon a nice looking plant, Mayaca fluviatilis. After ordering it I read that it's a very good indicator for lack of iron in the aquarium. Of course then I realized that in the pure RO aquarium there won't be much iron, so the plant probably won't do too well. Is it safe to add a little bit of iron for the plant? Or would that be stupid after first taking out all the minerals using RO?

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
You can ignore the effects of the addition of iron on the tank, you need to add it as a chelate (FeEDTA etc), and the plants need it in very small amounts. Personally I'd be a bit dubious about "lack of iron" all around, as in acidic conditions any present will be readily available. I'd give it a go and see what happens, but you may find that its nutrient and light requirements make it unsuitable. I grew it for a while, but it used to grow very quickly across the tank surface and then slowly disintegrate, so I eventually abandoned it.

cheers Darrel

 

[raymond82]

Thanks Darrel, I'll just give it a go then. I can keep an eye on it an add iron when needed. It's anyway time to get my skills with plants up, so far the only plants that really do well with me are javafern and anubias...