If you need iron in your water, what can be done besides adding iron as a
fert???
Can you drop an iron nail in the water??? will it release iron in the water?
I wouldn't, but this question was posed at the LFS I was in on Saturday...
wanna guess what the 17year old guy said?

\/


\/


\/



Try it and see, couldn't hurt?

"RedForeman ©®" wrote in message
...
If you need iron in your water, what can be done besides adding
iron as a
fert???
Can you drop an iron nail in the water??? will it release iron in
the water?
I wouldn't, but this question was posed at the LFS I was in on
Saturday...
wanna guess what the 17year old guy said?

I don't think it'll hurt, but the iron won't be chemically available
for your plants.
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dave Engle

DFW, TX USA
Independent Associate
Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc.
http://www.prepaidlegal.com/go/dengle

"RedForeman ©®" wrote in message
...
If you need iron in your water, what can be done besides adding
iron as a
fert???
Can you drop an iron nail in the water??? will it release iron in
the water?
I wouldn't, but this question was posed at the LFS I was in on
Saturday...
wanna guess what the 17year old guy said?

I don't think it'll hurt, but the iron won't be chemically available
for your plants.
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dave Engle

DFW, TX USA
Independent Associate
Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc.
http://www.prepaidlegal.com/go/dengle

"RedForeman ©®" wrote in message
...
If you need iron in your water, what can be done besides adding
iron as a
fert???
Can you drop an iron nail in the water??? will it release iron in
the water?
I wouldn't, but this question was posed at the LFS I was in on
Saturday...
wanna guess what the 17year old guy said?

I don't think it'll hurt, but the iron won't be chemically available
for your plants.
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dave Engle

DFW, TX USA
Independent Associate
Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc.
http://www.prepaidlegal.com/go/dengle

A long time ago I read on one of the NG that someone put pieces of steel
wool in the substrate and thought the plants were thriving because of it.
Need a chemist to answer these burning questions.... as the iron oxidizes
in the water, does it become available to the plants?

DJay


"Dave Engle" wrote in message
...
"RedForeman ©®" wrote in message
...
If you need iron in your water, what can be done besides adding
iron as a
fert???
Can you drop an iron nail in the water??? will it release iron in
the water?
I wouldn't, but this question was posed at the LFS I was in on
Saturday...
wanna guess what the 17year old guy said?

I don't think it'll hurt, but the iron won't be chemically available
for your plants.
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dave Engle

DFW, TX USA
Independent Associate
Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc.
http://www.prepaidlegal.com/go/dengle

On Tue, 23 Sep 2003 04:07:38 UTC, "Djay"
wrote:

A long time ago I read on one of the NG that someone put pieces of steel
wool in the substrate and thought the plants were thriving because of it.
Need a chemist to answer these burning questions....

Better, a biochemist or a plant physiologist.

as the iron oxidizes
in the water, does it become available to the plants?


I'm neither of the above, but here are some Iron Facts from a bio major
who stayed awake in chem:

Putting a nail in the water: forget it. Everyone knows that rust doesn't
dissolve readily in water, but iron (ferric) oxide (or rust) is really
_remarkably_ insoluble at any decent pH. If you run the standard
calculation that every chem student knows, you find that at pH 7.0 the
concentration of Fe+++ is a fraction of trillionth of a milligram per
liter. A good concentration is a tenth of a milligram per liter, so this
just really won't make it.

Turns out that the calculation is not really accurate, for a bunch of
reasons. According to
http://jchemed.chem.wisc.edu/Journal...abs1558_1.html
the real concentration is way up in the millionths of one milligram per
liter. Still not enough, though.

So much for chemistry and the nail in the water.

Burying iron in the substrate (as steel wool or whatever) just might work.
It will turn to rust, and plant roots have marvelous ways of extracting
that very insoluble iron from iron oxide. One method involves secreting
hydrogen ion, making the microscopic area around the root hair strongly
acidic. A bit of the Fe+++ goes into solution there, and the root absorbs
it (also reducing it to the ferrous state Fe++, which is not very relevant
here).

That's what lots of plants do in soil. Will your aquatic plants succeed
in doing the same? I don't know. Being a matter of biology, it can't be
answered from first principles.

You may want to experiment with this method. But before you do, remember
that the steel wool will turn into a mass of rust. When you uproot a
plant, which happens pretty often if you're maintaining a pretty tank, up
comes a lot of rust into the water, to settle down on the bottom and the
plants. You might not like that.


--

http://www.dandrake.com/

In the days after September 11, Yahoo searches for Nostradamus
outnumbered those for Osama bin Laden and Sex, combined.

On Mon, 22 Sep 2003 14:13:17 -0400, "RedForeman ©®"
wrote:

If you need iron in your water, what can be done besides adding iron as a
fert???
Can you drop an iron nail in the water??? will it release iron in the water?
I wouldn't, but this question was posed at the LFS I was in on Saturday...
wanna guess what the 17year old guy said?

\/


\/


\/



Try it and see, couldn't hurt?


he's right, it wont hurt. (one nail)
theres probally worse things that come into
contact creating fish food at factorys.

Here's an old post fom the APD:

http://fins.actwin.com/aquatic-plant.../msg00333.html

If the author is right perhaps a nail driven deeply into the substrate
where there is little oxygen might work.

Giancarlo Podio

wrote in message . ..
On Mon, 22 Sep 2003 14:13:17 -0400, "RedForeman ©®"
wrote:

If you need iron in your water, what can be done besides adding iron as a
fert???
Can you drop an iron nail in the water??? will it release iron in the water?
I wouldn't, but this question was posed at the LFS I was in on Saturday...
wanna guess what the 17year old guy said?

\/


\/


\/



Try it and see, couldn't hurt?


he's right, it wont hurt. (one nail)
theres probally worse things that come into
contact creating fish food at factorys.

Here's an old post fom the APD:

http://fins.actwin.com/aquatic-plant.../msg00333.html

If the author is right perhaps a nail driven deeply into the substrate
where there is little oxygen might work.

Giancarlo Podio

wrote in message . ..
On Mon, 22 Sep 2003 14:13:17 -0400, "RedForeman ©®"
wrote:

If you need iron in your water, what can be done besides adding iron as a
fert???
Can you drop an iron nail in the water??? will it release iron in the water?
I wouldn't, but this question was posed at the LFS I was in on Saturday...
wanna guess what the 17year old guy said?

\/


\/


\/



Try it and see, couldn't hurt?


he's right, it wont hurt. (one nail)
theres probally worse things that come into
contact creating fish food at factorys.

wrote in message
...
On Mon, 22 Sep 2003 14:13:17 -0400, "RedForeman ©®"
wrote:

If you need iron in your water, what can be done besides adding iron as a
fert???
Can you drop an iron nail in the water??? will it release iron in the
water?
I wouldn't, but this question was posed at the LFS I was in on
Saturday...
wanna guess what the 17year old guy said?

\/


\/


\/



Try it and see, couldn't hurt?


he's right, it wont hurt. (one nail)
theres probally worse things that come into
contact creating fish food at factorys.


Are iron nails really made of pure iron? My first guess would be no. I
would think it would be some kind of iron alloy, which means you'd be
leaching other things into the tank also, those might prove harmful.

Harry

P.S. Thing that come in contact with fish food at the factory do so for a
short period of time, it's not too valid of an argument.




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wrote in message
...
On Mon, 22 Sep 2003 14:13:17 -0400, "RedForeman ©®"
wrote:

If you need iron in your water, what can be done besides adding iron as a
fert???
Can you drop an iron nail in the water??? will it release iron in the
water?
I wouldn't, but this question was posed at the LFS I was in on
Saturday...
wanna guess what the 17year old guy said?

\/


\/


\/



Try it and see, couldn't hurt?


he's right, it wont hurt. (one nail)
theres probally worse things that come into
contact creating fish food at factorys.


Are iron nails really made of pure iron? My first guess would be no. I
would think it would be some kind of iron alloy, which means you'd be
leaching other things into the tank also, those might prove harmful.

Harry

P.S. Thing that come in contact with fish food at the factory do so for a
short period of time, it's not too valid of an argument.




-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----

Here's an old post fom the APD:

http://fins.actwin.com/aquatic-plant.../msg00333.html

If the author is right perhaps a nail driven deeply into the substrate
where there is little oxygen might work.

Giancarlo Podio

wrote in message . ..
On Mon, 22 Sep 2003 14:13:17 -0400, "RedForeman ©®"
wrote:

If you need iron in your water, what can be done besides adding iron as a
fert???
Can you drop an iron nail in the water??? will it release iron in the water?
I wouldn't, but this question was posed at the LFS I was in on Saturday...
wanna guess what the 17year old guy said?

\/


\/


\/



Try it and see, couldn't hurt?


he's right, it wont hurt. (one nail)
theres probally worse things that come into
contact creating fish food at factorys.

wrote in message
...
On Mon, 22 Sep 2003 14:13:17 -0400, "RedForeman ©®"
wrote:

If you need iron in your water, what can be done besides adding iron as a
fert???
Can you drop an iron nail in the water??? will it release iron in the
water?
I wouldn't, but this question was posed at the LFS I was in on
Saturday...
wanna guess what the 17year old guy said?

\/


\/


\/



Try it and see, couldn't hurt?


he's right, it wont hurt. (one nail)
theres probally worse things that come into
contact creating fish food at factorys.


Are iron nails really made of pure iron? My first guess would be no. I
would think it would be some kind of iron alloy, which means you'd be
leaching other things into the tank also, those might prove harmful.

Harry

P.S. Thing that come in contact with fish food at the factory do so for a
short period of time, it's not too valid of an argument.




-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----