Favorite iron test kit ?
 

An article at the krib cautions to get a test kit that properly reads chelated
iron, if that is what you are dosing. Any recommendations on kits that make a
measurement in the useful 0.1ppm range in response to chelated iron ?

"George Pontis" wrote in message
...
Any recommendations on kits that make a
measurement in the useful 0.1ppm range in response to chelated iron ?

I've used both the Tetra and the Dupla irong test kits.
They both work OK. The Dupla one is a little easier
to use because it has only a single reagent, whereas
the Tetra one uses two reagents, one a liquid, the
other one a powder. Readability of the two tests
is about the same. 0.1ppm is at the low end of
the range for both kits, but the color gradation is
sufficient to tell the difference between 0.05 and 0.1.

Cheers,

Michi.

--
Michi Henning Ph: +61 4 1118-2700
ZeroC, Inc. http://www.zeroc.com

In article ,
says...
"George Pontis" wrote in message
...
Any recommendations on kits that make a
measurement in the useful 0.1ppm range in response to chelated iron ?

I've used both the Tetra and the Dupla irong test kits.
They both work OK. The Dupla one is a little easier
to use because it has only a single reagent, whereas
the Tetra one uses two reagents, one a liquid, the
other one a powder. Readability of the two tests
is about the same. 0.1ppm is at the low end of
the range for both kits, but the color gradation is
sufficient to tell the difference between 0.05 and 0.1.


That is helpful, thanks Michi. I have not seen Dupla for sale in the US. I have
tried Red Sea and Hagen Nutrafin which both use a powder and a liquid reagent.

In private email, a very knowledgeable person told me that none of the kits were
that good at the low end, but it is not that critical either. He and many other
planted aquarium enthusiasts simply shoot for detectable iron, with concentrations
up to 1 and even 2ppm no longer considered counter-productive.

Geo.

George Pontis wrote in message m...
An article at the krib cautions to get a test kit that properly reads chelated
iron, if that is what you are dosing. Any recommendations on kits that make a
measurement in the useful 0.1ppm range in response to chelated iron ?

Bioavailable iron is the issue.
Test kits do not measure this.

The best method to gauge the amount you should add(which is what you
want to know) is to provide good ranges of all the light, CO2 and
macro nutrients, then add the traces at 5mls per 20 gal per 3x a week
which is the max rate at very high light(6w/gal) that most plants
might need.
Adding more than that resulted in no increase in plant health or
growth.

When you make adjustments and add less, do som slowly over 3 week
intervals before assessing that you can go lower or not.

This method addresses the plant's needs and also provides them with
everything else that matters the most first, the light/CO2 anmsd macro
nutrients and making sure those are in good shape, will allow the
traces to be fully maximized.

So you win both ways ansd save your self the cost of a test kit.
I used a Hach and Lamott kit and would not suggest folks purchase one.

You can see Rioger Miller's and I's discussion on the APD and perhaps
a few here for more info and why etc.

Regards,
Tom Barr