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Cast Iron pan in Aquarium for IRON trace fertilizer for plants?

15K views 84 replies 31 participants last post by  JJ09 
#1 ·
Can a Cast Iron pan in Aquarium for IRON trace elements fertilizers for plants?

Lets say you have an old cast iron pan that is rusted beyond repair, this could be placed in the oven during a cleaning cycle and any oils or impurities would probably be incinerated leaving you with Iron.

I guess one of the question is if this iron is in a form which can be used by plants and if such a thing may be feasible?

Thanks.
 

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#2 ·
Rust is not a bioavailable form of iron. I would be more worried about rust stains, at some point it is going to kill your fish and cloud your water, regardless how much the plants like it.
Natural iron levels in parts were say many tetras come form is maybe .5 to 1ppm.
 
#4 ·
Can a Cast Iron pan in Aquarium for IRON trace elements fertilizers for plants?

Lets say you have an old cast iron pan that is rusted beyond repair, this could be placed in the oven during a cleaning cycle and any oils or impurities would probably be incinerated leaving you with Iron.

Thanks.
I love your questions. I've read where rusty nails, etc., have been used for terrestrial plantings. I believe the iron would have to be touching the roots for it to be used. If you planted that pan with soil, and stuck it in the tank, I think it would work. I researched leaves for the nutrient purposes. But you'd need a load of leaves to break down in your tank to be of any value. It would be more like compost soup. And to the other poster here, ...I have diamonds on the soles of my feet...does that count?:wink2:
 
#6 ·
Ordinary iron oxide, rust, is not a form that dissolves in water, leaving iron ions available for plants to use. Bacteria can convert rust to a bioavailable form, as I recall, but trying to dose iron in the form of rusty iron isn't a good way to do it. One of the chemists here could explain this so we all could understand it.
 
#7 ·
Title thread made me laugh out loud...things people will try :))

Chelated, bioavailable iron is really not that expensive, easy to dose and convenient to use... It is not worth it to wait for iron oxide to be transformed back into bioavailable form. Maybe if you had a really large pond and wanted to see the results years after... it will also likely require anaerobic conditions.
 
#12 ·
Well, that Leafzone from API is really expensive and its probably 99% water. I was looking at a large quantity of another iron product in bulk and it was like $50 for container of Iron solution. If I can have a slow release of iron into the water from something I might normally throw in the garbage, then why not?

So you need a particular type of bacterial that can convert this type of iron into something "bioavailability ", well my question would be does this bacterial exist in an aquarium/underwater setting or only in ground dirt? Does it really take years until you get any iron bioavailability for plants or are you saying for the entire cast iron to dissolve.

Thanks.
 
#13 ·
Dude...wash the pan with soap, get your metal scrub and apply some force or use a drill and buy one of those metal brushes and buffer the crap out of the cast iron. Wash it again with soap.

Put it on the oven, remove it, apply some flaxseed oil or crisco...repeat the process and bring that baby back to life!


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#15 ·
Dude, its 2016 not 1776 . I have high tech nonstick ceramic infused with copper and Titanium made in Gotham steel industry Wayne industries that can melt cheese in the pan without sticking and withstand a artillery shell while having a car run over it. Why do I need to use the same type of frying pan that George Washington used while crossing the Delaware river??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOnKXjjRZkE
 
#16 ·
It can be cleaned with vinegar, steel brushes and placed in the oven on the clean cycle which gets hot enough to burn any oil or jump off the pan so you are left with only iron.
 
#17 ·
Oh yeah, the pan looks saveable... That is the wonder of cast iron.
Still sour as my one cast iron pot broke its leg off right out of the pot, and now it has a hole... :(

PS we are just a few tiny cataclysms away from living like Washington again.
 
#21 ·
Now, this relationship between oxygen and iron isn’t a full time thing. In reality iron is flitting between ferrous and ferric states, but the dominant state in high pH and oxidized environments is ferric- and this means that your plants cannot take it up.
These details important because they dictate how we examine the solutions.
Many practitioners throw rusty iron items into their systems falsely assuming that this will supplement system iron.

In a sense it does add to the reservoir of system iron, but not in a constructive or meaningful way. All this does is introduce more ferric iron to the system- a form of iron that was most likely already in plentiful supply.

Other practitioners intentionally develop dedicated anaerobic zones, where ferric iron will be reduced by the oxygen free, anaerobic environment to produce ferric iron. This is a more compelling approach, especially in low pH systems, but still does not entirely address the problem of getting the reduced iron ion (Fe++) through the oxygenated aerobic zone surrounding the plant roots (especially in high pH systems where hydroxyl ions are plentiful!)............... ect..............
Understanding Iron in Aquaponics
 
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#22 ·
Thanks for sharing this. I'm finding that the planted aquarium hobby is leading me to become more and more interested in the general biology and chemistry of our agricultural food systems. Granted I'm fairly uninformed in aquaponics but it seems to be a great solution from a sustainability and efficiency perspective (uses as much as 90% less water, plants can be placed closer together, etc.).

Aren't aquaponics systems essentially huge-scale planted aquariums that we all know and love, except trimmed plant matter goes into a cooking pan and not the garbage?
 
#25 · (Edited)
Fred Meyers here in Oregon used to carry a terrestrial plant, chelated Fe-Mg-Zn-Cu supplement mix that worked for aquatic plants. About $10.00 for an 8 ounce bottle of the stuff. It was pretty concentrated, I used to thin it 4:1 with distilled water.

Frankly, if you're having growth issues, I'd be looking at my Potassium levels first, as there's a relationship between iron's availability and potassium. You can't overdose with Potassium, while you can with Iron.
 
#27 · (Edited)
I did not realize everyone on this forum was either Amish, mountain men, settlers, and dooms day survivalist, living off the grid in a log cabin they built by hand and using cookware technology that dates back to the Han Dynasty around 206 BC cooking over a camp fire. :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3XFBrLthLk


You know they have this new metal called Steel as well as nonstick Teflon coating and nonstick ceramic sometimes infused with copper and/or titanium.

I did know that cast iron was so popular in this day and age of high technology. I thought it was kind of a novelty, when when you pull out an old Atari 2600 game like pacman instead of playing a 4K virtual reality video game.

Well, I like sports cars with a stick shift manual transmission ( not electric, no hybrids, no self driving cars, no automatic transmission or PDK).

So I get upset when the car companies are killing off manual transmission, trying to make everything electric/hybrid and saying they want to outlaw self driving cars in 2020.

Anyway, I think cast iron cookware is cool too but did not realize other people liked them as well. Its definitely old school. You will be in good shape when the zombie Apocalypse comes.
 

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#72 ·
I love this thread



^100%. I use to work as a paralegal in toxic tort. PFOA is serious [censored]ing stuff.

I was not raised with cast iron, and I resisted it for a long time. I hardly cook on anything else now. It holds heat very well and just gives food this really nice, difficult to describe texture.

That pan can totally be restored. Come to NYC and I'll try you some ludwigia cuba and DHG for it.
 
#33 ·
Sure, let me have some recipes for cast iron:laugh2:
 
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