I have heard of using micronized iron http://home.infinet.net/teban/substrat.htm as a substrate additive for iron, but I could not find any at any garden stores. I did find a product called ironite and I didn't know if it was the same thing, or if it could be possible to use?
I have a bag of Ironite that I use on my lawn and looking at the bag (and on the website) it looks like it could be used in the aquarium without any known side effects.
It does have a fertilizer rating of 1-0-0, which should have little effect on causing a nutrient imbalance.
I am afraid to use it in my tanks because I keep fish also. I wonder if someone with a small planted tank has tried it. I would be willing to volunteer a cup of the Ironite to someone who would like to experiment with it.
There has been a class action lawsuit filed in California against the people who bag the Ironite. Seems that it contains a bunch of heavy metals that are not listed. Here is a link http://www.envirolaw.org/poison.html that you can check out. Here are some figures for you. Note that these are levels that Ironite claims it contains: Arsenic4380 ppm Lead 2910 ppm
That's enough for me to stop using it! People would have to bring it to the dump on Toxic Products Recycling days here. The level of Mercury ticks me off too, I'm glad I didn't use it in a vegetable garden!
I'm glad to hear your tank worked out well. I'm not tearing mine down because of this, but I won't be using it in the future. I figure with the dilution factor and time the old tanks are not a problem. I figure if I were going to see a problem it would have happened already.
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