[TDV]

Recently I've noticed that whenever I add Seachem Iron to my tank the water goes cloudy after a few minutes. Usually it takes a few days to clear. I'd like to add iron to the tank to increase the reds in some plants (ludwigia repens and sunset hygro), but it may not be worth it if it comes at the cost of perpetually cloudy water.

I'm also EI dosing mono potassium phosphate, potassium nitrate, and plantex csm+b, but I do them at different times. Does anyone know why the iron is causing cloudy water, and how I may prevent it?

Before:

5 Minutes After:

 

[aquabruce]

I used to have this problem too. I don't remember all the details but it has to do with phosphates and the Iron

Precipitation can occur if you use a phosphate based buffer and then dose iron.

Test your phosphates. They may be too high. Do you use any phosphate buffers like Seachem Neutral Regulator?

I switched to powdered Iron Chelate 11% DPTA and the problem went away.

 

[TDV]

I'm not using any buffers, but I suppose it may be that the iron is reacting with the excess phosphates from the EI dosing. I'll see if I can find some Iron Chelate 11% DPTA then. Thanks a lot!

 

[Reefcowboy]

That excat thing is happening in my tank. I thought i had some other issues going on. Now that i started to think, just like you mentioned, after the seachem iron is added, by end if day the water is cloudy...thanks for the post

 

[Zorfox]

I agree with Aquabruce. Phosphate and iron do react causing cloudy water. I think the reason it happens with Seachem iron is because it is not chelated. The iron would have a much higher affinity to react with phosphate leading to precipitation. Using EDTA or or DTPA would decrease this reaction. Reducing Seachem to a third the normal dose and using DTPA for the other may be a better option. Plants would be able to use the non chelated iron quickly and still have iron resources after it's gone with the addition of DTPA.

 

[n5750547]

Exact same thing happened to me today after adding iron and flourish but it continued to get worse and was so cloudy after a few hours I could barely see the back of my tank. I've added seachem iron before but never at the same time as flourish and never after doing a water change. Any idea if it could be because of adding two at once and getting too much iron? Or could my tap water be high in phosphate?

 

[jrman83]

Doesn't it clear after a short period? I used to see this but it only lasted for less than a hour.

 

[laconic]

If you use the EI method, try dosing your KN03 & KH2P04 on a different day than your Trace Elements as there will be less interaction with Fe and Potassium then.