[BOTIA]

Hi Folks
I have been running a turbotwist 9w on my 70 for a couple of weeks now and I have been fighting with keeping my trace iron up or even a reading at all. If I test my 15 tall with florabase no problem I always get a nice reading around .2, my tap water is about .1 btw.
Now I have read that uv steri's might oxidize trace elements , anybody have any real proof? Since I turned it off I have been able to keep a measureable level around .1.
I got the uv because of a Jobes inspired green water outbreak. Maybe it was a trace element crash that helped ? I 'm stumped , I thought it was the test kit but It works well on my other tanks.

I dose using pmdd minus the nitrate which I don't need. I have had to start dosing iron using some kent iron supplement I had and I was already dosing massive trace.
Am I crazy or is the uv really screwing with my trace?

Pmdd is supposed to be dosed enough until you get iron reading of around.1 to.25 right?
2 T5 HO (54watt) and 3 T12 (40watt).
My params are this
Ph 6.6
KH 80ppm
Nitrate 20
iron 0
phosphate 0
Here is the tank so you get an idea of plant density. (lots of cabomba)

 

[GulfCoastAquarian]

There is some evidence that UV radiation can alter the state of iron in the water column, but a lot of us run our sterilizers 24/7 and don't have any iron deficiency problems. I believe there is a lot we still need to learn about the various states of iron in the water and how the plants are able to access it.

 

[Momotaro]

I have read the same thing Sam has stated.

I have been dosing about 1.5ml of ferrous gluconate (equal to about 3ml of Flourish Iron) three times a week to compensate for the UV and find I get some algae on my glass I believe is a result of too much iron. I should cut back and watch my results.

Mike

 

[Jackfrost]

I have been running my 65G tank with a 18W UV-2 Tetra Pond sterilizer for 4 years now. I chose 18W because of dwell times vs Flow.

My regular (weekly) additions of Iron yielded ZERO measurable iron in my tank during these four years.

Of course, I have never had any form of algae, or other parasite. I have not lost a fish in those four years either !

The plants however are not as green as they should be. I believe that the iron deficiency is to blame.

I am now in the process of using one of those programable timers to limit the UV light to 48hrs / week. I plan to put the iron trace after the 48 hr UV treatment.

I will report the results here.