$4 lifetime supply of Iron

[johnmaloney]

Okay so I lied, everything has a shelf life, in this case yours will probably be longer than the Fergon, but here is the procedure anyway to make a good iron supplement at home on the cheap:

 

1. Purchase Fergon, or something else that is made of Ferrous Gluconate. Both CVS and Walgreens carry Fergon.

 

 

From left to right, what the bottle looks like, what the pill looked like a long time ago when I took the picture on this now expired bottle so who knows, the pill crushed for greater surface area (anything will work here a marker), and the bottle of water I am going to dissolve it in.

 

Add the crushed tablet to the bottle of water and shake it up. Let it dissolve and shake if settling occurs.

 

 

The most important part! If you do what I did here and use a water bottle or another container that isn't tamper resistant be sure to keep it in a secure location and mark it conspicuously as a poison. Iron overdose is the leading cause of fatal poisoning in young children. What makes it particularly dangerous is Iron doesn't have a particularly noticeable flavor, and can be easily consumed without the person's knowledge. In any event, keep it safely stored like the rest of your reef aquarium chemicals.

 

Why would you want iron? In some limited circumstances, such as in a heavily planted macro tank you may find it helps to keep your green macros looking their best.

Why would you want to start very slowly with iron? Iron overdosing to the aquarium is a sure way to get a nuisance algae/cyano bloom. You have to be very careful, and very slow with it. In fact, it probably has no application in a nano that gets frequent water changes.

[cptbjorn]

so this is a recommended treatment for nuisance children?

[xgame2k]

drogaz.

[captainbastard]

drogaz.

 

Why I don't really go on this forum anymore.

 

How would you dose this John, just a drip system or a little bit at a time?

[johnmaloney]

how did i end up posting this in identification? sorry, meant to put it in the macro algae forum!

 

i would dose slowly and use a test kit:

http://www.marinedepot.com/Seachem_Multite...-FITKIT-vi.html

 

in a heavily planted tank system with 48 sq. feet of surface area but only 450 gallons I use 2 cap fulls every other week. So, I would use it very sparingly, and start using it slowly and see how it goes. A small drop will solve most iron limitation issues, if that is the issue you have.

 

vague enough?