Iron addition for heavy planted tank

[Chromobotia]

First off, let me start by saying I'm a complete planted tank noob. I know nothing and haven't found a plant that I couldn't kill.

With that said, if you want to add iron couldn't you just bury some rusty nails in the substrate?

 

[migdem]

i have iron in the substrate i do not have in the water though

 

[knifegill]

Bump on this. Do we really need chelated iron or will some good ol' rusty nails (or maybe some fine shavings mixed into the substrate) do the trick?

 

[knifegill]

I assume we need this additive because our tap water lacks it. What about well water? Is it known to contain usable iron sometimes?

 

[migdem]

I am going to use pps-pro and see if within 2 weeks i see any difference on iron. If no i think i need to add

 

[Zander_The_RBP]

First off, let me start by saying I'm a complete planted tank noob. I know nothing and haven't found a plant that I couldn't kill.

With that said, if you want to add iron couldn't you just bury some rusty nails in the substrate?

This is the old school way of enriching the substrate with iron. As the iron degrades into iron oxide it becomes a powder that is availble to plant roots however it is not water soluble and therefore is unavailble to floating plants or plants growing on logs/rocks.

 

[knifegill]

So it DOES work. Huzzah.

 

[migdem]

All the plants that I have are with roots and planted in the substrate. But do I need soluble in the water so that leaves take from water? Please note that I have Seachem Flourite for gravels and it is rich in Iron.