Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi am having a hard time looking for a chelated iron supplier here in the philippines but I was able to see a ferrous sulfate powder trough our hydroponics stores is this the same and is this toxic to our fishes?

Not to sure Jamesto. I couldn't find much on the net about ferrous sulfate powder and it's use on plants..

Some info below about chelated iron.

http://bexar-tx.tamu.edu/HomeHort/F1Col ... /MAY25.htm

thank you earthbound cheers

Ferrous Sulfate is used to treat anemia in humans/animals, or to take care of iron deficiency in plants. The other iron supplement used is of course, chelated iron.

I'm not sure if it would be toxic to fish, but it might be worth a try if that's all you can get. I'd recommend a 'bucket test'. Select one fish, put it in a bucket of water with an airstone, and add a pinch of ferrous sulfate. Observe. As with anything, start with a low dose.

you can always work out the ppm of the what you're putting in. if you're using human supplements then it will show the mg or mcg(micrograms) on the back.

1 milligram per litre is 1ppm

what is iron usually doesed at guys? for some reason 0.1ppm rings a bell?

thanks guys i'll give it a try but is ferrous sulfate okay to use ion plants?

would say so

ferrous sulfate is used on sporting ovals etc. to give a deep green colour to the lawn. It also creates a brown rusty coating on anything else it touches.

go the monya with the info!

james, only concern with non chelated iron is that it will probably drop out of solution at PH's above 7 (generally where we run our systems) but give it a go!

We used ferrous sulphate a lot on our plants. It is rather difficult to dissolve in water, however.
Ferrous gluconate is one type of iron supplement prescribed to humans. Supposedly easier to digest. It dissolves readily in water.

will give it a shot i'll post if my fishes or plants are dead ... lol!

but seriously guys thank you

no problemo james.

just be reasonable in your dosing levels (definatly under 1ppm) and both will be happy

Any new updates about the iron sulfate?

I have gotten chleated iron that is sold for planted aquariums (I'm told it is quite safe for food fish as well as food plants so long as you follow dosing instructions properly.) It is rather $$ though and with my system's high pH, the plants still were not getting enough iron.

I did mix some up and spray the plants directly with it which seems to help though I'll probably have to do it weekly.

Since the stuff is so $$ and I happen to have a gallon jug of liquid Iron (soluble Fe derived from Iron Sulfate) I was thinking to use it for foliar feeding of my plants. What do people think, any likely dangers to my fish if I spray my plants with diluted Iron Sulfate? I do expect some will get onto the media and into the system if I am throughly spraying my plants weekly.

I put 10 drops into two cups of system water and checked the pH, it does drop the pH of the water rater significantly. Like from my normal 7.6 down to around 6.6 and turned the water kind of a yellow orange. I used those two cups in a spray bottle to spray the plants in the Pee Ponic system to see if there is improvement. I did spray one strawberry plant in the big system as well as a single tiny Okra plant to test and see if there is improvement in them over the next week.

fairly sure than ferrous sulphate is used in cheap human supplements.

a foliar spray will be good as it should be easily absorbed.

the deal with chelated minerals is that they are 'bound' in with another compound that makes them more bioavailable, some chelating agents are amino acids but i dont think all.

they can also modify the ph at which the minerals are assimilated versus a straight mineral salt.