- Highly concentrated (10,000 mg/L)
- Ferrous gluconate iron
- Ferrous gluconate is better suited to foliar feeding than iron-EDTA
Description
Iron is immobile in plants. This means that plants cannot divert iron from older leaves to new ones. Therefore, deficiency symptoms appear first on new or young leaves. Because plants use iron to produce chlorophyll, a lack of iron results in chlorosis, or yellowing, of the younger leaves. Stems may also appear short and slender. If the deficiency is severe and prolonged, each new leaf emerges lighter in color than the preceding leaf.
When choosing an iron supplement, it is important to know the distinction between the two forms of iron. The iron will be in one of two oxidation states: ferrous having a +2 charge, or ferric having a +3 charge. Ferrous iron, the preferred iron form and is soluble in water at any pH. Ferric iron, however, is only soluble below a pH of around 5.5; but if the pH is higher than 5.5, which more than likely it will be in a planted aquarium, the ferric iron will become insoluble and precipitate, settling in the root zone. Once this occurs, foliar absorbtion becomes impossible.
To overcome this precipitation, competing products employ a chelate of ferric iron: iron-EDTA. While this does keep it soluble, it has a couple of drawbacks with respect to foliar uptake of iron. (1) Iron-EDTA bonding is very strong, thus very little of the iron will be available to the plants over a given time frame and (2) Physiological energy must be expended by the plant in order to extract the ferric iron from EDTA-iron and then convert (reduce) it to the ferrous form. Our approach is different in that we use a complex (not chelate) of ferrous iron in Flourish Iron™.
Flourish Iron™ is a highly concentrated (10,000 mg/L) ferrous iron gluconate supplement. Plants are able to much more easily derive a benefit from Flourish Iron™ because ferrous iron gluconate is already in the ferrous form so they do not expend energy reducing it. Despite what other manufacturers may intimate, gluconate is not harmful to plants or fish. In fact, ferrous gluconate is better suited to foliar feeding than is iron-EDTA owing to the relatively weaker iron-gluconate bonding vs. iron-EDTA bonding. In addition, ferrous gluconate has the added bonus of being a source of carbon.
Directions
Use 1 capful (5 mL) for each 200 L (50 gallons) or as required to maintain about 0.10 mg/L iron. For smaller doses please note that each cap thread is about 1 mL. Use MultiTest®: Iron test kit to monitor iron concentrations. Due to rapid utilization, test within 30 minutes. Use as needed to combat signs of iron deficiency (usually seen in new growth) which include: chlorosis (yellowing) of tissue between veins and short and slender stems.
Guaranteed Analysis
| Iron (Fe) | 1% |
Derived from: Ferrous Gluconate
Seachem’s philosophy is that the knowledgeable hobbyist makes the best customer. This is reflected in solid and reliable customer education and support as well as products proven in science and performance. While Seachem has grown rapidly into a national and international firm, it retains the culture of a small company and is readily available to its customers.
For over 40 years, Seachem has been a company rooted in sound science. Our experience in the hobby and an educated staff of chemists and biologists are part of the package when you purchase Seachem products. Seachem remains as one of the few surviving independent and privately owned pet care companies. Seachem is owned and operated by hobbyists. All of our employees are hobbyists who maintain aquariums at home and at the office. Seachem itself was started because one such passionate hobbyist - Dr. Leo G. Morin (Founder) - recognized that the available solutions to aquarists' problems were wanting. This resulted in Seachem’s very first product: Cupraplex™ (today known as Cupramine™). Over thirty years later, Seachem is still approaching old problems in a new way.
Seachem has been in business over 40 years and is now sold
in over 60 countries worldwide.
Innovation means approaching old problems in a new way. Seachem doesn’t simply repackage old ideas, nor do we package new ideas that require the suspension of fundamental physical or chemical principles. We offer truly innovative solutions that work better than competing products and save money through increased efficiency and concentration. Seachem products have been and continue to be based on sound science. They now cover the full spectrum of aquarium requirements in freshwater, seawater, reefs, and ponds as well as herpetological and avian husbandry. They include buffers, conditioners, filtration media, medications, and test kits. The JurassiPet® line includes foods, nutritive supplements, and products for enclosure maintenance and parasite control. Most of Seachem’s products are totally unique and specific to Seachem. With our premium line, aquavitro®, our goal is to have a line that is an outlet for rapid response to the advent of new technologies and information as they arise, something we couldn’t do with the very well established Seachem line. We’ve distilled the essential components of reef keeping and plant keeping into a no compromises, rigorously optimized product line, and added conditioners and filtration that outperform the already high standards we've set with the Seachem line. We’re committed to maintaining that optimization.
