# What's a good iron tab?



## Rainbo (Nov 23, 2015)

So I'm getting rid of nearly all of my anacharis, it collects brown hair algae, along always looking dirty and so making my tank look ugly and unkept, and I'm putting in echinodorus parvilorus (rosette sword). I know that all swords need iron but have no idea what iron supplement is a good one. Can anyone suggest one?


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## war10ck (Apr 30, 2017)

I have a small amazon sword that's thriving and only dosed seachem iron once. Diatoms will go away after doing pwc and having clean up crews. I also dose excel once a week but also stopped dosing them for 2 weeks now. Maybe i'd dose again if i see some algae growing. I just want to grow my low light plants naturally for now and dose if i see any deficiency.

Edit: sorry im not using tabs. 

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

Iron Up. I also use their RU/general tabs. Eventually most Swords, especially those with red, will suffer from a lack of Iron tabs.

RU TABS Root tabs aquarium fertilizer plant ferts substrate clay micro macro | eBay


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## Rainbo (Nov 23, 2015)

war10ck said:


> I have a small amazon sword that's thriving and only dosed seachem iron once. Diatoms will go away after doing pwc and having clean up crews. I also dose excel once a week but also stopped dosing them for 2 weeks now. Maybe i'd dose again if i see some algae growing. I just want to grow my low light plants naturally for now and dose if i see any deficiency.
> 
> Edit: sorry im not using tabs.
> 
> Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk


I think don't know if it's a form of diatoms, or a form of green hair algae. It's not run of the mill diatoms though, I've been fighting it for a good 2 months, do weekly water changes, have cleaned the anacharis as well as I can, vacuum the substrate, plants, and cave when I do water changes, and still cannot get rid of it. As far as I can tell neither my nerites, nor mts eat it.


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

Are the Anacharis planted/anchored? Have you tried cleaning them and letting them float? Plants with that type of leaf are detritis magnets if upright.


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## Rainbo (Nov 23, 2015)

RussellTheShihTzu said:


> Are the Anacharis planted/anchored? Have you tried cleaning them and letting them float? Plants with that type of leaf are detritis magnets if upright.


Some are floating, some are planted, I was using them as a background plant, with the tops growing across the top of the water. They are the worst where they keep tangling up. My plan is to get rid of most of them, and use the swords as a background plant. The anacharis I do keep I'm going to rinse really well and try letting it float.

Here's a picture of the tank that I took a minute ago, I just did a water change today. The anacharis on the right was planted with the ones on the left, but was the dirtiest so I uprooted it, trimmed off the worst of it and rinsed it off under running tap water and am just letting it float in the tank. Please excuse the photo bombing betta....


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

Next time, if you can find it, try Narrow Leaf Anacharis. It can handle higher temperatures than regular Anacharis and doesn't seem to shed and doesnt' twist up. I get mine from BamaPlants.com, Home of Aquarium, Bog, Pond, and Carnivorous Plants all Grown in the USA. I don't plant but use anchors to hold it down. And if you try Hornwort remember it doesn't develop roots and will rot if planted.

Love your tank and the "Bomber." 

Edit: I forgot to mention the reason I like those tabs is they aren't capsules which can break while planting and leave the tank a dingy red until the filter sucks up all of the red. I've switched to tabs over capsules because I was also tired of seeing little Osmocote particles on the substrate.


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## Gariana (Jul 22, 2015)

Right now I'm using Seachem Flourish tabs - kind of pricey but work well. I just ran out so next I'm going to try Easy Life Rootsticks. Unlike those chunky Seachem tabs these sticks are easy to break into smaller pieces, so these should work better for smaller areas.


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## ryry2012 (Mar 31, 2015)

RussellTheShihTzu said:


> Iron Up. I also use their RU/general tabs. Eventually most Swords, especially those with red, will suffer from a lack of Iron tabs.
> 
> RU TABS Root tabs aquarium fertilizer plant ferts substrate clay micro macro | eBay


I'm interested in the Iron tabs. How often do you add new ones in the tank?


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

ryry2012 said:


> I'm interested in the Iron tabs. How often do you add new ones in the tank?


Every 2-3 months. I've found they do just as good of a job as the more pricey ones.


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## Picasso84 (Feb 11, 2013)

Gariana said:


> Right now I'm using Seachem Flourish tabs - kind of pricey but work well. I just ran out so next I'm going to try Easy Life Rootsticks. Unlike those chunky Seachem tabs these sticks are easy to break into smaller pieces, so these should work better for smaller areas.


I have been using the flourish tabs as well... but I'm finding I may need to supplement iron for my red lily, and my swords. I may try the iron clay balls at Han Aquatics... I'll try to remember to report back in a month on how they do for me


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