# Using Ferts with dechlorinator



## gollum456 (14 Oct 2010)

just a thought, if the dechlor is supposed to bind metals in the water, won't it counteract the DIY tropica that i'm adding?
i have tried to search this in the forum with no luck.

cheers, scott


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## ceg4048 (14 Oct 2010)

Hi Scott,
            It may do a little, but so what? Just add more if needed and be done with it. This is not really anything to worry about. If your plants are not showing symptoms of Fe deficiency for example, then that means all is well. If you do see signs of deficiency then simply add more Fe. 

It's much more important to be able to read your tank than to try to figure out what's happening at the molecular level. This is the same question people ask about Activated Carbon products, which also sequesters some nutrient ions. If you add more nutrients then you'll overwhelm the product that removes the nutrients.

In the grand scheme, it doesn't take that much more to make this a non-factor.

Cheers,


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## dw1305 (14 Oct 2010)

Hi all,
It is only really relevant for iron (Fe), the other lighter metals (K+, Mg++ etc.) are relatively lightly bound by a chelator.
If the de-chlorinator you use has EDTA in it, and Iron in solution in the water column (Fe2+ or Fe3+) it will bind the iron ions, and these will displace any other cations (K+, Mg++ etc.). The iron will then become available over time as the ligands that chelate the iron ions (think of them as like "velcro") are unzipped by light (they will "photo-degrade"). 

So the answer is it will have little effect, the down-side of this is that if you had a water supply with heavy metals in it, and these had been de-activated by the chelation agent, their ions would also be displaced by the iron ions, and would become toxic again.

cheers Darrel


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