Dosing iodide (4 Viewers)

[HouseofStark]

Contimplating dosing iodide. Recently sent in an ICP and all looked good. Looking back on the test over the years, my iodine always comes in low 20-30ug/l. Due to it being absorbed so fast, sounds like is common to be lacking a bit. Does anyone in the group dose iodide and or have a good test to monitor its levels? Hanna Checkers look to be poor resolution, and seem to be mixed results on colormatic tests. Im not planning on monthly ICPs... Not sure if its even worth the time to chase/increase it? Thoughts

 

[spsick]

I dose iodide and have a saldiert test that is not great. I just add .01ppm whenever I think of it and it’s gotten me closer to .06 on ICP

I also dose Tropic Marin trace A+K which has iodine, so more likely that is helping me maintain levels.

 

[Varig]

I’m dosing it now daily, because my Icp results keep showing 0.005ppm (5um/l). I’ve been slowly trying to bring them up. My intention is to do a few more ICP’s to make sure that I’m in the range, then just maintain that dosing level and verify once in a while.

As you have found, I haven’t heard about a reliable home test kit for iodine

 

[HouseofStark]

I dose iodide and have a saldiert test that is not great.

I was between that and the Red Sea pro...reading over on r2r, Randy had dosed iodide for years...and stopped, didnt notice any difference. He also was saying that no studies have found that inverts or zoas use it, which many believe. He did say our marco algae consume very fast along with being absorbed into any carbon running in the system.

I also dose Tropic Marin trace A+K which has iodine, so more likely that is helping me maintain levels.

Maybe I should look more into that.....do you dose the iodide ontop of the A-?

 

[Jposch]

I was between that and the Red Sea pro...reading over on r2r, Randy had dosed iodide for years...and stopped, didnt notice any difference. He also was saying that no studies have found that inverts or zoas use it, which many believe. He did say our marco algae consume very fast along with being absorbed into any carbon running in the system.


Maybe I should look more into that...

i'll actually agree with him this time. But, he likely hasn't researched the anecdotal "evidence" thoroughly.

Justin (credibel) Grabel realized that most all of the lugols, or potassium iodine dosing benefit was actually due to the potassium. particularly for xenia "filters," and dosing potassium chloride also prevent them from crashing.

On the flip side, iodine in excess can irritate inverts and cause premature molting, so it was originally thought to be a good thing. without dosing iodine, the last cleaner shrimp I had, would molt exactly every 28 days for about 2 years before it died.

I have nothing against modest iodine dosing, but just find it to be insignificant, and potassium, especially in older tanks, even with regular W/Cs, to be of more importance. 400ppm is a safer minimum than what many ICP companies will say is "fine" as low as 380ppm. sps will appear duller, or even very pale (think old school zeovit.) especially pink, red and orange.
I personally use isol8 MT, isol8 Fluorine, borax, and food grade potassium chloride to handle minor and trace to "good enough." No reason besides cheap, simple enough, and ICP typically comes back with everything aligned. obviously big 3 are dosed as well. (kalk, mag sulfate/chloride, soda ash, calcium chloride, etc.)
why potassium can become deficient is that 30% water change, every 2 weeks means your tank will be 99.99% new water. many salt mixes have potassium at 400-410ppm. essentially, where you want it. problem comes in that coral, especially SPS, use up some of that potassium. slowly. much slower than magnesium. but over time, those water changes in a mature tank can be inadequate. sps will turn dull, bleach and you'll have a crash. massive water changes are a "cure," but many don't realize this is a likely cause of some cases of "old tank syndrome" and that potassium testing/dosing could have been a proper prevention. fauna marin claims +/-1% accuracy for potassium, and the salifert kit, when used properly, is IME =/- 10PPM.