Alternative Lugols solution to Kent?

[Mateusz]

Quick question. I've been using Kent Lugols everytime I frag my corals. For whatever reason my LFS says it's been out of stock, and nowhere else locally seems to have it either. I can get it on Amazon but wouldn't arrive till Tuesday.

I found this product at The Vitamin Shoppe which is local to me and would like to know what everyone thinks

Vitamin Shoppe

www.vitaminshoppe.com

The ingredients are listed as 94% water, 4% potassium iodide, and 2% iodine.

The lugols from Kent lists 11% Iodide, but nothing else.

Thanks for any help!

 

[Mateusz]

@Randy Holmes-Farley would you be able to help shed any insight into this for me?

 

[Cory]

I dont know if thats exactly the same but if use it provided theres nothing else listed as ingredients.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

2% is pretty dilute.

Google Lugols iodine and shopping and there are tons of brands available.

 

[Mateusz]

2% is pretty dilute.

Google Lugols iodine and shopping and there are tons of brands available.

Yes i'm aware. 2% is the iodine, 4% is the iodide. Now Kent Lugols only lists one thing on their gauranteed analysis which is 11% Iodide. The highest I can seem to find is 5% online I guess unless I go to a specialty.

Either way I did buy the one in question and have been using it, everything seems happy, and looks just as dark as Kent stuff. Double the size and half the price too, all corals seem happy after using it to frag! Found myself a winner I think!

I'd assume the only different possibly between Kent and this Lugols would be the Iodide at 4% versus 11% on Kent, ingredient list is identical between the two, so was color.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I cannot tell what concentration Kent sells, but in general, Lugols iodine is often higher. This from wikipedia:

Lugol's iodine - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

"The most commonly used (nominal) 5% solution consists of 5% (wt/v) metallic iodine (I2) and 10% (wt/v) potassium iodide (KI) mixed in distilled water, and has a total iodine content of 126.4 mg/mL."

 

[Mateusz]

I cannot tell what concentration Kent sells, but in general, Lugols iodine is often higher. This from wikipedia:

Lugol's iodine - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

"The most commonly used (nominal) 5% solution consists of 5% (wt/v) metallic iodine (I2) and 10% (wt/v) potassium iodide (KI) mixed in distilled water, and has a total iodine content of 126.4 mg/mL."

So then by dosing 2x as much as I normally would, I should achieve roughly the same result I suppose.

Thanks for the information. It's nearly impossible to find lugols anywhere but a select few places it seems, and it is incredibly expensive from this J.Crew brand which can be had at 5%.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

So then by dosing 2x as much as I normally would, I should achieve roughly the same result I suppose.

Thanks for the information. It's nearly impossible to find lugols anywhere but a select few places it seems, and it is incredibly expensive from this J.Crew brand which can be had at 5%.

I've never tried to buy it, but using twice as much of a half concentration seems reasonable.