Kent Marine Iodide

[Nick Rose]

I know a lot of people say that you don’t need to dose iodide but I just want to test it out and see how it goes. I have a 59gallon system and bought Kent Marine Iodide. The instructions say add 5ml per 50gal once a week or 8 drops per day. I want to dose every day but if I divide 5ml by 7 days that is .71ml which is more then 8 drops. So should I do 8 drops or .71ml. Also should I shut off my protein skimmer or does it not skim out Iodide?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I know a lot of people say that you don’t need to dose iodide but I just want to test it out and see how it goes. I have a 59gallon system and bought Kent Marine Iodide. The instructions say add 5ml per 50gal once a week or 8 drops per day. I want to dose every day but if I divide 5ml by 7 days that is .71ml which is more then 8 drops. So should I do 8 drops or .71ml. Also should I shut off my protein skimmer or does it not skim out Iodide?

Skimmers cannot remove iodine as iodide or iodate.

How did you determine how many mL per drop of that product? The answer is very dependent on the tip that the liquid drops from.

In any case, the exact dose isn't critical. It is rapidly depleted.

 

[Nick Rose]

Kent doesn’t say what a drop is equivalent to in ml. What I did was I filled a extra 1ml salifert syringe with .71ml which is what you get if you divide 5ml by 7days. I got 19-20 drops.

So whether I use 8 or 20 drops it shouldn’t hurt the tank tenants?

 

[Graffiti Spot]

I have an old jug of the Kent iodine that is supposed to time release into the water. I use it when I remember but never understood the whole time release part.

 

[Nick Rose]

Just a little update. I had done the .71ml of iodide per day for a few weeks but didn't see any changes so I stopped. But this month my Candy Cane was not looking happy. All the parameters were in check. So I decided to do the once a week dose of 5ml per 50 gallons and the next day the Candy Cane was nice and fat. It seems like my Candy Cane is a good indicator of low iodide.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Just a little update. I had done the .71ml of iodide per day for a few weeks but didn't see any changes so I stopped. But this month my Candy Cane was not looking happy. All the parameters were in check. So I decided to do the once a week dose of 5ml per 50 gallons and the next day the Candy Cane was nice and fat. It seems like my Candy Cane is a good indicator of low iodide.

Maybe, but I think it is more likely just coincidence.

Did you have this coral before dosing iodide?

 

[Nick Rose]

Yes. Its been in the system close to 2 years. There has been other times that it didn't look good. Most recently was in April and I decided to do a iodine dip and the coral bounced back. Then there was June to July. I did the iodine dip again but it didn't work. I let it be for several weeks and then decided to do a 40% WC which made it bounce back. Normally I would do a 5% WC each week but now I'm doing 10% each week.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Yes. Its been in the system close to 2 years. There has been other times that it didn't look good. Most recently was in April and I decided to do a iodine dip and the coral bounced back. Then there was June to July. I did the iodine dip again but it didn't work. I let it be for several weeks and then decided to do a 40% WC which made it bounce back. Normally I would do a 5% WC each week but now I'm doing 10% each week.

My expectation is that the iodide is not directly impacting the coral, but it is easy to test. Keep dosing for a while monitoring the coral closely, then stop when you change nothing else at all. Watch the coral for a week or two after that to see if anything is different.

IMO, if the utility of iodide was so easy to detect, then many more folks would have seen it when they either started or stopped iodide dosing.

 

[CindyKz]

I tried iodide for a while and saw no difference in either my mixed reef or my softie tank.

 

[Nick Rose]

My expectation is that the iodide is not directly impacting the coral, but it is easy to test. Keep dosing for a while monitoring the coral closely, then stop when you change nothing else at all. Watch the coral for a week or two after that to see if anything is different.

IMO, if the utility of iodide was so easy to detect, then many more folks would have seen it when they either started or stopped iodide dosing.

Should I not do WC on the system while doing this test. Seems like that might affect the test.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Should I not do WC on the system while doing this test. Seems like that might affect the test.

Do whatever you normally do.

 

[Nikita1981]

For me it was the key for keeping montis. I could keep birdnest, stylo, acros etc but no montis. Icp showed nothing special except low iodine. Since dosing iodine my montis stopped deteriorating, ander after about 3 weeks made a recovery. After another 3 weeks they were growing.

This is the only thing I changed. To me it made all the difference.

 

[Bbfishb81]

I add iodine and iron to my tanks weekly. I have noticed better growth, color and all around look way healthier. I also use amino acids and the color in my sps is beautiful.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

For me it was the key for keeping montis. I could keep birdnest, stylo, acros etc but no montis. Icp showed nothing special except low iodine. Since dosing iodine my montis stopped deteriorating, ander after about 3 weeks made a recovery. After another 3 weeks they were growing.

This is the only thing I changed. To me it made all the difference.

I don’t believe this was due to iodine, but I can’t prove that it wasn’t true for you except to note that many people keep those corals without adding iodide.