what the heck is my iodine going...

[Edgecrusher28]

I know there are differences of opinion on iodine and its effectiveness or even requirement for that matter in the reef tank. However, I have been struggling with a few Zoanthus type colonies being closed up tight despite what I would considered to be exhaustive efforts to ensure the water parameters and lighting/flow conditions are optimal. I finally gave up and decided that I would invest in ICP test so that I would send in one test per week until this tank was dialed in to the best of my abilities. I have a rather large collection of soft corals and zoa's and this is now my third ICP test that shows nearly undetectable levels of iodine (0.00193ppm) after 3.6 mL of iodine was dosed over the last three weeks. Now I understand a tank will consume to some degree a reasonable amount of this element naturally, but at this point I feel like dumping in 10mL of iodine just to get a detectable level seems crazy. I have been using Lugols for the dosing portion and felt that perhaps the last bottle I was using was expired; even though it wasn't. So to remedy this concern, I replaced with a fresh bottle before sending in my last test, but the results were basically the same.

At this point I'm going to change up to a different iodine supplement but figured I would see what others had to say about this situation. The last time I had an ICP test done when my tank was looking fantastic came back with an iodine level of.1823ppm of iodine; and not a single polyp was closed during this time (same tank, lights, flow, pumps etc). So in summary, I guess I'm looking to find out where the hell all of this dosed iodine is going, or perhaps this is a normal level of consumption with such a large collection of zoa's and I should stop being such a baby.


P.S.
I do run a skimmer 24/7 along with an algae turf scrubber on a 12 hour schedule; however, the nitrate levels hold steady with consistently feeding around 6.8ppm and phosphate levels around .1 to .07

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

That 3.6 mL corresponds to what ppm boost?

My tank would take NSW levels of iodide to undetectable (by kit) in a week or less.

 

[DeniseAndy]

As your corals have grown, they need more iodine. I would use a proper supplement rather than lugols. Softies love their iodine. Good luck!!!!

 

[Edgecrusher28]

That 3.6 mL corresponds to what ppm boost?

My tank would take NSW levels of iodide to undetectable (by kit) in a week or less.

If my math is correct it would have been two doses of an increase of 0.048ppm, so around .096ppm total.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

If my math is correct it would have been two doses of an increase of 0.048ppm, so around .096ppm total.

That would have been reasonably normal in my reef tank.

 

[rtparty]

If it helps, I dose 8 drops daily of Seachem Reef Iodide to my 250g system

 

[Edgecrusher28]

If it helps, I dose 8 drops daily of Seachem Reef Iodide to my 250g system

What levels does your tank sustain with that dose, and do you have a fair amount of soft corals/refugium?

 

[rtparty]

What levels does your tank sustain with that dose, and do you have a fair amount of soft corals/refugium?

My latest ICP shows 61.27 and that is my target level. Zero soft corals. All LPS or SPS. Just added a fuge a couple weeks ago. I upped my iron and manganese dosing. I will watch everything else on my ICP tests to see if iodine starts dropping

 

[Edgecrusher28]

My latest ICP shows 61.27 and that is my target level. Zero soft corals. All LPS or SPS. Just added a fuge a couple weeks ago. I upped my iron and manganese dosing. I will watch everything else on my ICP tests to see if iodine starts dropping

Interesting, that seems like a large dose but if the levels are spot on then that's what it takes. Makes me wonder given a 130gallon system with 30 ish colonies of zoa's that my iodine requirements could even be higher. Its just hard to pull the trigger on high daily dosage like that. Thanks for the info!

 

[JGT]

My latest ICP shows 61.27 and that is my target level. Zero soft corals. All LPS or SPS. Just added a fuge a couple weeks ago. I upped my iron and manganese dosing. I will watch everything else on my ICP tests to see if iodine starts dropping

Have you noticed a change since dosing iodide?

 

[billyocean]

Use this to test instead of icp

USING HANNA CHECKER HI-707 TO TEST FOR IODINE

USING HANNA CHECKER HI-707 TO TEST FOR IODINE In my quest to improve my testing accuracy and precision I found the standard colorimetric tests for Iodine difficult to get any kind of accurate reading and the repeatability (precision) was not very good. Being that I dosed Iodine this made me...

www.reef2reef.com

It will save you a good bit if iodine is your key motivation

 

[anthonygf]

I have a 75 gallon mixed and dose 5ml per day to keep my level at 0.03ppm, 0.06 is considered normal on the Red Sea Iodine test kit. I don't understand this either. My last ICP says my iodine was low at 0.01ppm just last month. I dose Kent Marine Iodide, maybe I should switch to Iodine specifically.

Edit; How could I be so stupid. I usually am good at looking at expiry dates, but my Kent expired in 2017? How could I not see this? I have a Brightwell bottle that expires in 2026 so I will switch to this now and reduce my dose to start.

 

[rtparty]

Have you noticed a change since dosing iodide?

My own opinion is that the tissue on my SPS looks healthier when I dose