Iodine purpose?

[KookyNewky]

I have a few questions about iodine. They are...

Can anyone tell me what the benefit of iodine is?
What does it do for the corals beside make them healthier?
Can regular medicinal iodine be used in the tank?
How do you know when and how much iodine to add to the tank?

I am willing to bet there is an article explaining all of these questions but I was unable to find it.

 

[tangir1]

>... beside make them healthier?

Who told you that?

>... How do you know when and how much iodine to add to the tank?

You test for it first, but if you do regular water change, there is almost no need for dosing iodine.

 

[KookyNewky]

LFS said that dosing iodine promotes growth and propagation in mushrooms and most corals. (I only have mushrooms as of now)

What test would give an iodine reading?

 

[tangir1]

>... LFS said ...

Yeah, if I am selling marbles, I will say that my glass marbles also promotes growth and propagation in mushrooms and all coral. Heck, it also give you better sexual response if you keep two of them in your pant packets at all time.

There are a few Iodine test kits. Unfortunate, most are difficult to use, and not as accurate as those for nitrate, etc..

 

[J.Howard]

Adavanced Aquarists Mag has some great archive articles which may help answer your questions and help you decide for yourself if Iodine is for you. It seems unfortunately that the jury is still out on this one, esp. if you look at individual needs of different organisms.

 

[Anonymous]

Im pretty sure that Iodine is essential for the growth of non-stony or non-calcareous corals. No need to be so distrusting, tangir1; doesnt promote trust in this crazy world. In any case, I havent even seen a iodine test; I believe that tap water contains only a slight amount, and that RO and filtered drinking water may sometimes have it "reconstituted", but I havent seen it either. I do know that as soon as I started using Reef Plus, by Seachem (contains some iodine), my spotted mushroom corals started opening up much wider, and have even grown a bit in just short while. If you think about it logically, iodine is a vital compound even in humans; there isnt much else in that .1% of trace elements out there in the ocean that really stimulates the growth of new tissues in a positive way. I have no idea about iodine testing, but I fairly sure that if your using a strong or efficient protein skimmer, that it may be taking some of those softer, lighter elements like iodine out. I dose less than recomended by a little bit, since I noticed that my skimmer seemed to be gumming up quicker with the stuff...
About regular medicinal iodine; I know that you can put it into the aquarium without any negative consequences, but am unsure as to wether it provides the same benefit. I heard once about a guy who had an overly aggressive yellow tang; he grabbed the tang and used nail clippers to cut off the spikes or blades on the base of the tail (I know; I cringed too). He then put regualr medicinal iodine on the base of the tail, and the tang was fine after that. Also, his fish stopped getting slashed...
Hope that helps

 

[KookyNewky]

Thanks a bunch gleason.
So basically I should look towards getting a salt that contains the iodine in it and use regular water changes to replenish it.

 

[tangir1]

Some table salt have iodine added (as if it is any good for use as aquarium additive.. but you never know ), but you need to check to make sure the iodine additive (Lugol or something like that, among others) you use is actually the right type. Randy has at least an article on iodine, and I am sure he got questions regarding this issue from time to time.

There are several iodine test kits. One is by Salifert :
http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem. ... uct=SF1121

Not very popular, and only a few LFS stock it. Other company that makes iodine test kits is SeaChem.
http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem. ... uct=SC4145

(hate MarineDepot's link... need to click on it twice to work...)

I am not telling people that iodine is not essential, I just want people to be aware of blind recipe for success like "dosing iodine promotes growth and propagation in mushrooms and most corals."

 

[Anonymous]

I believe the Iodine added to table salt is of the wrong molecular and chemical structure (basically a different ion) than whats needed for coral health and such. The salt I use, Red Sea, doesnt say anything on the packaging about reconstituted or added elements or ions, but I have always heard from my local fish gurus that it does indeed contain many beneficial elements and ions thereof. I mean, I only have to buffer pH once when I do water changes, and thats only because I have a lot of die-back and ammonia from my live rock (and perhaps a missing fish ) making the pH drop. If its complete enough to stabilize pH-wise right in the bucket, then it has to be good stuff.
I believe iodine is fairly essential, and that whatever amount present in the source of water you are using is either inconsequential (as in tap water) or non-existent (as in RO or purified drinking water). I use just that reef plus stuff, with just the amount that it has, and I have seen the results. Soft corals and mushrooms, among others, Im fairly sure I am safe in saying do require it in terms of overall health and propagation.
Basically what Im saying is find yourself a good, amino acid and vitamin supplement that just happens to contain iodine in it, and dose about half as often, if not less, as the manufacturer suggests, and then forget about it. Youll never really have a problem with excess iodine, since iodine is a chemical or element that is easily and quickly used or absorded by many forms of aquatic life, from invert to fish, and things like protein skimmers or aggressive chemical filtration tend to strip the water of many such substances. I really dont think you have to even bother testing; why add more work to something that costs a lot of time and energy and money already? :wink:

 

[fredso2003]

I have a kent aqua-dosing system that I use for my kalk wasser drip,I have recntly added iodine to the drip on a weekly basis. Using about half the recomended dose on the manufacturer's instruction label.Since I have started dosing the iodine 4 weeks ago I have noticed a signifigant increase in growth on both my mushrooms and polyps,I am sure that iodine is one chemical that is depleted rather quickly with a skimmer running and by other filtration methods.I dont know about anybody else here at reefs.org but IMO iodine is a great chemical additive with proven results in my reef tank! 8)

PS.-I use the red sea brand.

 

[Anonymous]

i add iodine every few weeks..just to stimulate molting in my shrimp and crabs...iodine serves many purposes for most lifeforms in a reef..However, regular water changes will replace stuff like iodine...but yes, most synthetic salts replace trace elements to include iodine....honestly iodine isnt gonna increase the growth by exponential factors..its like the "cure all" elixirs of the late 1800s...Most of those never did a damn thing for anyone...

 

[investigator1]

You decide:

Article 1)

http://advancedaquarist.com/issues/mar2003/chem.htm

Article 2)

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/ ... 3/chem.htm

I have always dosed iodine. But I think I am going to stop until I notice some sort of declination in my soft corals.