Effects of Iodine in SPS?

[Zero1091]

In my experience, I kept a lot of montipora in my tank. It became to what I would consider overstocked with coral. After some time, weekly water changes were not doing it for me anymore. I come to find out after triton results that my iodine was also depleted at 0 after noticing many of my montipora beginning to suffer, loose color and some were dying off. I began dosing iodine and within 1 week noticed color and sps overall health returning, especially noticed return in red colors. Some looked absolutely bleached and returned from the dead. After a month my montipora were back to normal.
In addition, I also sent in results to triton based on what effect a 20% water change did to my system. Results showed it only replaced a very marginal amount of iodine.
Therefore I found that I needed to dose iodine as part of my regimen. I also notice that when dosing concentrated iodine there is significantly more polyp extension within minutes.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

In my experience, I kept a lot of montipora in my tank. It became to what I would consider overstocked with coral. After some time, weekly water changes were not doing it for me anymore. I come to find out after triton results that my iodine was also depleted at 0 after noticing many of my montipora beginning to suffer, loose color and some were dying off. I began dosing iodine and within 1 week noticed color and sps overall health returning, especially noticed return in red colors. Some looked absolutely bleached and returned from the dead. After a month my montipora were back to normal.
In addition, I also sent in results to triton based on what effect a 20% water change did to my system. Results showed it only replaced a very marginal amount of iodine.
Therefore I found that I needed to dose iodine as part of my regimen. I also notice that when dosing concentrated iodine there is significantly more polyp extension within minutes.

what exactly did you dose?

water changes rarely maintain iodine, but I’m more skeptical of a benefit from dosing since many folks see no benefit.

in any case, I’m glad the corals look better!

 

[Shackleton]

Iodine kills microbes, that’s why they use it as a disinfectant on wounds. So won’t dosing a tank with iodine kill beneficial microbes like pods?

 

[Smarkow]

Interesting thread. Red Sea coral colors program doses Iodine to maintain pink coloration in corals. In an above post, a reefer mentioned mdntipora (I presume capricornis) red coloration was improved by iodine supplementation.

I recently got a red Monti cap frag and split it in 3x, placing each piece in a different spot. One low/sheltered, one middle and in direct light, and one middle/sheltered. The middle/sheltered one is a dark orange (like burnt umber oil paint) while the other two have become pink.

I don't know my Iodine level in the reef tank, however I don't do water changes with any routine frequency, so let's assume it is somewhere along the lines of 0 - 0.06 (I use Red Sea coral pro salt at 35 ppt and check my salinity regularly with a Hanna salinity tester which I calibrate, and which temp adjusts).

I have Brightwell Iodion on hand (ingredients purified water, KI, "Stabilized Iodide" whatever that is...)
It states that 1 mL will raise Iodine in 1 gallon of water by 0.8 ppm. I estimate my water volume to be between 250-315 US gallons accounting for inside dimensions of tank and sump minus rock. Therefore 3 mL will 100% replete 40 gallons of 0.000ppm I seawater -> 24 mL should do it.

So tomorrow when main lights are on I will take photos of the 3 frags, test my Iodine level with a Red Sea kit on hand (not expired), and then add 24 mL regardless of the result. We'll follow for progression. If I don't see results in a week or two I will redose and retest.

Edit: I'll still repost daylight pics tomorrow but here is the late night shots
Shaded middle mounted on a vertical surface

Middle exposed mounted on an angled surface

Low and protected sitting on rubble

 

[Zero1091]

what exactly did you dose?

water changes rarely maintain iodine, but I’m more skeptical of a benefit from dosing since many folks see no benefit.

in any case, I’m glad the corals look better!

I mentioned water changes no longer cutting it because at one point it was but, my tank began depleting it quicker than water changes could return as it became fully stocked.
I dosed lugols Iodine alone at first to see if it made an immediate change and it did, within one week everything began to reverse itself. Nothing else was done.

I then began dosing Reef Plus & Reef Trace to continue adding iodine and other elements regularly. I have not run into the same issue since.

 

[Zero1091]

I saw the most return in red monti caps I have, they were pale.
Although, I had various encrusting aswell which also suffered and paled out and returned to normal.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Iodine kills microbes, that’s why they use it as a disinfectant on wounds. So won’t dosing a tank with iodine kill beneficial microbes like pods?

I2 is a disinfectant, iodide and iodate are not. So the form matters. The dose is not enough to kill big organisms like pods, but might kill some bacteria in the local zone where it is added.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I mentioned water changes no longer cutting it because at one point it was but, my tank began depleting it quicker than water changes could return as it became fully stocked.
I dosed lugols Iodine alone at first to see if it made an immediate change and it did, within one week everything began to reverse itself. Nothing else was done.

I then began dosing Reef Plus & Reef Trace to continue adding iodine and other elements regularly. I have not run into the same issue since.

The reason I asked related to the form of iodine used. Folks think Lugols is just an iodine supplement, but it has I2 in it, and can impact many things unrelated to iodine. For example, it is a disinfectant and an oxidizer that might impact organic toxins and trace metal bioavailability.

 

[Smarkow]

The reason I asked related to the form of iodine used. Folks think Lugols is just an iodine supplement, but it has I2 in it, and can impact many things unrelated to iodine. For example, it is a disinfectant and an oxidizer that might impact organic toxins and trace metal bioavailability.

By this do you mean breaking up chelated metals/cofactors?
Would you expect it to have an appreciable effect on water clarity like H2O2 or ozone?
Thanks

 

[Anchor]

The reason I asked related to the form of iodine used. Folks think Lugols is just an iodine supplement, but it has I2 in it, and can impact many things unrelated to iodine. For example, it is a disinfectant and an oxidizer that might impact organic toxins and trace metal bioavailability.

So at really low levels, would not iodine react with metals to form Iodoorganics, KI, etc? And at such low levels would you think it would actually deplete, in any appreciable way, the metals in the system?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The different oxidation states of metals such as ferric iron Fe+++ and ferrous iron Fe++ have very different solubilities and bioavailability. I2 is a oxidizer that can convert more reduced to more oxidized forms of some trace elements.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

So at really low levels, would not iodine react with metals to form Iodoorganics, KI, etc? And at such low levels would you think it would actually deplete, in any appreciable way, the metals in the system?

I don’t know, but there is way more iodine in seawater than any trace element. So the potential is there.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Would you expect it to have an appreciable effect on water clarity like H2O2 or ozone?
Thanks

you’d likely need to add much more than normal to have that effect.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The reaction of ferrous iron with I2 to make ferric iron has been known for nearly a hundred years:

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ac50073a039

 

[Reefnoobz90]

figured i'd chime in, I got my ICP-OES test back and everything was good except iodine. So i figured i'd try to get the level up. I dosed Nyos Active Iodine because it was available. It includes a ton of other elements which aren't all listed so I'm a little curious about that but it's been 2 weeks now and really the only difference I notice is my acans are plumper, like way more than normal. I've always struggled keeping them happy, and they were always just kinda slightly closed up but now they are big and plump.

not saying it's the iodine because there's also fluorine, boron, molybdenum and "Other things" but whatever it is i'm going to keep dosing weekly and see where it takes me. And get another ICP test in a month or so to see where i'm at. I'm dosing about 50% of the recommended.

 

[ELChingonsReef]

Is seachem iodide the product to use for iodide? What's the difference between iodine and iodide? Or are they the same?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Is seachem iodide the product to use for iodide? What's the difference between iodine and iodide? Or are they the same?

"Iodine" is the atom I. It can take many different chemical forms.

Iodide is one specific form, I-.

Iodate, IO3-, is another chemical form, and is the main one in seawater, but not believed to be the bioavailable form (which is I-).

Iodine is also sometimes used to mean another chemical form, I2, which is part of Lugols solution. It is not present at substantial concentrations in seawater, and is reactive.

Seachem Reef iodide contains I-, and is a fine one to dose to see if it is useful for you.

 

[ELChingonsReef]

"Iodine" is the atom I. It can take many different chemical forms.

Iodide is one specific form, I-.

Iodate, IO3-, is another chemical form, and is the main one in seawater, but not believed to be the bioavailable form (which is I-).

Iodine is also sometimes used to mean another chemical form, I2, which is part of Lugols solution. It is not present at substantial concentrations in seawater, and is reactive.

Seachem Reef iodide contains I-, and is a fine one to dose to see if it is useful for you.

Will it help bleached corals recover?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Will it help bleached corals recover?

IMO, it does nothing useful, but others think it helps some corals look better or grow better. Not sure I've seen folks claim it helps with bleached corals. It doesn't hurt to try, if you have a measurement suggesting it may be low.

 

[Anxur]

Interesting thread. Red Sea coral colors program doses Iodine to maintain pink coloration in corals. In an above post, a reefer mentioned mdntipora (I presume capricornis) red coloration was improved by iodine supplementation.

I recently got a red Monti cap frag and split it in 3x, placing each piece in a different spot. One low/sheltered, one middle and in direct light, and one middle/sheltered. The middle/sheltered one is a dark orange (like burnt umber oil paint) while the other two have become pink.

I don't know my Iodine level in the reef tank, however I don't do water changes with any routine frequency, so let's assume it is somewhere along the lines of 0 - 0.06 (I use Red Sea coral pro salt at 35 ppt and check my salinity regularly with a Hanna salinity tester which I calibrate, and which temp adjusts).

I have Brightwell Iodion on hand (ingredients purified water, KI, "Stabilized Iodide" whatever that is...)
It states that 1 mL will raise Iodine in 1 gallon of water by 0.8 ppm. I estimate my water volume to be between 250-315 US gallons accounting for inside dimensions of tank and sump minus rock. Therefore 3 mL will 100% replete 40 gallons of 0.000ppm I seawater -> 24 mL should do it.

So tomorrow when main lights are on I will take photos of the 3 frags, test my Iodine level with a Red Sea kit on hand (not expired), and then add 24 mL regardless of the result. We'll follow for progression. If I don't see results in a week or two I will redose and retest.

Edit: I'll still repost daylight pics tomorrow but here is the late night shots
Shaded middle mounted on a vertical surface

Middle exposed mounted on an angled surface

Low and protected sitting on rubble

At the end what did you see? To dose iodine has a real effect on sps color?