Help CRAZY high iodine levels 3000+

[Chriscorals]

I have a roughly

two and a half year old 200 gallon system for the first two years I did minimal dosing and my normal water changes towards the end of the two years I started to dose Isol8 MT. After still not being quite satisfied with how my corals look I decided to switch to the reef Moonshiner program I did my first test a month ago and it came back with high iodine levels 2200 and I figured it was coming from the iso8 MT (stopped doing PRIOR to MY first test) so I figured by my second test I would see the numbers come down at least a little bit instead they have creased to over 3,000 and I have no idea why I'm only dosing ESV be iconic alkalinity and calcium as well as the recommended reef moonshining elements. Can y'all think of anything else that might be causing my iodine to increase drastically

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Do you have high phosphate? High phosphate can give a false high iodine reading by ICP-OES that is not reality. A number of folks have apparently had this issue.

 

[Chriscorals]

Do you have high phosphate? High phosphate can give a false high iodine reading by ICP-OES that is not reality. A number of folks have apparently had this issue.

My Phosphates are actually low. 0.010

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

My Phosphates are actually low. 0.010

By their test, or yours?

Was this your first ICP test?

I don't expect the iodine is real. I'd suggest getting an ICP test by Oceamo before doing anything about it.

 

[Chriscorals]

My first test was a basic ati test, this second one was the MC from moonshine, so it was indeed the Oceamo lab test. Im being told that the ESV bIonic i use for alk and cal maybe the source for the high iodine but i feel like that cant be right since my numbers are SO high...then again ive been using it for quite some time now.

 

[KrisReef]

Spike some clean- fresh mixed salt water with your additives and see if that is the source!
Crazy numbers on four different things is worrisome.

 

[taricha]

So we have ICP's from two different vendors: top is ATI and bottom is Oceamo.

With a low PO4, and those results I'd be pretty confident there is a bunch of Iodine there. We can't say if the 2200ppb and the 3200ppb actually represents an increase, since they are different companies with different measurement calibrations etc - but the basics are that Iodine is very high.
It'll take you forever and a zillion dollars to ICP test all your inputs/additives/sources.
Get a Red Sea Iodine kit. Check the basics. RODI + new salt mix. Then the additives you suspect (mix up an appropriate amount in a gallon or so of saltwater.)
You are looking for a huge amount. Don't worry about finely interpreting colors like whether you get 0.04 or 0.06ppm etc. You are looking for something off the charts that will decolorize the test VERY fast.
That's how I'd proceed, anyway.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

My first test was a basic ati test, this second one was the MC from moonshine, so it was indeed the Oceamo lab test. Im being told that the ESV bIonic i use for alk and cal maybe the source for the high iodine but i feel like that cant be right since my numbers are SO high...then again ive been using it for quite some time now.

ESV is not the source, unless it was manufactured incorrectly.

 

[Moe K]

I had the same issue with Isol8 MT. I got to 10x the safe limit. It took a long while for it to come down too even after a lot of water changes. Not sure why. I ended up making my own isol8 mt with only 10% the iodine per Captiv8's recommendation.

 

[ELChingonsReef]

Do you have high phosphate? High phosphate can give a false high iodine reading by ICP-OES that is not reality. A number of folks have apparently had this issue.

Hey randy. I'm having a really high iodine result from ATI as well. It's at 135 ugl . It was 175 ugl . It has come down. I have lost some sps corals. I also found a couple of rusty magnets in my sump as well. I'm sure that contributed to my coral losses. My question is. Can iodine bind to other things in the system like sand or live rock. I've done huge water changes over the past few weeks. I've probably changed out all the original water from when my iodine was higher. Still the iodine is not low enough. How can I reduce the iodine levels faster? I would like to get my iodine levels back to normal as quickly as possible before I loose anymore sps. My sps turned dark brown almost green in color.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Those levels are not super high. Seawater is about 60 ug/L, and double or triple that would not concern me. I’d look for other reasons for coral loss, such as metals from the magnets.

As to the actual question about lowering, I think biological consumption (such as by macroalgae) or water changes are the only ways I know of to reduce it. I don’t think it binds significantly to anything in our aquaria.

 

[ELChingonsReef]

Thank you for your response. I agree. The rusty magnets I found im sure were the problem. I also did something I should not have. I made a DIY food in a Mason jar with a metal lid. I stored it in the refrigerator for a week until I realized the metal lid was rusty. My own stupidity. I also somehow overdosed molybdenum . Molybdenum levels are 56.89 ugl they should be 12ugl . Those are the only things I can think of that would cause my corals to bleach and die. It's strange because I have a large jason fox jolt colony that bleached and another large jason fox homewrecker colony that is doing well. If I had a pathogen or bacterial issue they probably would all be dying, not just a select few colonys. Do you think high molybdenum would cause this problem?

 

[ELChingonsReef]

Those levels are not super high. Seawater is about 60 ug/L, and double or triple that would not concern me. I’d look for other reasons for coral loss, such as metals from the magnets.

As to the actual question about lowering, I think biological consumption (such as by macroalgae) or water changes are the only ways I know of to reduce it. I don’t think it binds significantly to anything in our aquaria.

TIN is at 142 ugl I should have mentioned that in my response earlier