Edgecrusher28
Active Member
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
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
