Dosing Iodine

Is this necessary? I know it's beneficial for shrimp molting and coral calcification. I'm considering picking up some Lugol's Solution.

 

regular waterchanges should replenish all the iodine your tank requires.

 

What do you consider "regular?" I do approximately 10-15% once a month. Other than the usual additions due to evaporation.

 

I would think that schedule is fine, I try to do 20% myself but only because I usually miss the target date by a week or two

 

a rule I try to follow in this hobby is "don't dose what you cannot test for". The benefits of dosing iodine is up in the air IMO. Some say it's great, some say it can easily lead to a tank crash. I don't dose it & my tank & stock are doing perfect. The best use of it is a dip to eradicate disease/parasites IMO. Stick with the basic ALK/CA/MG dosing & you should be fine.

 

Iodine is a trace element, so if you dose it, you *need* to test it. It doesn't take much for iodine/iodide levels to be considered dangerously high. Having high levels will wipe out inverts and corals in a hurry and do serious damage to fishes as well. I accidentally dumped too much iodide in my tank years ago and it wiped out my entire colony of hermits and snails within the 7 hours I was asleep.

 

Unless I had a planted macroalgae tank or tons of sponges, I wouldn't consider dosing Iodine. I agree with Mojoe, it has it's uses in dipping corals but that's about it. There's enough Iodine in your tank for your inverts to molt without adding more.

 

Also, a soft coral dominated tank requires Iodine dosing, but must be tested for.

 

Iodine can be removed from your tank if you use a protein skimmer or by activated carbon. Iodine is required by soft corals, macro algae, and helps in the development of pigment in SPS corals. A lot depends on the makeup of the synthetic salt mix you use. Synthetic salt mixes vary in the amount of Iodine available in the particular mix. Do you have an indication that your Iodine level is low? Do you know the Iodine level supplemented in your salt mix?

 

I have been known to dose Iodine primarily for soft corals...but only very small amounts...like 2 or 3 drops per 50 gallons...no where near the suggested dosages...the biggest problem I've found is even the Salifert test kits seem to be very inaccurate...I have my water lab tested from time to time and the Iodine readings from the lab never match my own test kit readings.