Iodine and its importance - IMO

Z

zoa_king

For a while I have struggled with the easiest of the corals – mushrooms and zoas…Everytime I would get water tested – everything is perfect. Perfect salinity, ph, calcium, carbonate…undetectable nitrate, phosphate….new bulbs. Tried all positions in the tank, different levels of flow (lower flow for these helps), fresh water dips (to kill if there are parasites). You name it.

One thing that I had not tested so far was iodine. Finally I invested in iodine test kit and viola….or bingo…

Discovery – Iodine deficiency inspite of regular water change (15% every two weeks).

Started dosing iodine…zoas started opening, mushrooms started to open up to four times the size it was opening before and multiplying. I was glad I saved by gorgeous amazon zoa colony but not before it was ¼ the original size.

The next question is what is going on here…why is the iodine depleting. I will still reserve the final feedback. I will give some more time but it is not the carbon. It is not the skimmer. I think (with 90% certainty) it is the refugium. It is sucking iodine down to zero every single day.

For now, I have removed the macros completely out of the system. Iodine is holding much better. It is the second week. Everything seems to thriving. Will keep everyone posted.
 
I can tell you for certain there is not a consumer test kit on the market that adequately test for iodine, iodate, and iodide. That is coming from the man who a few years ago was in charge of water quality at the Shedd Aqaurium in Chicago. He told me that even the Shedd with it's water testing ability can not really get a true reading of iodine, iodate, and iodide.
And while I am not going to argue that iodine or whichever form it may be in your aquarium is not important to some and maybe all life in the aquarium. You have to very very careful about adding it, because it can take one of three forms and you can not test for it and know that you have the right amounts or not. By doing regular water changes with a good salt you should keep your iodine, iodate, or iodide levels at a fairly good level.

The following links are two articles part 1 and part 2 written by Randy Holmes Farley written for Reef Central. I hope you will take the time to read them.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/mar2003/chem.htm
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/april2003/chem.htm
 
Thanks Rick. Those are some great articles. There are two things I am sure about:
- after I have started dosing iodine (1/3 of recommended dose), my zoas have started to open up and the mushrooms are not shriveled.
- One month after starting to dose I removed the macroalgae. After I have removed Caulerpa, the test kit shows around 0.04 ppm. Before that, I would dose everyday and by next day, it would read 0. I am putting Chaeto instead and keep it heavily trimmed.
 
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