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bprewit
Sun, 11th Jan 2004, 11:49 AM
I have been adding seachem iodide to my 55g tank and testing daily. I try and maintain the level between .06-.08mg/L but I find that I am having to add 2mL of iodide daily just to maintain that level. I even tried the Kent iodine additive with the same results. I do have a few soft corals and dozens of assorted mushrooms so is it possible they are depleting the iodide that quickly? The tank has been up and running for over two years and I do a small water change about once a month. Anyone else have that often?

matt
Sun, 11th Jan 2004, 12:16 PM
I've never added iodine. I've read several articles that discourage it, mostly by Eric Borneman and Ron Shimek. I'd be very careful, and probably a little skeptical of test results. Hobbiest test kits are notoriously inaccurate by lab standards. I'd also find out what NSW levels of iodine are and stay comfortably below that. It's possible, even likely, that your animals are depleting the iodine not because they need it to survive, but because there's some evolutionary benefit to the eco-system that it be removed from the water.

wkopplin
Sun, 11th Jan 2004, 12:38 PM
I also quit dosing iodine as I noticed my leathers were not doing so well and the only thing that changed was the iodine. Test kits all said I was fine, but after I quit dosing, the leathers came right back and have been doing well. Can't say for sure it was the iodine, but it was the most likely suspect.

GaryP
Sun, 11th Jan 2004, 03:24 PM
I read somewhere that iodide is fairly quickly converted to iodate in salt water. I would suspect that your test kit isn't detecting the iodate. For the record I use Lugol's twice a week. I'm not to concerned about overdosing because I have a pretty heavy population of Xenia that just soaks it up.

Gary