Lugols

[GaryP]

In the past I have advised folks to use Lugols as a mean to get good growth of Xenia. I have never used Lugols religiously but have added it occasionally, perhaps once a week or every other week.

I recently ran across this article by Boreman that discusses his bad experiences with using Lugols and I thought I would share with you.

http://www.marshreef.com/modules.php?name=Sections&op=viewarticle&artid=3

Gary

[Tim Marvin]

I had the same type problem with Lugols a while back. That is why I never advise anyone to use it....Thanks for the article, I thought maybe it was just my experience and nobody else.

[Instar]

Makes sense to me. If anthelia are iodine sponges, then dosing every day will fill the sponge sooner or later. Same thing happens with filter media and we change those out. The key is not to add I2 everyday so it remains a "trace" in the system, not a major factor. One drop of lugols in 100 gallons 2x a month is something different. Then, if these rocks and sand beds do what they are acclaimed to do, at what point is the deterioration pathway completed to return raw iodine to the system from the dead and decayed detritus and pods? Should you only use I2 in new sytems now and then and quit it after a year or two? These questions are unanswered by scientific measures. One thing for sure, I don't use vitamins or trace suppliments in my reef anymore, but, its 3 years old now. In the beginning it worked well, but, as time went on and the system matured, it seemed to have less beneficial effect and started looking like it went the other way. I get beneficial results from just doing water changes now and changing carbon once in a while.

[ratboy]

Lugols is strong stuff! Years ago I got ahold of some lab grade KI (potassium iodide) and started adding it for some zenia I recently got. At first the zenia went crazy then after a month or so of regular dosing I woke up one morning to a nuked tank. I had apparently added enough to the point that it acted as an antimicrobial and killed my bio filter. There were no Iodine test kits at the time and I have since relied on water changes for Iodine replacement.