Bad Accident! Help!

[Bruce]

Ray Jay, how often do you do water changes? You might be getting iodine from them. That is very intersting that you were able to keep corals for an extented ammount of time without any form of iodine...i would not recommend anyone not to dose all the recommended supplements. You dont test or add anything...well not testing is just a risky idea...sure you might not have problems...but if you do it will probably be too late to do anything.

[Birdlady]

I agree with Ray, I don't dose iodine either. Only if I cannot get to that water change for too long! LOL! Don't dose if you don't test.

Regular water changes replace iodine sufficiently usually. I also sell my excess xenia to the LFS

Test kits I use,

pH monitor
Alkalinity
Calcium
Magnesium
Ammonia
Nitrite
Nitrate

I have more , but this is the basic list I use regularly

[Bruce]

BIRDLADY YOUR BACK!

Yup, thats what i though. If you are doing water changes then the iodine is probably coming with that

[rayjay]

Well Bruce, around here, very few people dose iodine or trace elements. It woud be a heck of a chore to even find test kits that aren't out of date for the trace elements, if you can find them at all.
Mostly like me, we take care of alk, calcium, magnesium and pH. A lot don't even check magnesium.
For me, I do water changes about every two weeks. i.e. 20g of a 90, 10g of a 40. It has worked well for me now in my 13th year of reefing, 10 tanks on the go.
Around here, the LFS's that count for salt water don't even stock much in the way of these minor elements and iodine and don't push them, although some people buy based on what they read in forums.
For me personally, I adhere to the belief that I need to do water changes to LOWER the trace elements, as I'm added these, including some iodine forms every time I feed the tanks.
Are you aware, that all foods you feed to your tanks have trace elements in them? That is, elements, some iodine forms, and nutrients including the nuisance ones like phosphates. (in addition to the natural phosphates in foods, more is added to the food and to the packaging to aid in preserving the food, just like the foods we eat)
Like cattle, who feed, absorb nutrients and minerals, passing off the unused portions of the nutrients and minerals (trace elements) in their urine and waste. The waste decomposes and replenishes the soil with these nutrients and trace elements, the grasses grow and use them again to be fed to the animals all over again.
In the case of our tanks, the unused elements and nutrients are again passed in the urine and waste of our fish, consumed and passed on through corals, anemones,and smaller life forms, where all eventually pass on the unused portions that are taken up by the water. If left there, micro, macro forms of algae will use it to make headway in our tanks, causing us grief to no end.
A year or so back, RC had hobbyists send in tank water samples that were analysed, showing most with trace elements far exeeding normal salt water levels.
Also, I believe it was Dr Shimek or Randy Holme-Farley that said just because the levels in sea water were at those levels, there was no proof for most elements that those levels were needed by the occupants of the sea.
Randy used to dose iodine, but when he determined there didn't appear to be any justification for it, he hasn't used it since. (search Reef Chemistry forum on RC)
Wish I could learn to say something with just a few words, but at my age I guess that will never happen now.
Happy reefing
Ray

[coral reefer]

They say Iodine helps the Xenia as well as other soft corals. And as far as shrimp and crabs are concerned, the iodine is important to them to aid in molting!!!!!
As far as testing kits, you may want to invest in a refractometer, Strontium and phosphate.

[rayjay]

Originally Posted by coral reefer

They say Iodine helps the Xenia as well as other soft corals. And as far as shrimp and crabs are concerned, the iodine is important to them to aid in molting!!!!!
As far as testing kits, you may want to invest in a refractometer, Strontium and phosphate.

Like I said, I've been reefing now 12 plus years and never dosed iodine in any form and my xenia and corals and shrimp all do just fine.
When someone like Randy Holmes-Farley doesn't use it, that should speak for itself.
I've never dosed strontium either, and nothing has suffered for it.
The only "names" lately that I hear espousing the use of iodine and trace elements are ones like Julian Sprung who have a lot a stake in selling you these items via Two Little Fishes.
As for phosphates, I don't test anymore because I know it's always there even when the test kits show 0 so I work with my tanks accordingly.

[Bruce]

Hmmm Interesting...i always dosed just because...well thats all i ever did. But not i would be 2 scared to stop XD

[rickzter]

Dont let everyone scare you. Iodine is very important and everyone in a coral reef benefits from it; read up, everyone uses Iodine. Just be very careful when dosing and test. Period.

[Bruce]

yup. Things that scare me is when i forget to mark when i dose on the calender and then i go to dose the next time...and i ask myself "wait...when did i dose?"...lol

[reefbuzz]

It's the same debate, different issue. Skimming, do it or don't... even garlic additives have two camps...

I don't dose Iodine either Ray, and my Xenia is pumping and multiplying in all of my tanks. Like you, I also frag it for LFS because it's taking over in my mixed reef with sps and lps corals. I have a harlequin shrimp in that tank as well and he's doubled in size since I got him. It's uncanny that reefers swear by iodine when most haven't tried to stop using it. It's just Xenia... some nitrate, adequate lighting and dissolved oxygen and you've got happy xenia.