Adding Supplements

Screwtape · Jun 25, 2009

Tank is looking nice!

I personally would just add alkalinity and magnesium tests, those are the most important besides calcium and nitrates IMO for an established tank.

I don't dose anything I don't test for either, just seems too risky. Obviously you have an OK routine down since your tank is looking nice so unless you want to add a bunch more demanding corals or something I don't know if I would change much, although you might be able to save some money on not dosing some of that stuff.

Some things to keep in mind about iodine (the article has some good info about most everything else too).
Reef Aquarium Water Parameters by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

For these reasons, I advise aquarists to NOT try to maintain a specific iodine concentration using supplementation and test kits.
Iodine in the ocean exists in a wide variety of forms, both organic and inorganic, and the iodine cycles between these various compounds are very complex and are still an area of active research. The nature of inorganic iodine in the oceans has been generally known for decades. The two predominate forms are iodate (IO[SIZE=-1]3-[/SIZE]) and iodide (I[SIZE=-1]-[/SIZE]). Together these two iodine species usually add up to about 0.06 ppm total iodine, but the reported values vary by a factor of about two. In surface seawater, iodate usually dominates, with typical values in the range of 0.04 to 0.06 ppm iodine. Likewise, iodide is usually present at lower concentrations, typically 0.01 to 0.02 ppm iodine.
Organic forms of iodine are any in which the iodine atom is covalently attached to a carbon atom, such as methyl iodide, CH[SIZE=-1]3[/SIZE]I. The concentrations of these organic forms (of which there are many different molecules) are only now becoming recognized by oceanographers. In some coastal areas, organic forms can comprise up to 40% of the total iodine, so many previous reports of negligible levels of organoiodine compounds may be incorrect.
The primary organisms in reef aquaria that "use" iodine, at least as far as are known in the scientific literature, are algae (both micro and macro). My experiments with Caulerpa racemosa and Chaetomorpha sp. suggest that iodide additions do not increase the growth rate of these macroalgae, which are commonly used in refugia.
Finally, for those interested in dosing iodine, I suggest that iodide is the most appropriate form for dosing. Iodide is more readily used by some organisms than is iodate, and it is detected by both currently available iodine test kits (Seachem and Salifert).
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Adding Supplements

Screwtape Tonozukai Fairy Wrasse

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Adding Supplements

Screwtape Tonozukai Fairy Wrasse

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