diy iron and manganese supplement

[Miami Reef]

@Randy Holmes-Farley

I recently had an ICP analysis done by Oceamo MS. Everything looked fine except iodine looked pretty low.

One thing I will note is that this ICP took at least 2 weeks to get the results. Do you think it’s worth trying an iodide supplement?

I have been doing frequent water changes before sending out these results. I still change water weekly (15%), however, I am considering lowering that to 15% twice a month.

I tried attaching the PDF of the full ICP results. Let me know if you have issues opening that PDF. Thank you in advance.

 

[gbroadbridge]

@Randy Holmes-Farley

I recently had an ICP analysis done by Oceamo MS. Everything looked fine except iodine looked pretty low.

One thing I will note is that this ICP took at least 2 weeks to get the results. Do you think it’s worth trying an iodide supplement?

I have been doing frequent water changes before sending out these results. I still change water weekly (15%), however, I am considering lowering that to 15% twice a month.

I tried attaching the PDF of the full ICP results. Let me know if you have issues opening that PDF. Thank you in advance.

Honestly, I'd say it's not worth the trouble if you do water changes.

I add a tiny amount every now and then as I have an old bottle of seachem reef iodide and don't change water that often. I won't be replacing the bottle.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I think experimenting with iodide dosing is a fine plan. Results seem mixed when folks do and I’m not sure why, but it is relatively easy and inexpensive. I’d recommend iodide over iodate or Lugols.

 

[Miami Reef]

I think experimenting with iodide dosing is a fine plan. Results seem mixed when folks do and I’m not sure why, but it is relatively easy and inexpensive. I’d recommend iodide over iodate or Lugols.

Can I use this?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Can I use this?

Yes. I’d dissolve it in ro/di and let any solids settle out and not use, although they are no big deal if the get to the tank.

 

[Miami Reef]

Yes. I’d dissolve it in ro/di and let any solids settle out and not use, although they are no big deal if the get to the tank.

Thank you.

I want to follow this recipe:

Potassium iodide is 77% iodine by weight.

If you target 0.02 ppm to dose, then you will want to add 0.02 mg iodide per liter of aquarium water.

That means dosing 0.025 mg of the KI per liter or 2.5 mg/100 L of aquarium water.

You won't likely be able to weight that small of an amount, so make a stock dosing solution.

Dissolve 1 g KI in 1 L RO/DI. That solution contains 1 mg KI per mL.

So 2.5 mL of that solution added per 100 L of aquarium water will boost iodine by 0.02 ppm.

I think you can dose this at least a couple of times a week in a typical tank.

That all said, I'm also not of the opinion that iodine dosing is useful for most reef tanks.

I don’t really want to dose it a few times a week. I just wanted to boost my levels to 50ug/L (the lower range of the ICP) one time to see if there is an effect to my Goniopora corals.

Your dosing instructions is for 0.02ppm.

What is larger, a 36.7ug/L (the difference of my current levels to 50ug/L) increase or a 0.02ppm increase?


Nevermind, I found the answer by using google:

I will follow your instructions because the dose is very similar to what I’m trying to achieve.

 

[gbroadbridge]

I don’t really want to dose it a few times a week. I just wanted to boost my levels to 50ug/L (the lower range of the ICP) one time to see if there is an effect to my Goniopora corals.

I'll be interested too, as I found Manganese supplementation had a visible impact on my Gonis, but I didn't
perform an isolated experiment with Iodine.

The Iodine level in my tank has never measured zero on any ICP so perhaps a severe deficiency may have an impact on them.

 

[Miami Reef]

I'll be interested too, as I found Manganese supplementation had a visible impact on my Gonis, but I didn't
perform an isolated experiment with Iodine.

The Iodine level in my tank has never measured zero on any ICP so perhaps a severe deficiency may have an impact on them.

I followed all the advice with the Goniopora: I’ve fed them phyto, multiple powdered foods from the market (Reef Chili, Goniopower, Benepers, dosed iron, manganese, tried higher nutrients, tried lower nutrients.

The lighting is the exact same when they used to thrive. Lighting will be the last thing I mess with. Flow is just fine for them. Not too strong, not too weak.

I stopped dosing trace elements because I didn’t notice any improvement with manganese, iron, nor tropic Marin K+. Even with higher doses to the point where iron and manganese showed detectable on an ICP test (look above to see).

I really really want to experiment with iodine. If this doesn’t work, then I will just give up on Goniopora. I don’t know what else I can do. Not all Goniopora are struggling. In fact some seem to be slightly perking up with the feedings, but one (my favorite one of all) is still tightly closed.


One thing’s for sure: I’m very persistent.

 

[Miami Reef]

Just dosed it.

 

[gbroadbridge]

Just dosed it.

I just ordered exactly the same product, so if we dose the same amounts, lets compare notes

Should be here Saturday.

First time ever Amazon Australia has an identical product as Amazon US.

 

[Miami Reef]

I just ordered exactly the same product, so if we dose the same amounts, lets compare notes

Should be here Saturday.

First time ever Amazon Australia has an identical product as Amazon US.

Those pills took a while to disintegrate in the RO/DI. I used my magnetic stirrer, but it still took over 30 min with constant stirring to dissolve the pills. It left a white precipitate of what I assume to be silicone dioxide. I only dosed the clear portion at the top after letting the solids settle out.

If you dose the seachem product, I’m not sure if you’d see much difference with the DIY. Both are potassium iodide.

I don’t know if iodide will help my Goniopora. I’m just throwing the kitchen sink (I love that idiom) at the Goniopora. They seemingly went downhill around November 2023. They are all having very similar symptoms, too. At least 3 developed a patch of dead Skelton.

I just hope I can figure out this problem. All other corals (including acropora) are doing really good.

 

[Miami Reef]

Edit

 

[gbroadbridge]

Those pills took a while to disintegrate in the RO/DI. I used my magnetic stirrer, but it still took over 30 min with constant stirring to dissolve the pills. It left a white precipitate of what I assume to be silicone dioxide. I only dosed the clear portion at the top after letting the solids settle out.

If you dose the seachem product, I’m not sure if you’d see much difference with the DIY. Both are potassium iodide.

I don’t know if iodide will help my Goniopora. I’m just throwing the kitchen sink (I love that idiom) at the Goniopora. They seemingly went downhill around November 2023. They are all having very similar symptoms, too. At least 3 developed a patch of dead Skelton.

I just hope I can figure out this problem. All other corals (including acropora) are doing really good.

Thanks.

I currently only add about 10ml of the Seachem product once a month or so (90 gal system which consumes about 2.5dkh a day), so the dose is pretty insignificant. I only do water changes once a month as well (10%).

I'll dose as you do and see what, if any, changes happen. Could be interesting

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Those pills took a while to disintegrate in the RO/DI. I used my magnetic stirrer, but it still took over 30 min with constant stirring to dissolve the pills. It left a white precipitate of what I assume to be silicone dioxide. I only dosed the clear portion at the top after letting the solids settle out.

If you dose the seachem product, I’m not sure if you’d see much difference with the DIY. Both are potassium iodide.

I don’t know if iodide will help my Goniopora. I’m just throwing the kitchen sink (I love that idiom) at the Goniopora. They seemingly went downhill around November 2023. They are all having very similar symptoms, too. At least 3 developed a patch of dead Skelton.

I just hope I can figure out this problem. All other corals (including acropora) are doing really good.

The pills may be designed to disintegrate in stomach acid so the ro/di may take a lot longer than in your stomach. The fda has rules about how fast tablets and capsules should open. They use pH 1 (0.1 N) HCl in such tests:

https://www.fda.gov/media/92988/download

 

[tom66645]

Yes.

Is it ok to mix manganese sulfate and iron sulfate solutions together?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Is it ok to mix manganese sulfate and iron sulfate solutions together?

Which products exactly? those elements come in different oxidation states that may react, and I’m not as much of a fan of iron not bound to an organic.

 

[tom66645]

Which products exactly? those elements come in different oxidation states that may react, and I’m not as much of a fan of iron not bound to an organic.

I made my own solutions from the sulfates of each. Keeping in their own bottles, just wasn't sure if they could be mixed. I saw your recent article about dosing those- after reading your articles for many years, I wouldn't bother if you didn't recommend it!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I made my own solutions from the sulfates of each. Keeping in their own bottles, just wasn't sure if they could be mixed. I saw your recent article about dosing those- after reading your articles for many years, I wouldn't bother if you didn't recommend it!

Is the iron ferrous or ferric?

 

[tom66645]

Is the iron ferrous or ferric?

Ferrous

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Ferrous

My concern with mixing may be a redox reaction that makes it into ferric that is much less soluble.

What form of manganese?