Dosing Lugols iodine

[Fishinwall]

Randy or @twilliard
Here are my Triton results regarding iodine. I picked up some Brightwell
Lugols.

Based on the attached results, how do I dose for my 65-70gal tank?
How much is in one drop from the dropper?

Thanks for your help.

 

[twilliard]

Those corrections are for straight iodine.
Now not sure about the brightwell if there is anything other than iodine.
What does the bottle say?
If it says just iodine then use a syringe for dosing correction.

 

[Fishinwall]

http://brightwellaquatics.com/products/lugolst.php
Info under technical info.
Ingredients
Purified water, Potassium Iodide, Iodine

I'm going to need help converting, if you can.

 

[twilliard]

Ya Randy will be more help on the conversions of this one as iodine can be used wrong with negative results.

 

[Triggreef]

Very negative result. As in everything is dead.

 

[JimWelsh]

Eschew Lugol's for dosing. Use just potassium iodide instead.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I'm not convinced that dosing iodine in any form is useful, and I do not dose any, despite dosing iodide for many years. When I stopped, I saw no changes, and many people have had similar experiences.

Lugol's has a specific chemical concentration, so presumably Brightwell makes it per the standard, from which we could calculate a dose, but they actually give dose directions on their web site. I also agree that potassium or sodium iodide is a bit better way to go if you choose to dose iodine. That said, many people use it.

Brightwell says " Each ml of Brightwell Aquatics Lugol’s will increase the concentration of iodine (“”) in 1 US-gallon (3.785 L) of water by 34 ppm, or approximately 1.7 ppm per drop"

http://brightwellaquatics.com/products/lugolst.php

So if you want to boost iodine by 0.06 ppm in 70 gallons, you'd add about (0.06/1.7) *70 = 2.5 drops.

I'd add that about once a week.

 

[Fishinwall]

I'm not convinced that dosing iodine in any form is useful, and I do not dose any, despite dosing iodide for many years. When I stopped, I saw no changes, and many people have had similar experiences.

Lugol's has a specific chemical concentration, so presumably Brightwell makes it per the standard, from which we could calculate a dose, but they actually give dose directions on their web site. I also agree that potassium or sodium iodide is a bit better way to go if you choose to dose iodine. That said, many people use it.

Brightwell says " Each ml of Brightwell Aquatics Lugol’s will increase the concentration of iodine (“”) in 1 US-gallon (3.785 L) of water by 34 ppm, or approximately 1.7 ppm per drop"

http://brightwellaquatics.com/products/lugolst.php

So if you want to boost iodine by 0.06 ppm in 70 gallons, you'd add about (0.06/1.7) *70 = 2.5 drops.

I'd add that about once a week.

Thanks Randy, but now you have me reconsidering. I just thought that if I'm doing Triton, then perhaps I should try to keep the numbers in range, but maybe I'll just wait until my next test in a few months and see if changes.

In the meantime should I use the brightwell lugols as a dip? What's the recipe?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

IMO, it is fine to try it for yourself and see if it helps, but keep in mind that Lugols isn't only adding natural forms of iodine, it adds I2 which is a reactive, unnatural form.

Iodine depletes rapidly since algae take it up.

I discuss it here:

Iodine in Marine Aquaria: Part I
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/mar2003/chem.htm

Iodine in Reef Tanks 2: Effects on Macroalgae Growth
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/4/chemistry

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I've never used Lugols as a dip and I'm not sure what the recipe is, but I don't know of a reason to not use it that way.

 

[1stNoel]

What is Lugol's used for?

I bought some equipment from someone that was tearing down his tank, and he threw in a box full of goodies (full bottles of Ca, Alk, & Mg, Phosphat-E, Activated Carbon, GFO, etc.) Part of the goodies was a bottle of Lugol's.

I've read that it can be used to help some corals that have shrunk/recessed trying to guard it's zooanthellae from too much light. I have some LPS that's exhibiting that behavior under my new Kessils, and was wondering if Lugol's will aid in getting them to open back up.

Please advise. Thanks!

 

[Triggreef]

Thanks Randy, but now you have me reconsidering. I just thought that if I'm doing Triton, then perhaps I should try to keep the numbers in range, but maybe I'll just wait until my next test in a few months and see if changes.

In the meantime should I use the brightwell lugols as a dip? What's the recipe?

If your dosing triton per their instruction then iodine should stay in range. Unless a test reveals its non existent, then I wouldn't dose any extra.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

What is Lugol's used for?

I bought some equipment from someone that was tearing down his tank, and he threw in a box full of goodies (full bottles of Ca, Alk, & Mg, Phosphat-E, Activated Carbon, GFO, etc.) Part of the goodies was a bottle of Lugol's.

I've read that it can be used to help some corals that have shrunk/recessed trying to guard it's zooanthellae from too much light. I have some LPS that's exhibiting that behavior under my new Kessils, and was wondering if Lugol's will aid in getting them to open back up.

Please advise. Thanks!

It can be an iodine supplement, and sometimes an antibacterial dip at higher concentration.

FWIW, I don't generally think that iodine is a useful supplement, but some people do. I doubt it will help, but it also won't hurt to try small amounts.

 

[Fishinwall]

If your dosing triton per their instruction then iodine should stay in range. Unless a test reveals its non existent, then I wouldn't dose any extra.

It was my Triton test that said it was low.

 

[Rakie]

IMO, it is fine to try it for yourself and see if it helps, but keep in mind that Lugols isn't only adding natural forms of iodine, it adds I2 which is a reactive, unnatural form.

Iodine depletes rapidly since algae take it up.

@Randy Holmes-Farley -- Assuming that Algae's outcompete some species of dinoflagellates, does that mean Lugol's or Iodine may help battle Dinos?

Part of what I used to stave off dinos was trying to allow algae (macro and basic green algae) to outcompete it.. This makes me wonder if iodine would have also helped.


Note: I also absolutely destroyed my dinos (Ostreopsis Heptagona) with Metronidazole when they returned. I too hastily made a water change and boom, it was like they never went away. Metro doesn't work for everyone or all species of Dinos, but it nuked mine pretty soundly.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

It might. I didn't find it my testing that macroalgae grew significantly faster, but I only tested two species (chaeto and caulerpa) for the effect of iodide on growth. It might just be used to make the tissue less palatable to herbivores (same for bromide), or it might be incorporated into other molecules by "accident" (the various halogens look rather similar).

 

[BigJohnny]

I've used lugols iodine in a dip to successfully heal some euphyllia that looked like they were about to "eject" polyps due to what I was told was bacterial infection by an expert in euphyllia. Worked like a charm. Besides that I've never used it but I do know some people dose it in tanks and some high end sps tanks swear by it. WWC uses it and so do a few guys I've seen with tanks who rival theirs. Having said that, I agree with randy in that there really is no proof it does anything and I'm pretty sure those tanks would be that nice regardless. they could stop and be fine.

But..........I may try dosing it on my new build lol

 

[rosshamsandwich]

thanks Randy!

 

[Scott Campbell]

It has always struck me as odd to say Iodine both gets used up rapidly and does nothing.

Even if Iodine is only being used by algae (which seems unlikely honestly), I wouldn't want algae export to be limited by iodine. Which is the same reason people dose iron. I'm also not sure why it would necessarily be relevant that dosing iodine doesn't increase algae growth. I'm not sure dosing iron necessarily increases algae growth. Dosing iron or iodine might increase growth if one or both were a limiting factor on algae growth. But assuming algae has sufficient access to iodine, it seems reasonable to think adding more than needed wouldn't help growth rates in any fashion.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

It has always struck me as odd to say Iodine both gets used up rapidly and does nothing.

Even if Iodine is only being used by algae (which seems unlikely honestly), I wouldn't want algae export to be limited by iodine. Which is the same reason people dose iron. I'm also not sure why it would necessarily be relevant that dosing iodine doesn't increase algae growth. I'm not sure dosing iron necessarily increases algae growth. Dosing iron or iodine might increase growth if one or both were a limiting factor on algae growth. But assuming algae has sufficient access to iodine, it seems reasonable to think adding more than needed wouldn't help growth rates in any fashion.

1. It does not appear to be growth limiting in tests I have carefully done or in the scientific literature:

Chemistry And The Aquarium: Iodine In Reef Tanks 2: Effects On Macroalgae Growth ? Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/april2003/chem.htm

here in very recent scientific literature:

Iodine balance, growth and biochemical composition of three marine microalgae cultured under various inorganic iodine concentrations
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00227-016-2884-0

"However, the role of iodine in the metabolism of marine microalgae has hardly been studied and whether iodine is an element required for growth is not known."

"We conclude that although iodine is clearly taken up from the external medium and it is transformed by microalgae, it seems unlikely that it is an element required for growth or that it plays an essential role in microalgal metabolism."


2. There are many reasons why iodine might be taken up and not actually be useful in a reef tank. One is if the function is to make the macrolagae unpalatable to herbivorous fish. That could even be a disadvantage if you want fish to keep it under control.

Examples in the scientific literature:

Ecology of chemical defenses of algae against the herbivorous snail, Littorina littorea, in the New England rocky intertidal community
https://darchive.mblwhoilibrary.org/handle/1912/1688

"The release into seawater of volatile hydrocarbons and halomethanes from benthic algae and seagrass was measured to examine the possible role of these compounds as antiherbivore compounds. Bioassays indicated that CH2I2, a compound released into seawater from C. fragile, inhibited feeding of L. littorea."

3. A second reason it may be taken up and not useful is that the organism is actually intending to take up and use the much more common bromide ion into organic molecules, but since iodide looks a lot like bromide and is more chemically active, it gets taken up by accident. Since it is present at far, far lower concentrations (0.06 ppm) than bromide (67 ppm), even a tiny bit of accidental incorporation can use up all available iodide