Help me understand dosing Iodine and Potassium

[stanleo]

I recently did a Triton ICP test and my results were really good but my Iodine and Potassium was low. Iodine was 22 µg/l and the setpoint is 30 - 90 µg/l. My potassium was 331 mg/l and the setpoint is 380 - 480 mg/l. It gave me recommendations on how to correct it and I bought the product they said to get.

I am nervous about dosing potentially hazardous elements without regular testing myself so I bought Red Sea Trace-Colors Pro test kit. I ran the Iodine test and the reading is 0.03ppm. I have no idea how that correlates to 22 µg/l and so I have no idea what I should dose to raise it up. That is my first problem.

My next question is, should I go ahead and dose what Triton recommends? I did the test on March 3 and I have done a water change since then and I have another water change to do tomorrow.

Or, should I not really worry about it since the Iodine and potassium is not that low and my regular water changes are probably sufficiently replacing trace elements?

Any light you can shed on this would be greatly appreciated.

This is my ICP test results. https://www.triton-lab.de/en/showroom/icp-oes/116435

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

IMO, dosing iodine should be approached as an experiment unless you have a driving goal to match NSW. Many of us dosed it for years and saw no effect when we stopped. IMO, it is not generally useful, but many people dose it and some are convinced it is useful for them.

It is certainly fine to dose the iodine to NSW levels using teh Triton product. The problem is it may deplete in a few days, and unless you do ICP a lot, or get an iodine kit, you won't know how much to dose.

I'd certainly raise the potassium as directed. It may not be needed to spread it out, but I'd raise it over a week or so since it is currently very low.

 

[stanleo]

IMO, dosing iodine should be approached as an experiment unless you have a driving goal to match NSW. Many of us dosed it for years and saw no effect when we stopped. IMO, it is not generally useful, but many people dose it and some are convinced it is useful for them.

It is certainly fine to dose the iodine to NSW levels using teh Triton product. The problem is it may deplete in a few days, and unless you do ICP a lot, or get an iodine kit, you won't know how much to dose.

I'd certainly raise the potassium as directed. It may not be needed to spread it out, but I'd raise it over a week or so since it is currently very low.

Thank you, I might not worry about the iodine but I will do the potassium. I did get an Iodine test kit from Red Sea but it reads it in ppm and the ICP reads it in µg/l. Do you know how I can convert it?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thank you, I might not worry about the iodine but I will do the potassium. I did get an Iodine test kit from Red Sea but it reads it in ppm and the ICP reads it in µg/l. Do you know how I can convert it?

I'm not even sure that the ICP companies are making a distinction between ug/L and ppb, but there is a small difference.

For our purposes here, assume that 1,000 ug/L = 1 mg/L = 1 ppm

0.06 ppm iodine (a NSW value) ~ 60 ug/L

The reason there's a small difference is that 1 liter of tank water does not weigh 1.000 kilogram, but about 1.025 kilograms.

 

[Cory]

I think if something is using iodine, we should try to dose it even though we dont know if its doing any good. But in my experience organisms dont use something unless its for survival purposes and that is likely a benefit to that which uses it.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I think if something is using iodine, we should try to dose it even though we dont know if its doing any good. But in my experience organisms dont use something unless its for survival purposes and that is likely a benefit to that which uses it.

Algae mostly uses it. lol

And some related compounds (bromine and iodine organics) are used as anti-herbivore compounds.

That may not be a "use" that you really want.

In my testing, I didn't see a statistically significant difference in growth or caulerpa or chaetomorpha when supplemented with iodine (as iodide) to NSW levels, compared to when levels were undetectable.

But I also see no drawback to dosing to NSW levels if you are dosing as the iodide form..

 

[Cory]

Algae mostly uses it. lol

And some related compounds (bromine and iodine organics) are used as anti-herbivore compounds.

That may not be a "use" that you really want.

In my testing, I didn't see a statistically significant difference in growth or caulerpa or chaetomorpha when supplemented with iodine (as iodide) to NSW levels, compared to when levels were undetectable.

But I also see no drawback to dosing to NSW levels if you are dosing as the iodide form..

I agree id want herbivores to eat algae more not less! For me I would dose iodine mainly because im not sure if there is a small pathway for bacteria or some other life form that uses it and potentially benefits something else we want up the ecosystem line. Maybe iodine loaded algae actually feed a certain bacteria and they actually are great at feeding corals or pods. I cannot overlook nsw concentrations of iodine when we dont know everything. But i do feed nori and im sure it provides just enough.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I agree id want herbivores to eat algae more not less! For me I would dose iodine mainly because im not sure if there is a small pathway for bacteria or some other life form that uses it and potentially benefits something else we want up the ecosystem line. Maybe iodine loaded algae actually feed a certain bacteria and they actually are great at feeding corals or pods. I cannot overlook nsw concentrations of iodine when we dont know everything. But i do feed nori and im sure it provides just enough.

That's certainly a fine plan that I cannot argue against.

 

[stanleo]

IMO, dosing iodine should be approached as an experiment unless you have a driving goal to match NSW. Many of us dosed it for years and saw no effect when we stopped. IMO, it is not generally useful, but many people dose it and some are convinced it is useful for them.

It is certainly fine to dose the iodine to NSW levels using teh Triton product. The problem is it may deplete in a few days, and unless you do ICP a lot, or get an iodine kit, you won't know how much to dose.

I'd certainly raise the potassium as directed. It may not be needed to spread it out, but I'd raise it over a week or so since it is currently very low.

I did dose the Iodine as the ICP test directed. I figured I had the stuff already and it couldn't hurt.

I am also dosing the potassium as directed as well. The Red Sea kits I got for iodine and potassium weren't far off the ICP results so I am going to test my potassium and iodine weekly and see how it goes. Thank you for your help.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I did dose the Iodine as the ICP test directed. I figured I had the stuff already and it couldn't hurt.

I am also dosing the potassium as directed as well. The Red Sea kits I got for iodine and potassium weren't far off the ICP results so I am going to test my potassium and iodine weekly and see how it goes. Thank you for your help.

Sounds good.

Let us know if you observe any apparent changes in the tank in the next week or so.

Happy Reefing.

 

[blasterman]

I've found iodine dosing beneficial for softies. Especially under low nutrient conditions. Ive grown utter chaos bigger than quarters under iodine dosing. Many paly growers dose it.

It can also promote nuisance algae and it does nothing for SPS. It depletes so fast I don't bother testing it. I just toss a couple drops of lougols in my tank a week.

I've played around with potassium levels ranging from 50 to 400 and not found a difference. Some other SPS keepers claim it improved some colors.

Potassium is highly variable in salt mixes. It *should* be a fraction of the chloride component if they are shooting for NSW levels, but some dont. Changing brands might change this level entirely.

This is again why I am so skeptical about trace elements in salt mixes. If they can't get sodium and potassium levels right why assume they get trace elements right?