can you have too much Iodine?

[shabreeson]

I'm suplementing my tank with it because I hear that it improves LR

 

[AIMFish]

I'm sure it can so be careful. A good rule is watch, or don't, dose what you can't test for.

 

[shabreeson]

I can test for it but it's kinda a pain, mixing powders in distiled water and what not.

 

[HippieSmell]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11977162#post11977162 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by shabreeson
I can test for it but it's kinda a pain, mixing powders in distiled water and what not.

Yeah, sounds tough :/ What in the world are you doing with a reef tank? They're nothing BUT a pain!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I do not believe that measuring or dosing supplemental iodine is useful for any organisms that we normally keep, despite years of hobbyists being sold products that claim to be beneficial.

I used it for years, then stopped. Nothing changed. Same has been repeated by many reefers.

Also, there are very, very few organisms that we keep that have a known use for iodine.

These articles have more:

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/issues/april2003/chem.htm

 

[AquaReeferMan]

IMO its pointless to dose iodine. If you are doing regular water changes it gets replenished. I have never dosed iodine and dont see any reason to do so.

 

[ACBlinky]

Too much iodine can be harmful to inverts -- when I started in the hobby, I was told that I must, must, MUST add iodine if I wanted to keep Xenia. I dosed according to the bottle (Kent Tech.I), but never tested the water. I couldn't figure out why my cleaner shrimp moulted constantly and always came out with curly antennae and was often missing limbs. I smartened up after doing some reading on the subject, stopped adding iodine, and the shrimp went back to moulting every month or two and regrew all her missing/misshapen parts. From what I read, it seems that shrimp and other inverts will moult excessively if there are high levels of certain chemicals, including iodine, in the water. Moulting hastily or too frequently can result in missing limbs or antennae, and may even kill them.

 

[JamesJR]

Not to mention that potassium iodide or the Iodine (I2) are not the species of iodine that are naturally found in sea water (its iodate, io3-). Iodine chemistry is not simple by any means. Also, there are relatively few naturally occuring compounds with iodine in them. best not to dose it.