Dosing iodine

[Pyrocide]

Hello all,

 

I have not had the chance to actually ask anyone this so here goes.

 

I rarely dose.

 

I do a 5g WC on my 29H every sunday, and add a 2 parter CAL/ALK system from C-Balance to my tank every other WC.

 

I make my own salt from Tropic Marin salt. But the fact is that my corals dont have a lot of WHAMMY color.

 

I will be getting a much better light for some of the more photosynthetic corals like my toad stool, but the other i am not sure of the light is the problem or if there isnt enough trace elements in my tank or whatever the cause may be.

 

So what is the consensus of the forum on dosing, say Iodine or amino acids or a complete system like Fuel from AquaVitro.

[lakshwadeep]

No, you don't need to dose iodine. Here's a great article on what should be dosed.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-04/rhf/index.php

[Pyrocide]

that there was an excellent thread.

 

I keep my calcium at about 390-440 but i dont have a test kit to test my magnesium. Is there a trusted brand for testing magnesium?

[cheryl jordan]

Seems as though a lot of people use Kent Marine.

 

I have a 28 gal right now, and I rarely dose and if I do it is with part A/B, but water changes usually takes care of the ca and alk, as well with the trace elements.

 

Remember that a lot of pictures you see on line have been shopped, so you need to be realistic regarding the true colors of corals.

 

I am currently running a 150w 14k mh lighting with a phoenix bulb and that has helped make the color of my corals pop, but there are so many school of thought on lighting and coral color. I have seen some nice colors with some specific T5 HO configurations.

 

Lastly I would never dose iodine in a smaller system, too much room for error with iodine.

 

JM2C

[MikeTR]

I just use my LFS to test mag.. it's not something that's ever been quickly depleted in my system so once every couple months.. just to make sure it's on track. Also good to have them check your alk and calc readings to verify your home test kits.

[Pyrocide]

thanks for the input.

 

A friend of mine has had a huge problem with mag being depleted way too quickly, almost ot the point of nonexistant by the amount of magnesium he doses. He was told that his tank was battling it out between the softies, SPS his LPS and zoos. I dont fully understand how they could battle over one element.

 

He added almost 1k$ in corals one weekend when the problems started, but almost solely sps. a giant basketball sized purple encrusting monti a could of plate montis and some other things of that nature.

 

I guess i am a bit worried about that seeing as how many zoos and softies i have in my tank that are starting to split.

[bird]

I stopped dosing all but iodine. Along with frequent water changes, calcium (in the form of kalkwasser in top off) and magnesium this is all I dose now. I understand iodine helps keep sps from bleaching if too much light or transfer to new system and zoanthids healthy.

Been using TM pro for the last month and it has been helping the color.

I keep magnesium at 1300 and calcium at 450 +/-.

For me it wasn't till I started getting the phosphates down below .05 mg/l that the sps colors came back.

I do dose amino 1 to 2 times a week if I remember.

I know it took some time to get the balance right between keeping bright sps colors and healthy, full zoanthids.