Dosing Help

[RyanMcLaughlin]

I have a 100 gallon tank, 20 gallon sump, and a canister that holds like 5 gallons. I am only dosing Iodine right now since I dont have Magnesium or Ca test kits yet. I am correct to dose for 125 gallons right? Also do I have to dose the water when I do a water change? I am using Kent for all my dosings. It says do it weekly until desired levels are reached. So would I dose the water before or after I change it or not at all?
Thank you,
Ryan

[NewFish3]

First....what are you using for a test kit ???

Why are you dosing with Iodine???? just to do it...Or what.??

What are your tests telling you

[tmz]

I don't think iodine dosing is necessary. Food and salt mix should give you plenty if you do regular water changes. If you feel you have a defficiency be sure to test for iodine levels before dosing it.

[RyanMcLaughlin]

I am dosing Iodine because I read it is good to have if you keep crabs, shrimp, etc. things that molt. Also I read that there are no reliable test kits for Iodine so follow the intstructions very carefully. I am going to use API for Ca and Mg. I havent gotten them yet so I dont know what my readings are.

[NewFish3]

STOP...........Before you start dosing..... get your test kit...Shrimp are hearty & will be fine in your tank.... They are Bottom feeders. & eat left over food & crap on the bottom.

You never want to put chems in your tank unless you have to..

It says that you are a student........ Do you ever ask your teacher for extra homework......Samething here.......dont do..whats not needed

[RyanMcLaughlin]

I thought Iodine was needed. Well I have already dosed my tank 1 time but will stop. I havent dosed calcium or magnesium yet until I get the test kits. Is it true that there arenty any reliable iodine test kits. Or do I just not need to dose it at all. I just want to make sure my crabs are able to molt safely.

[tmz]

When I started I dosed iodine because I read the same things you did. There articles in the reef chemistry forum under articles by Randy holmes Farely. He recommends against dosing iodine.I don't soe it now and have not noticed any difference. My shrimp molt just fine. I have a test kit but don't know wether it's accurate or not.

[RyanMcLaughlin]

Ok well ill stop and see how my crabs molt.

[swsmr]

you should dose iodine when first setup a reef tank then stop unless your keeping SPS then iodine is needed to prevent bleaching it's also good for the fish immune system.

it's kind a tricky when dosing however the only downside to iodine overdoes is an alga bloom, so I guess you adjust your dose by monitoring your tank..

I do water changes every 2 weeks so I dose it every other week, new salt mix does have the iodine however it's rabidly depleted by the skimmer and used by corals and inverts, so you need to dose, .

[NewFish3]

Originally posted by RyanMcLaughlin
I thought Iodine was needed. Well I have already dosed my tank 1 time but will stop. I havent dosed calcium or magnesium yet until I get the test kits. Is it true that there arenty any reliable iodine test kits. Or do I just not need to dose it at all. I just want to make sure my crabs are able to molt safely.

What you are saying is....... Iam adding oil to my cars engine before I check the oil level....Iam pumping more air into the tires before I check what the PSI is in them

Get a API test kit or some kind of test kit... Then check it. Go from there..

[NewFish3]

Originally posted by swsmr
you should dose iodine when first setup a reef tank then stop unless your keeping SPS then iodine is needed to prevent bleaching it's also good for the fish immune system.

it's kind a tricky when dosing however the only downside to iodine overdoes is an alga bloom, so I guess you adjust your dose by monitoring your tank..

I do water changes every 2 weeks so I dose it every other week, new salt mix does have the iodine however it's rabidly depleted by the skimmer and used by corals and inverts, so you need to dose, .

You dose it with iodine every 2 weeks ?????? Thats wacked..... Do the water changes & all should be good.

Also a good food for the fish is Cyclop-eeze. It has vitamins in it to keep their color & help fight things ick & other crap

[swsmr]

yes every 2 weeks for the past 4 year, never had a tank crashed or a coral bleached, if you think that's wacked then may be you should go to my gallery and see pictures of my tank

[RyanMcLaughlin]

how much do you dose swsmr?

[swsmr]

I dose half the recommend dose on the bottle, my volume of water is 200 gallon but since the tank has water and rocks not just water I only dose for 100 gallon that's about 30 mg every other week on the week that I don't do the water change, I use Kent tech I

[NewFish3]

Originally posted by swsmr
yes every 2 weeks for the past 4 year, never had a tank crashed or a coral bleached, if you think that's wacked then may be you should go to my gallery and see pictures of my tank

I did go to your gallery to see your tank...WOW...Nice tank. It looks awesome........ keep up the Iodine dose......GOOD LUCK...

[tmz]

Originally posted by swsmr
you should dose iodine when first setup a reef tank then stop unless your keeping SPS then iodine is needed to prevent bleaching it's also good for the fish immune system.

it's kind a tricky when dosing however the only downside to iodine overdoes is an alga bloom, so I guess you adjust your dose by monitoring your tank..

I do water changes every 2 weeks so I dose it every other week, new salt mix does have the iodine however it's rabidly depleted by the skimmer and used by corals and inverts, so you need to dose, .

I'm sure you mean well and have a nice tank,since you are proably not overdosing iodine. However, some of your information is just plain wrong.
Iodine dosing has nothing to do with preventing coral bleaching.It has nothing to do with the fish's immune system.Overdosing can kill everything in your tank;not just cauise and algal bloom.It is an oxidant. I have no idea whay you think it is exported by the skimmer.
The form of iodine sold in the hobby isn't even the same as the form in nsw.
Please do some research before making statements as if they were facts,wecially when they are wrong.

[jimwat]

Why not dose with Reef Plus or Coral Vite and get all of your trace vitamins and minerals? Why just iodine?

[swsmr]

Originally posted by tmz
I'm sure you mean well and have a nice tank,since you are proably not overdosing iodine. However, some of your information is just plain wrong.
Iodine dosing has nothing to do with preventing coral bleaching.It has nothing to do with the fish's immune system.Overdosing can kill everything in your tank;not just cauise and algal bloom.It is an oxidant. I have no idea whay you think it is exported by the skimmer.
The form of iodine sold in the hobby isn't even the same as the form in nsw.
Please do some research before making statements as if they were facts,wecially when they are wrong.

these are facts, not something that I made up, and based on my own experience I do believe that iodine is an important supplement for the reef aquarium, may be as important as strontium or magnesium,

however if this not true and I just got lucky then may be you can explain to me what exactly does iodine does and why does it exist in the sea water, i mean if it helps inverts molt better then why doesn't this apply to stony corals as well.

[swsmr]

salt mixes are a cheap way to simulate the natural seawater, everyone know that you can never get a salt mix with a sufficient amount of calcium or magnesium or even strontium but you assume that it will give you the correct amount of iodine? why?
well unless you do a water change every day and use a high quality salt mix or natural seawater then you need to be on top of things, I don't recommend adding anything to the tank that you don't test for but to completely eliminate such an important element and relay on a cheap salt mix to replace the replenishes aliments is just none sense

[swsmr]

also this all depends on what you think of a reef tank, do you want your corals to flourish or just survive in a captive environment and hope for the best,
I take my tank seriously and I think we have a moral obligation toward these delicate animals that we decided to keep as pets

[lloydkeller]

I try to stay away from supps I find that regular water changes keep every thing where it should be always use the best test kits you can

[RyanMcLaughlin]

Well Im not just dosing Iodine. I am also going to dose Ca, Mg, and Strontium. I read that there is no test kit that will give you an accurate reading or Iodine and Strontium so be sure to follow the instructions carefully. Which I did. I am not dosing calcium or Mg yet because I dont have test kits. I am not just going to dump supplements in. I wouldnt have dosed Iodine w/o testing but all the things I read have said that you cant test it. I have also read the same for strontium. Is this true or should I test that to?

[tmz]

No need to dose stontium either. Good Luck.