"Kent Marine" Lugols solution (iodine supplement)

Fishy Business · #1 07/23/2006, 08:37 PM

Experts opinions needed...

I have a 30 gal and just got my first coral. Some Xenia. My LFS reccomended I but some of this (and ofcourse I did) its says to administer 1 drop per 25 gal weekly. Well since I have a 30 gal, wouldnt it be safe to use 1 drop a week? If not, should I dilute the dosage?

I have asked this in the "new to hobby" section...and everyone is basically saying: "throw it away" because of the possible over dosage. Would I be safe with one drop a week or maybe ever 2 weeks? Or should I do a diluted version like: put one drop into a cup w/SW and mix but then only use like half of the cup in my display tank?

Please advise.

fsn77 · #2 07/23/2006, 10:32 PM

For a tank that small, it's hard to use something as concentrated as Kent's Lugol's solution. With a 30 g tank, you're probably looking at around only 20 g of actual water (directions are for how much water you actually have, not the total volume), so you could very easily overdose your tank.

I would look for a more dilute iodine source, perhaps Kent's Tech I (just an example as I have a bottle of it here in front of me, along with the Lugol's, there should be others available, too). The directions for Tech I are 5 mL per 25 g once weekly for 3 weeks, then subsequent doses should be cut in half, so that would be a more manageable option if you have an accurate way to measure < 5 mL (like a needless syringe that's available from just about any pharmacy -- they are very inexpensive). Essentially, you'd want to dose 1 mL for every 5 g of water you have once weekly for 3 weeks, then 0.5 mL once weekly thereafter.

Dudester · #3 07/24/2006, 04:24 PM

I also have a 30g tank, along with a 15g sump/fuge. For the past 2 months I've been adding 2 drops of Lugol's each week. Since that time I've noticed no ill-effects, although admittedly I haven't seen any improvement in coloration, either. I just got a Salifert Iodine test kit, and I'll test my level and update this thread, if anyone's interested. My tank is fairly well stocked with corals (sps, lps and softies), so the iodine usage is probably greater in my tank than in yours with only 1 coral. You probably don't need to be dosing iodine right now, just do regular water changes and your xenia should do just fine as far as trace element supplementation.

Fishy Business · #4 07/24/2006, 10:13 PM

I cant imagine having a SW tank without any internet or this site.

Thanks alot guys. Technology just saved some fish.

Now if I could learn how to set my clock on my Beta max player.

Dudester · #5 07/27/2006, 01:59 PM

As promised, here are the results of my iodine testing:

iodide >0.1
iodate undetectable

The test kit paperwork indicates that iodide and iodate should both be between 0.3-0.6. I'm not really sure what to do about these data, and I've asked the question in the Salifert forum (if anyone's interested).