chem balance

[Mad Reefer]

For some time I stayed away from iron, iodine and strom for the fear a algae blooms. Well still had small bloom problem so I recently decided to up strom start using iron and iodine and now I see increase in coral size, growth and over all health.

Yes the algae increase by 50% so is there a way to get a balance. Give corals the chem they want but control blooms?

[GACDIVER]

I got the same problem....as soon as I started using Iodine I got alot of hair alge. anyone know what thats all about??? I thoght that Iodine got pulled out in the skimming process somewhere. Anyone know??

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The one type of organism that is clearly known to actively take up iodine in marine tanks is algae, including macroalgae. One need only look at the iodine content of food grades of algae and see the high iodine levels to understand that this happens.

However, where it is going exactly, and whether it is absolutely essential, or only something that the algae uses when it has iodine available (like a predator-deterrent chemical) isn't known (at least to me). The only studies that I've seen in searching for iodine papers are those that are looking at gases that are released from marine systems and become part of global warming and other such issues that get money for scientists.

Personally, I've been dosing iodide for more than 6 years, and most of that time have not had any "problem" with algae. But it is certainly not out of the question , IMO, that one could get such a problem if a system is set up for algae to thrive, and a particular species present will use the iodine in some fashion that makes it grow substantially faster or be less desirable to predators.

I know that isn't much of an answer, but I think it's the best we can do for iodine.

Iron is less complicated, I think. We know all tank creatures need iron in some form, and we know where it is going in most cases. We also know that in many places, natural ocean water is deficient in iron such that growth of certain organisms (e.g., algae) will be faster if more iron is added.

However, iron will only spur growth if it is a limiting factor to growth. It may not be in every tank, and it may be more important to some organisms than others.

Taking my tank as an example, I add a ton of iron (actually, on the order of 10 mg every couple of days) as iron (II) citrate.

As stated above I don't have an algae "problem". In fact, before dosing the iron, my refugium filled with macroalgae was slowly being overrun by unattractive microalgae. Someone on another board suggested dosing iron to boost the macroalgae relative to the microalgae. After doing so for a while, it turned out to work in my case: now that type of green hair algae is no longer significant, and two types of macroalgae fluorish. Some cyano also grows, but it doesn't bother me. I like variety, and figure it is a natural part of a marine system.

I presume by strom you mean strontium. I've never heard it linked to algae growth, and can't see especially why it would be. I don't do much in the way of strontium dosing.

[GACDIVER]

What Journals do you look in for articles about Reef topics?

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I actually search with Scifinder and some other companies via computer. It's not suitable for hobbyists unless they happen to work at a company or university that gets the service. They cover a huge number of journals related to all things chemical. Iodine is one of the few things that I've searched this way.