Per my LFS' recommendation (they set-up my tank) I add 2 drops of Lugol's Iodine solution 3 times a week for a total of 6 drops per week. This exactly matches the recommended dosage on the label of the bottle. However, according to my Seachem test kit the Iodine/Iodide levels are still undetectable. Should I simply just keep upping the dosage to 3 drops at a time, then 4 if necessary, etc. until I can get close to the 0.06 which is found in NSW? Aside from my tank using up a lot of it, is there any other reason/problem the levels would be so low?
Very low iodine levels ... why?
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Thanks for the reply. I've heard that Seachem test kits are overall pretty good. Why would they sell an Iodine test kit that doesn't really work? Well obviously some companies would do this just to make money, but what I mean is that I've heard Seachem is a "good" company and it seems odd they would sell a product that doesn't work. They say their Iodine test kit is very accurate down to 0.01 mg/L. When I test my water the solution is clear with maybe a *tiny* blue tint to it, so it is 0.01 at most according to the Seachem kit.
I can't remember which test kit it was (possibly Salifert), but I remember a friend could never get a reading after dosing either.. and I think scuba_steve also mentioned his test kit didn't detect anything after using lugols. Not sure why it's the case but it seems pretty common. Like I said though, I don't think it would be a good idea to increase the dose based on this.. it's pretty deadly stuff in excess quantities.
As far as inverts go I've got a bunch of snails and hermit crabs, a few starfish, some fan worms, a couple of clams, a few oysters, 5 cleaner shrimp, 3 or 4 blood shrimp, and I think that's about it. I know the shrimp need Iodine to promote growth and molting, etc. but are inverts the only things that need Iodine?
I'm not trying to go crazy with dosing stuff into the tank, just trying to maintain NSW levels of everything I can. I read that NSW has about 0.06 mg/L of Iodine and my test kit is barely able to detect anything in my tank, which is what prompted my original question. If it turns out the test kits for Iodine are not very accurate then I guess that is a "problem"...
I'm not trying to go crazy with dosing stuff into the tank, just trying to maintain NSW levels of everything I can. I read that NSW has about 0.06 mg/L of Iodine and my test kit is barely able to detect anything in my tank, which is what prompted my original question. If it turns out the test kits for Iodine are not very accurate then I guess that is a "problem"...
