The Case against Strontium and Iodine

[ouling]

I'm stronly against adding strontium because it replaces calcium in metablism of the coral through photosysthesis. It makes your coral grow slower (i know because i used Strontium for 6 months), and it have no positive effect that i can see. Usually synthetic salt have more than the required strontium you need, and if you keep up the water change you will never need to add any. some expert suggest skeletal density of the coral, but not me. i don't care how dense the coral is, the less dense the better, i can frag it easily, i just want it to grow out not in.

Iodine. Some people swear by this stuff, but i really don't see a point of adding it exclusively; maybe in the form of trace element blend, but not just straight add it in. as i said, doing a water change solves all these trace element stuff.

Iron, if you have a seriously large refugium with ALOT of mangroves and macroalgea then you may need it, but otherwise i see no point of iron either, i always have the bad algae bloom on my glass when the things is in my tank, but i do feel my blue ridge coral grows a bit faster because of it.

 

[showtime305]

Water changes only replace these elements if the levels found in your new water are higher than the target level. I'm not to familiar with Iron dosing but I dose Iodine and strombium in between water changes.

 

[ouling]

If you have high levels of calcium and have mainly corals that depends on calcium then ston(m)tium seems uncessary. My organic chemistry teacher always preech strontium as a bad thing, maybe i'm wrong like always.

 

[showtime305]

<span style="color: black;">Sorry for my misspelling. No one really knows why calcifying coral use strontium. It's found in their skeleton, but it that may be because it closely resembles calcium there for it is used just as calcium is used. Even though the strontium level in sea water is 8ppm, I think it's a good idea to maintain that level just in case the corals do require this element.</span>

 

[glxtrix]

according to the seachem guy at one of the meetings at poseidons reef strontium is used to strengthen the skeletal structure of coral. Wether this makes the coral actually grow slower, I dont know I'm not too sure how all this works, surely someone can describe it to us. Alls I know is Ive seen some people pick up corals by a few branches and it'll sustain the weight of the coral and rock that its attached to, and I've also seen people touch the same coral and it break into many pieces. To me it seems like the differance between an "ok" coral and a very healthy one, but thats my oppinion.

 

[ouling]

it does some good for skeletal density, but usually water change solve these problems and there is no need to supplement it. The amount of Strontium found in most hard coral are less than the concentration of it in natural sea water, seachem whats us to buy their products thats probably why. And I'm pretty sure quality feeding that is soaked in vitamins and minerals solve these things also.

 

[FutureInterest]

Generally, if you don't test for it... don't add it.

I don't think its necessary to spook people off dosing strontium and iodine. In fact, I see no problem with bringing your iodine and strontium levels up to what NSW has. It could only be beneficial to be as close to what nature provides. Iodine has been shown to be beneficial to some softies and its under contention whether crustaceans need it for molting or not... I see no harm in dosing it though if your levels are lower than what they should be. This is especially true for people like me that almost never do water changes . Personally, I have to dose iron regularly as that is often depleted quickly due to macros in the refugium and lil mangrove forest.

 

[ms_ k]

Why would you support adding iodine in a trace element blend but not by itself? What's the difference?

 

[ouling]

Because there is a chance that you can add too much. A trace blend usually have a more balanced amount of all the stuff you MAY need, including iodine. And its generally a lighter amount than lugols.

 

[cameron]

Strontium causes the skeletal structure to be more dense and actually harder. If you skip dosing it, your coral structure will grow out faster but the structure itself will be significantly weaker so it will break apart easier. A trick used by some aquaculture farms is to remove all strontium they can so the corals grow larger quicker. In our environments, this makes some sense since the corals live a somewhat protected existence.

As for Iodine... I suggest you use iodide instead. Iodine is a highly caustic substance and can easily be overdosed and kill livestock. Iodide brings up the natural iodide level to match what the sea contains in a much safer form. Iodide is used in the molting process of inverts, anemones, xenia and practically every soft coral needs it. The problem with this substance is it bonds quickly to organics and gets "sucked" out of the aquarium rather quickly usually about 6-12 hours. A lot of experts believe large daily/weekly water changes are the answer as opposed to dosing. Personally, I dose semi-daily in very small amounts and test regularly. If you dose in a trace element package and don't do frequent water changes, certain livestock probably aren't getting the typical iodide supplements compared to saltwater due to the high bonding nature of this chemical.

 

[showtime305]

<span style="color: black;">Cameron is correct about iodine being the better supplement to use. Iodine, which needs to be broken down into iodide before it can be used, can take several days to slowly be converted to its useable form. The reason people dose Iodine is because of this slow time release that keeps a constant source of iodide available. So, unless you are daily dosing iodide like Cameron, a couple doses of iodine per week will give you the same results but with lower risk.</span>

 

[cameron]

Count me WRONG on the Iodine/Iodide subject. I went and did the research of which there is little. What I did dig up is the expert himself Holmes-Farley says don't bother. Best I can find, it is mostly opinion as to how softies, Xenia and inverts get their iodide. Basically, these forms of livestock have iodide in them but nobody knows if they actually get it from the water column. He doesn't dose it so I am going to stop dosing it in my tank as well. Will let you know what happens.

If you are going to dose it, do dose it frequently and in small doses. Iodine which becomes Iodide very quickly and in turn Iodide lasts mere hours in a tank.

 

[family reefer]

The way it was explained to me at The Columbia Marine Aquarium Club meeting...Think of a concrete slab.... The calcium is the concrete and the strontium is the rebar reinforcement. This is why corals grown in low strontium environment break easily...no rebar.

 

[cameron]

family reefer;44555 wrote: The way it was explained to me at The Columbia Marine Aquarium Club meeting...Think of a concrete slab.... The calcium is the concrete and the strontium is the rebar reinforcement. This is why corals grown in low strontium environment break easily...no rebar.

It does work that way, but the added advantage of no strontium is a faster growing coral from a size perspective.