Description
Iodine additive for marine and reef aquariums
hw® iodtip promotes growth and pigmentation and increases resistance to disease and adverse environmental influences in all coral species and invertebrates in a marine reef aquarium.
hw® iodtip improves the ability of echinoderms (for example sea-urchins) to build their exoskeletons and helps crustaceans (crabs, shrimps, etc.) during moulting.
hw® iodtip helps corals acclimatise to new or changed environmental conditions (such as changes in lighting or moving to a new tank) and substantially reduces the risk of coral tissue infections.
Natural marine water has an average iodine concentration of about 60 µg/l (all detectable iodine compounds included). This value provides a simplified reference value for natural marine water from the offshore regions.
Due to the decomposition of algae in the coastal reef regions, and the resulting release of iodine accumulated in the algae, the iodine concentration in these locations is significantly higher.
This helps explain why reef organisms are accustomed to readily available iodine compounds in their environment and depend on them to varying degrees.
The element iodine
Iodine can be added to marine aquarium water in many different forms. Unfortunately, iodine supplementation in reef aquariums is often oversimplified without considering the possible risks.
Always bear in mind that pure, unstabilised iodine is a very aggressive, volatile and light-sensitive halogen. Iodine in its free or unstabilised form can be absolutely hazardous for any marine life form in the aquarium. Iodine in this form can cause chemical burns and serious injury to respiratory organs, mucous membranes and organic tissue structures. Unfortunately many iodine additives available on the market are based on simple, unstabilised and very volatile iodine compounds. Examples include relatively unstable and therefore often aggressive potassium iodide solutions, or simple alcoholic solutions containing free elemental iodine.
Unfortunately, these simple iodine solutions are still very common and can have all the disadvantages described above.
Recommendation of use / Dosing
To ensure an optimal iodine supply in your marine aquarium, add:
2.5 ml hw® iodtip per 200 litres of aquarium water once a week.
or
1 ml hw® iodtip per 21 US gallons of aquarium water once a week.
