3 ICP Tests sidy by side

[Ken S]

So, Not sure this is the correct forum, if not, mods please move.

I sent off 3 ICP tests yesterday morning. Oceamo-MS, ATI, and Tropic Marin. The Tropic Marin was free from BRS for buying something a few months back, it only had 2 vials, a large syringe, and a syringe filter (no ro/di test or return label included in this free one). The other two I paid for, but have been sitting here a while, like a year. My tank has been dialed in a while now and is a little over 2 years old and looks great. Easy SPS/LPS are growing like weeds. I have been fragging stuff and giving away to local reefers and fish stores. The only real change I've made is I switched salt from regular IO to ESV. I got hold of a stratified batch of IO, it was awful cleaning up the mixing station after that, I used it twice and said F that! I did some research and went with the ESV. I like taking the time to weigh it all out and it is a night and day difference on the mix station. No more gunk! I mean zero! So nice. I did my 6th 50g water change this morning with the ESV. I do a 50g water change every 3 weeks or so (definately no more than 4 weeks). The only thing I can attribute to the salt change is my my Radianthus Magnifica loves it! It is MONSTROUS huge now and has never looked better. There is somehting in that ESV salt that it likes, a lot! This result right here, to me is worth the extra cost and effort of the ESV.

Parameters taken with my home test kits are below. These were taken yesterday morning around 10am, noted, and then I immediately collected the ICP samples per each's directions and went straight to the post office to drop them off.

Salinity 1.0265 (TM glass Hydrometer) - 1.026 (Optical refractometer and Hydros probe)
PH Hanna Checker 8.3 - Hydros Glass PH Probe 8.25 - Hydros Plastic PH Probe 8.28
dKH Hanna Checker 9.2
Nitrate Hanna Checker 20.1
Phosphate Hanna Checker .09
Silicate Hanna Checker .04
Salifert Calcium 425
Salifert Magnesium 1400
Salifert Potassium 390

We'll see how the 3 ICP tests stack up against my home kits and against each other!

 

[Fish Fan]

These are great questions for @Randy Holmes-Farley, who moderates the R2R Chemistry sub-forum:

Reef Chemistry by Randy Holmes-Farley

Need some help with the chemistry aspect of your aquarium or have some knowledge you would like to share? Please start a new topic. This forum is moderated by Randy Holmes-Farley.

www.reef2reef.com

Good luck!

 

[Rick Mathew]

So, Not sure this is the correct forum, if not, mods please move.

I sent off 3 ICP tests yesterday morning. Oceamo-MS, ATI, and Tropic Marin. The Tropic Marin was free from BRS for buying something a few months back, it only had 2 vials, a large syringe, and a syringe filter (no ro/di test or return label included in this free one). The other two I paid for, but have been sitting here a while, like a year. My tank has been dialed in a while now and is a little over 2 years old and looks great. Easy SPS/LPS are growing like weeds. I have been fragging stuff and giving away to local reefers and fish stores. The only real change I've made is I switched salt from regular IO to ESV. I got hold of a stratified batch of IO, it was awful cleaning up the mixing station after that, I used it twice and said F that! I did some research and went with the ESV. I like taking the time to weigh it all out and it is a night and day difference on the mix station. No more gunk! I mean zero! So nice. I did my 6th 50g water change this morning with the ESV. I do a 50g water change every 3 weeks or so (definately no more than 4 weeks). The only thing I can attribute to the salt change is my my Radianthus Magnifica loves it! It is MONSTROUS huge now and has never looked better. There is somehting in that ESV salt that it likes, a lot! This result right here, to me is worth the extra cost and effort of the ESV.

Parameters taken with my home test kits are below. These were taken yesterday morning around 10am, noted, and then I immediately collected the ICP samples per each's directions and went straight to the post office to drop them off.

Salinity 1.0265 (TM glass Hydrometer) - 1.026 (Optical refractometer and Hydros probe)
PH Hanna Checker 8.3 - Hydros Glass PH Probe 8.25 - Hydros Plastic PH Probe 8.28
dKH Hanna Checker 9.2
Nitrate Hanna Checker 20.1
Phosphate Hanna Checker .09
Silicate Hanna Checker .04
Salifert Calcium 425
Salifert Magnesium 1400
Salifert Potassium 390

We'll see how the 3 ICP tests stack up against my home kits and against each other!

Ken I will be interest in your results. In 2003 @Dan.P & @taricha and I did a similar study which you might find interesting (Link below) Also within this post there are a number of other links looking at ICP testing

HOBBY GRADE TEST KITS CAN OUTPERFORM ICP MEASUREMENTS…REALLY??

INTRODUCTION BACKGROUND In May of 2022 we (@Dan_P, @taricha and I) posted an article that looked at the quality of the data reported by ICP-OES measurements from several vendors. Our goal was to help bring some clarity to the community to help evaluate and interpret the results of an ICP test...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

So, Not sure this is the correct forum, if not, mods please move.

I sent off 3 ICP tests yesterday morning. Oceamo-MS, ATI, and Tropic Marin. The Tropic Marin was free from BRS for buying something a few months back, it only had 2 vials, a large syringe, and a syringe filter (no ro/di test or return label included in this free one). The other two I paid for, but have been sitting here a while, like a year. My tank has been dialed in a while now and is a little over 2 years old and looks great. Easy SPS/LPS are growing like weeds. I have been fragging stuff and giving away to local reefers and fish stores. The only real change I've made is I switched salt from regular IO to ESV. I got hold of a stratified batch of IO, it was awful cleaning up the mixing station after that, I used it twice and said F that! I did some research and went with the ESV. I like taking the time to weigh it all out and it is a night and day difference on the mix station. No more gunk! I mean zero! So nice. I did my 6th 50g water change this morning with the ESV. I do a 50g water change every 3 weeks or so (definately no more than 4 weeks). The only thing I can attribute to the salt change is my my Radianthus Magnifica loves it! It is MONSTROUS huge now and has never looked better. There is somehting in that ESV salt that it likes, a lot! This result right here, to me is worth the extra cost and effort of the ESV.

Parameters taken with my home test kits are below. These were taken yesterday morning around 10am, noted, and then I immediately collected the ICP samples per each's directions and went straight to the post office to drop them off.

Salinity 1.0265 (TM glass Hydrometer) - 1.026 (Optical refractometer and Hydros probe)
PH Hanna Checker 8.3 - Hydros Glass PH Probe 8.25 - Hydros Plastic PH Probe 8.28
dKH Hanna Checker 9.2
Nitrate Hanna Checker 20.1
Phosphate Hanna Checker .09
Silicate Hanna Checker .04
Salifert Calcium 425
Salifert Magnesium 1400
Salifert Potassium 390

We'll see how the 3 ICP tests stack up against my home kits and against each other!

How are you supplementing calcium and alk?

 

[Ken S]

I am using your and Miami Reefs (rip) Balling recipe. 270ml/day BRS soda ash with 360ml/gal TM trace K, 260ml/day BRS calcium with 360ml/gal TM trace A, DIY Balling C + 203ml/gal MG are all current amounts. Using Hydros Soles to dose it all. I also dose phyto & PNS Probio daily, although I did not dose either for 48hrs before drawing all the samples for ICP. Exactly 2 weeks past since last 50g water change when I drew the samples.

 

[Ken S]

So, Not sure this is the correct forum, if not, mods please move.

I sent off 3 ICP tests yesterday morning. Oceamo-MS, ATI, and Tropic Marin. The Tropic Marin was free from BRS for buying something a few months back, it only had 2 vials, a large syringe, and a syringe filter (no ro/di test or return label included in this free one). The other two I paid for, but have been sitting here a while, like a year. My tank has been dialed in a while now and is a little over 2 years old and looks great. Easy SPS/LPS are growing like weeds. I have been fragging stuff and giving away to local reefers and fish stores. The only real change I've made is I switched salt from regular IO to ESV. I got hold of a stratified batch of IO, it was awful cleaning up the mixing station after that, I used it twice and said F that! I did some research and went with the ESV. I like taking the time to weigh it all out and it is a night and day difference on the mix station. No more gunk! I mean zero! So nice. I did my 6th 50g water change this morning with the ESV. I do a 50g water change every 3 weeks or so (definately no more than 4 weeks). The only thing I can attribute to the salt change is my my Radianthus Magnifica loves it! It is MONSTROUS huge now and has never looked better. There is somehting in that ESV salt that it likes, a lot! This result right here, to me is worth the extra cost and effort of the ESV.

Parameters taken with my home test kits are below. These were taken yesterday morning around 10am, noted, and then I immediately collected the ICP samples per each's directions and went straight to the post office to drop them off.

Salinity 1.0265 (TM glass Hydrometer) - 1.026 (Optical refractometer and Hydros probe)
PH Hanna Checker 8.3 - Hydros Glass PH Probe 8.25 - Hydros Plastic PH Probe 8.28
dKH Hanna Checker 9.2
Nitrate Hanna Checker 20.1
Phosphate Hanna Checker .09
Silicate Hanna Checker .04
Salifert Calcium 425
Salifert Magnesium 1400
Salifert Potassium 390

We'll see how the 3 ICP tests stack up against my home kits and against each other!

How are you supplementing calcium and alk?

I am using your and Miami Reefs (rip) Balling recipe. 270ml/day BRS soda ash with 360ml/gal TM trace K, 260ml/day BRS calcium with 360ml/gal TM trace A, 270ml/day DIY Balling C + 203ml/gal MG are all current amounts. Using Hydros Soles to dose it all. I also dose phyto & PNS Probio daily, although I did not dose either for 48hrs before drawing all the samples for ICP. Exactly 2 weeks past since last 50g water change when I drew the samples.

Edited. Had the qty/day I'm dosing way wrong.

 

[Ken S]

I also did a Hanna checker test for Silicate the day of the water draw for the ICP tests but forgot to include it in the list above. Result = .04

Hopefully I'll see the ICP results this week & I'll post them here.

 

[Ken S]

Tropic Marin is the first to return results. If was a free ICP test from BRS. The tests they did seem limited vs other ICP vendors and ro/di was not included. I guess that's why is was free.
The pdf is attached.
Here is a link. The link seems to show a bit more info: https://lab.tropic-marin.com/en/share/analysis/14278
I don't know if the link is only for me so let me know if it doesn't work and I'll print out the pages and attach it as a pdf.

What do you think Randy? If you would, I'd like to hear your analysis on these results in layment's terms and thanks you in advance for your time.

EDIT: I went ahead and attached a pdf of the pages in the link.

 

[exnisstech]

Which test will you trust if they come back different?

 

[Ken S]

Which test will you trust if they come back different?

No clue! :-)

I test with my home kits 3-4 times/week. My tank looks better than it ever has. Everything is growing like crazy. I trust my home test kits and my eyeballs more than anything, I think.

 

[exnisstech]

No clue! :-)

I test with my home kits 3-4 times/week. My tank looks better than it ever has. Everything is growing like crazy. I trust my home test kits and my eyeballs more than anything, I think.

I was just curious. I try to avoid multiple test for fear of falling down a rabbit hole lol. I'll do a salifert test if I get a wacky reading with my Hanna.
I sent two ICP tests out once. Test were from the same company but different tanks. Both included rodi tests but both of those came back totally different even tho I pulled them both from the same container at the same time. That pretty much destroyed my confidence in the results so I don't even bother making any changes based on test results.

 

[Ken S]

Oceamo-MS Results

Here is a link: https://oceamo-portal.com/Download/...uVs8aayz6S3fvw6E2biHIpL_q_q34RpbHHnwkUFHn8kWc

Pdf also attached

 

[Ken S]

I put all the my home test results and the 2 ICP into AI and had it compare. It's telling me the basics (alk, nitrate, phosphate, Ca, Mg) are all aligning relatively closely to my home test kits, and the trace elements results between both tests are aligning closely too. I haven't even had time to closely compare myself, I am at work.

I know where the excess lanthanum is coming from (PhosphateRx).

AI is telling me the raw shrimp tails I feed my eel and Magnifica are "packed full of iodine". Is that true?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I put all the my home test results and the 2 ICP into AI and had it compare. It's telling me the basics (alk, nitrate, phosphate, Ca, Mg) are all aligning relatively closely to my home test kits, and the trace elements results between both tests are aligning closely too. I haven't even had time to closely compare myself, I am at work.

I know where the excess lanthanum is coming from (PhosphateRx).

AI is telling me the raw shrimp tails I feed my eel and Magnifica are "packed full of iodine". Is that true?

Most seafood contains iodine, but some types of macroalgae are much higher than shrimp.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I am using your and Miami Reefs (rip) Balling recipe. 270ml/day BRS soda ash with 360ml/gal TM trace K, 260ml/day BRS calcium with 360ml/gal TM trace A, DIY Balling C + 203ml/gal MG are all current amounts. Using Hydros Soles to dose it all. I also dose phyto & PNS Probio daily, although I did not dose either for 48hrs before drawing all the samples for ICP. Exactly 2 weeks past since last 50g water change when I drew the samples.

I think that should be providing all inorganic elements you need, although trace eleMent dosing is a guessing game to some extent.

 

[Ken S]

I put all the my home test results and the 2 ICP into AI and had it compare. It's telling me the basics (alk, nitrate, phosphate, Ca, Mg) are all aligning relatively closely to my home test kits, and the trace elements results between both tests are aligning closely too. I haven't even had time to closely compare myself, I am at work.

I know where the excess lanthanum is coming from (PhosphateRx).

AI is telling me the raw shrimp tails I feed my eel and Magnifica are "packed full of iodine". Is that true?

Most seafood contains iodine, but some types of macroalgae are much higher than shrimp.

Like the algae in my refugium? Cheato & Caulerpa? Is this super high level of iodine something to be concerned with? How best to bring it down, water changes?

Should I cut the amount of TM Trace A & K a bit next time I prepare a mix?

Thank you!

 

[Ken S]

ATI loses for promptness. 9 days since shipped & website says it has not even reached their lab yet

 

[Ken S]

ATI results finally.

 

[Ken S]

Here is a side by side on one sheet with some AI commets
:-)

 

[AlexandraDreadlocksPanda]

Which test will you trust if they come back different?

The MS, far more likely to be the correct one as it’s accurate to PPB not PPM, and a different process..