How am I looking? ATI ICP results

PghReef · May 5, 2021

My tank in question is 90 gallon with about 25 gallon in sump. Set up last October with 50 lbs dry rock, 30 lbs kpaquatics liverock, and bagged sand. Started adding corals by late November. Sps grew and encrusted well, lps big and puffy. Then mid March I noticed some paleness in some of my SPS, followed by zoas and lps not opening as nice. A small case of Dinos followed which resolved on its own after a couple weeks. I test every Saturday morning and things tested normal and stable. I did 5gal WC every Monday but stopped once I saw dinos. I'm now doing 5 gallons bi-weekly.

I decided to send an ICP for the first time just to make sure there was nothing out of whack. Since sending my lps and zoas are all looking great again and most of my sps have colored back up and have good PE. I did lose a yellow tipped red Stag from battlecorals that never did start growing, and I have a large sunset Monti that grew huge but then started to die from the center outward. My green slimer also has some white tips where it looks like the flesh turned white but it still has PE.

PghReef · May 5, 2021

Symbol	Value	Calculated reference value	Difference	Actions
Base elements
Salinity	32.81 PSU	35.00 PSU	-2.19 PSU	View
Carbonate hardness	7.87 °dKH	7.50 °dKH	+0.37 °dKH	View
Major elements
Chloride	18795 mg/l	18679 mg/l	+116.4 mg/l	View
Sodium	10312 mg/l	10377 mg/l	-64.70 mg/l	View
Magnesium	1201 mg/l	1241 mg/l	-39.57 mg/l	View
Sulfur	783.4 mg/l	867.9 mg/l	-84.50 mg/l	View
Calcium	428.2 mg/l	397.2 mg/l	+31.02 mg/l	View
Potassium	377.8 mg/l	384.9 mg/l	-7.06 mg/l	View
Bromine	58.34 mg/l	63.21 mg/l	-4.86 mg/l	View
Strontium	6.95 mg/l	7.55 mg/l	-0.60 mg/l	View
Boron	3.12 mg/l	4.15 mg/l	-1.03 mg/l	View
Fluorine	1.06 mg/l	1.23 mg/l	-0.17 mg/l	View
Minor elements
Lithium	153.6 µg/l	160.4 µg/l	-6.76 µg/l	View
Silicon	181.8 µg/l	94.34 µg/l	+87.44 µg/l	View
Iodine	9.54 µg/l	61.32 µg/l	-51.78 µg/l	View
Barium	13.40 µg/l	9.43 µg/l	+3.97 µg/l	View
Molybdenum	12.72 µg/l	11.32 µg/l	+1.40 µg/l	View
Nickel	0.53 µg/l	0.47 µg/l	+0.06 µg/l	View
Manganese	u.	0.94 µg/l	-0.94 µg/l	View
Arsenic	u.	1.42 µg/l	-1.42 µg/l	View
Beryllium	u.	0.09 µg/l	-0.09 µg/l	View
Chrome	u.	0.47 µg/l	-0.47 µg/l	View
Cobalt	1.05 µg/l	0.09 µg/l	+0.96 µg/l	View
Iron	u.	0.47 µg/l	-0.47 µg/l	View
Copper	u.	0.47 µg/l	-0.47 µg/l	View
Selenium	u.	0.47 µg/l	-0.47 µg/l	View
Silver	u.	0.09 µg/l	-0.09 µg/l	View
Vanadium	2.01 µg/l	1.42 µg/l	+0.59 µg/l	View
Zinc	u.	1.89 µg/l	-1.89 µg/l	View
Tin	u.	0.47 µg/l	-0.47 µg/l	View
Nutrients
Nitrate	31.40 mg/l	2.00 mg/l	+29.40 mg/l	View
Phosphorus	14.60 µg/l	14.15 µg/l	+0.45 µg/l	View
Phosphate	0.04 mg/l	0.04 mg/l	+0 mg/l	View
Pollutants
Aluminium	u.	0.09 µg/l	-0.09 µg/l	View
Antimony	u.	0.09 µg/l	-0.09 µg/l	View
Bismuth	u.	0.09 µg/l	-0.09 µg/l	View
Lead	u.	0.09 µg/l	-0.09 µg/l	View
Cadmium	u.	0.19 µg/l	-0.19 µg/l	View
Lanthanum	u.	0 µg/l	+0 µg/l	View
Thallium	u.	0.09 µg/l	-0.09 µg/l	View
Titanium	u.	0.09 µg/l	-0.09 µg/l	View
Tungsten	u.	0 µg/l	+0 µg/l	View
Mercury	u.	0 µg/l	+0 µg/l	View

PghReef · May 5, 2021

I tested wi4h my kits the same time I sent the sample. Pretty similar except for magnesium which tested at 1400 with redsea and only 1200 with ICP. I know redsea can read a couple hundred higher for some reason so will dose mag based on BRS calculator to goal of 1350 splint up over 3 days.
I also understand iodine is chronically low in most of our tanks and may or may not be an issue. I will follow the ATI suggested for replacement to see if it does anything.

They also suggest the following. Not sure if I should just leave that as is or not.

Bor supplement per day 9.31 ml for 2 days
Zink supplement per day 0.85 ml for 1 day
Mangan supplement per day 0.42 ml for 1 day

And finally nitrates appeared elevated, not sure how accurate these test are with nitrates my kit at home reads 10. I dontnhave much algae growth in my tank except for some purple cyano on the sand. My fish took care of all the macro algae I had so if it is an issue maybe adding a fugein my sump would be or benefit.

PghReef · May 5, 2021

Randy Holmes-Farley · May 5, 2021

Looks pretty good to me.

I'd boost the salinity to 35 ppt first. That will raise magnesium quite a bit.

Some folks would dose iodide, but I'd advise treating iodide dosing as an experiment that may be useful, or not (it wasn't for me).

A trace element supplement with fast depletion ions such as manganese and iron may be useful.

PghReef · May 5, 2021

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Looks pretty good to me.

I'd boost the salinity to 35 ppt first. That will raise magnesium quite a bit.

Some folks would dose iodide, but I'd advise treating iodide dosing as an experiment that may be useful, or not (it wasn't for me).

A trace element supplement with fast depletion ions such as manganese and iron may be useful.

So the funny thing with the salinity is I check it with both a refractometer and a glass floating hydrometer. My brs refractometer reads 35 or 1.026. My tropic marine glass hydrometer reads 1.0255. Is there any way the salinity could be off in the ICP sample?

I ordered some ATI supplemen iodine to use as an experiment.

What trace element regimen would you recommend to use? I always was taught if you don't test for it don't dose it so have been nervous to venture that way but if there is a safe product and basic guidelines to follow I'd be happy to do an ICP quarterly and implement a regimen.

Randy Holmes-Farley · May 5, 2021

Anything can be off.

I'm not sure how your ICP company measured salinity.

I don't have any specific trace element program I prefer, but the Tropic Marin one seems reasonable.