ICP Test Breakdown and Recommendations

[bmercier]

I just got the results back from my first ICP test using Fauna Marin and was hoping to gain a better understanding of what actions I should take or ignore. As info, my tank is a mixed reef 25g Waterbox Peninsula that's been running for about 16 months. The primary reason for getting the test is that my LPS corals had been struggling for a couple months while everything else flourished until about a month ago when there was a decent die off corals. I perform water changes every 7-10 days using Fritz RPM and use the 4-stage RO Buddie for all my water, but have always struggled with high phosphates despite reducing feedings, using Phosguard, and running a refugium in the middle chamber of my AIO. Thanks for any help!

 

[Red_Beard]

Nothing too crazy in those results. LPS tend to do better in higher po4 levels, and .29 is right in the middle of the road there. My hammers were doing the best they ever were in .6, for what its worth.

Personally, i would shoot for a little higher salinity though, 33 is a tad low. I would bump it to 35 slowly by just using a little salt water instead of RO for top up every day. (like half liter/day for a few days, measured daily until 35 is reached). That and Mg is a touch high. Those are just what i would do, nothing really stood out on that test as a cause for coral health failure though.

How old is your tank? how long have you had the LPS?

 

[bmercier]

Nothing too crazy in those results. LPS tend to do better in higher po4 levels, and .29 is right in the middle of the road there. My hammers were doing the best they ever were in .6, for what its worth.

Personally, i would shoot for a little higher salinity though, 33 is a tad low. I would bump it to 35 slowly by just using a little salt water instead of RO for top up every day. (like half liter/day for a few days, measured daily until 35 is reached). That and Mg is a touch high. Those are just what i would do, nothing really stood out on that test as a cause for coral health failure though.

How old is your tank? how long have you had the LPS?

Thanks for the input. My tank is 16 months old and LPS have always been a bit of struggle except for one candy cane. However, within a week three months ago I had two acans (~75 par) melt away and one duncan (~115 par) completely recede. I also lost four zoa colonies, one hairy mushroom, one GSP, and three yuma mushrooms out of nowhere after months of great growth which lead to getting this test.

The salinity level threw me off because I mix to 1.026 and regularly calibrate my refractometer, and also confirmed the level with my LFS.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Are you dosing trace elements? Iron seems unusually high, along with some others.

 

[bmercier]

Are you dosing trace elements? Iron seems unusually high, along with some others.

No, aside from live phyto, the only thing I've dosed is magnesium after my LFS advise I do when it was sitting at 1230.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

No, aside from live phyto, the only thing I've dosed is magnesium after my LFS advise I do when it was sitting at 1230.

Stop with magnesium since it will go higher as you boost salinity.

Check around for any metal parts in the water that may be corroding in or near the water.