ICP testing nessesary or marketing?

[Reefer_punk]

Is ICP testing really nessesary? Would love to hear the thoughts you have on this.

In my humble opinion ICP testing is a piece of the puzzle I which we are able these days to keep so many different types of corals and often in the same tank.

The older hobbyists maybe know that back in the days it was mostly leathers and anemones.

But in present day we can keep such a variety of species; and even without doing any waterchanges for years.

For me ICP testing is a great control to see (especially when corals are less happy and the main parameters are in check) if there is a build-up of heavy metals or, when my gionoporas and zoas are mad, to see if my trace elements are too low. Some of which you don't want to overdose and are hard to test with the regular home kits.

A part of the trace elements are already in all-in-one-dosing solutions. But in my personal experience, it is not enough. If you want to keep a mixed reef, the balance between all parameters amis very thin and that is why an ICP can give great insight in how to improve your water quality even more.

Can you reef without ICP testing? Absolutely. But you can hit a ceiling in what your tank can achieve and what kind of corals you can keep (for the long haul).

I have only been in the hobby for 5 years, with a 4 year old mixed reef tank with 0 waterchanges and a small 50g mixed reef, which is almost 5 months old. So maybe I am a newbie and disaster is waiting to be happen. But for now, I am going to the mail to post my next ICP to see if I can dare another few months without a waterchange

 

[Reefer_punk]

Feel free to give your opinion about this!

 

[ReefDragon420]

Is ICP testing really nessesary? Would love to hear the thoughts you have on this.

In my humble opinion ICP testing is a piece of the puzzle I which we are able these days to keep so many different types of corals and often in the same tank.

The older hobbyists maybe know that back in the days it was mostly leathers and anemones.

But in present day we can keep such a variety of species; and even without doing any waterchanges for years.

For me ICP testing is a great control to see (especially when corals are less happy and the main parameters are in check) if there is a build-up of heavy metals or, when my gionoporas and zoas are mad, to see if my trace elements are too low. Some of which you don't want to overdose and are hard to test with the regular home kits.

A part of the trace elements are already in all-in-one-dosing solutions. But in my personal experience, it is not enough. If you want to keep a mixed reef, the balance between all parameters amis very thin and that is why an ICP can give great insight in how to improve your water quality even more.

Can you reef without ICP testing? Absolutely. But you can hit a ceiling in what your tank can achieve and what kind of corals you can keep (for the long haul).

I have only been in the hobby for 5 years, with a 4 year old mixed reef tank with 0 waterchanges and a small 50g mixed reef, which is almost 5 months old. So maybe I am a newbie and disaster is waiting to be happen. But for now, I am going to the mail to post my next ICP to see if I can dare another few months without a waterchange

I’ve contacted them to see how to submit the water. No word back yet but we’ve lost a decorator crab while everything else is doing good, makes me wonder what’s going on

 

[Reefer_punk]

I’ve contacted them to see how to submit the water. No word back yet but we’ve lost a decorator crab while everything else is doing good, makes me wonder what’s going on

Was it stuck maybe while trying to mold?

 

[ReefDragon420]

Was it stuck maybe while trying to mold?

Just added it a few days ago along with 4 lettuce sea slugs, everything is doing fine but it yes seemed to be stuck between rocks but it was pinched between a bandit troucous snail, the snail has since moved but the crab still hasn’t moved. We are unsure what happened

 

[Hurricane Aquatics]

All for testing, but when you test that water, then what? If you test your source water, it much you can do to change that.

Then if you get it from an LFS, you'll need to test that too.

I think there is merit to it for sure, but you can get a real good idea of good water vs bad with a simple TDS meter. If your water has less than 70 TDS and then you run it through a 4 stage or more RO/DI and get 0 TDS, that's perfect.

Just saying there's a few rabbit holes you can go down in Reefing and these tests seem to be one of them with very little to do about it if you don't like it.

 

[Reefer_punk]

Since I don't do waterchanges, the only water that comes in is r/o which I make myself at home. So that is checked with a tds meter. I heard stories of tanks crashing surely but slowly with no cause found. Until a icp showed elevated metals and a piece of metal was found rusting in the sump.

And yes, it is not the only piece of the puzzle, but a dang handy one to start with

 

[Hurricane Aquatics]

I totally agree in a situation like that. However, I would never think about no water changes and I keep my sump and other areas clean. Maybe I'm OCD

 

[X-37B]

Nice DSR system.
I run a modified EZ version with a carx.

Did not do a water change for over a year.

I have always wanted to send out for an ICP test and will one day.

For now im doing 10%/12g's every 2 months.

Tank just looked better after doing one at a little over a year.

My system is now 95% sps.

 

[Reefer_punk]

I totally agree in a situation like that. However, I would never think about no water changes and I keep my sump and other areas clean. Maybe I'm OCD

I am too lazy to do waterchanges, or maybe to clumpsy my system is clean and the tank is doing great for 4 years and counting...

 

[Hurricane Aquatics]

Hard to argue with success, nice work!

 

[rtparty]

Started running ICP tests every 4-6 weeks starting last February. Never had a better tank in my 16 years of reefing.

Like you said, are they NECESSARY? Nope. Are they a fantastic tool to add to your belt? Absolutely.

 

[TheDragonsReef]

I think its a vital tool in diagnosing issues in our tanks. I do about 2 a year as a check up, and then ill alway send one out if something looks off in the tank or i have a stn/rtn event. The main parameters we test for dont tell us nearly enough info to gaurentee a thriving reef.

 

[Sean Clark]

I think ICP test are great. They give you insight into so many elements that you otherwise would not be able to test for. Are they nessacary? No. Are they useful? Absolutely, yes.

What I don't understand is why people hate on them; all while not offering up an alternative solution.

If data did not provide value then Google and Facebook would not exist.

 

[Midrats]

I did one through ATI recently. I don't know how much useful information I got out of it other than my RO water has silicates, and I'm not worried about silicates. It is good to know that I don't really need DI because I chew through some resin and don't really have the room for a degassing rig.

 

[mindme]

I guess it depends. If you are someone who is constantly changing water and don't see any problems, probably not.

For me, I don't do water changes on my 180g. Recently a few of my corals weren't looking as good as they usually did. 95% of them looked normal, but a few weren't thriving. Most noticeable was a montipora which would get kind of pale/whitish in color and then like it had some brown in it. You could still see the green, but it was not the bright green as it should be.

So I did an ICP test, found that some of my trace elements were 0. The biggest one was iodine. It also found high amounts of some metals.

In response I bought some cupisorb and phosguard to remove the metals etc. I bought a bottle of trace elements and dosed it, as well as some iodide(already had that). And for the longer term, I increased the amount of trace elements in my 2 part.

Within a week the montipora was back to normal, and I even saw improvements in the corals I thought were good.

I don't do them on my 29g anemone tank. I just do water changes. And since it's just an anemone with some other softies like pulsating xenias in that tank, I only dose iodide.

So I really think it's something that depends on your setup. Am I getting a 20 gallon tested? Most likely not unless water changes doesn't seem to take care of the issue. Water changes on that size tank are pretty cheap. Water changes on my 180g are not so cheap and a pain in the butt. That's 20 gallons of water every week. But if I did do water changes that often, I would have the same mentality as the 20 gallon.

 

[Roosterjack]

The price needs to come down…a lot.

 

[Sean Clark]

The price needs to come down…a lot.

I feel that the price is fair considering how many elements are tested. Not to mention the test that you can not get any other way like Zinc for instance. But pricing is always subjective.

 

[RalphTech]

I tried to get a free test paid for by insurance. Get 4 blood works per year so on one I switched blood with tank water for a hospital grade test. In two hours my doctors office called to retake since the results were inclusive. I was expecting him to ask if I have gills.
Pay for the ICP, there's no alternatives.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

I tried to get a free test paid for by insurance. Get 4 blood works per year so on one I switched blood with tank water for a hospital grade test. In two hours my doctors office called to retake since the results were inclusive. I was expecting him to ask if I have gills.
Pay for the ICP, there's no alternatives.

That's a shame. Would've been nice to know your tank's glucose levels.