Can nitrate disappear from a water sample when shipped for ICP?
I am away from home my daughter reported my trachyphyllia looks terrible, she can see some skeleton showing. I’m crushed. It’s my favorite coral and has been thriving a long time. I don’t know how long it’s been doing poorly. My family certainly doesn’t keep a close eye on the tank.
She ran the normal battery of at home tests. Nothing seemed amiss. I know the trachyphyllia is the first to show signs of stress if nutrients are low. My phosphates were in the normal range at 0.08, nitrate on Red Sea pro with brand new reagents was around 5ppm. Again, nothing unusual.
I had her send an ICP to ATI. Everything looked normal except nutrients.
This really surprises me, especially the 0 ppm nitrate.
I am going to boost both nitrate and phosphate, but I’m not sure I believe these results. The only thing I can think is the tank is carbon dosed with NPbacto balance. Depending on how they measure nitrate and phosphate, and if she grabbed the sample sometime around when carbon is dosed, could it have changed during shipping?
I am away from home my daughter reported my trachyphyllia looks terrible, she can see some skeleton showing. I’m crushed. It’s my favorite coral and has been thriving a long time. I don’t know how long it’s been doing poorly. My family certainly doesn’t keep a close eye on the tank.
She ran the normal battery of at home tests. Nothing seemed amiss. I know the trachyphyllia is the first to show signs of stress if nutrients are low. My phosphates were in the normal range at 0.08, nitrate on Red Sea pro with brand new reagents was around 5ppm. Again, nothing unusual.
I had her send an ICP to ATI. Everything looked normal except nutrients.
This really surprises me, especially the 0 ppm nitrate.
I am going to boost both nitrate and phosphate, but I’m not sure I believe these results. The only thing I can think is the tank is carbon dosed with NPbacto balance. Depending on how they measure nitrate and phosphate, and if she grabbed the sample sometime around when carbon is dosed, could it have changed during shipping?
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