I have a 400 gal system so I don't realistically try to manage minor and trace elements by doing 20% weekly water changes. I manage them with a 10% monthly slow drip water change, dosing procedures involving Tropic Marin's K/A/C products, ICP testing, and manual adjustments. I've been using Triton and it is worked fine for me.
But, I just did my first test with ICP-Analysis.com. Although the results seem reasonable, their suggested actions seem way off. Fortunately I know better than to follow some of these suggestions but wondering what others have experienced with their reports. Is their reference database corrupted? Maybe I should contact them and give them a heads up. Some suggestions make no sense and even their reports contradict itself.
There are 60 elements they test. Some seem unnecessary, like Au. Report said I have 0.046ppb Gold in my tank. Maybe I should start panning for gold in my tank
But that's not really the concern. We can safely ignore that result since they recommend 0ppb gold in the tank. Wheww, glad for that. This hobby is expensive enough not having to dose Gold .
But there are other trace elements that you indeed might feel compelled to dose. For example, they show my Cobalt level at 0.6ppb. OK, that could be higher. But then they show a graph suggesting I should raise it to 10ppm! What? And then the graph shows optimal levels around 2ppm (still too high) and anything above 4ppm to high. Wait a minute, in the same report you just told me to bring it to 10ppm. LOL. This is just ALL wrong. Maybe they meant 10ppb. If so, then ok maybe I can go along. But how could they make such an irresponsible mistake like this?
There are many examples like this in the report. Some even stranger. So although the results seem reasonable, beware of these dosing recommendations! Research things on your own and shoot for natural sea water levels for most of these minor and trace elements.
Happy Reefing!
But, I just did my first test with ICP-Analysis.com. Although the results seem reasonable, their suggested actions seem way off. Fortunately I know better than to follow some of these suggestions but wondering what others have experienced with their reports. Is their reference database corrupted? Maybe I should contact them and give them a heads up. Some suggestions make no sense and even their reports contradict itself.
There are 60 elements they test. Some seem unnecessary, like Au. Report said I have 0.046ppb Gold in my tank. Maybe I should start panning for gold in my tank
But that's not really the concern. We can safely ignore that result since they recommend 0ppb gold in the tank. Wheww, glad for that. This hobby is expensive enough not having to dose Gold . But there are other trace elements that you indeed might feel compelled to dose. For example, they show my Cobalt level at 0.6ppb. OK, that could be higher. But then they show a graph suggesting I should raise it to 10ppm! What? And then the graph shows optimal levels around 2ppm (still too high) and anything above 4ppm to high. Wait a minute, in the same report you just told me to bring it to 10ppm. LOL. This is just ALL wrong. Maybe they meant 10ppb. If so, then ok maybe I can go along. But how could they make such an irresponsible mistake like this?
There are many examples like this in the report. Some even stranger. So although the results seem reasonable, beware of these dosing recommendations! Research things on your own and shoot for natural sea water levels for most of these minor and trace elements.
Happy Reefing!
