Tropic Marin ICP

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

QUESTION if it takes that long what good is it ? seriously want input . Or is this just for the people who don't do Water changes ?

The icp is a snapshot in time, regardless of how long it takes. If something is seriously low or high, it will likely still be low or high when you get the result.an immediate result would be more convenient, but the delay is not a deal buster.

 

[jmcdona6]

QUESTION if it takes that long what good is it ? seriously want input . Or is this just for the people who don't do Water changes ?

People who are looking at trends. I dose TM trace elements on an automatic doser. If traces are trending high I reduce my daily dose and vice versa.

Also I rarely ever test for calcium and magnesium myself. I use the ICP to identify if I am developing an issue which would require me to test myself more often until corrected.

 

[Freenow54]

The only reason I did was to have it where I could use All for reef

 

[rtparty]

Outside of 100% water changes, water changes are (almost) never an answer to replenish elements.

Here is a very simplified example…

Let’s say you start with 100ppm of an element and your tank consumes 20ppm. You now have 80ppm of that element. You do a 10% water change. Well, 90% of your water is still 80ppm. Only the 10% coming in is 100ppm. So you go from 80ppm up to 82ppm. You’re still 18ppm from the original amount.

Only a 100% water change will get you back to 100ppm. This is why dosing is far cheaper and a better choice for element replenishment

 

[Freenow54]

If you have an issue where the self test and say ICP confirms high amounts of kh mag and calcium and the statement from rt party makes some sense how do you deal with that ?

 

[jmcdona6]

Outside of 100% water changes, water changes are (almost) never an answer to replenish elements.

Here is a very simplified example…

Let’s say you start with 100ppm of an element and your tank consumes 20ppm. You now have 80ppm of that element. You do a 10% water change. Well, 90% of your water is still 80ppm. Only the 10% coming in is 100ppm. So you go from 80ppm up to 82ppm. You’re still 18ppm from the original amount.

Only a 100% water change will get you back to 100ppm. This is why dosing is far cheaper and a better choice for element replenishment

All that assuming your salt mix is balanced / on target. Testing has proven that this is rarely the case. If you really care about trace elements you do some kind of dosing and icp testing.

 

[rtparty]

All that assuming your salt mix is balanced / on target. Testing has proven that this is rarely the case. If you really care about trace elements you do some kind of dosing and icp testing.

That is assuming ICP testing is accurate and reliable. Testing has proven that is rarely the case

 

[jmcdona6]

That is assuming ICP testing is accurate and reliable. Testing has proven that is rarely the case

Also true.

Really were all guessing...just a matter of how educated a guess it is.