Wet wizardry: Do you send your water to a lab for analysis?

[Peace River]

Wet wizardry: Do you send your water to a lab for analysis?

Knowing your water parameters can help you be a better reef keeper, but chasing numbers can create problems for your tank and its inhabitants. Some people test water at home with test kits and some people send their water samples to a lab for test (and some people do both). Please tell us about your experience with testing your reef tank water. Do you ever send your water to a lab for analysis? Please tell us why or why not. If you have sent your water to a lab for analysis, please tell us about the experience in the discussion thread.

PRO TIP: Although some reef keepers send in their water samples weekly or monthly for lab testing, even a one-time testing can be helpful to establish a baseline or to see if there are any unusual parameters in your tank.

Photo by @MantisReef


This QOTD is sponsored by: www.tidalgardens.com

“The goal of Tidal Gardens is to offer the highest quality corals to those seeking a piece of that world without destroying it. We hope to instill a deep appreciation for the natural reefs and help develop a self sustaining hobby that no longer requires the collection of fish and corals.”

 

[bushdoc]

I did ICP test once and plan to do it again in few weeks. First test didn't show any abnormalities, it was several weeks after I established my new tank.
I am using Balling method, so now I plan to check if there are no shifts in water composition.
I do not care much about trace elements at this time, since my corals are just beginning to grow and I doubt they consume lots of elements/nutrients.
ICP tests show only part of water composition and we seem to put too much trust in them. I will continue doing them once or twice a year or so.
I am also planning to send my Tank water for AquaBiomics analysis to have a baseline.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Currently, have an ICP test that I'll end up using in the next few weeks.

 

[o2manyfish]

I was heavily involved with Triton when they brought the First ICP testing to the States via Unique Corals. The logic behind the testing for what you are using and replenishing it in the correct proportions for each individual aquarium is solid.

I run a really large system - 1350g at the time, 1500g currently. When I get dosing correction instructions of adding 4 or 8 liters of something - it's a huge undertaking in time and $$$. Does it make a difference in the healthy and happiness of the coral based inhabitants of the tank - Yes. With 1300+ gallons of corals - it's amazing to see the growth rate increase when everything gets dialed in and maintained.

This is for people that have a successful reef aquarium.

For people that have an unsuccessful aquarium and ICP test can definitely point you in a direction towards the problem. House with plumbing leaching copper through the RO systems, Tanks with high metal readings because a Razor Blade, Screw Driver - One reefer found a hammer that had been dropped into one of his tanks overflows.

Copper coming out of Rock Work someone bought from a 'Reef Tank' off of Craigslist. There are lots and lots of different problems out there that a good ICP result can point you in the direction to look for.

Dave B

 

[PhishMonger84]

I don't test as my Salt tanks are in progress.

I tested when i moved to the house and have a basic idea of what the tap water is all about and what i need to do to manage that, especially in spring when the pipes are flushed.

I will utilize RO when i go live and test a few things but I'm not a fan of tinkering. Even when i kept bees more tinkering meant more losses.

 

[Alfie]

I would send them more often but they usually upset me with the results lol
Seriously though they are good for newer setups , for more stable mature reefs I think less so. If you have issues that you cant solve then they can be invaluable. Like the test kits though I only use them as a guide.

 

[ReefGeezer]

I don't use ICP testing. I might if I had a problem I couldn't resolve just to see if it might offer a clue.

 

[Reefer Matt]

I think this product is great marketing on the part of the labs, but I can understand the use for this if you don't do water changes. I think it is a waste of money if you do adequate regular water changes.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have about a dozen ICP kits and send them in about 3X per year and just had one done rthree weeks ago. Only issue I had was low Iron

 

[StatelineReefer]

I send my water in about twice a year just to spot anything that my regular testing may miss. If I were dosing untestable trace elements I might do it more often, like if I were following Moonshiners

 

[Troylee]

Nah… waste of money if you ask me! Everyone of them will give you a different results…

 

[shakacuz]

i’m on the reefmoonshiner method. i started with routine ICP tests, now it’s more occasional whenever i notice something is off.

 

[14 foot reef]

I was heavily involved with Triton when they brought the First ICP testing to the States via Unique Corals. The logic behind the testing for what you are using and replenishing it in the correct proportions for each individual aquarium is solid.

I run a really large system - 1350g at the time, 1500g currently. When I get dosing correction instructions of adding 4 or 8 liters of something - it's a huge undertaking in time and $$$. Does it make a difference in the healthy and happiness of the coral based inhabitants of the tank - Yes. With 1300+ gallons of corals - it's amazing to see the growth rate increase when everything gets dialed in and maintained.

This is for people that have a successful reef aquarium.

For people that have an unsuccessful aquarium and ICP test can definitely point you in a direction towards the problem. House with plumbing leaching copper through the RO systems, Tanks with high metal readings because a Razor Blade, Screw Driver - One reefer found a hammer that had been dropped into one of his tanks overflows.

Copper coming out of Rock Work someone bought from a 'Reef Tank' off of Craigslist. There are lots and lots of different problems out there that a good ICP result can point you in the direction to look for.

@o2manyfish ........ Your reply has to be the best advice and opinion of ICP I have ever read here on reef2reef. Bravo for this comment.

 

[Badboyan93l]

Yes I send an ICP once every month just to make sure to see the changes when adjusting parameters like trace and mag. When I don’t dose mag for a month salifer would still read high, but ICP shows low same with other parameters. If you’re not gonna do water changes I suggest to send off your water for icp testing….

 

[Dburr1014]

I was heavily involved with Triton when they brought the First ICP testing to the States via Unique Corals. The logic behind the testing for what you are using and replenishing it in the correct proportions for each individual aquarium is solid.

I run a really large system - 1350g at the time, 1500g currently. When I get dosing correction instructions of adding 4 or 8 liters of something - it's a huge undertaking in time and $$$. Does it make a difference in the healthy and happiness of the coral based inhabitants of the tank - Yes. With 1300+ gallons of corals - it's amazing to see the growth rate increase when everything gets dialed in and maintained.

This is for people that have a successful reef aquarium.

For people that have an unsuccessful aquarium and ICP test can definitely point you in a direction towards the problem. House with plumbing leaching copper through the RO systems, Tanks with high metal readings because a Razor Blade, Screw Driver - One reefer found a hammer that had been dropped into one of his tanks overflows.

Copper coming out of Rock Work someone bought from a 'Reef Tank' off of Craigslist. There are lots and lots of different problems out there that a good ICP result can point you in the direction to look for.

Dave B

If someone forgets they dropped a hammer in the tank.... They should be in a different hobby anyway. LOL

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Wait, are we saying by and large icp testing can be trusted now? Have they improved their procedures to provide accurate and consistent results?

 

[Dburr1014]

I check my parameters myself and do a 1% AWC.
I have thought about sending one in but quickly realize nothing in my tank is doing bad. So I never send one in. It seems like a waste to me. Then I see threads where a couple of the "scientists" on this forum say they could be off or could be correct. Depends where you send it and how the test was done and if the operator was having a good day or not.
For now it's a no.

 

[AJsReef]

Historically I send an ICP every few months. Lately, I decided to just throw it on auto-ship every 2 months. Worth the piece of mind IMO.

 

[meysam_b61]

Wet wizardry: Do you send your water to a lab for analysis?

Knowing your water parameters can help you be a better reef keeper, but chasing numbers can create problems for your tank and its inhabitants. Some people test water at home with test kits and some people send their water samples to a lab for test (and some people do both). Please tell us about your experience with testing your reef tank water. Do you ever send your water to a lab for analysis? Please tell us why or why not. If you have sent your water to a lab for analysis, please tell us about the experience in the discussion thread.

PRO TIP: Although some reef keepers send in their water samples weekly or monthly for lab testing, even a one-time testing can be helpful to establish a baseline or to see if there are any unusual parameters in your tank.

Photo by @MantisReef


This QOTD is sponsored by: www.tidalgardens.com

“The goal of Tidal Gardens is to offer the highest quality corals to those seeking a piece of that world without destroying it. We hope to instill a deep appreciation for the natural reefs and help develop a self sustaining hobby that no longer requires the collection of fish and corals.”

I test water parameters my self but request for icp test every 2 month

 

[Treefer32]

I send once a year for an ICP Test. The biggest reason is I am minimizing the water changes I do. I dose trace elements, and I don't test for trace elements. So, I test once a year to adjust dosing for the next year, and test for any potential issues building up. A few years ago I lost several large colonies of stylophora. I couldn't figure out why. I thought it was may be too low Nitrates (I had one fish in 340 gallons at the time). So, I sent a test in expecting to find Copper, nickel, something I hadn't thought of yet. I did find something I wasn't thinking about....

My phosphates were .66ppm. All my other paremeters were right on the money. That's when I bought a Hanna ULR phosphate kit and a High Range nitrate kit and started monitoring those myself (As well as alk).

Now, I test Posphates, nitrates, and alk at least weekly. Alk closer to twice a week as I've identified trends of my alk consumption going up and down by as much as 1dkh per day. One day, consumption is down and alk rises to 9 from 8. I leave it one more day and alk drops back down to 8.5. So, I just check twice for piece of mind.

Now that I have the basics well managed, my corals are doing amazing. I still have some phosphate issues, but am slowly getting those managed.

I continue to do an ICP test on top of my own testing for trace elements and to confirm that my Hana meter is still accurate.