ICP results comparison Triton vs ICP-analysis.com

[Hooz]

Aluminum is quite high. Are you using an aluminum based media of some sort?

I have some Marine Pure gems and a few Brightwell Xport blocks. Not sure which is the culprit, but I'm assuming it's one of those things.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I have some Marine Pure gems and a few Brightwell Xport blocks. Not sure which is the culprit, but I'm assuming it's one of those things.

Sounds likely.

 

[Hooz]

Sounds likely.

I removed all the gems and blocks, changed my carbon and added some fresh GFO. Other than water changes, anything else you'd recommend to help bring it down?

 

[TheCoralExchange]

Aluminum is way high, so I'll need to do something about that. Iodine and Iron were low. They gave me dosing recommendations for the Red Sea Trace Colors (which I use) based on my actual water volume to correct those issues.

Put the water sample in the mail on the 20th, had the results on the 28th.

Thank you.

@Randy Holmes-Farley how does the accuracy of this test look? Looks like there are some things other tests aren't picking up, or how too high of a detection limit, cobalt, manganese, selenium all appear to have a reading here, even cadmium down to 22ug/l.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Thank you.

@Randy Holmes-Farley how does the accuracy of this test look? Looks like there are some things other tests aren't picking up, or how too high of a detection limit, cobalt, manganese, selenium all appear to have a reading here, even cadmium down to 22ug/l.

I do not know anything about their accuracy.

I read that they recently switched to ICP-MS, which can have lower detection limits than ICP-AES but also has interferences which need to be sorted out (don't know anything about how well they did that).

 

[TheCoralExchange]

I do not know anything about their accuracy.

I read that they recently switched to ICP-MS, which can have lower detection limits than ICP-AES but also has interferences which need to be sorted out (don't know anything about how well they did that).

Any idea what elements have issues with ms? Just curious

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Any idea what elements have issues with ms? Just curious

This is the sort of issue I was referring to:

https://resources.perkinelmer.com/lab-solutions/resources/docs/APP-nexion-2000-icp-ms-trace-elements-in-seawater.pdf

"However, like all analytical techniques, ICP-MS analysis is subject to interferences. The high concentrations of matrix components in seawater, such as sodium, magnesium and chloride ions, may form polyatomic spectral interferences making the determination of elements, such as arsenic, cobalt, vanadium, and iron, challenging. "

Most of these problems are solvable with sufficient work and attention to detail, but we have no idea what hobby companies actually do to determine results.

 

[TheSeas]

Recently did an ICP-MS. My PO4 came in at 0ppb and they noted it was too low, with their optimal being 300ppb. However, my Hanna is showing .24ppm.

Should I believe my Hanna or the ICP? and isn't 300ppb too high for optimal range for a reef; that would be .3ppm?

Appreciate your thoughts.

 

[ryshark]

Recently did an ICP-MS. My PO4 came in at 0ppb and they noted it was too low, with their optimal being 300ppb. However, my Hanna is showing .24ppm.

Should I believe my Hanna or the ICP? and isn't 300ppb too high for optimal range for a reef; that would be .3ppm?

Appreciate your thoughts.

I think the PO4 dissipates in transit. How long was it from the time you took the water from your tank to the time they tested it? Still surprised you got 0ppb though. I think I’d trust the Hanna, unless your corals are pale.

 

[TheSeas]

I think the PO4 dissipates in transit. How long was it from the time you took the water from your tank to the time they tested it? Still surprised you got 0ppb though. I think I’d trust the Hanna, unless your corals are pale.

Thanks for the reply; I sent the test in on the 17th and received the results a week later. Corals are not happy now; torches are shrunk; 1/2 of my scoly's are dying. I heard about the transport issues; I use the marine master from Hanna, so I am going try and see if I can find my independent Hanna checker to see if its line with the marine master.

I did however get some new corals last week and they seem OK. This one is humbling me.

 

[ryshark]

Thanks for the reply; I sent the test in on the 17th and received the results a week later. Corals are not happy now; torches are shrunk; 1/2 of my scoly's are dying. I heard about the transport issues; I use the marine master from Hanna, so I am going try and see if I can find my independent Hanna checker to see if its line with the marine master.

I did however get some new corals last week and they seem OK. This one is humbling me.

I don’t know what the marine master is, but I like the checker. I trust mine to be pretty accurate.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

IMO, 300 ppb phosphate or phosphorus is too high to be an optimal target.

 

[ryshark]

IMO, 300 ppb phosphate or phosphorus is too high to be an optimal target.

Good point. I missed that part of the question. I’m surprised they are recommending 0.30ppm, that does seem high.

 

[OldRed1]

@taricha, @Rick Mathew and I are in the middle of exactly the same study. We have collected dozens of ICP tests so far and I believe we are waiting for a bunch more to come in. Here are provisional conclusions.

It seems that ICP results are not very accurate. For elements above 1-10 ppb, the results could have some uses. For elements that can be measured with a Hanna Checker, use the Checker, e,g., PO4 for P. For elements less than 10 ppb, the variability is very large, like 100-200%. These measurement are semi-quantitative at best, maybe not even good enough for guiding dosing decisions.

We may have a report out in a month or two

Where should we look to find your report once published?