ICP Results -- now what ?

[Mester320]

So I received my ICP results back from ATI and have a few areas of concern like my calcium but how concerned should I be and do I need to do anything immediately to make a change. I am not happy with coral growth and polyp extension on most of my corals. Mostly everything is doing good but I am not getting those nice fluffy corals with good color that we all hope for. Below are my results, I also had my RO water tested but it all looked good so no need to post. Thanks for any help in advance.

 

[Cheesus]

You should run that through the reef moonshine calculator.

 

[wmb0003]

Are you dosing any trace element supplements now? Zinc, nickel, barium, molybdenum all seem pretty high.
I would dose fluorine/fluoride, Managanese, and iodine. You can buy the elements from ATI directly, it’s a little cheaper to purchase the individual elements through reef moonshiners(also look into his program- he suggests running some traces elements at slightly elevated levels to act as a buffer so you don’t bottom out), or the cheapest way would be to make your own diy trace supplements(most of the common recipes you can find on R2R)

 

[Mester320]

I am using tropic marin pro reef in hopes that I was getting them from the salt mix hence the extra cost of the salt but I guess not but still I would not think that would be the outstanding issue with my corals as many people run great tanks on instant ocean with not trace element dosing. Not sure but all good recommendations and I will check out the reef moonshine calculator as I have never heard of it. Thanks

 

[Mester320]

Also I guess al little background on my tanks, it is approx. 400G with two frag tanks, sump, and 200G display all plumbed together. The display is like 4 months old but the frag tanks have been running for some time now. 150lbs of mature real reef rock and 100lbs of fresh real reef rock when new tank was setup

 

[Mester320]

 

[wmb0003]

I am using tropic marin pro reef in hopes that I was getting them from the salt mix hence the extra cost of the salt but I guess not but still I would not think that would be the outstanding issue with my corals as many people run great tanks on instant ocean with not trace element dosing. Not sure but all good recommendations and I will check out the reef moonshine calculator as I have never heard of it. Thanks

Hmm. That is strange the levels for those 4 elements are that high without any dosing of supplements. I would suggest switching to something other that TMP salt right now, there are a lot of people having issues with their salt right now. The TMP team is looking into potential issues but haven’t found anything yet.

Edit: check out this thread regarding the TMP salt claims https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/pro-reef-salt-from-turkey.877589/

 

[Hans-Werner]

The main deficiencies are phosphate and iodine. With ca. 0.1 +/- 0.05 ppm phosphate you have a much better chance to get the fluffy look and better colors of the corals you want.

Both are not supplied by the salt in sufficient quantities, phosphate because the users don't like it in their salt and iodine because it is 100 % (ca. 60 ppm at 35 PSU) in the salt initially but the consumption in the tank is by far too high to supply enough with water changes only.

If you take iodine only it is worth starting to add trace element additives.

 

[Dan_P]

So I received my ICP results back from ATI and have a few areas of concern like my calcium but how concerned should I be and do I need to do anything immediately to make a change. I am not happy with coral growth and polyp extension on most of my corals. Mostly everything is doing good but I am not getting those nice fluffy corals with good color that we all hope for. Below are my results, I also had my RO water tested but it all looked good so no need to post. Thanks for any help in advance.

One thing to try is to investigate coral growth issues without resorting to the ICP analysis. I am thinking along the lines that if you don’t have toxic levels of something of an element, the issue probably lies elsewhere. Maybe repost your concerns and look fora non-chemical issue. And trust your hobby kit results.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I don't see any big issue in the ICP myself, except it may be useful to start a trace element supplement and see if it seems beneficial to the tank.

 

[Mester320]

How do I track my dosing without doing icp test constantly?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

How do I track my dosing without doing icp test constantly?

You can use a quality trace element supplement that has dosing based on tank size or calcium consumption.

There's little to no evidence that exact trace element values are important, but if any are being depleted too far, the tank may benefit.

 

[Mester320]

Ok, thank you for everyone's help

 

[nereefpat]

I don't see anything in the ICP test that would cause me to change anything. Maybe up the salinity.

 

[Mester320]

Here are my parameters as of today and more info on tank

Temp 78-79
pH 8.2-8.3
Salinity 1.026
Alk 7.3-7.5
Cal 570-600
Mag 1325
Waiting on nitrate and phosphate test kits


The display is about 4 months old but was set up with live sand and rock and attache to a central sump and system that has been running for years. I use a trident and apex to monitor. I am using tropic marin pro reef salt. Flow is all vortechs and lights are radions on AB+ schedule. 250-280 par at the top an 80-150 on the sand bed, frag tanks are the same. I am using a very large skimz recirculating skimmer, using filter floss in filter cups instead of socks, and I have a jumbo brs reactor with rox carbon. I dose kalk in my top off water via a geo reactor.

I will attach a few pictures to explain what I am dealing with

 

[Mester320]

So blastos are fine and happy but leather hates life

So torches are unhappy and tentacles have gotten shorter but the bounces in the background have never been happier

Star polyps have life but the green sinularia are happy and growing and all my gonipora are happy

Zoas are happy but palys are ticked...

Another mad torch

 

[Mester320]

200G IM display

Dual 80G Seapora frag tanks with glass lids

72" Tideline Sump

 

[Hans-Werner]

I am just running a long-term trial with the supply of nutrients in our systems. In our ICP-testing, analyses showed a slow drop in iodine concentrations which reached the lowest iodine concentration of 34 ppb in one system in August of last year. Then I decided to increase the iodine supply which led to higher iodine concentration in our Tropic Marin product All-For-Reef (I am employee of Tropic Marin and I am doing the R & D). The increased iodine supply with All-For-Reef and iodide separately was the only change at that time and the last change I have made. It resulted in iodine concentrations between 66 and 100 ppb in our systems.

Octocorals showed the most positive reactions. Besides better polyp extension zooxanthellate gorgonians resumed axial growth (length growth of the branches). All octocorals showed much larger polyps, from Heliopora over Sinularia and Sarcophyton to gorgonians. Already years ago I noticed that Briareum had permanently retracted polyps, similar to yours (star polyps), which where extended after doubling the iodine dosing.

This time the Briareum asbestinum with upright branches had started to show even tissue necrosis and is showing polyp opening and healing and growth of tissue after increasing the iodine dosage.

For me it is no question any more and it is the best advice I can give. Keep iodine concentration at the natural level of ca. 60 ppb.

Also the phosphate concentrations are out of question for me. Concentrations below 0.1 ppm have more disadvantages than benefits. Corals, especially SPS, need higher phosphate concentrations than nuisance algae. If you want to stop algal growth with low phosphate concentrations your corals will stop growing long before the algae.

 

[Mester320]

Thank you so much for the great info. This just seems to have my stumped at the moment. I am going to go back to weekly water changes for a while I think and see what that does for me. I hate to dose iodine as there is really no good test kit on the market other than sending out for ICP. I just hate blindly dosing to chase a potential problem. I have a lot of leathers and soft coral in my tank and I believe they may be obsorbing the iodine and I am going to also stop running my carbon reactor as it my be stripping the water of good and bad.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I am just running a long-term trial with the supply of nutrients in our systems. In our ICP-testing, analyses showed a slow drop in iodine concentrations which reached the lowest iodine concentration of 34 ppb in one system in August of last year. Then I decided to increase the iodine supply which led to higher iodine concentration in our Tropic Marin product All-For-Reef (I am employee of Tropic Marin and I am doing the R & D). The increased iodine supply with All-For-Reef and iodide separately was the only change at that time and the last change I have made. It resulted in iodine concentrations between 66 and 100 ppb in our systems.

Octocorals showed the most positive reactions. Besides better polyp extension zooxanthellate gorgonians resumed axial growth (length growth of the branches). All octocorals showed much larger polyps, from Heliopora over Sinularia and Sarcophyton to gorgonians. Already years ago I noticed that Briareum had permanently retracted polyps, similar to yours (star polyps), which where extended after doubling the iodine dosing.

This time the Briareum asbestinum with upright branches had started to show even tissue necrosis and is showing polyp opening and healing and growth of tissue after increasing the iodine dosage.

For me it is no question any more and it is the best advice I can give. Keep iodine concentration at the natural level of ca. 60 ppb.

Also the phosphate concentrations are out of question for me. Concentrations below 0.1 ppm have more disadvantages than benefits. Corals, especially SPS, need higher phosphate concentrations than nuisance algae. If you want to stop algal growth with low phosphate concentrations your corals will stop growing long before the algae.

Thanks for posting that. Few people do careful tests before claiming iodine was useful for them.

I agree that many gorgonia will benefit as they have a demonstrated need for iodine to make 3,5-diiodotyrosine that is a substantial fraction of their body weight (0.1 to 3%).

That said, the evidence for most other organisms we keep benefitting from iodine in the water (as opposed to foods) is weaker.