ICP test results vs. Hobby Grade!!!

ReefHomieJon · Jun 24, 2020

WHY are these results so different?!? Makes me not know who to trust.....

ICP

Mag: 943.99
Calc: 285.8
Phosphorus: .11

Hanna Po4: .07
Salifert Calc: 380
Salifert Mag: 1350

what the heck?!? yea I still need to raise up my levels a lil bit and lower P04 a bit more(working on it) but idk who to trust. ICP came back super low across the board, trace elements included but the phosphurus showed up higher which isthe only accuracy because mine the Hanna checker can be plus/minus .04. But if ICP is indeed accurate then our hobby grade test kits ain’t worth crap!

Lasse · Jun 25, 2020

How does your corals looks like - especially the stony corals? It will give you a clue what´s right in this special case. Personally - I use Triton ICP test and I rely very much of their results - it is a bookmark for my own analysis.

Sincerely Lasse

joseserrano · Jun 25, 2020

What icp test?

Lasse · Jun 25, 2020

As an example but there is other brands with the same service

Sincerely Lasse

Daniel@R2R · Jun 25, 2020

Which ICP did you use?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 25, 2020

goodReefer125 said:
WHY are these results so different?!? Makes me not know who to trust.....

But if ICP is indeed accurate then our hobby grade test kits ain’t worth crap!

Not all ICP is accurate. Not all hobby kits are accurate. Combine the two and they will often disagree. lol

Amado · Jun 25, 2020

Icp test are very accurate.
The problem with “hobby grade tests kit”
Is the user. A lot of people do the test wrong. Getting a reefbot or auto tester takes the human out of the equation.

ReefHomieJon · Jun 25, 2020

ICP-analysis.com
Sold at my LFS

ReefHomieJon · Jun 25, 2020

Amado said:
Icp test are very accurate.
The problem with “hobby grade tests kit”
Is the user. A lot of people do the test wrong. Getting a reefbot or auto tester takes the human out of the equation.

I follow dir

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Not all ICP is accurate. Not all hobby kits are accurate. Combine the two and they will often disagree. lol

So who do i trust?? If I go with the ICP then my hobby grade kits will measure thru the roof lol

User1 · Jun 25, 2020

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Not all ICP is accurate. Not all hobby kits are accurate. Combine the two and they will often disagree. lol

Sounds like a marriage

chipmunkofdoom2 · Jun 25, 2020

Amado said:
Icp test are very accurate.
The problem with “hobby grade tests kit”
Is the user. A lot of people do the test wrong. Getting a reefbot or auto tester takes the human out of the equation.

For some things, yes, ICP-OES testing is incredibly accurate. For every element in seawater? Not so much. Rich Ross and co sent a certified seawater sample to Triton for ICP testing. For some elements, the results were okay. For some elements, the results were not anywhere near the certified value.

Overall ICP testing is probably good enough for our purposes, and it is probably good enough to establish trending. But I don't think ICP testing on seawater samples is "very accurate."

Amado · Jun 25, 2020

I am a big picture kind of person.
I don’t really care about all the small elements.
I care about alk/cal/magnesium and those are
“Very accurate” From icp test.
I try to keep it as simple as possible.
Icp test are now done in the USA
And for as little as $20

madweazl · Jun 25, 2020

I wouldnt make any decisions based on icp-analysis.com results.

chipmunkofdoom2 · Jun 25, 2020

Amado said:
I am a big picture kind of person.
I don’t really care about all the small elements.
I care about alk/cal/magnesium and those are
“Very accurate” From icp test.
I try to keep it as simple as possible.
Icp test are now done in the USA
And for as little as $20

You said in your first post that "Icp test are very accurate." There is no evidence to support that statement. ICP may be accurate for some elements, but for others it is not, and for some it is really far off.

You may not care about the "small elements," but many hobbyists do, and they dose trace elements based on the results of ICP testing. While ICP test results are probably "good enough" for this purpose, they are not "very accurate." Hobbyists really should be taking ICP results with a grain of salt unless the testing facility provides gives them really good reason to think otherwise. Unfortunately, many treat ICP results as an ultimate truth.

ReefHomieJon · Jun 25, 2020

madweazl said:
I wouldnt make any decisions based on icp-analysis.com results.

Looking at my results for calcium and magnesium(first post, you’d trust the hobby grade test results over “icp-analysis.com”?
I’m just trying to figure out which results to rely more on.

JimWelsh · Jun 25, 2020

goodReefer125 said:
Looking at my results for calcium and magnesium(first post, you’d trust the hobby grade test results over “icp-analysis.com”?

I would.

ReefHomieJon · Jun 25, 2020

Lol dang. I mean my tank looks pretty good. Only thing is that I feel like my trace elements are probably a little low because my phosphate is generally under .1(0.3-0.8), nitrate 1-2ppm and I have monstrous flow and 3 kessil A360x’s but some of my sps have faded in color some and one blue acro has browned out so I’m thinking my trace elements might be a little low. I’m trying to maintain .03 PO4 tho and see if that helps with the browning. Also, just started using reef energy AB+ from Red Sea. My corals grow pretty fast but i want more vibrant coloration.

smokin'reefer · Jun 25, 2020

Triton/ Ati water test comparison

I had a Triton test laying around and saw an Ati at my lfs and thought I would send them both in to see what, if anything, would be the difference. My first impressions seem to lean toward the Ati. They give a third vial to test your RO water along with the 2 tank vials. Big plus to help...

www.reef2reef.com

Here is a comparison I did between triton and ati. Although close, you can see even between labs there are big enough differences to question their pinpoint accuracy. Close enough to see trends which I think is the main purpose of any testing including hobby grade.

joseserrano · Jun 25, 2020

goodReefer125 said:
ICP-analysis.com
Sold at my LFS

would not trust this company. Often enough they don’t test everything, and you can get way off results. I had mine and a customers eater come back with way high reading on salinity and other components. They told me I was around 40 salt. I’m fairly sure I wouldn’t have thriving corals at those levels.

ReefHomieJon · Jun 25, 2020

joseserrano said:
would not trust this company. Often enough they don’t test everything, and you can get way off results. I had mine and a customers eater come back with way high reading on salinity and other components. They told me I was around 40 salt. I’m fairly sure I wouldn’t have thriving corals at those levels.

I dont even think my salinity was checked. Just all the elements. Smh, you spend $30 thinking it’s a good investment to get a precise test done. I guess I’ll just trust hobby grade. My corals look terry good anyway. I’ll just raise my deficient levels back to where they should be and dose my trace elements(using red sea’s easy dose by calcium) plus AB+ and hopefully get the coloration and vibrancy I want. Almost Everything in my tank looks healthy and is growing, so that must mean my levels aren’t what the ICP test is showing otherwise my corals would be on there way out lol