While I am not the PHD and I really don't know all the in's and out's of this I can promise this is not true. This is why our competition does not test for things like alkalinity and salinity because the machine doesn't test for it. ATI uses multiple devices to perform all the tests that are performed including ICP, lab grade titration and more.
@ATI North America -- Interesting! The Triton guy at Macna said the ICP machine can be setup to test for
anything, so long as it's properly calibrated. Maybe that's the specific ICP machine they have, or maybe I misunderstood what he was saying. Both are possible, oops!
@Randy Holmes-Farley -- You are correct. But I meant it for those who wouldn't/aren't testing for those substances. Not long ago in the RC SoCal area, we had been having an increase in Chloramines, and most people were unaware of the issue until they tested for it. One guy was having lots of problems with his SPS, but just kept saying "nope, I don't have them", they aren't in my cities water, and refused to test... Even though people in his city were reporting them. Finally, after exhausting everything and losing SPS he came back and said "oh I have chloramines" as if he just made the discovery for himself.. That really made me question things.
How many times have we seen people thinking they have X, Y or Z problem, then refusing to buy the $15 test kit because they'd only use it once, and it
might not solve the issue? I've seen that a lot, myself. Hell, I didn't want to blow $20 on a silicates test myself for the same reason, I'm just as guilty.. But more and more people are jumping on the "Get an ICP test" band wagon, which is a great thing! But if the test isn't testing for obscure little problems -- We might not get that answer.
But seeing the Triton guys speech at MACNA made me wonder how easy/useful it would be to add some of those other obscure issues that may not come up. Further, we could use the data (though anecdotal) to make a database of problems people have noticed corresponding to test results -- For instance, lets assume someone says "All my SPS are turning green", and people with that problem typically test have high Iron, and high Lithium -- We know that high Iron can make corals green, but maybe we just discovered that high lithium
may also be a culprit.
So taking into account the complaints people have before the test (SPS turning green, LPS shriveling up and dying, etc etc), and using the Data from ICP tests itself.. We may be able to create an anecdotal database of cause/effect. Furthermore, we could also start building a hotspot database for which issues are present in what waters. This information can be found already, but not in an all in one site. And all we have to do is gather the data into one spot to make this happen -- Most the work is already done.
Sorry, it's a long comment... Do any
#reefsquad #spsexperts have any thoughts on this? Or
@mdbannister @revhtree for that matter? This could be an inclusive data gathering R2R thing.
