Triton Test vs ICP

Brian W · Sep 18, 2017

What is the difference in these tests?
Besides the fact that these are 2 different companies (total guess) is one more accurate than the other?
If you send two samples at the same time to each company will the results vary drastically?
Thanks

Randy Holmes-Farley · Sep 18, 2017

The basic method is the same. I don't think we know too much about the relative accuracy.

Brian W · Sep 18, 2017

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
The basic method is the same. I don't think we know too much about the relative accuracy.

Thanks

Larry L · Sep 18, 2017

ICP-OES is the name of the type of testing that is done (Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry), both Triton and ICP-analysis.com use it. It basically uses super-high-temperature plasma to blast the sample into its component atoms, and then reports on the quantities of each atom. In theory you should get the same results back if you sent identical samples to each of the companies, but I guess that would depend on how good the equipment is, how well and how often it is calibrated, how good the operators are, etc.

bif24701 · Sep 19, 2017

I got both tests done. Sent water in collected at the same time. Results from both seem to match the other. Main difference is that Triton includes advice for its Triton method for correcting problems or improvements. Honestly, ICP is all I needed and I just wanted the results. My water came back looking good to me and most other but Triton included about 15 things that I needed to do.

rkpetersen · Sep 19, 2017

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
The basic method is the same. I don't think we know too much about the relative accuracy.

But we can make some anecdotal observations. I've sent identical aquarium water samples to both Triton and ICP-Analysis on 3 occasions. Triton takes longer to return results for US aquarists, up to 2 weeks, because samples are sent to Germany; ICP-A is much faster, being based in the US, with turnaround of about 5 days. The Triton website is quite detailed with suggestions on causes of problems and how to fix them (and not just using the Triton method), ICP-A website is more basic with less additional info.

I've found that there can be considerable variation in the results reported for various elements between Triton and ICP-A, somewhat surprising considering the technology being used. In my tables, I put a question mark next to any result that 1) doesn't match the other lab, 2) doesn't fit with previous reported values, and 3) doesn't correspond to what I know is actually going on in the tank. Of the two, I've found considerably more 'questionable' results coming from ICP-A. For example, elevated values for copper and lead on one occasion when all other evaluations confirm none present; elevated value for phosphorus on two occasions when all other evaluations confirm a much lower level.

I can't really say much about ATI yet, as I've only sent one sample, with an identical comparison sample to Triton. ATI is also a German company and their samples may also be sent to Germany for analysis for all I know, as the results take awhile and actually got back to me on the exact same day as the corresponding Triton results. With just the one sample comparison so far, the Triton and ATI results were actually reasonably close to each other (although not identical).