What’s your experience with ICP testing?

[Miami Reef]

If you’ve sent out an ICP test before:

1. What made you do it?

2. Were the results normal? Something out of line? What did you find from the test results?

3. If something was off, how did you fix it?

 

[vetteguy53081]

If you’ve sent out an ICP test before:

1. What made you do it?

2. Were the results normal? Something out of line? What did you find from the test results?

3. If something was off, how did you fix it?

I find them reliable overall and 4x sent in and most within range

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I answer all those questions for my icp testing here:

My Triton Testing Results: By Randy Holmes-Farley - REEFEDITION

Recently, Triton GmbH in Germany has initiated a method of testing many ions at once for a single price. In the US, that service is coordinated by Unique Corals. For $49 they will send you a couple of tubes to collect a tank water sample, and a prepaid mailer to send the sample back to them...

www.reefedition.com

 

[mdb_talon]

When I decided to start giving trace element dosing a try I started using them. Have been great for me. Of course I dont really know that they are perfectly accurate, but I believe they are probably accurate enough for my purposes. If I ever got a crazy high/low number that seemed unrealistic I would probably try to find a different way to test it or a second opinion ICP test before making drastic changes.

 

[Dan_P]

If you’ve sent out an ICP test before:

1. What made you do it?

2. Were the results normal? Something out of line? What did you find from the test results?

3. If something was off, how did you fix it?

I am taking part in an investigation of ICP vendors with @taricha and @Rick Mathew. We are trying to get an idea of just how good they are because ICP results would be useful.

ICP vendors provide little or no information about accuracy and precision of the results they send you. The questions you are interested in answering depend on reasonable reliability. Right now, we know more about the reliability of Hanna Checker results than we do about ICP results.

About five years ago someone (Ross) did test one ICP vendor, Triton, by sending three identical samples of certified standard of seawater. The results indicated reasonable reliability for the high concentration elements, those > 1 ppm or macro elements, but poorer quality results for the trace elements. For these elements, I could find no correlation between how well an element was detected and the amount there was in the standard and the intensity of the emission (based on Triton’s published calibration curves). Trace element results seem quite variable. In addition, there seems to be troublesome elements, like P, Si, and I. No theories yet on why these elements seem to trip up the vendors.

What this boils down to is when something is “off”, you first have to decide on the possibility that the vendor is “off” rather than your aquarium water.

 

[ggNoRe]

I have had a great experience with ATI that I order on Amazon. Used them twice in the 8 months my system has been running. Just like to have some reinsurance considering the system is fairly new. I have made minor tweaks based on the results.

 

[Spieg]

I get water tested a couple of times a year. I'm fortunate in having a test facility very close to where I work, so I don't have to ship anything. Usually I can bring in a sample in the morning and wait for a little while for the results. One thing I've been told by the staff there is the testing is only as good as the calibration on the equipment... that's why I go in the morning as they always calibrate at the beginning of the day. They are supposed to recalibrate after a certain number of tests, but I've heard that some facilities tend to stretch this and inaccurate results may be reported.

 

[Aqua Man]

I am taking part in an investigation of ICP vendors with @taricha and @Rick Mathew. We are trying to get an idea of just how good they are because ICP results would be useful.

Sounds fun!! How many vendors are there now?

 

[Dan_P]

Sounds fun!! How many vendors are there now?

We are looking at four. I have seen at least two others.

 

[Rick Mathew]

If you’ve sent out an ICP test before:

1. What made you do it?

2. Were the results normal? Something out of line? What did you find from the test results?

3. If something was off, how did you fix it?

1) What made me do it.
I wanted to get a idea of how good my measurement results were. My thinking was ICP would be a good bench mark

2) Were the results normal? Something out of line? What did you find from the test results?

This question is a bit more complicated...My first observation was "Something is not right"....My first response was to look to my own results. I also looked to see if the ICP vendor had confidence limits associated with there measurements of each of the elements. The would be the ± values associated with the measurement that tells you what level of confidence you can have in the measurement. Unfortunately I was not successful...I was pointed to limits of detection (LOD) which is not the same...You might be able to detect it but how accurately can you measure the amount that was detected.

The result of this query lead me to set up a series of experiments better understand the question you asked "Were the results normal".... Here is a link to the results published on R2R...It also has links to the previous work https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/sample-storage-and-its-impact-on-measurement-results-part-3.800/

3. If something was off, how did you fix it?

No changes were made from the results of the testing.

The point that @Dan_P makes in his reply "Somethin is off" is accurate and I believe it is important to gain more understanding of what this might be...Mainly because of your question #3...It would be much better if we had a high degree of confidence that "fixing it" was the correct thing to do...IMO

Rick

 

[corky1966]

1) What made me do it.
I wanted to get a idea of how good my measurement results were. My thinking was ICP would be a good bench mark

2) Were the results normal? Something out of line? What did you find from the test results?

This question is a bit more complicated...My first observation was "Something is not right"....My first response was to look to my own results. I also looked to see if the ICP vendor had confidence limits associated with there measurements of each of the elements. The would be the ± values associated with the measurement that tells you what level of confidence you can have in the measurement. Unfortunately I was not successful...I was pointed to limits of detection (LOD) which is not the same...You might be able to detect it but how accurately can you measure the amount that was detected.

The result of this query lead me to set up a series of experiments better understand the question you asked "Were the results normal".... Here is a link to the results published on R2R...It also has links to the previous work https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/sample-storage-and-its-impact-on-measurement-results-part-3.800/

3. If something was off, how did you fix it?

No changes were made from the results of the testing.

The point that @Dan_P makes in his reply "Somethin is off" is accurate and I believe it is important to gain more understanding of what this might be...Mainly because of your question #3...It would be much better if we had a high degree of confidence that "fixing it" was the correct thing to do...IMO

Rick

I purchased a test three months ago and never got the results! Mybe it got lost in the mail lol

 

[jacalhou]

I’ve used both Fauna Marin and Triton for ICP testing. Triton is my go-to, because I tend to get results faster. Fauna Marin is a little less expensive and you can get their kits at a good price on www.icp1999.com. There, you can get one test for $19.99 or up to 4 for $69.99, but it takes longer than Triton (when the US based facility is back up and running for Triton, which should be soon).

I test occasionally just to make sure everything is in range to what it should be. I like knowing that things I cannot test for are in line with natural sea water. I also use it to sort of test the accuracy of my kits for major elements.

as for their accuracy? I don’t know for sure. I trust the big names to at least be pretty accurate for my needs. I have made changes to minor elements as needed and it alerted me to high silicates caused by broken down ceramic pellets I had and needed to clean out. Some people don’t realize that if they’re using carbon for chemical filtration, trace elements can be depleted as well, such as Iodine, etc. along with the bad stuff you don’t want (or medicines you’re taking out).

 

[TanksJB]

I use ATI and test about every two months. I don't do water changes and dose moonshine trace elements. Also it gives me a way to validate readings from nitrate and phosphate tests. My Hanna phosphate test is almost the same as ATI. I have to guess with the Red Sea nitrate because the colors are hard to read. I guessed between 8-12 for nitrate and it was 12 with ATI so that was helpful for me to know. I also had a barium spike that came for a plastic mat i used to grow algae I had introduced and it was helpful to know the source.

They seem quicker in their response time than in the past but still will not send me an email when the test is done. Less than $50 a month. I buy through BRS and the postman picks it up at my house with other mail, so it is convenient.

 

[TanksJB]

Tha

I use ATI and test about every two months. I don't do water changes and dose moonshine trace elements. Also it gives me a way to validate readings from nitrate and phosphate tests. My Hanna phosphate test is almost the same as ATI. I have to guess with the Red Sea nitrate because the colors are hard to read. I guessed between 8-12 for nitrate and it was 12 with ATI so that was helpful for me to know. I also had a barium spike that came for a plastic mat i used to grow algae I had introduced and it was helpful to know the source.

They seem quicker in their response time than in the past but still will not send me an email when the test is done. Less than $50 a month. I buy through BRS and the postman picks it up at my house with other mail, so it is convenient.

That should be be less than $50 a test rather than month