Which ICP is worth?

Robin316us · Apr 25, 2020

Wondering which ICP to go for.....

GoVols · Apr 25, 2020

1 vote for Triton

KimG · Apr 25, 2020

I like ATI. Why get a free vial for the rodi

User1 · Apr 25, 2020

Robin316us said:
Wondering which ICP to go for.....

I think you may get a lot of different opinions on this but I will tell you why I use what I do if it helps. I'm not going to say one is better than the other because honestly I don't know. Having said that:

I use ATI. Here is why:

1. ATI support. I've had great luck sending in questions and getting a pretty quick turn around on a reply and answer. One time close to December and they let me know follow up Q&A would be delayed due to staff on holiday.

2. RO water sample. Not really sure if it matters to you or if it is a valid test but they give a sample tube for your RO water. If you want it tested include it. I've found it helpful never the less.

3. Accuracy. This may be subjective but will say that I've been able to compare ATI's results with my Trident's results and also manual tests for Alk, Ca, and Mag with similar results. Meaning I take the water sample 5 minutes before my Trident runs its test. I also collect a cup of water to run manual tests. Ca, Mag, and Alk are testing via the Trident. Then I test manually, make a note of date and time. Send off ATI's mail and wait for the results. When they come back I can go back to my Neptune dashboard and compare. So far all three (manual, Trident, and ATI) within their respected error margin and close. So I've been happy. THe other elements I have no control over but it seems to be ok. They also caught my salinity being off. I was checking with my digital meter and thought it was 35 but turns out it wasn't. I started to lose a few fish, corals, couldn't figure out why. Sent off a ATI test and Bob's your Uncle. Found the issue. They recommended calibration / reference fluid and that solved that.

Those are the three reasons why I use them. I've heard good things about Triton so you probably can't go wrong there. There is one I hear some questionable things about but not really going to go into that here.

If you search, sorry I don't have it book marked, but there is a pretty good thread and article on ICP testing. Not that they are bad but they raised some really great questions on what they can, cannot do and about cross sample contamination.

TL;DR - I use ATI and recommend them. Triton I've read good things but haven't use. I use the ICP results as a reference and compare to my manual tests.

Best of luck and have an amazing Saturday.