I had low to normal levels of lithium until I started dosing ESV. I used to dose Seachem Reef Fusion and it was a good additive, nothing seemed to get out of whack and there really weren't many deficiencies either. It was just annoying that its not a perfect 1-1 ratio 2 part and its a bit pricey. I switched to ESV to try and save some dough and have a balanced solution. Sure as shit my lithium levels elevated from normal to around 950 in a couple months time. I have since switched to DIY additives so I will see were I am at in a few months.
FWIW people have been dosing the shit out of ESV for decades, even before ICP testing was ever a thing and it hasn't really been an issue. Or has it been? I would assume that their formula hasn't changed much, and for all that time we were all dosing a ton of lithium and didn't even know it.
Now that we have access to laboratory level testing, we are becoming increasingly more aware of what is in our supplements and systems. Some of it bad? Maybe? Many of the ions that ICP test for have no scientific basis or evidence that they effect coral health, growth, or coloration at all, just that these ions are found in natural sea water.
Some of the ICP recommendations are even downright contradictory. For example I have high potassium in my system, I also have slightly low iodine. Iodine supplements are pretty much straight potassium and the slightly low iodine isn't enough to cause an issue. Yet, the recommendations from the ICP lab are to start dosing iodine. Then in the same list of recommendations, I am advised to immediately stop feeding or dosing anything that contains potassium and start doing water changes using their brand of salt of course. I also have test results saying that I have low manganese. I dosed crazy amounts of manganese even the day before the test trying to elevate it on my ICP results only to come up undetectable on manganese again. I later came to find out, that manganese can't be detected on ICP-OES, they can only see it if you use ICP-MS. Yet still, it is reported and recommend to dose it based on an ICP-OES test?
I suggest that people take ICP results and recommendations in jest, and remember that the people performing these tests are doing it for profit, first and foremost. It's not coincidence that the ICP companies also sell all of the elements that they test for. Once you have the ICP test data it is up to you to do your diligence and figure out what the value of the information is. Only after that should you make any decisions on what to course of action to take if any at all.
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