ICP test recommendation
- Thread starter PapaJ555
- Start date
I recently did four. At the same time and same sample.
Triton
Fauna Marin
Tropic Marin
Ati
Triton came back the quickest. 5 days
Fauna Marin and tropic Marin were oddly similar and came back the same time 8 days
Ati took the longest 10 days
Here is the spreadsheet I made up of results.
The blanks are either it wasn’t tested for it or I forgot to put a zero. Moving forward I think I’ll be going with ati. I tested against my Hanna phosphate, alk, and nitrate. Also against my salifert magnesium and calcium. These were the closest and it also gives supplements and dosage based on your water volume. The salinity’s however, were all over the place. lol. Gotta get that one figured out.
Triton
Fauna Marin
Tropic Marin
Ati
Triton came back the quickest. 5 days
Fauna Marin and tropic Marin were oddly similar and came back the same time 8 days
Ati took the longest 10 days
Here is the spreadsheet I made up of results.
The blanks are either it wasn’t tested for it or I forgot to put a zero. Moving forward I think I’ll be going with ati. I tested against my Hanna phosphate, alk, and nitrate. Also against my salifert magnesium and calcium. These were the closest and it also gives supplements and dosage based on your water volume. The salinity’s however, were all over the place. lol. Gotta get that one figured out.
I would not be worried, it is probably just one is written as phosphorus (ppb) and other are phosphates (ppm) Just remember that phosphorus is not exactly the same as phosphate. You need to convert phosphorus to phosphate based on a table like this.
https://pages.hannainst.com/hubfs/0...phate-conversion-table--hanna-instruments.pdf
https://pages.hannainst.com/hubfs/0...phate-conversion-table--hanna-instruments.pdf
I recently did four. At the same time and same sample.
Triton
Fauna Marin
Tropic Marin
Ati
Triton came back the quickest. 5 days
Fauna Marin and tropic Marin were oddly similar and came back the same time 8 days
Ati took the longest 10 days
Here is the spreadsheet I made up of results.
The blanks are either it wasn’t tested for it or I forgot to put a zero. Moving forward I think I’ll be going with ati. I tested against my Hanna phosphate, alk, and nitrate. Also against my salifert magnesium and calcium. These were the closest and it also gives supplements and dosage based on your water volume. The salinity’s however, were all over the place. lol. Gotta get that one figured out.
Triton
Fauna Marin
Tropic Marin
Ati
Triton came back the quickest. 5 days
Fauna Marin and tropic Marin were oddly similar and came back the same time 8 days
Ati took the longest 10 days
Here is the spreadsheet I made up of results.
The blanks are either it wasn’t tested for it or I forgot to put a zero. Moving forward I think I’ll be going with ati. I tested against my Hanna phosphate, alk, and nitrate. Also against my salifert magnesium and calcium. These were the closest and it also gives supplements and dosage based on your water volume. The salinity’s however, were all over the place. lol. Gotta get that one figured out.
I'm using ATI as well, but they have been pretty slow. Which is strange because it literally goes to Carson, but I guess they have wait for a batch to go to Germany for the actual test. Would be awesome if they had ICP in the US, but I don't think they do. I like the ATI because one of the version include a test for RODI water as well.
I've had a test or two take close to two weeks before, but most take 6-7 days including the weekend. I've also had one go missing, but ATI sent a new label (I just had to provide the vials), just reach out to their tech support.
Here's the thing about ICP, use it as a tool to get a baseline for your tank(s) and don't use it as an exact measurement for trace elements, it's not that precise for this use. When your tank is humming along and everything is doing well, that's the time to test. This gives you what your tank likes in terms of parameters and traces, then test based on your dosing method. I make a few of my own traces, but have gone to just dosing TM A & K at the moment. I think I'll most likely get back to a particular cocktail once I have a good amount of growth going, then I'll switch to Isol8, which is much cheaper than moonshiners and you can also mix most, if not all traces together in one solution.
Here's the thing about ICP, use it as a tool to get a baseline for your tank(s) and don't use it as an exact measurement for trace elements, it's not that precise for this use. When your tank is humming along and everything is doing well, that's the time to test. This gives you what your tank likes in terms of parameters and traces, then test based on your dosing method. I make a few of my own traces, but have gone to just dosing TM A & K at the moment. I think I'll most likely get back to a particular cocktail once I have a good amount of growth going, then I'll switch to Isol8, which is much cheaper than moonshiners and you can also mix most, if not all traces together in one solution.
