icp tests you are just chasing and looking for numbers at that instant and mean nothing 2 weeks later when u get results..... my opinion
i know... but i dont test or chase numbers.. only when chits wrong... so gives me an idea when chits way off like this.
I don’t do an ICP regularly. But I am going to try to do them quarterly. They give you a base line of where your test kits are at. When I package up a sample I fill up a large glass. I then fill my sample vials when I do tests for all the kits I have. Which are all the Red Sea protest kits.
I then log the Red Sea results in apex and wait for my icp test results. Doing this gives me a piece of mind knowing if my kits are off or not. Now I don’t chase numbers to be exact on point but I do like to know that when I’m testing I’m getting results that are fairly accurate.
Also how often do you calibrate the pH meter. I run 3 pH probes on my tank and I do calibrate them monthly. I bought a year supply of calibration fluids off eBay for like $20 and pour a small amount in old Red Sea test containers when I need to recalibrate the probes.
This is another piece of mind that I know my equipment is running properly. Granted it’s excessive. But on my 300 a few years ago I didn’t do crap to that tank. I didn’t test regularly. I didn’t do water changes. The tank did great for a few years. Then all of a sudden the tank went down hill and when it went I went fast. I got massive algae issues. I lost a few fish that I had for years (sounding familiar). Then I took the tank down and took a break. It left a sour taste in my mouth. Then when I got the itch to get back in the hobby I started looking at articles of tanks that did well for many years and one of the patterns I noticed was these reefers did was test regularly. By testing regularly the noticed any small changes and could correct before that small changes could turn into a large problem.
S—- I test bi weekly and I still hit a large problem in my nutrient levels feel to low and my corals are now starving.
Yes I know people have luck with not testing regularly and yes even a broken clock is correct twice a day. But I’m not a gambling man and don’t want to play a game of roulette with the life of my corals and fish.
Dam I just spewed a load of nonsense lol
PH is low too.
I've had test kits go bad on me, even within the expiration date. So now if things don't add up, I test but with a different brand test kit. Doesn't have to be the same result, but it should be within the neighborhood.
Main kit I use weekly is salifert, backup kit is red sea.
Yea my Red Sea cal test was a 100ppm off the icp test so I contact Red Sea and they sent me a new one.
I had a neighbor years back that used api and would always talk smack on how his tank flourished and he didn’t need those expensive test kits (he did do weekly water changes tho). When after a year or so his tank took a dive and he started loosing stuff like crazy. He couldn’t figure it out why. He telling me “everything is testing ok and I keep doing water changes”. I tell him to bring a cup of water over and I’ll test his water. His alk was thought the roof at 14+. He got a bad batch of salt but he didn’t know cause the api test kit he was using was garbage.