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Supporting Member Perk - ICP Analysis Test for $18 + shipping (1 Viewer)

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Cody

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I know Cody, they are all colonies I think you forgot about them, come on over:cool:

I need to come visit again soon. I get too busy and you live too far away. The neighbors across the street are selling their house. Buy it asap so I can see your tank more often.
 

Raccoh

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I need to come visit again soon. I get too busy and you live too far away. The neighbors across the street are selling their house. Buy it asap so I can see your tank more often.

I need to make my way to see your build out. I can take a quick express flight Lol
 

RR-MAN

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we are restocked and tests are currently available for supporting members.

So what is the process again? Once we buy it online it will be shipped to us or do we need to physically pick it up? Thanks.
 

gregg

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So what is the process again? Once we buy it online it will be shipped to us or do we need to physically pick it up? Thanks.
Once you order we ship them to you.. takes a day or 2 to receive them once ordered.
 
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I’d like to get in on this, but I heard Randy Farley doesn’t trust them. Not sure how true that is, but rumor is that he sent in 3 tests from the same tank and came out with different results.??


Here’s the conversation:

“Like you, I agree ATI seems the best for the price and accuracy. Randy F. doesn’t trust the ICP-Analysis company. I wish they were legit because they’re so convenient here in the U.S. with a quicker turn around time for us. Randy sent in 3 test from all the same tank and had mostly different test results.”

“Well, we don’t really know yet. Maybe that was a fluke. Let’s keep an open mind bro. I’ll use ATI or Triton until I see more test results from other reefers. Time will determine their accuracy. We know there will be some variations with results. Even when I run blood in the hospital on Lab Grade machines there’s always a little variance with results. If you run the same blood back to back it’s off just a little bit. The samples equilibrate with room air and the smallest amounts of time can alter test results.”

“Lol, did you see that video by Dan in the UK (DansReefCoUk).? That dude straight up sent in tests for all 3 companies with the same tank water. IMO, ATI is better than Triton.”


[youtube]V4foh6_BuPo[/youtube]
 

Cody

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“Well, we don’t really know yet. Maybe that was a fluke. Let’s keep an open mind bro. I’ll use ATI or Triton until I see more test results from other reefers. Time will determine their accuracy. We know there will be some variations with results. Even when I run blood in the hospital on Lab Grade machines there’s always a little variance with results. If you run the same blood back to back it’s off just a little bit. The samples equilibrate with room air and the smallest amounts of time can alter test results.”

Eh I ain't buying. He said he had different results for each test. What were the results? There's a big difference between 340ppm, 440ppm, 540ppm, and 430ppm, 440ppm, 450ppm and both average out to the same. And yes, there are many aspects that can come into play by the hour, so I wouldn't stress the exact results to extreme. After all, the machinery that's used to calibrate your home test kits is the same same that you're paying for with any one of the pay-to-test kits; a spectrometer.
 
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Here's my discussion of my testing and its utility:

My Triton Testing Results: By Randy Holmes-Farley - REEFEDITION
https://www.reef2reef.com/blog/my-triton-testing-results-by-randy-holmes-farley/




“Now that I look closely at what they have written, they seem to have a very poor understanding of chemistry, which does not give me confidence in the results.”

example:

" I know, I did not mention alkalinity. Alkalinity is not an element. It is a term used when we calculate how stable our pH is, i.e. the buffer. The buffer is calculated from compounds containing Ca and a hydroxide compound (OH). Since OH is a compound, ICP-OES will not perform the calculation of alkalinity."

“Come on. That's ridiculous.”
 
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Turns out, the SPS guru was right. Randy Farley doesn’t trust him or them.


cigarshark said:


While forums can be useful, when people who are known in this hobby say poor things about companies they do not know anything about it turns the forums into just petty gossip, which is no better than the National Enquirer.






You are right I know nothing about your company. BUT, I am an expert chemist with a PhD from Harvard and I know a lot about ICP and have run them on many sorts of materials, including seawater for many articles I have written.


You may do things perfectly well, but your poordescription does not lead to confidence and I'd suggest you change it before coming on and blasting my comments as being equivalent to the National Enquirer.
clear.png


Now I stop being nice.

Your sentence about alkalinity is total nonsensical crap. It is not simplified. It is just wrong, so very wrong.

There is no reason anyone should have confidence in your data with such an utterly incorrect definition of a term at the very heart of chemical reef keeping:


" I know, I did not mention alkalinity. Alkalinity is not an element. It is a term used when we calculate how stable our pH is, i.e. the buffer. The buffer is calculated from compounds containing Ca and a hydroxide compound (OH). Since OH is a compound, ICP-OES will not perform the calculation of alkalinity."
 
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cigarshark said:

I hold degrees in applied math and chemistry and I have been a formulating chemist for 23 years with a very nice business




furam28:

Would you mind sharing what those degrees are? Since the strength of ICP-OES testing lies in the expertise of the person running and analyzing the tests, it is important to know what the qualifications of that person are.


I was almost ready to place an order for water testing through "ICP-Analysis.com" and then decided to do some basic internet digging. Turns out the owner of ICP-Analysis, and their sistem company, Stone Aquatics, is Steve Visser (is that you @cigarshark ?). Steve Visser also owns another company "Great White Bottling" (that shares the same address), whose primary product is third-party insurance on furniture you buy at Furniture Row. I have dealt with similar furniture insurance once before and I know what type of scam they are. Looks like Great White Bottling is no better. Read the reviews on Google and judge for yourself: https://www.google.com/search?q=gre...8#lrd=0x876b86a8fba9d54b:0x87496c369a261c26,1, . Here's more: https://www.pissedconsumer.com/great-white-bottling/RT-F.html

I wouldn't trust any water testing results from a company that has so many upset customers. Better to spend the extra $20 and send it to Triton.
 

Cody

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Eh that article that Randy wrote seems more like an advertisement than an informational article. I'm not doubting his knowledge of chemistry whatsoever, but when someone as influential as him starts talking about specific brands, I get a little hesitant. Over the years, I've know multiple people that were effectively sponsored by companies and I don't recall any of them mentioning it while talking about their sponsors.

At the end of the day, I still trust these test kits. I've seen the results more or less match what I can test for at home, so I have no issue trusting the results on things like manganese, which I can't test for. For that matter, mittens was recently able to figure out that she had high copper in her tank and remedy it.

Even if you guaranteed me that each test kit was +\- 10-20% I'd still trust these kits to monitor my tank. The trace elements can vary from day to day depending on water changes, switching salt, how mich you feed, what you feed, etc. Im just looking for long term trends and to be within what's typically a fairly wide range of what's considered acceptable. If my strontium falls to 6ppm, I'm not really doing anything. If it drops to 2ppm, I'm doing something. That's my philosophy on it, at least.
 

Cody

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I’m just the messenger. I’d be willing to try him and compare to other tests.

You gotta admit, it does make you question though.

Nah I know what you mean. Wasn’t trying to attack you. No tone in text makes a difference.

Yeah I think mittens was talking about using a triton and comparing them. Only problem with that is, if they’re different then which one is wrong? If the guy in the article is right and the results are contingent on the person performing the test, then I’m not sure which to trust. What if the better tester has an off day?
 
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No worries.

Will be interesting to see what the different results yield when compared to ATI or Triton.

Obviously Triton is the big dog right now. So if comparing results, that would be the first company I’d compare with.

I’m not too worried because I don’t send water in that much. If I did and found issues, I’d want to be confident in the results so that I could make accurate corrections. :)

A few things that excite me:

1. He’s cheaper vs everybody else.
2. He’s in the U.S.
3. Quicker Turnarounds


Maybe we can list our results on this thread. That could set the record straight.
 

dragon99

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