Getting lab quality water testing via ICP-OES (Inductively Coupled Plasma – Optical Emission Spectrometry) is gaining more momentum and ATI is one of the companies to invest in the testing equipment and now Marine Depot is offering ATI tests to their customers.
Using the service through Marine Depot, you can get an ARCOS II ICP-OES machine tested sample. The ATI lab will give you a complete water test that examines 43 different water parameters using ICP-OES and two other test techniques. The results will be made available online.
According to ATI, the the ARCOS II ICP-OES machine can detect trace element concentrations in your aquarium water down to 1 µg/l (0.001mg/l). Since measurements are affected by salinity, the readings are balanced out so results are accurate.
Here is some of what is tested:
- Salinity and KH value
- Major elements: chloride, sodium, sulphur, magnesium, calcium, potassium, bromine, strontium and boron
- Minor elements: aluminium, antimony, arsenic, barium, beryllium, bismuth, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, copper, iron, iodine, lead, lithium, manganese, mercury, molybdenum, nickel, phosphorus, selenium, silicon, silver, thallium, tin, titanium, vanadium and zinc
For $39.99 you get the pre-addressed package and bottles to put your samples in. The samples are shipped to ATI in the US and then shipped to Germany for testing weekly.
While this may not be ideal if you are looking for quick answers, it can be a bit discouraging. However, it is good to see another company offering this service. Hopefully the turnaround time improves and you can see faster results, especially when ICP Analysis is offering testing in the US.
