ICP-Analysis

ICP-Analysis ICP-Analysis provides elemental analysis for aquarium water, well water, agricultural water and potable water.

Address

6950 W Jefferson Avenue Suite 200
Lakewood, CO
80235

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when ICP-Analysis posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to ICP-Analysis:

Share

Category

ICP Analysis for Saltwater Aquariums

How it Works

ICP-OES is not the most commonly used method in the aquarium world. The instrument we use is usually used to do testing to comply with the EPA regulations in environmental issues, so it's reliability is without question. To start, ICP stands for Inductive Couple Plasma. What it does is simple - it injects a sample, in this case salt water, into a plasma chamber that is approximately 10,000 degrees. This extreme temperature breaks everything in the sample apart into the basic elements. Every element is released at a specific wave length. We can then tell the concentration of the element by how much energy is released at that specific wave length. This process allows every element to be picked up from just a few drops of water.

What ICP Does for You

Now that you what the ICP does, what does it mean to you? In a nut shell we know our corals need certain elements to survive, reproduce, grow and color up. Common titration test kits allow us to measure Ca (calcium), Mg (magnesium), K (potassium) and some of the trace elements in the water. You might be asking yourself why you want to know about these trace elements? The answer is growth and color of your coral. We have all gotten pretty good at getting the big 3 (Ca, Mg, and alkalinity) levels dialed in and getting a low nutrient tank for coral growth. However we never seem to be able to get close to the coral growth that Mother Nature provides. We have the major elements and the lighting down, allowing our corals do okay, but not nearly as well when compared to Mother Nature. This is due to the trace elements. Research has already shown that trace elements are necessary for growth and color of our corals, the problem has always been that the tests we buy on the store shelf are only so accurate. ICP-OES is going to test our elements down to the part per billion, ppb, and parts per million, ppm.