Starting off, I would like to thank the members who donated to make this possible.
Thank you to:
DaveMorris and the SDMAS
Dreamkeeper
Cboltsd
Jason142
Brianjones66
I like many others, have always wondered about Scripps water parameters. We have always relied on hobby grade test kits, which are not always accurate as well as not having test kits available for some of the less abundant elements. That's where Triton labs comes in.
Developed over several years at his facility in Dusseldorf, Germany, Triton Labs founder, Ehsan Dashti has developed customized protocols to utilize Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emmission Spectrometry analysis (ICP-OES) to literally rip molecules apart with plasma that is heated to 10,000 degrees Kelvin for analysis. The ICP-OES machine has been adapted by Ehsan to test seawater for the with extreme accuracy. Water is tested for precise concentrations of lesser known elements found in seawater that are either essential and missing, or detrimental and building up to high levels in the aquarium. The elements being tested for include Na, Ca, Mg, K, Sr, B, Br, S, Li, Be, Ba, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Al, Si, As, Sb, Sn, Cd, Se, Mo, Hg, P (PO4), Pb, I.
Received the Triton test kit from Unique Corals Saturday 6/4/16
Going to take samples from Scripps tomorrow Sunday 6/5/16. I also plan on testing a sample tomorrow using hobby grade test kits (Hanna, Salifert, Red Sea) to see how they compare to the Triton Results.
I will update this thread as often as possible and plan on sending off a minimum of 2 more tests this year. One during red tide and another 6 months down the road to see if there are any changes to the base line test.
6/6/16
Here are my results from hobby grade tests. I tested every thing twice to make sure results were accurate
1.025 salinity
6.88dkh (Hannah)
360ppm Ca (Red Sea Titration)
1160ppm Mg (Red Sea Titration)
390ppm K (Salifert)
.02ppm NO3 (Salifert)
.038ppm PO4 (Hannah ULR)
6/6/16
Mailed samples to Triton