Want The Next Level of Testing For Your Tanks?

You've been successfully keeping marine and reef aquariums for a while now; you definitely closer to the “expert” end of the spectrum than the “beginner” designation. You've run just about every water quality and chemistry test that is commonly available, and at this point, probably from several different manufacturers. It's no secret that in house, we utilize a few different Tropic Marin test kits for certain parameters where we don't need the precision or the cost of using our spectrophotometer or probes. We can't recommend Tropic Marin Test Kits highly enough.

All that being said, there will come a day for you as an aquarist where you also would like to be able to test your home aquarium's water with the same precision, and the same breadth of testing that is available to us as professionals. When you are really trying to dial in a killer SPS reef system, standard testing is going to leave you some gaps. Sadly, the equipment to step up from those tests is more expensive than most hobbyists are going to be able to afford. In all honesty, maintaining this equipment is also time consuming and expensive. However, what if we told you that there is another option for you to get the kind of test results you've been dreaming about?

Maybe you've heard of this, maybe you haven't, and if you fall into the latter camp, welcome to the world of ICP-OES. Before you jump to any erroneous conclusions about the acronym, it stands for Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy. This is the pinnacle of testing for saltwater and available to any aquarist who goes into their local fish store and buys the Tropic Marin ICP-OES testing kits. That's it. No catch.

There are two levels of kit; the Tropic Marin ICP-OES, and the Tropic Marin ICP-OES Plus. The plus includes a vial for and testing of a reverse osmosis water sample, so you can be sure that your R/O system is working correctly or that the R/O water you're buying is as pure as you expect (nine separate parameters are tested)! Both kits will provide vials for and tests of your aquarium water for 37 different elements!

So how does this work? Well, you don't actually do any testing. When you buy these kits, they come with two 15ml vials, a 25ml syringe and a shipping box. Basically, you rinse the vials and syringe out with aquarium water, then fill the syringe with 25 ml of aquarium water. Waste the first 10ml of sample water down the sink and fill the remaining 15ml into one of the vials, cap the vial securely and repeat with the remaining vial. If you have bought the “Plus” kit, it will also contain third 15ml vial with a red lid. Rinse this vial with reverse osmosis water and then fill it to 15ml with fresh R/O water, then cap it securely. Put all the vials into the shipping packet. Before you send them off, it is absolutely imperative that you register your aquarium and test kits at www.lab.tropic-marin.com or you won't be able to see the results of your water tests. Now mail your kits and wait to get notified that your tests are done!

On the website, you can view your results or you can download a pdf of them. The site will track changes in your water chemistry over time as long as you keep doing the tests. It can also track more than one aquarium for those of you with really dreamy multiple aquarium set ups! Then provide recommendations to improve your aquarium.

Tropic Marin ICP-OES could not be any easier to use, and you'll get professional level test results every time. The website will also give you dosing recommendations to correct any deficits based on your tested levels through either the Tropic Marin Block multi-element solutions or with the Tropic Marin Components single-element solutions. If you're ready for the next level, it is ready for you too. Head to your LFS and get started with Tropic Marin ICP-OES. You'll be testing like a pro, and you'll finally be able to start tracking your aquarium down to the tiniest detail then watch it thrive.