Loading ...Over the last few months, a couple of companies have popped up that offer water testing. The idea behind the service is that you take a water sample and send it off to a lab to be tested. The tests are in depth analyzing everything from your salinity to zinc, titanium and sulfur levels.
I was wary about trying out one of these tests. Wouldn’t the water levels change when they sit in the mail for days on end? I would think that the critters in the water would die off affecting ammonia, nitrates and nitrites. After all, we know some of the stuff that lives in aquarium water.
So, I emailed Lab Aquatics to ask them how they account for that. They seem like a bunch of good guys and got back to me within a few hours:
You are right about the water being affected by shipping. Mainly, this relates to the pH, that is why you’ll find that there isn’t anyone who is offering a pH value through a service like ours. We do however, use the pH as part of our analysis, but this only serves to provide a needed relative value in formula. Our main consideration is with Ammonia and Ammonium, additionally our test for delayed analysis of Nitrate has proven to not show any significant variance.Our service primarily focuses on Elemental Analysis of aquarium water for hobbyists using our ICP-MS, ICP-OES and Ion Chromatography equipment. Our laboratories are ISO 17025 accredited and are able to perform an unlimited number of tests per day.
I emailed them back and asked for clarification on what consideration they gave to Ammonia and Ammonium. Here’s their response:
A pH drop does sway the equilibrium between Ammonia and Ammonium; the lower the pH, the more ammonium there will be. It would be beneficial if the customer took a pH reading prior to taking a sample for shipping, however, we are able to compensate for this.The important thing to note here is that in our product offering the “Parameters” is meant to be a “check”, if you will, of your home analysis. The check will validate that your test apparatus is either calibrated correctly or that your test chemicals have not expired.Now, “The Elements” is a whole other story. We reach a level of analysis here from parts per million to parts per trillion, with extreme accuracy!
In the hobby since 2001, and has seen all kinds of fads come and go. As he gets older, Jeff is developing more and more of a conscience towards environmental concerns, especially towards reefs. Currently, he writes from Ontario, Canada, but would rather be snorkeling on a reef.
On our side of the border AWT (aquariumwatertesting) is one of the more well known on the reef boards. I sent in a sample and the results were, well, I guess less than spectacular, not that the parameters were out of wack, but more so in that a couple of the results conflicted with what I know (or thought…) to be true…
I’d be interested to hear how your lab tests up there are. I guess awt, for $30 or whatever, was a decent service. I’ll try ‘em again at some point.
Be sure to post up if you give Lab Aquatics a whirl. Looking at the pricing though, it’s kind of bunk, imo. You either get super basics for $18, or you have to shell out $75 for more, but a ton of useless ( Scandium?! Selenium?!) results. No middle ground?
If interest, here’s the results I got from awt…