High Tide Aquatics

Cheapest ICP OES-MS

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Slingfox

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Modern Reef will launch in the US soon. They just activated their storefront and it looks like they will sell the cheapest ICP OES-MS on the market. I wish they posted this last week since I purchased a set of ICP tests last week for around triple the price!

Shop – Modern Reef USA LLC

www.modernreefusa.com www.modernreefusa.com
 
Injst
Darkxerox said:
ATI is $190 for 6 tests right now with sales so that's about $34 after tax.
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The ATI ICP-MS test is $64.95. I know that for a fact since I just bought a set of three tests last week!

www.bulkreefsupply.com

ATI ICP-MS Premium Water Analysis

The ATI ICP-MS Premium Water Analysis is a laboratory water analysis of 50 parameters in a reef tank that provides a complete overview of a tank's health, which is impossible with traditional test equipment. Each test checks calcium, alkalinity, magnesium, other major elements, minor elements...
www.bulkreefsupply.com www.bulkreefsupply.com
 
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derek_SR said:
13-15 USD plus the hassle of buying/printing a label yourself and/or driving to the post office!

That low price was interesting but if they aren't including postage....hard pass from me.
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It is unclear whether the ICPs from Modern Reef include shipping. A poster on Reef2Reef says it does but I couldn’t find that in the description anywhere.

For FaunaMarine ICP, that also does not include shipping. You don’t have to go to the post office though: you can either 1) print a label from a normal printer and tape it on with packaging tape (don’t need any special paper or equipment), 2) or put on several stamps. Once you have done this once you can do it again in 1-2 minutes or less. With the above you can drop it off in your home mailbox.

For ICPs, I have used ATI, FaunaMarine, and ReefLab. It can get pricey and the ModernReef ICP-MS pricing cannot be beat right now at $22. This is approximately 1/3rd the cost of the next cheapest alternative (ie, ATI and Oceamo sell their ICP-MS for $64.95).
 
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I do not decide on who tests my water by who provides a label or not. It is far too important (and expensive) to me. But postage is a major cost factor. So is shipping time.

This company is located in Bavaria, Germany, and seems to have a successful coral farm, which seems to add to their credibility. However, their ICP still needs to be shipped to Germany, which needs to be worked out by them to run smoothly, and could cause delays.

I have ordered three different Oceamo sets from the last moonshiner sales (OES, MS, ORGANO), and will try them next year. Even at a regular price, these seem to be the best value for money (including pre paid shipping) since, at least for Europe, their test results have never been debated/questioned. Oceamo and Fauna are the labs to beat in my opinion.

There are a lot of shortcuts possible with ICP, and I would not rely on just any labs results to make corrections.
 
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Alexander1312 said:
I do not decide on who tests my water by who provides a label or not. It is far too important (and expensive) to me. But postage is a major cost factor. So is shipping time.

This company is located in Bavaria, Germany, and seems to have a successful coral farm, which seems to add to their credibility. However, their ICP still needs to be shipped to Germany, which needs to be worked out by them to run smoothly, and could cause delays.

I have ordered three different Oceamo sets from the last moonshiner sales (OES, MS, ORGANO), and will try them next year. Even at a regular price, these seem to be the best value for money (including pre paid shipping) since, at least for Europe, their test results have never been debated/questioned. Oceamo and Fauna are the labs to beat in my opinion.

There are a lot of shortcuts possible with ICP, and I would not rely on just any labs results to make corrections.
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For ModernReef I believe tests will be shipped to their warehouse in Florida which will then aggregate samples and ship to Germany. This is a similar setup to the other ICP labs running out of the EU. Agreed Modern Reef has developed a solid reputation in a short period of time. I have been waiting for two years for them to come to the US. It seems like the only persons in the US who have had access to MR in the USA is Tusi who is the head coral person at Andrew Sandler’s Polo Reef. I was in Australia during the summer where MR is available. I thought about picking up their 4-part system there for testing purposes but didn’t have the time :oops:

Given the MR product line-up, they plan to go head-to-head with the large established reef consumables players. If I didn’t buy half a year supply of salt last week I would also try out the MR salt which is priced more economically than Tropic Marine and Nyos which are the two salts I use depending on what is on sale. Given Tropic Marine salt pricing that means I have been using Nyos Pure uninterrupted for over a year now.
 
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Slingfox said:
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For ModernReef I believe tests will be shipped to their warehouse in Florida which will then aggregate samples and ship to Germany. This is a similar setup to the other ICP labs running out of the EU. Agreed Modern Reef has developed a solid reputation in a short period of time. I have been waiting for two years for them to come to the US. It seems like the only persons in the US who have had access to MR in the USA is Tusi who is the head coral person at Andrew Sandler’s Polo Reef. I was in Australia during the summer where MR is available. I thought about picking up their 4-part system there for testing purposes but didn’t have the time :oops:

Given the MR product line-up, they plan to go head-to-head with the large established reef consumables players. If I didn’t buy half a year supply of salt last week I would also try out the MR salt which is priced more economically than Tropic Marine and Nyos which are the two salts I use depending on what is on sale. Given Tropic Marine salt pricing that means I have been using Nyos Pure uninterrupted for over a year now.
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Looks like you have been observing them for a while, so please let us know your experience with them when you start using them.

Still curious about pricing since, again, I believe the benchmark are the two companies I mentioned.

I very much like that Triton is based in the US, but I feel more confident in their German operations than their respective overseas presence here and e.g. Australia.

I really wonder why no US headquartered company got into that business?

Fauna Marin 20kg/160 gallon salt can be bought for 88 USD + tax. TM is currently super expensive and I worry that the FM salt will go up in price too in the next few months (since it is literally the same salt).

Looking at the MR salt, I have a suspicion that they get their salt also from Tropic Marin. Checking their German website, it confirmed that they are selling their salt in the US at a significant discount to get access to the largest reefing market in the world, so these prices will be short lived most likely.
 
Alexander1312 said:
Looks like you have been observing them for a while, so please let us know your experience with them when you start using them.

Still curious about pricing since, again, I believe the benchmark are the two companies I mentioned.

I very much like that Triton is based in the US, but I feel more confident in their German operations than their respective overseas presence here and e.g. Australia.

I really wonder why no US headquartered company got into that business?

Fauna Marin 20kg/160 gallon salt can be bought for 88 USD + tax. TM is currently super expensive and I worry that the FM salt will go up in price too in the next few months (since it is literally the same salt).

Looking at the MR salt, I have a suspicion that they get their salt also from Tropic Marin. Checking their German website, it confirmed that they are selling their salt in the US at a significant discount to get access to the largest reefing market in the world, so these prices will be short lived most likely.
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Yes own thing that is interesting is MR sells their 20kg salt in the form of two 10kg bags in one box. I believe this is the same form factor as Two Little Fishes salt so I assume they are using a common supplier. For now I am only planning to test out the MR 4-part dosing system. There are some absolutely incredible tanks using that in Europe which is why I am interested. For now I have enough salt from Nyos and ICP-MS tests from
ATI to last me for a while. I may purchase the MR ICP-MS out curiosity and see how it compares to the ATI-MS. If I run a head-to-head I will post it here.
 
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