We are literally surrounded by alarms, alerts, sounds, flashes of light, icons, badges, and messages from an omnipresent orchestra of devices that have become almost inseparable from our daily lives. Everything, from our toothbrushes to our appliances and cars, is constantly clamoring for our attention with messages and calls for attention. At times it is difficult to identify the important messages over the constant drone of information.
The behavior of biological systems is far from the multitude of technologies we are so accustomed to interacting with in our daily lives. Biological systems don’t typically provide any warning signs until problems become severe. This is particularly true for a saltwater aquarium, whose inhabitants are entirely dependent upon us to monitor any changes that might foretell an impending problem proactively. Anyone who has survived a home fire would not deny the value of a smoke alarm. The venerable smoke detector is a reliable and effective means of detecting a fire before it becomes a disaster. It is an early warning system that protects human life and property.
Fortunately, we have something comparable for our reef systems in the form of an ICP water test. Whether a problem is caused by nutritional deficiency, poor water quality, or disease, there will almost always be early warning signs that can be detected through ICP testing weeks before the situation has worsened to the point we can visually see the impending danger.
Just as you wouldn’t wait until you saw flames before leaving a burning building, why wait until your saltwater aquarium is on the verge of crashing before stepping in to avert disaster?
The sobering reality is that smoke alarms don’t save lives every time there is a fire, but they save enough lives that their value is beyond scrutiny. The same is true for utilizing ICP testing as an early warning system. While it won’t avert every disaster, its value is beyond any doubt.
At Reef Labs, Inc., "The ICP Lab", we recommend you run an ICP water test of your saltwater aquarium regularly and rest comfortably so that you have a much better chance of correcting problems before they become disasters.