Triton Test Results from my 500G tank

[sanjay]

Here are the test results from my 500G reef.

sanjay.

 

[mike007]

That's really cool but I think you would have to be a chemist to figure out the results. lol

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Hi Sanjay,

Have you been dosing potassium, and was it based on a kit reading?

 

[gpwdr]

How does phosphorous inter the aquarium. I thought phosphorous and phosphate were the same except one was organic and the other was something else. Can anyone explain the to me?

Gene

Pho

 

[sanjay]

Randy:

I did make some additions of K about a month ago, without any testing. Was told adding K improves color of corals so I had to try it. I didn't see any visible difference.

I also add about 5ml is Silica lately to see if there is any impact on sponge growth and to increase diatom growth the could be skimmed off to improve the nutrient transport.

Sanjay

 

[norskfisk]

Thanks for sharing! What you can see here is that anything that grows by taking nutrients directly from the water is limited by Fe, Mn, Zn, Ni, Cu, Se, Co and/or V. That is more or less the trace elements that you will find in an algae culture medium. Incredible useful information to have IMO. For example you know that your tank does not need any additional nutrient export at the moment, since whatever you have is working 100% . If you observe less growth than you want for some organism you know that you probably need to change something so that it gets more nutrients. For example feed it more, reduce carbon dosing, reduce refugium algae growth, dose trace elemnts etc. I am so happy that this ICP testing is becoming available for hobbyists. I have been drooling over it for more than 10 years since I first knew about it. It is such a step forward in the hobby.

 

[zoous]

Thanks for sharing Sanjay. Looks like your water chemistry is doing pretty well.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Randy:

I did make some additions of K about a month ago, without any testing. Was told adding K improves color of corals so I had to try it. I didn't see any visible difference.

I also add about 5ml is Silica lately to see if there is any impact on sponge growth and to increase diatom growth the could be skimmed off to improve the nutrient transport.

Sanjay

Thanks, Sanjay.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

How does phosphorous inter the aquarium. I thought phosphorous and phosphate were the same except one was organic and the other was something else. Can anyone explain the to me?

Gene

Pho

The value for "P" will include both inorganic and organic forms of phosphate. The organic forms are things like DNA, proteins, phospholipids, etc).

The value for "PO4" is just inorganic phosphate.

The few sets of data I have seen did not indicate much organic P since inorganic phosphate accounted for most or all of the total P. Sanjay's case looks to be close to that being true as well. FWIW, 0.07 ppm phosphate (Sanjay's value) equates to 22.9 ug/L total P. His data suggested 24.3 ug/mL. That is probably within the error of the measurements of being the same, but might reflect a bit of organic P.

 

[juggalogentry]

this is the first reading ive seen for this tech, and its pretty astonishing, how much water does it take total to do this battery of tests? i Tried reading some of the site and there were a few pages in what i suspect is German

 

[KritikaL]

blimey that potassium is high! my problem is always barium... no idea why i always seem to have it in my tank... i'm using rowaphos to try and suck it out, but on 2 diff tanks i've seem to got barium problems

 

[3Twinklets]

I agree. I heard the same. I also found no visible difference.

Randy:

I did make some additions of K about a month ago, without any testing. Was told adding K improves color of corals so I had to try it. I didn't see any visible difference.

I also add about 5ml is Silica lately to see if there is any impact on sponge growth and to increase diatom growth the could be skimmed off to improve the nutrient transport.

Sanjay

 

[gpwdr]

The value for "P" will include both inorganic and organic forms of phosphate. The organic forms are things like DNA, proteins, phospholipids, etc).

The value for "PO4" is just inorganic phosphate.

The few sets of data I have seen did not indicate much organic P since inorganic phosphate accounted for most or all of the total P. Sanjay's case looks to be close to that being true as well. FWIW, 0.07 ppm phosphate (Sanjay's value) equates to 22.9 ug/L total P. His data suggested 24.3 ug/mL. That is probably within the error of the measurements of being the same, but might reflect a bit of organic P.

Thanks Buddy, I still have a lot to learn.

Gene

 

[gpwdr]

Hi Sanjay

What kind of salt are you using? I use Crystal Seas Bioassay. On my Triton test the Aluminum was pretty high. The Ca,Mg, and carbonate are low in this salt. Now after the test I believe this Bioassay would be good for a fish only tank. I never realized the salts were so different from each other.

Gene

 

[sanjay]

I have always used Instant Ocean.

 

[shornik]

Am trying to get my head around this. Oh thanks Sanjay for posting this it really helps to see what you get from the test.

I understand that if the analysis shows you are low on a particular element (is that the correct term)? it than gives you dosing recommendations - that makes sense, you don't have enough of something so add it to your reef.

But what do you do when the analysis shows that you have more of an element than you should? Honestly this is the part that has always stumped me.

 

[Grant]

Thanks for sharing Sanjay. I also recently did the test and my Al, Sn and LI are high. And I also use Instant Ocean. But my calcium etc are stored in aluminium bottles. Wondering if that could be the contributor. Al: 53, Sn: 31 and LI: 1043!

 

[gpwdr]

Do they mix the salts in aluminum mixers?

Gene

 

[Grant]

Not the salt. I buy calcium, magnesium and Alk in aluminum bottles. It's interest that Sanjay uses the same salt but has the correct levels. So I am trying to figure out where it is coming from.

 

[revhtree]

Thanks for sharing Sanjay!