215-gallon Triton Results

[FarmerTy]

Hello fellow reefers,

I got my first results from the Triton method.

Only things to note are:

High aluminum - 82.33 ug/l (setpoint 2.0 ug/l)
High bromine - 72.93 mg/l (setpoint 62 mg/l)
Low boron - 2.78 mg/l (setpoint 4.5 mg/l)
High lithium - 1,255 ug/l (setpoint 200 ug/l)
High zinc - 8.19 ug/l (setpoint 4 ug/l)

My own test kit results:
PO4 - 0 ppm (Hanna Phosphorus meter) - 0.011 ppm (Triton)
Ca - 400 ppm (Red Sea) - 494.70 ppm (Triton)
I - 0.06 ppm (Red Sea) - 0.033 ppm (Triton)
Mg - 1,360 ppm (Red Sea) - 1,421 ppm (Triton)
Sal - 1.025
NO3 - 8-10 ppm
Alk - 8.0 dKh
Temp - 80-82 degrees Fahrenheit
pH - 7.9-8.1

My husbandry:
-no water changes
-Calcium reactor with TLF reborn media
-GAC monthly
-no GFO
-no carbon dosing
-overrated skimmer (rated 550 gals on 250 total gallon volume)
-sump with refugium (ball of chaeto the size of a large turkey, lots of live rock as well)
-feed a ton
-no filter socks
-dose Red Sea Reef Energy B (vitamins and aminos) 2x a week
-occasionally dose lugol's

Video of system and how much I feed:
Feeding Time - YouTube

Some thoughts:

-high aluminum may be attributed to my Cermedia 8"x8"x4" block, other's have reported the same
-high lithium is something seen predominantly in US water tests and not as much in the European market. Unsure yet of why.
-high zinc result may be due to zinc coating of stainless steel rim of tank getting into water
-high bromine may also have something to do with stainless steel rim
-low boron just needs to be dosed

Hope this is of interest to the growing data set we have with the Triton testing.

For Randy's survey on high tin results and possible correlation to rigid PVC, I have roughly 24' of rigid PVC in the system and my tin is not detected in my water. The PVC is newer as I upgraded systems at the beginning of this year.

 

[FarmerTy]

Hmmm, I am not used to the photo uploader on this site. Sorry for the tiny images in the first post. Hopefully this is better.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

What salt mix are you using?

All seem to have somewhat elevated lithium, but yours is quite high. At least one mix has unusually high lithium (much higher than yours).

nothing else would seem to particularly worry me, but I agree the aluminum might be from the media.

 

[FarmerTy]

Randy, I used Red Sea Coral Pro when first setting up my tank about a year ago. I don't do water changes so unless lithium is uptaken by macro or can be skimmed out, that concentration will stay right where it is.

My tank is perfectly healthy minus two of my smooth skin acros (red dragon and Hawkins echinata) STN'ING and 2-3 colonies of zoas melting. This is out of 40 different sps species in my tank and about 15 different zoa/paly types. I tend to not think much of zoas melting as it has always been random to me but the two smooth skin acros STN'ING concerns me. I wonder if lithium is the culprit.

 

[Keithcorals]

I also do very few water changes and only used Red Sea coral pro before my first triton test but my lithium was not nearly that high.

 

[FarmerTy]

Well, at least that helps me eliminate my salt mix as a possible source.

 

[TheClark]

What salt mix are you using?

All seem to have somewhat elevated lithium, but yours is quite high. At least one mix has unusually high lithium (much higher than yours).

nothing else would seem to particularly worry me, but I agree the aluminum might be from the media.

Do we know which salt has the high lithium? Can someone PM me on that one? Quite curious before I go and buy allot more salt to lower my Tin and Lithium

 

[Sangheili]

My tank is high on lithium and vanadium. Hope we can figure out where these are coming from.

 

[Stylophora]

Experiencing elevated lithium levels as well using Red Sea salt (not pro) on a 700g mixed reef sps dominant. Experiencing STN starting from base of a lot of corals. Found a screw in the tank two days ago... *** so going to see what happened after removal.

Looking for some answers on what might be killing these corals, is it physical or chemical? Do I have a pest eating at the base, or is the water quality insufficient and the coral cannot provide energy to the full colony.

 

[Tim@Triton]

Experiencing elevated lithium levels as well using Red Sea salt (not pro) on a 700g mixed reef sps dominant. Experiencing STN starting from base of a lot of corals. Found a screw in the tank two days ago... *** so going to see what happened after removal.

Looking for some answers on what might be killing these corals, is it physical or chemical? Do I have a pest eating at the base, or is the water quality insufficient and the coral cannot provide energy to the full colony.

That screw would not be helping that's for sure! Are you carrying on water changes after removing it?

 

[gpwdr]

Thats pretty screwed up.

 

[zieg9479]

nailed it.

 

[Dogtown]

It’s been a few years since your hi lithium test result. Have you retested since to see if the level ever came down on its own?