Anyone out there running Triton Method with KH Director?

[esther]

Curious as to how you have your testing & dosing set up. How many times a day do you test? How much of the Core7 are you dosing to tank a day? Any experience would be super helpful. Just really curious. Thanks!

 

[Dr. Jim]

This may not be exactly the response you are looking for, but I will at least let you know that I am interested and will be following.

I recently purchased GHL equipment and set up a new tank. I'm all set to dose Triton 4-part but don't have corals yet. I've used Triton for many years in a previous heavily stocked SPS system. I found a dosage that would keep my Ca and trace elements (3 of the 4 Parts) at a good level but I had to add supplemental buffer. (This always bothered me because theoretically that should not be necessary). So, in this previous system, if I based Triton 4-part dosing on KH Director control, it would be overdosing on the other 3 Parts. I'm not sure if this will be the case with my new tank, but I am hesitant to let the KH Director control the Triton 4-Part.
At the moment, I have a GHL Doser 2 set up to dose the 4-Part, and I'm considering letting the KH Director just add additional buffer if needed. (It will probably be a couple of months before I put all this in action though).

I have a 5-compartment dosing tank all ready to go....

The empty space on the shelf is for the ION Director when it arrives!

 

[windemerejack]

Im Ive just ordered a kh director and going to run the full triton method, im replacing my red sea program as im getting paranoid about the amount of heads im using to dose and the potential to dump the lot in my tank.
It will be about a couple of weeks before its all set up properly but I will keep you informed how its going.

 

[esther]

This may not be exactly the response you are looking for, but I will at least let you know that I am interested and will be following.

I recently purchased GHL equipment and set up a new tank. I'm all set to dose Triton 4-part but don't have corals yet. I've used Triton for many years in a previous heavily stocked SPS system. I found a dosage that would keep my Ca and trace elements (3 of the 4 Parts) at a good level but I had to add supplemental buffer. (This always bothered me because theoretically that should not be necessary). So, in this previous system, if I based Triton 4-part dosing on KH Director control, it would be overdosing on the other 3 Parts. I'm not sure if this will be the case with my new tank, but I am hesitant to let the KH Director control the Triton 4-Part.
At the moment, I have a GHL Doser 2 set up to dose the 4-Part, and I'm considering letting the KH Director just add additional buffer if needed. (It will probably be a couple of months before I put all this in action though).

I have a 5-compartment dosing tank all ready to go....

The empty space on the shelf is for the ION Director when it arrives!

How big is your tank? Are you just going to have it on a schedule to dose daily? I may just dose the Triton 4-Part daily and adjust to compensate for consumption, but we'll see.

 

[esther]

Im Ive just ordered a kh director and going to run the full triton method, im replacing my red sea program as im getting paranoid about the amount of heads im using to dose and the potential to dump the lot in my tank.
It will be about a couple of weeks before its all set up properly but I will keep you informed how its going.

Awesome. You should start a build thread. Would love to follow along.

 

[esther]

@Vinny@GHLUSA any thoughts on this? Have you talked to anyone running the Triton Method along with KH Director for control?

 

[Vinny@GHLUSA]

Yes, many people use the KHD to manage the triton method.

Since this system requires all the supplements to be dosed in equal parts, you would have to go into the KHD settings and select the pumps that will also react to the KH's test result. It is not limited to controlling only 1 pump.

 

[esther]

Yes, many people use the KHD to manage the triton method.

Since this system requires all the supplements to be dosed in equal parts, you would have to go into the KHD settings and select the pumps that will also react to the KH's test result. It is not limited to controlling only 1 pump.

So, is my dKH is testing at 9.2 and I want to maintain dKH at about 8.5, how would I go about setting it up to control?

 

[Vinny@GHLUSA]

 

[Dr. Jim]

Yes, many people use the KHD to manage the triton method.

Since this system requires all the supplements to be dosed in equal parts, you would have to go into the KHD settings and select the pumps that will also react to the KH's test result. It is not limited to controlling only 1 pump.

When using the Add-On or Adaptive Control Mode, if the measured alkalinity is higher than my Nominal Value, I would not want any amount of additives to be dosed. I'm not seeing a way to do that. Is this possible?

 

[Dr. Jim]

Another problem I can foresee might be: With the Triton method, you don't want to dose all 4 additives at the same time. I was planning on dosing them at 15 minute intervals. But that means the 4th additive will be dosed 45 minutes after the first. So if the alkalinity happens to change during that time, it is possible that not all 4 additives will be dosed in the same amounts.
Any ideas....(other than something like dosing a minute apart and hoping the alk doesn't change)?

 

[ReefPig]

Another problem I can foresee might be: With the Triton method, you don't want to dose all 4 additives at the same time. I was planning on dosing them at 15 minute intervals. But that means the 4th additive will be dosed 45 minutes after the first. So if the alkalinity happens to change during that time, it is possible that not all 4 additives will be dosed in the same amounts.
Any ideas....(other than something like dosing a minute apart and hoping the alk doesn't change)?

Are you already using a GHL doser for Triton, without the KHD? (appreciate you have it in the picture, but don't know if you're actually using it yet, sounds like no).

If not, allow me to explain.

You setup a dosing schedule for each pump, for Triton, as we don't all four elements being dosed at the same time, we can stagger the first dose time of each day and this is reflected into all subsequent dosage times.

Personally the way I set mine up is like this:
I know the baseline I dose to, I divide this by three and set each pump to dose three times a day with a 1/3 of the daily dose, the start time is staggered by 15 minutes, start at 6am for the first.

The point of KHD isn't to determine the baseline, it's to smooth out parameter swings within a given set of constraints.
So you always first need to determine your baseline and have a baseline schedule setup.
It can be beneficial to break up your dosage schedule even greater than three, I just find this works ok for me and my level of dosage (but my dosage is fairly low right now).

KHD then makes adjustments on top of your baseline schedule to try and fit within your parameters.

 

[esther]

@Vinny@GHLUSA so here's what I'm trying to figure out.

• I have my KH Director to check dKH 6X a day, starting at 6am. So, presumably it will check it every 4 hours, correct?
• Then, I figured out how much of the Core7 products I need to do every day (let's assume 12ml). I set that to dose 6X a day starting at 7am. So, part 1 @ 7am, part 2 @ 7.15am, part 3 @ 7.30am and part 4 @ 7.45am. I did that so it would never coincide with the KH Director tests.

What I'm having trouble understanding is, will the KH Director adjust the dosing that the pumps already have scheduled, or will it dose outside of this schedule? If it doses outside of the schedule, how can I be sure that it adds/reduces all 4 parts the same but at different intervals.

Am I looking at this the wrong way? This is how I have the KH set up:

#KHDirector #ghl #Profilux

 

[Dr. Jim]

I'm wondering if I am understanding the "Limit for raise (or lower) KH" settings. Don't they have to be set to at least what is set for the "Volume change", or a greater number? I'm thinking that they pertain to KH readings that are more than 1KH, or less than 1KH, from the Nominal KH value; (i.e. the "Limits" only affect additions or subtractions greater than a 1 KH swing. Is this correct?

 

[esther]

I'm wondering if I am understanding the "Limit for raise (or lower) KH" settings. Don't they have to be set to at least what is set for the "Volume change", or a greater number? I'm thinking that they pertain to KH readings that are more than 1KH, or less than 1KH, from the Nominal KH value; (i.e. the "Limits" only affect additions or subtractions greater than a 1 KH swing. Is this correct?

From what I understood, the KH Director adjusts according to a 1 dKH swing, so I'm assuming that if it needs to be raised .3 dKH that it will add 3 ml (10ml for 1dKH). Maybe I'm interpreting is incorrectly. The problem is the video isn't very clear. Which is why I'm looking to get some help here. lol

 

[Vinny@GHLUSA]

@esther
As mentioned in the video, the calculated adjustments are made to the existing dose schedules. At no time does it mention any new doses being added.

We included as many details, visuals, and KH numerical examples to make it as clear as possible. If you have specific examples of how we can make it even more clear, please do share them with us via PM. We're always open to suggestions.

 

[esther]

@esther
As mentioned in the video, the calculated adjustments are made to the existing dose schedules. At no time does it mention any new doses being added.

We included as many details, visuals, and KH numerical examples to make it as clear as possible. If you have specific examples of how we can make it even more clear, please do share them with us via PM. We're always open to suggestions.

The reason why I was asking was because I tried having the KH director control them and after a test and a dose, it only dosed from one doser, not all 4 (I'm looking at the ml left in the containers and they were off). So, I'm not sure what the issue is. Any suggestions?

 

[Dr. Jim]

The reason why I was asking was because I tried having the KH director control them and after a test and a dose, it only dosed from one doser, not all 4 (I'm looking at the ml left in the containers and they were off). So, I'm not sure what the issue is. Any suggestions?

Perhaps I could say 2 things that might be helpful:

1) If your Nominal value is 8.5, and you set the volume change to 10, and let's say your set dose for your 4 pumps is 100ml, then when the KH is between 7.5 and 9.5 the most that will be added or subtracted will be 10ml (so, 90-110ml). When the KH is lower than 7.5 or above 9.5, then the amount subtracted or added will be greater than 10ml, in proportion with the deviation. This is why you may want to set a Max. and a Min. BUT, the Max and Min has to be equal to or greater than 10. So, if the Max is 13, no matter how low the KH goes, only an additional 13ml will be added to the originally set 100ml.

2) To see why all 4 pumps aren't pumping the same amounts, if it was me, I would first calibrate all 4 pumps, then set them to dose about a minute apart, then see how much they actually produce. Based on your screenshot, I would think it should work properly if your pumps are properly calibrated and set to dose the same amounts. Someone can correct me if I am wrong about any of this (and I apologize if I am).

My new KH Director is measuring daily but not dosing yet...... but is all set to go! I will start my Triton 4-part Friday when I add my first corals after getting my shipment of 10 SPS frags from Cherry Coral's Live Sale last week!

 

[esther]

@Vinny@GHLUSA @Ditto @AZMSGT can you help me figure out what the issue is? I set up my KH director & Triton dosing early this morning (VERY early lol) as follows. As you can see, at 3.41am Doser 5, 6, 7, & 8 were all at the same level.

I have all the dosers set up as follows: Doser 5 @ 7am, 6 @ 7.15am, 7 @ 7.30am & 8 @ 7.45am.

Just checked the dosers and it looks like Doser #8 dosed more than the other three. Why would that be?

#ghl #KHDirector #Profilux

 

[esther]

So, did the 2nd test for the day at 10am. Dosers were scheduled to run @ 11am through 11.45am. Here's the before and after with the ml. Looks like three dosed and one didn't. Not sure what I'm doing wrong. @Vinny@GHLUSA any suggestions or should I just open a ticket with GHL? I'm at a loss.