Considering switching from Triton - Need Feedback

[zromano]

Hey everyone, I'm pretty torn on this and have had some successes/failures in the past that has led me here. I want to preface this entire thread by saying the Triton method is something that can work for individuals and it can yield high success - if you follow it right and do what they say.

With that being said, I'm contemplating switching from the Triton method to another 3-part dosing method (not sure which yet). My tank is over a year old now and it's just at the point where some of the acropora I bought is able to survive for more than a 5-day period. I thought I had stabilized out my parameters but this was pretty much by me manually dosing to adjust over the past 2-3 weeks.

My set up is Red Sea Reefer 250 with two DOS units, full Apex unit, Trident for testing. I'm dosing very very small amounts of the Triton solutions (CORE7) [about 0.6 mL/day of 1/2] and my parameters keep getting out of whack. My Alk lowers drastically, while Ca stays relatively consistent and Mg lowers pretty far. I've seen Triton's thread about dosing to keep these in line but that totally contradicts the concept of three part systems for me, the Trident/Apex DOS systems.

To me, I started Triton because of a few goals:

1. I wanted to stop with the water changes
2. I wanted a tank that wasn't very time consuming in regard to on-going maintenance
3. I wanted a tank where I could spend the necessary money on quality equipment and have it automatically dose based on parameters that are tested on.


I feel like I have achieved the first goal and part of the 2nd goal with the failure there really coming from the inconsistency that my parameters are decreasing at when I'm dosing small amounts.

On #3, I feel like I have not been utilizing my apex unit appropriately and my automatic dosing isn't set up (which frustrates me). To me, this is a true testament to the equipment in allowing the equipment to dos and keep the parameters stable. While I'm not able to keep my acro (one piece for now) I'm getting some really inconsistent parameters.

I'd love to hear feedback on the above and how I can consistently get the parameters to decline and increase in the same ratios as I just haven't had any successes with it. I do think this is a great system but am considering switching (and doing water changes) just for hopes of consistency.

Thanks!

 

[Righteous]

I've seen Triton's thread about dosing to keep these in line but that totally contradicts the concept of three part systems for me, the Trident/Apex DOS systems.

What do you think contradicts the concept of the three part system exactly?

So first off I’m not sure why you’re only dosing 0.6ml/day. That seems like a super tiny amount. Even with a tank with very little coral in it, I would think coralline algae alone would consume more than that. How many corals do you have total? And what size? You said acropora weren’t able to survive more than 5 days? That to me would point to something horribly out of whack that has nothing to do with the triton method.

As for dosing triton core7 with apex and trident control, I do that now and it works fabulously. First off you want to set the dose to be dependent on the Allalinity reading for all of core7. So parts 1,2,3a,3b should be dosed at the same rate and you use the Trident alk readings for the controlled dosing.

If at some point down the line, some element gets off, then it’s best to follow the guidelines for fixing parameters in the Triton thread at
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/fixes-to-main-parameter-balance-issues.338570/

But you really shouldn’t go down that path unless you’ve been dosing all parts at the same rate consistently for a good while.

There’s nothing you need to do to have pamaremeters go down in the same ratios. If you stop dosing, then those parameters get taken up at consistent rates and ratios, hence why you want to dose them all equally. Even if you switch to some other 2 part system, you still want to dose them equally the vast majority of the time.

So I don’t think there’s any Triton method issue here at the moment that you wouldn’t have with any other dosing system.

 

[Righteous]

Here’s an important article for reading about balance issues

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-12/rhf/index.php

Of particular importance are the parts that talk about parameters drifting out of balance which are actually an illusion. And when you dose to correct those illusions you can actually cause worse imbalance.

 

[Mhart032]

I for the same exact reasons you did start with triton, I started my big fuge early in the cycle and started to dose the elements, this is where it went off the rails for that made me question the system. I would send tests in everything in check, my big 3 were stable dosing core, I bought and used only the Trition elements as suggested. sps still had issues with growth and coloration, my alk started to swing. I adjusted the alk, dropped again. adjusted the components then shot up to 11dkh from 8.3. it was up and down constantly, my corals looked like garbage, i couldn't keep sps colored up and zero polyp extension at all. At the time I was using the 5l jugs. I swapped so the smaller powder mixes I had and everything stabled out just fine which led me to believe an issue with the supplements. then my AL was through the roof on the following ICP test. mind you all equipment was just over a few months old. so there was no way anything was leeching into the water, (I can't remember the term they used to describe the AL issue) but it was terrible, come to find out the AL was from the AL99 media they suggested I use, after that I was done..

I did several water changes to bring everything down and started my 2 Mecoral 2 part back up and started KZ and never looked back. my tank thrives on KZ, my po4 and no3 are perfect. I went to calcium reactor and i think my tank looks beautiful my sps are colored up and grow extremely fast, no algae and i still have the fuge ( even though I'm not supposed to with KZ) I do weekly 10% water changes now, and i honestly think the combination of the water changes and amino do a ton of the work to make it looks so nice.

I have seen some very nice tanks on Triton with no water changes on this forum. It just wasn't for me.

 

[Coug92]

Hey everyone, I'm pretty torn on this and have had some successes/failures in the past that has led me here. I want to preface this entire thread by saying the Triton method is something that can work for individuals and it can yield high success - if you follow it right and do what they say.

With that being said, I'm contemplating switching from the Triton method to another 3-part dosing method (not sure which yet). My tank is over a year old now and it's just at the point where some of the acropora I bought is able to survive for more than a 5-day period. I thought I had stabilized out my parameters but this was pretty much by me manually dosing to adjust over the past 2-3 weeks.

My set up is Red Sea Reefer 250 with two DOS units, full Apex unit, Trident for testing. I'm dosing very very small amounts of the Triton solutions (CORE7) [about 0.6 mL/day of 1/2] and my parameters keep getting out of whack. My Alk lowers drastically, while Ca stays relatively consistent and Mg lowers pretty far. I've seen Triton's thread about dosing to keep these in line but that totally contradicts the concept of three part systems for me, the Trident/Apex DOS systems.

To me, I started Triton because of a few goals:

1. I wanted to stop with the water changes
2. I wanted a tank that wasn't very time consuming in regard to on-going maintenance
3. I wanted a tank where I could spend the necessary money on quality equipment and have it automatically dose based on parameters that are tested on.


I feel like I have achieved the first goal and part of the 2nd goal with the failure there really coming from the inconsistency that my parameters are decreasing at when I'm dosing small amounts.

On #3, I feel like I have not been utilizing my apex unit appropriately and my automatic dosing isn't set up (which frustrates me). To me, this is a true testament to the equipment in allowing the equipment to dos and keep the parameters stable. While I'm not able to keep my acro (one piece for now) I'm getting some really inconsistent parameters.

I'd love to hear feedback on the above and how I can consistently get the parameters to decline and increase in the same ratios as I just haven't had any successes with it. I do think this is a great system but am considering switching (and doing water changes) just for hopes of consistency.

Thanks!

 

[Coug92]

Sounds exactly like my situation. Very inconsistent and I am using DOS.

 

[[Cameron]]

It has been some years since I had my tank running but my last setup ran for nearly 10 years in a semi-automated setup. Once per day just after it ran the ATO check, the system would shut off the ATO, pump out 1.5 gallons from the tank and then top off the 1.5 gallons from a 240g holding tank with salt water in the garage. There were a few safety controls put in place but they were just simple alarms to prevent overflows and underflows.

The only manual part was every four months I had to dump a bucket of salt into the holding tank and refill it over a couple days. Later iterations of that setup pumped the water from the tank into the skimmer cup and out the skimmer cup drain to flush its line daily which kept the odor out of that system.

I ran some pretty sensitive SPS in that tank for nearly a decade using that system with nary a crash.

 

[Mical]

To OP, I went similar route on both of my tanks, - no socks, few if any water changes and dosing. (non-triton) I dose Alk & Cal via Bubble Magus dosers and other than that test weekly - again no significant water changes & no socks. Has worked for me, with minimal tank maintenance.

 

[minus9]

To the OP, I was in a similar situation where things never stayed in the positive for very long, just too many swings with different parameters. So I stopped Triton and started dosing 2 part and within a short period of time I found stability. At the time I decided to drop Triton, I knew I was going to buy a calcium reactor, so dosing 2 part carried me until I had my reactor up and running. If your goal is no more water changes, then look at other methods. Pm me about some options, I don't want to post about competitors here in the Triton section.
There are lots of amazing Triton tanks out there, but like a few others, I'm not one of those lucky ones.

 

[ReefPig]

0.6ml per day is a TINY amount, you will get inconsistent parameters with this.

Not due to Triton, but just your tank consumption, as the tank is likely very young. Things like new rock absorbs elements at a high rate.
Keeping Ca in alignment with Alk would be a big challenge.

You'd be better off just dosing an Alk solution to keep this stable, and not even bothering with Ca/Mg, this doesn't even need to be Triton.

I found that I could reasonably run Triton once consumption became 4ml/day, and now I'm running at 9ml/day, the tank is running really well. My parameters are always bang on stable. I don't even test Ca/Mg for the last 6 months, only Alk and ICP's every couple of months.

Edit: You say your tank is a year old, I'm amazed. Coralline Algae alone should be consuming more than this.
I guess you have very little coralline algae and corals.