gvontz
New Member
I had originally posted my initial positive experience with the Triton Elementz system at 3 months and wanted to post a follow up at month 8.
I am amazed at how well my 150 g DT with mixed SPS and LPS is doing after 8 months with no water changes. I have to admit that I thought this experiment had a chance to go horribly wrong. After doing water changes for 20 plus years on the belief that you had to change water to remove the build up of toxic compounds and to replace trace elements it seemed like a huge leap of faith.
I have a 40 g refugium that I run with chaeto, Rox carbon, a little HC GFO with the refugium lit at night when the DT LEDs are off. Over the 8 months I have virtually no algae issues in the DT and my nitrates and phosphates are low and comparable or better than before I was running Triton.
Initially I thought the costs of the Triton Base Elementz (TBE) was on the expensive side at approximately $80 for the set, but at the 8 month mark it looks like I will go through about 1.5 sets of TBE for the year. Over the 8 months I have gone to a schedule of having Triton test my water once every 2-3 months (roughly $50/test). After my first test after running the system I was a bit surprised to see how many of tests were out of spec. It required me to purchase a pretty wide range of individual supplements to correct the variances. Now that the tank is at 8 months my recent Triton water analysis showed only minor deviations that were easily tweaked with the individual supplements I had previously purchased. It seems my tank and its mix of SPS, LPS and others metabolize some of the trace elements at a small variance to what is supplied by the Base Elementz. So now when I look at the Triton system in aggregate for what the projected costs will be for a year its very cost effective vs my old system of bimonthly 20% water changes, analytical test kits and various supplements and trace element costs. If you go the extra step of considering how much time and additional costs I save from not doing water changes (RO/DI equipment and salt mix) its a no brainer. I spend so much more time enjoying my tank.
Over the last 8 months I have seen my SPS grow very nicely with excellent colors, in fact everything has done very well in the tank. Of course growth and health of corals are also affected by choice of lighting, spectrum, duration of lighting and other non-light related variables. I run my tank with Radions with roughly 9 hours of light a day with spectrum that moves from 17.5K in the early mornings and late afternoons, peaking at 15K at mid day with a maximum intensity of 85%.
The Triton Elements, periodic testing and quarterly trace element correction has resulted in a cost effective (cost saving) alternative to water changes, greatly reduced my personal labor involved with maintaining a large reef tank, as well as improving my success and enjoyment of the hobby. My personal conclusion is that the Triton Method (Elementz, testing and tweaking the broad panel of trace elements based on bench marked natural sea water) is a significant step forward in our cherished hobby. Its not an inconsequential investment to get a good dosing pump system which is required to run the system, but in the long run I believe its the best system our hobby has to offer and would strongly recommend it those that are interested.
I am amazed at how well my 150 g DT with mixed SPS and LPS is doing after 8 months with no water changes. I have to admit that I thought this experiment had a chance to go horribly wrong. After doing water changes for 20 plus years on the belief that you had to change water to remove the build up of toxic compounds and to replace trace elements it seemed like a huge leap of faith.
I have a 40 g refugium that I run with chaeto, Rox carbon, a little HC GFO with the refugium lit at night when the DT LEDs are off. Over the 8 months I have virtually no algae issues in the DT and my nitrates and phosphates are low and comparable or better than before I was running Triton.
Initially I thought the costs of the Triton Base Elementz (TBE) was on the expensive side at approximately $80 for the set, but at the 8 month mark it looks like I will go through about 1.5 sets of TBE for the year. Over the 8 months I have gone to a schedule of having Triton test my water once every 2-3 months (roughly $50/test). After my first test after running the system I was a bit surprised to see how many of tests were out of spec. It required me to purchase a pretty wide range of individual supplements to correct the variances. Now that the tank is at 8 months my recent Triton water analysis showed only minor deviations that were easily tweaked with the individual supplements I had previously purchased. It seems my tank and its mix of SPS, LPS and others metabolize some of the trace elements at a small variance to what is supplied by the Base Elementz. So now when I look at the Triton system in aggregate for what the projected costs will be for a year its very cost effective vs my old system of bimonthly 20% water changes, analytical test kits and various supplements and trace element costs. If you go the extra step of considering how much time and additional costs I save from not doing water changes (RO/DI equipment and salt mix) its a no brainer. I spend so much more time enjoying my tank.
Over the last 8 months I have seen my SPS grow very nicely with excellent colors, in fact everything has done very well in the tank. Of course growth and health of corals are also affected by choice of lighting, spectrum, duration of lighting and other non-light related variables. I run my tank with Radions with roughly 9 hours of light a day with spectrum that moves from 17.5K in the early mornings and late afternoons, peaking at 15K at mid day with a maximum intensity of 85%.
The Triton Elements, periodic testing and quarterly trace element correction has resulted in a cost effective (cost saving) alternative to water changes, greatly reduced my personal labor involved with maintaining a large reef tank, as well as improving my success and enjoyment of the hobby. My personal conclusion is that the Triton Method (Elementz, testing and tweaking the broad panel of trace elements based on bench marked natural sea water) is a significant step forward in our cherished hobby. Its not an inconsequential investment to get a good dosing pump system which is required to run the system, but in the long run I believe its the best system our hobby has to offer and would strongly recommend it those that are interested.
I now only use a mesh bag once a week when I clean the refugium.
