My Triton results

[Triggreef]

Lost almost all acros over the last month or so. I had over 50 and many getting to be good size colonies. Flesh just peeled right off the acros that died. I believe I overdosed iodine but I did change about 150 gallons over a weeks time prior to sending this sample to triton, so anything that is still high (per triton), should be considered to have been much higher than what the test shows I guess. I have 7 acros left out of 50. All other sps is perfectly fine, except all my acans are really ticked off. Lost my gold torch and looks like a couple hammers now ejecting heads. But many euphillia still look perfect. Chalices, blastos, lobos, zoas, montis, stylos, birdsnests, all still look great.

This shows copper, I have no idea where it could come from in those levels. But like I said it must have been higher prior to all my panicked water changing.

 

[Sangheili]

I wonder if Zinc is also part of your problem. Lithium seems normal, not sure why but a lot of US tanks (mine included) have it.

 

[Triggreef]

I thought that was odd because I didn't do much water changes in the last 2 yrs. I figured lithium would be through the roof. I'm thinking that the copper and zinc were probably twice as high prior to doing these water changes and gathering my triton sample. I think those 2 must have built up from my c balance 2 part, which contains copper chloride and zinc chloride. I'm going to have to find another 2 part.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I thought that was odd because I didn't do much water changes in the last 2 yrs. I figured lithium would be through the roof. I'm thinking that the copper and zinc were probably twice as high prior to doing these water changes and gathering my triton sample. I think those 2 must have built up room my c balance 2 part, which contains copper chloride and zinc chloride. I'm going to have to find another 2 part.

FWIW, I don't know how much copper is in C-balance, but it is possible for it to contain copper and still actually contribute to copper lowering!

I show that here:

Chemistry And The Aquarium: How To Select A Calcium And Alkalinity Supplementation Scheme ? Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog

from it:

One issue that has confused some reefkeepers, however, is the presence of trace elements. Assuming that these products are actually formulated with every ion such that a true natural seawater residue remained (lets call this the “ideal” product), then it will necessarily contain such ions as copper. Since it has been claimed thatcopper is elevated in reef tanks,11,12 and is toxic to many invertebrates, reef keepers have wrongly criticized this method as adding more copper. That’s actually not what would happen. Since these products leave a natural seawater residue, and since copper may be elevated in concentration in many reef tanks relative to seawater, then using these “ideal” products will actually LOWER copper levels because when the increase in salinity is corrected, the copper will drop.
For example:

• You have copper in your tank at 4 ppb and salinity of S=35.
• You add a two part additive that over the course of a month raises salinity to S=36, and raises copper to 4.02 ppb.
• Then you correct the salinity back to S=35 by diluting everything in the tank with fresh water, and you get a final copper concentration of 3.9 ppb.

Does this happen in real products and not “ideal” products? I have no idea. But the statement by manufacturers that it contains all ions in natural ratios, including copper, should not be viewed as a concern that it is exacerbating a heavy metal problem.

 

[Triggreef]

How did you reply so fast? I didn't even get to the next thread yet lol

 

[Triggreef]

So that is possible but we don't know how much is in it. It could also be possible that the additive is meant to be used by normal people who do frequent water changes removing the copper and zinc right? By me doing very few water changes it only make sense for it to have built up over time. That's the only thing I can think of.

You did mention foods, I feed pe mysis daily, NLS pellets daily, nori a few times a week, live black worms daily.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

So that is possible but we don't know how much is in it. It could also be possible that the additive is meant to be used by normal people who do frequent water changes removing the copper and zinc right? By me doing very few water changes it only make sense for it to have built up over time. That's the only thing I can think of.

You did mention foods, I feed pe mysis daily, NLS pellets daily, nori a few times a week, live black worms daily.

The C-balance certainly may be the source, or part of it.

I discuss copper in foods, and give examples, here:

Reef Aquaria with Low Soluble Metals- Reefkeeping.com

 

[Keithcorals]

I dosed a lot of C-Balance for around a year with few water changes before my triton test and didn't have any copper show up. If that helps at all

 

[Triggreef]

I dosed a lot of C-Balance for around a year with few water changes before my triton test and didn't have any copper show up. If that helps at all

Where was your zinc?

I see that shrimp have a fairly high content from your article Randy. In unsure if pe mysis would fall into the shrimp category? They are fresh water aren't they? I do feed a ton of it, not rinsed.

I have no copper in the plumbing or any other part of the system.

I thought I was onto something with the c balance. Guess not?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Where was your zinc?

I see that shrimp have a fairly high content from your article Randy. In unsure if pe mysis would fall into the shrimp category? They are fresh water aren't they? I do feed a ton of it, not rinsed.

I have no copper in the plumbing or any other part of the system.

I thought I was onto something with the c balance. Guess not?

I'd be surprised if C-balanced had excessive copper, but I don't know.

Not sure on how much zinc is in mysis either.

 

[Triggreef]

Could those be from the red sea coral color additives? The a, b, c, d... I believe ABC are I, fe, k, and then the d bottle is some other trace elements. That's my last guess.

 

[Triggreef]

Keith, how much c balance were you using? I was dosing about 55ml per day of each part to about 260g or so.

Randy, do you think that it can make a difference on the Triton test, by the time of day the sample was taken? As in, if I happened to have taken the sample a couple minutes after the part was dosed? I have no way of knowing if I did that or not since I didn't record the time that I pulled the sample but I dose each part every other hr so that could have happened.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Randy, do you think that it can make a difference on the Triton test, by the time of day the sample was taken? As in, if I happened to have taken the sample a couple minutes after the part was dosed? I have no way of knowing if I did that or not since I didn't record the time that I pulled the sample but I dose each part every other hr so that could have happened.

The only way I can see a concern with that is if you took a sample before the additive dispersed through the tank, and if that were the case, either sodium or calcium would be very high.

 

[Keithcorals]

Where was your zinc?


I see that shrimp have a fairly high content from your article Randy. In unsure if pe mysis would fall into the shrimp category? They are fresh water aren't they? I do feed a ton of it, not rinsed.

I have no copper in the plumbing or any other part of the system.

I thought I was onto something with the c balance. Guess not?

My zinc was 0.00 on the first test and then went to 5.58 on the second test because of water changes with Tropic Marin pro

Keith, how much c balance were you using? I was dosing about 55ml per day of each part to about 260g or so.

Randy, do you think that it can make a difference on the Triton test, by the time of day the sample was taken? As in, if I happened to have taken the sample a couple minutes after the part was dosed? I have no way of knowing if I did that or not since I didn't record the time that I pulled the sample but I dose each part every other hr so that could have happened.

My system is 180 gallons and all SPS the lowest amount I was using was 140ml a day of each part. I'm currently using 200ml a day

 

[JimWelsh]

My zinc was 0.00 on the first test and then went to 5.58 on the second test because of water changes with Tropic Marin pro

Keithcorals, I'm confused. I'm reading the opposite (first test was 5.58, and second test was 0.00 for Zn).

First test: https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/triton-us/180010-post-your-results.html#post2068530
Second test: https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/triton-us/180010-post-your-results-3.html#post2114769

Am I misinterpreting what I'm seeing in these two posts?

Also, it should be noted that when Triton reports "0.00" for any element, that does NOT mean actual zero. For each analyte (element), there is a Limit Of Detection (LOD); there is a level below which the analysis cannot tell the difference between a low level of a substance and the background noise of a true "blank" sample, where absolutely none of the substance is present. Most (almost all) laboratories will report results that are at or below the LOD as being less than the LOD, e.g., "< 0.7 ug/L". Triton chooses to report < LOD results as "0.00" instead. I think they may be doing this as a simplification for their target clients, rather than having the more difficult conversation about what a result of "< 0.7 ug/L" actually means. Just understand that a Triton result of "0.00" does NOT really mean "0.00". It means less than whatever the LOD for that analyte is. In other words, it means, "we don't know exactly how much, but it is less than X".

 

[Triggreef]

Well that kind of sucks because it would be nice to no what "x" is.

 

[JimWelsh]

Here you go: http://www.triton-lab.de/fileadmin/user_upload/triton-lab/TRITON_LOD.pdf

 

[Keithcorals]

Keithcorals, I'm confused. I'm reading the opposite (first test was 5.58, and second test was 0.00 for Zn).

First test: https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/triton-us/180010-post-your-results.html#post2068530
Second test: https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/triton-us/180010-post-your-results-3.html#post2114769

Am I misinterpreting what I'm seeing in these two posts?

To much back and forth looking at my results I got them mixed up. But the amount of zinc is still very low and it's possible the first reading that showed a higher level was because of me dosing fuel. If it was from the C-Balance I would think it would have been higher