New Triton Method Tank, Cyano & SPS dying off...

[kiMxD]

Hello guys,

I need your help! I started this 140g 6ft (72"x18.5"x20"height) tank 3-4 months ago, the tank has been running on triton method since day 31. My idea initially was to start an SPS tank from early on and, I added a lot of flow to it (2 MP40's), Red Sea Coral Pro salt, a bag of BRS GFO and a reactor for ROX Carbon from BRS as well. My lights are ATI 6" 6x80w (4 blue plus, 1 coral plus and 1 purple plus) + an Orpehk UV/Violet 48" bar, both hanging 9" above the surface of the water. The lights schedule is: Orphek Bar + 4 blue+ ON at 10:00AM and OFF at 10:00PM (12h), Coral+ and Purple+ ON at 12:00PM and OFF at 6:30PM (6.5h).

Having that said, I thought I was rocking on my equipment and that everything should run smoothly (first time trying to keep SPS only besides red cap montipora), but the thing is that I have been having problems with Cyano since I started dosing Triton, thus losing all the expensive frags I bought.

At this point I am not really sure what to do, I still have Cyano, although I clean the tank at least twice a week, it comes back next day. I keep scrubbing it, scooping it out, sucking it out, wherever I do it comes back.

Having all that said, I will attach some pictures to better explain and show what is going on.

My questions are:

1) Should I dose carbon (keep in mind I run Triton Core7 Method)?
2) Should I use Chemiclean?
3) Should I decrease my photo period?
4) How can I save my frags that still have some tissue on them?

Even before you ask, here are my params:

Salt: 1.025 (Red Sea Coral Pro)
Temp: 76-77.8

TANK/FRAGS PICS

FILTRATION SECTION (DIY REFUGIUM CONNECTED TO SUMP)

I test almost everyday or at least twice a week using Red Sea test kits and Hanna (alk only).

Please let me know what would you do...

Thank you!

 

[kiMxD]

Sorry, something is going on with attaching pics, the tests pics duplicated and I can not delete them for some reason :s

 

[CMO]

Having run a successful Triton tank from day 1 for just over a year now here are my observations.

1) Should I dose carbon (keep in mind I run Triton Core7 Method)? I would not carbon dose with Triton. You are likely already experiencing nutrient deficiencies with a large Triton fuge and carbon dosing would only make that worse. So my first question and initial thought as to why your corals are struggling is too low of nutrients. While I never lost any corals, they did struggle with slow growth and poor color in my Triton tank until I started dosing PO4 and NO3. You almost certainly will not need to run GFO with a successful Triton fuge in the long run (early on maybe, but once things stabilize PO4 shouldn't be a problem).
2) Should I use Chemiclean? I struggled with various algae and bacteria blooms for about the first 6-9 months of my Triton tank and was forced to chemiclean as I could not get it under control otherwise. I chemicleaned the tank with no ill effects. That was also the only water change I have done since the start of the tank to remove the chemiclean. My cyano did not come back but I also elevated nutrient levels around this time which is what I believe was a trigger in the first part (too low of nutrient levels that is).
3) Should I decrease my photo period? Looks fine to me but might help control algae problems until things mature. Mine is longer than yours at about 14 hours
4) How can I save my frags that still have some tissue on them? Clean them up and frag the healthy parts the best you can.

The biggest key to a successful Triton tank in my experience is getting your nutrient levels and ratios stable. Heavy skimming plus a large fuge with core 7 is almost surely a recipe for zero nutrient levels which can be detrimental (my NO3 literally hit 0.00 per ati ICP be fore I started dosing). I dose to keep NO3 around 1-5 ppm and PO4 in the 0.03-0.05 ppm range.

It looks like that might be dry clean rock you started with? If so, same with me and it can take a good deal of time to get it fully cycled and stabilized. My Triton tank fully stabilized with no more algae or bacteria problems around the 9 month mark.

One other observation but probably not a big deal since you won't be doing a whole lot of water changes with Triton is that the Red Sea Pro salt is not a great match for Triton since it has a Alk dkh level of 12 (compared to 7-8 with Triton). If you ever do a large water change like after chemicleaning this could swing your alk levels a bit and stress corals further. I like the Red Sea Blue bucket salt which has alk and other element levels more in line with Triton.

 

[kiMxD]

Having run a successful Triton tank from day 1 for just over a year now here are my observations.

1) Should I dose carbon (keep in mind I run Triton Core7 Method)? I would not carbon dose with Triton. You are likely already experiencing nutrient deficiencies with a large Triton fuge and carbon dosing would only make that worse. So my first question and initial thought as to why your corals are struggling is too low of nutrients. While I never lost any corals, they did struggle with slow growth and poor color in my Triton tank until I started dosing PO4 and NO3. You almost certainly will not need to run GFO with a successful Triton fuge in the long run (early on maybe, but once things stabilize PO4 shouldn't be a problem).
2) Should I use Chemiclean? I struggled with various algae and bacteria blooms for about the first 6-9 months of my Triton tank and was forced to chemiclean as I could not get it under control otherwise. I chemicleaned the tank with no ill effects. That was also the only water change I have done since the start of the tank to remove the chemiclean. My cyano did not come back but I also elevated nutrient levels around this time which is what I believe was a trigger in the first part (too low of nutrient levels that is).
3) Should I decrease my photo period? Looks fine to me but might help control algae problems until things mature. Mine is longer than yours at about 14 hours
4) How can I save my frags that still have some tissue on them? Clean them up and frag the healthy parts the best you can.

The biggest key to a successful Triton tank in my experience is getting your nutrient levels and ratios stable. Heavy skimming plus a large fuge with core 7 is almost surely a recipe for zero nutrient levels which can be detrimental (my NO3 literally hit 0.00 per ati ICP be fore I started dosing). I dose to keep NO3 around 1-5 ppm and PO4 in the 0.03-0.05 ppm range.

It looks like that might be dry clean rock you started with? If so, same with me and it can take a good deal of time to get it fully cycled and stabilized. My Triton tank fully stabilized with no more algae or bacteria problems around the 9 month mark.

One other observation but probably not a big deal since you won't be doing a whole lot of water changes with Triton is that the Red Sea Pro salt is not a great match for Triton since it has a Alk dkh level of 12 (compared to 7-8 with Triton). If you ever do a large water change like after chemicleaning this could swing your alk levels a bit and stress corals further. I like the Red Sea Blue bucket salt which has alk and other element levels more in line with Triton.

Understood. So if you were in my shoes and having the experience you have with Triton, what would you do at this point?
Thank you for your reply, I will start fragging the corals NOW.

 

[kiMxD]

And yes, I’ve started with the reef saver rock. But I did let it cycle for a month.

About the nutrients, I have 0.8phosphate and some nitrate, could I still need any more than that?

 

[CMO]

And yes, I’ve started with the reef saver rock. But I did let it cycle for a month.

About the nutrients, I have 0.8phosphate and some nitrate, could I still need any more than that?

If you really have 0.80 and didn't mean 0.08 PO4 you need to get that down significantly as that would cause issues with SPS. So definitely run GFO as you stated if that's the case.

So long as all parameters are in order I would chalk most of these algae and bacteria issues up to new tank syndrome. It's a pain but to keep sensitive corals during these times lots of manual cleaning may be necessary to prevent loses. I was going in and vacuuming / brushing around my corals during these times to keep algae / cyano off of them.

Once that rock starts to get heavily coated in coralline and other good stuff things will be a whole lot easier.

An ICP test would be in order if you haven't done one yet and no water changes.

 

[csb123]

Based on my own experience...your tank is too young to support anything but the hardiest SPS. These corals are very sensitive to any fluctuations. The algae blooms are part of the normal cycle of a tank (the uglies). Whatever path you chose forward, just take it a little slower.

Good luck!

 

[kiMxD]

I understand you guys, I have another 120g that I also run triton and this one has been running for over a year now and just settled down on the algae, I only clean the glass every two weeks and it doesn't even get really bad.

My concern is just with the cyano as I never had it before through a cycling period.

Should I use chemiclean as I have it handy or should I just keep cleaning it and waiting for it to start dying off on its own?

 

[CMO]

Just checked my build thread and it looks like I chemicleaned at month 7 after several months of trying to wait it out. Even with all perameters within range mine still lingered. So with your tank only at 3-4 months it could take a while longer to resolve itself based on my experience.

 

[kiMxD]

Just checked my build thread and it looks like I chemicleaned at month 7 after several months of trying to wait it out. Even with all perameters within range mine still lingered. So with your tank only at 3-4 months it could take a while longer to resolve itself based on my experience.

Do you think I should just go ahead and use it then so I don't have to struggle with it as long as you did?

 

[Sherman]

If your PO4 is really 0.8 (what test kit) get this down as soon as possible.
Get it below 0.1

 

[kiMxD]

If your PO4 is really 0.8 (what test kit) get this down as soon as possible.
Get it below 0.1

The question here is HOW? I use Red Sea test kits...

 

[kiMxD]

I am sorry, it's 0.08. I just retested it... But it looks like now it's more like 0.12...

 

[Sherman]

The question here is HOW? I use Red Sea test kits...

For PO4 most test kit far from actual reading. So far I find Hanna ULR the closest.
With so high PO4 (if its real) it take long time to reduce to 0.1 below.
You running refugium or algae scrubber. These will help in long run
I saw skimmer. Skimmer wet .
But most important clear whatever cynao you can see and if you dosing carbon stop a few days

 

[Sherman]

I am sorry, it's 0.08. I just retested it... But it looks like now it's more like 0.12...

If is 0.08 then no much issue

 

[kiMxD]

That’s how it looks like on the test kit...

 

[Sherman]

That’s how it looks like on the test kit...

Oh I bad at color reading. That is why I got a Hanna.

 

[CMO]

Do you think I should just go ahead and use it then so I don't have to struggle with it as long as you did?

Just responded to your PM with more thoughts but yeah, if you're losing corals to cyano I'd say go for it. My opinion is that if used correctly you shouldn't have any problems with Chemiclean.

 

[A-dawg]

Super old but what’s the update. Did you dose chemiclean etc. I’m having a similar thing so wondering what happened. It will help people when they search later.

 

[kiMxD]

That's quite old. Thank God I didn't have a major problem thereafter. I stopped using Triton all together and have not had any problems. But back then, I did use chemiclean and it really helped, it's kinda hard to remove it from the system tho, so prepare a whole bunch of water for WC's after treatment, and turn off your skimmer.