New Triton tank - when to start skimmer / target NO3 & PO4?

[Hundo]

After a year of planning, I finally pulled the trigger on upgrading my 50g cube to a 130g. I quick cycled the tank with turbo start several weeks ago, made sure I was at zero ammonia or Nitrate and then have slowly transferred some frags over from my 50g cube and added some fish. I've also started building out the refugium with 4 different macros (from algae barn...highly recommended) and they are going great so far. I haven't yet started dosing Triton base elements as the bioload in the tank is insanely low for its size (literally 4 tangs, a few snails and ~10 small frags). I'm sending off the ICP test tomorrow on the tank and waiting for results before I start dosing.

Alk/Ca/Mg are all spot on still from just the initial filling of the tank (tested daily). I'm also running carbon passively. Macroalgae (lit 12 hours on reverse cycle by Kessil 380) is responding well and growing (not insanely...but the chaeto is definitely bigger than when I added it a few weeks ago). I'm currently not running my skimmer (Skimz monzter 161 from my current tank) b/c the bioload is SO small and I don't want to starve out the corals or macroalgae.

My question is how far I should let nitrate and phosphate grow before I start skimming? They've risen slowly to NO3 - 2ppm and PO4 - 0.06. Should I let them creep up a bit more or is it time to flip on the skimmer?

Sorry for the very long-winded preamble to that. I'm just super jacked about this tank upgrade and running Triton. If anyone is curious, the tank is going to be SPS, tangs and wrasses. Lit by 3x radion XR30pros and Aquatic Life T5. Flow is Gyre 250, Ecotech MP40 and maybe my little gyre 130 on the back wall. Cor20 return pump. Trigger Triton 44 sump.

 

[HolisticBear]

My question is how far I should let nitrate and phosphate grow before I start skimming? They've risen slowly to NO3 - 2ppm and PO4 - 0.06. Should I let them creep up a bit more or is it time to flip on the skimmer?

Their are other benefits to the skimmer like oxygenation, but you're observant to monitor your export (powerful fuge, carbon, skimmer) with a low bio-load. Feeding four tangs seems like a decent bioload.

You didn't mention if you started with dry rock or live. I'm a big proponent of running slightly dirtier when starting with dry rock. You've got plenty of grazers to keep up with any algae in the display, but running a new dry rock system at levels of 0.0 with the possibility of dinos seems the worst path.

I'm going against the official Triton grain here, but I'm a fan of running Triton Other Methods, trimming the fuge, and doing water changes in the beginning if you're starting from dry rock until the system matures somewhat. If you started 100% with live rock from Tampa Bay Saltwater, I'd say something different. That's my approach after following many of the recent Triton build threads here.

 

[Hundo]

Thanks for the quick response @HolisticBear ! I started with dry reel reef rock, supplemented with also dry marinepure blocks, since my aquascape is a bit minimalist. I'm totally with you...my biggest fear is running at 0.0 and starving everything out / dinos, particularly since everything in the tank is very unestablished.

Unfortunately, regular water changes aren't realistic for me, so I'm going full Triton. I just started a business 18 months ago, so my work schedule is chaotic. I also have VERY limited space to make large saltwater batches, so regular water changes just wouldn't happen.

 

[HolisticBear]

Unfortunately, regular water changes aren't realistic for me, so I'm going full Triton. I just started a business 18 months ago, so my work schedule is chaotic. I also have VERY limited space to make large saltwater batches, so regular water changes just wouldn't happen.

Fair enough, the most important thing is not hitting zero, rather than the export or trace elements provided by water changes. The extra elements in the regular Triton vs other elements 'turbo charge' the fuge, which is only an issue if you let it get too efficient. There was a long thread debating the benefits of the die-off in a fuge, but I wouldn't want that to get excessive in a new system

Many consider it snake-oil, and I won't disagree with them, but adding good bacteria to new systems seems like cheap insurance to me along with your pods from AlgaeBarn. Give the pods a chance before your wrasse arrive.

To your original question, I'd try to run the skimmer, but I personally wouldn't want your levels to go lower than they are now for awhile. More bioload + feedings make take care of it.

The fact that you're concerned about it shows that you'll probably do fine

 

[Hundo]

@HolisticBear Oh, I hadn't even thought of dosing prodibio in the short term! I hope it comes across, but I'm trying to do everything possible to ensure this tank gets off to the right start--fritz turbo start, multiple macroalgae varieties, dosing a big pod population, great lighting, heavy feeding (with LRS, nano brine and weekly reef roids target feeding), etc. I'm going to research Prodibio tomorrow, but are you aware of any potential downsides? If it's potentially snake oil, I'm fine with that as insurance.

I think I'm leaning towards throwing a little phosban in a media bag and leaving the skimmer off for a bit. I feel like letting nitrate creep up to 5 or even 10ppm may be perfect, but I feel like letting phosphate creep much more may be sub-par.