Triton and Smaller Tanks

[TriedAndProven]

The more research I do on Triton the more sold I am. Accurate testing combined with heavy biological filtration and a pretty flexible "method"? Sounds just about perfect.

I'm in the process of setting up a small shallow (22g) reef tank after having been out of the salt game for about five years. I was pretty successful with "high tech" freshwater planted tanks combining CO2, dosed ferts, intense lighting, and 50% weekly water changes. I've got dosing pumps, an Apex, and an ATO already.

Is there any reason Triton wouldn't work on a smaller tank? I get that smaller tanks are harder to stabilize, but it's not impossible. Any downsides to giving it a shot? Sump will be a 20g long, I've got a Reef Octopus skimmer and a reactor on the way anyway.

Thoughts guys?

 

[Tim@Triton]

No reason why no, as you have already said obviously with the smaller water volume there is very little room for error, so I would advise against using the new Core7 concentrate as your dose will likely be very small and you would need an incredibly accurate dosing unit, one incorrect dose could have very bad consequences. The original dilutable Base Elements would be more suited.

 

[TriedAndProven]

No reason why no, as you have already said obviously with the smaller water volume there is very little room for error, so I would advise against using the new Core7 concentrate as your dose will likely be very small and you would need an incredibly accurate dosing unit, one incorrect dose could have very bad consequences. The original dilutable Base Elements would be more suited.

I'll start designing a Triton approved sump then!

 

[d2mini]

I'd definitely recommend the GHL Doser 2.
Doses down to .1 ml.
The only tricky thing I can think of is having space for a refugium in your sump but it doesn't need to be very big!
I would go bigger than the recommended 10% though. Cause that's only 2.2 gallons. lol
See if you can fit at least a 5g fuge in there and still have room for a skimmer and carbon reactor. You could have a separate ATO container sitting next to the tank.

 

[TriedAndProven]

I'd definitely recommend the GHL Doser 2.
Doses down to .1 ml.
The only tricky thing I can think of is having space for a refugium in your sump but it doesn't need to be very big!
I would go bigger than the recommended 10% though. Cause that's only 2.2 gallons. lol
See if you can fit at least a 5g fuge in there and still have room for a skimmer and carbon reactor. You could have a separate ATO container sitting next to the tank.

I've stalked your current build on RC so hard it's not even funny.

The tank I'm using is 36" x 12" x 12", and my stand is 48" x 24", so I fortunately have plenty of room underneath. I'll be using a 20 long for my sump and running the return pump externally, so the plan is to figure out just how large of a compartment I need for my skimmer and reactor and then using the majority of the space as a fuge. My goal was also ~5+ gallons of refugium, so I'm glad I'm on the right track.

I wish I could do a larger tank, but I'm gonna end up moving in a year to NorCal from Albuquerque for grad school and it's just not in the cards at this point.

If anyone else has some pointers or considerations let me know, I'm still piecing together equipment so nothing is concrete yet.

 

[TriedAndProven]

I'm gonna bump this so I hopefully don't have to start a new thread.

I've checked out Triton sump design shown in the manual:

...and have a couple quick questions. Since the skimmer doesn't have a second baffle to set the height both that section and the return section are tied in water depth wise, correct? So I put my ATO sensor and unit wherever and I should be good to go then, correct?

The design is certainly easy which is nice, but are micro bubbles a factor? Should I put in another baffle? Using a Reef Octopus 110 INT skimmer if that helps.

 

[Tim@Triton]

You can put in a bubble trap if you like which will also set the skimmer water height, bubbles are usually not an issue if you have the return intake facing away from the skimmer

 

[d2mini]

You can put in a bubble trap if you like which will also set the skimmer water height, bubbles are usually not an issue if you have the return intake facing away from the skimmer

FWIW, i get a lot of microbubbles without something to catch them.
Thankfully we designed a narrow tray into the sump design after the skimmer that fits a piece of coarse filter foam. This seems to catch the bubbles.
And this is with having an adjustable height bubble trap.
The water just moves through too fast I think.

 

[TriedAndProven]

FWIW, i get a lot of microbubbles without something to catch them.
Thankfully we designed a narrow tray into the sump design after the skimmer that fits a piece of coarse filter foam. This seems to catch the bubbles.
And this is with having an adjustable height bubble trap.
The water just moves through too fast I think.

That makes sense with the 10x flow. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.