Triton Method, an ongoing study

[ShadowReef]

Hey all,

I've recently switched over from the Red Sea program to try out the Triton Method. I did a thread previously detailing the RS program as I continued through it and posted results vs their claims.

Would anybody be interested in something similar for the triton method?

 

[SDK]

Sure. Following along...

 

[Crabby48]

Will you be switch from red sea program over to triton or starting fresh?

 

[ShadowReef]

Will you be switch from red sea program over to triton or starting fresh?

I switched over just before christmas so I will need to detail the last couple of weeks. Unfortunately, my electritcy bill cant cope with any more AP700s!!!

 

[Crabby48]

I switched over just before christmas so I will need to detail the last couple of weeks. Unfortunately, my electritcy bill cant cope with any more AP700s!!!

Looking forward to see how the system reacts to the change. I could see it taking a little bit to adjust.
I will follow along if you decide to document.
Thanks

 

[Samina]

Following along. Triton user myself. Interested to see how you find the differences between the RS program and Triton.

 

[bar|none]

I use Triton so interested.

 

[Forshurley]

I use Triton and want to follow along

 

[LegendaryCG]

Just picked up some Core7 Other to start my tank on it.

 

[Terri Caton]

Very interested. Thinking about going Triton myself.

 

[ShadowReef]

Ok folks, so it seems there is enough interest so here we go...

Setup:

Volume: 500 litre tank (including displacement of LR) filled with NSW
Lighting: 2 AP700s, 1 evergrow IT50 led panel for sump
Flow: 2 MP40 QD, 1 imitation maxspext gyre, 1 undranded, 1 jebao return pump, 1 small jebao
Filtration: D-D fluid reactor (with rowaphos), bubble magus curve 5 protein skimmer
Dosing: D-D pro4 dosing pump

After using the red sea program for a while I decided I wanted to try something new and the idea of not having to do water changes had a certain appeal. I have NSW delivered to me and pumped into water butts in my garage which I would then heat and pump into the tank on water change day.

I test alkalinity, calcium and phosphate almost every day, so I know what the general balance of my tank is which is useful information when changing methods.

The exciting first delivery arrives of my new Triton core7 products but it's not quite what I was expecting, and here we have the first set back. The red sea program comes in plastic bottles with handy lids that you can attach straight to a dosing pump. Triton comes in cardboard cartons (x4) so now I need to buy dosing containers. Easy enough, right? Well unfortunately in the UK it's very difficult to get 4 chambered dosing containers!!! I bought a 3 chamber and made a makeshift fourth.

Its important to note, you can mix the C&D elements together (and these come in powder form and need to be mixed with RO water) however my container sizes wouldnt allow that (hence creating a makeshift fourth - thank you red sea bottles)

The 4 dosing cartons then are a and b, which are two separate 1l liquids and then c and d which are two separate powders to be mixed with ro water (together or separately). Its annoying they're not as user friendly as the red sea product but they say it's to reduce plastic and tbh, I cant argue with that. We all love the reef and we should all be doing our part to save them

Before I start the switchover I thought it important to send my first icp test off so I can understand then before and the first stage after.

After setting up the dosing and following the instructions exactly on the dosing amount (which is very small as it's super concentrated) my next step was to change my sump around. I had been running as filter sock - skimmer - refugium (chaeto, marinepure blocks and lr) then return but the triton method says no filter sock - refugium first- skimmer - return pump. I also increased the return pump flow to 10x as instructed. Not sure how important it is to make these changes, I couldn't find any evidence anecdotal or otherwise that said that it had better results but if I want to assess the method I have to follow it exactly (well almost).

One thing I haven't changed (though triton doesnt seem to mind) is I have kept rowaphos vs there own AL99 product. AL99 gets mixed reviews and with a tank with a lot of sps i cant afford for my phosphates to go wrong.

The first few days I closely monitor my parameters. I have slightly increased the dosing instructions as it stated this was based on a low/normal stocked tank and I am sps dominant. To my delight, everything holds steady.


Next post: first observations, first icp results

 

[Colin_S]

following along... This is great, i've been thinking is triton as good as it claims? i've been using triton for about 8 months now and i probably do not have enough corals to form a confident assesment yet. my corals are doing ok, but not thriving. I'm adding more corals as i don't have a lot and currently dealing with slightly elivated po4 and nitrates readings.
i've had to slightly modify my set up. no chaeto, but added a scrubber instead. Also 10x turn over? not sure i agree with this but i'm no expert. looking forward to your journey

 

[ShadowReef]

following along... This is great, i've been thinking is triton as good as it claims? i've been using triton for about 8 months now and i probably do not have enough corals to form a confident assesment yet. my corals are doing ok, but not thriving. I'm adding more corals as i don't have a lot and currently dealing with slightly elivated po4 and nitrates readings.
i've had to slightly modify my set up. no chaeto, but added a scrubber instead. Also 10x turn over? not sure i agree with this but i'm no expert. looking forward to your journey

Hi Colin, when you say you dont agree with 10x turnover, do you think this is too much for the sump? I have seen similar comments on other threads saying it might be a bit overkill. Too soon for me to tell if it really makes any difference. The only thing I can think that is probably benefitting is the fact I have so much chaeto. Im hoping it's stopping water stagnating in the depths of it

 

[Scrubber_steve]

Ok folks, so it seems there is enough interest so here we go...

Setup:

Volume: 500 litre tank (including displacement of LR) filled with NSW
Lighting: 2 AP700s, 1 evergrow IT50 led panel for sump
Flow: 2 MP40 QD, 1 imitation maxspext gyre, 1 undranded, 1 jebao return pump, 1 small jebao
Filtration: D-D fluid reactor (with rowaphos), bubble magus curve 5 protein skimmer
Dosing: D-D pro4 dosing pump

After using the red sea program for a while I decided I wanted to try something new and the idea of not having to do water changes had a certain appeal. I have NSW delivered to me and pumped into water butts in my garage which I would then heat and pump into the tank on water change day.

I test alkalinity, calcium and phosphate almost every day, so I know what the general balance of my tank is which is useful information when changing methods.

The exciting first delivery arrives of my new Triton core7 products but it's not quite what I was expecting, and here we have the first set back. The red sea program comes in plastic bottles with handy lids that you can attach straight to a dosing pump. Triton comes in cardboard cartons (x4) so now I need to buy dosing containers. Easy enough, right? Well unfortunately in the UK it's very difficult to get 4 chambered dosing containers!!! I bought a 3 chamber and made a makeshift fourth.

Its important to note, you can mix the C&D elements together (and these come in powder form and need to be mixed with RO water) however my container sizes wouldnt allow that (hence creating a makeshift fourth - thank you red sea bottles)

The 4 dosing cartons then are a and b, which are two separate 1l liquids and then c and d which are two separate powders to be mixed with ro water (together or separately). Its annoying they're not as user friendly as the red sea product but they say it's to reduce plastic and tbh, I cant argue with that. We all love the reef and we should all be doing our part to save them

Before I start the switchover I thought it important to send my first icp test off so I can understand then before and the first stage after.

After setting up the dosing and following the instructions exactly on the dosing amount (which is very small as it's super concentrated) my next step was to change my sump around. I had been running as filter sock - skimmer - refugium (chaeto, marinepure blocks and lr) then return but the triton method says no filter sock - refugium first- skimmer - return pump. I also increased the return pump flow to 10x as instructed. Not sure how important it is to make these changes, I couldn't find any evidence anecdotal or otherwise that said that it had better results but if I want to assess the method I have to follow it exactly (well almost).

One thing I haven't changed (though triton doesnt seem to mind) is I have kept rowaphos vs there own AL99 product. AL99 gets mixed reviews and with a tank with a lot of sps i cant afford for my phosphates to go wrong.

The first few days I closely monitor my parameters. I have slightly increased the dosing instructions as it stated this was based on a low/normal stocked tank and I am sps dominant. To my delight, everything holds steady.


Next post: first observations, first icp results

Just curious, does TRITON recommended rowaphos in their system specs?
Are you using a TRITON sump with the fudge 10 to 20% of tank volume, and the other recommendations?

To test the TRITON method it must be accurately set up.

Requirements:

TRITON design sump
Skimmer
Common granular media filter
Return pump (10X display tank volume/hr)
Refugium light (T5 recommended - blue and white mix)
Reverse osmosis unit (TRITON DI filtration)
10% Live Rock (Reef Structure)

TRITON Method Slide

The most experienced in solution based water chemistry in the industry. Continuing to revolutionise reef keeping worldwide since 2008.

www.triton.de

Cheers

 

[ShadowReef]

Just curious, does TRITON recommended rowaphos in their system specs?
Are you using a TRITON sump with the fudge 10 to 20% of tank volume, and the other recommendations?

To test the TRITON method it must be accurately set up.

Requirements:

TRITON design sump
Skimmer
Common granular media filter
Return pump (10X display tank volume/hr)
Refugium light (T5 recommended - blue and white mix)
Reverse osmosis unit (TRITON DI filtration)
10% Live Rock (Reef Structure)

TRITON Method Slide

The most experienced in solution based water chemistry in the industry. Continuing to revolutionise reef keeping worldwide since 2008.

www.triton.de

Cheers

It recommends AL99 but specifically mentions rowaphos can also be used. Dont think it mentions any other brands though. Yes to the rest of the items on your list except I'm not using T5s for chaeto, I use LEDs from my old display tank to compete with the AP700s and it works fantastic. I have ridiculous growth. My RO is delivered alongside my NSW and have tested the TDS, phosphates etc and it's the best I've seen anywhere. Much better than I can make myself

 

[Scrubber_steve]

It recommends AL99 but specifically mentions rowaphos can also be used. Dont think it mentions any other brands though. Yes to the rest of the items on your list except I'm not using T5s for chaeto, I use LEDs from my old display tank to compete with the AP700s and it works fantastic. I have ridiculous growth. My RO is delivered alongside my NSW and have tested the TDS, phosphates etc and it's the best I've seen anywhere. Much better than I can make myself

Good luck with it. There is at least one participant here at R2R using TRITON method with great success.

 

[stacksoner]

Ok folks, so it seems there is enough interest so here we go...

Setup:

Volume: 500 litre tank (including displacement of LR) filled with NSW
Lighting: 2 AP700s, 1 evergrow IT50 led panel for sump
Flow: 2 MP40 QD, 1 imitation maxspext gyre, 1 undranded, 1 jebao return pump, 1 small jebao
Filtration: D-D fluid reactor (with rowaphos), bubble magus curve 5 protein skimmer
Dosing: D-D pro4 dosing pump

After using the red sea program for a while I decided I wanted to try something new and the idea of not having to do water changes had a certain appeal. I have NSW delivered to me and pumped into water butts in my garage which I would then heat and pump into the tank on water change day.

I test alkalinity, calcium and phosphate almost every day, so I know what the general balance of my tank is which is useful information when changing methods.

The exciting first delivery arrives of my new Triton core7 products but it's not quite what I was expecting, and here we have the first set back. The red sea program comes in plastic bottles with handy lids that you can attach straight to a dosing pump. Triton comes in cardboard cartons (x4) so now I need to buy dosing containers. Easy enough, right? Well unfortunately in the UK it's very difficult to get 4 chambered dosing containers!!! I bought a 3 chamber and made a makeshift fourth.

Its important to note, you can mix the C&D elements together (and these come in powder form and need to be mixed with RO water) however my container sizes wouldnt allow that (hence creating a makeshift fourth - thank you red sea bottles)

The 4 dosing cartons then are a and b, which are two separate 1l liquids and then c and d which are two separate powders to be mixed with ro water (together or separately). Its annoying they're not as user friendly as the red sea product but they say it's to reduce plastic and tbh, I cant argue with that. We all love the reef and we should all be doing our part to save them

Before I start the switchover I thought it important to send my first icp test off so I can understand then before and the first stage after.

After setting up the dosing and following the instructions exactly on the dosing amount (which is very small as it's super concentrated) my next step was to change my sump around. I had been running as filter sock - skimmer - refugium (chaeto, marinepure blocks and lr) then return but the triton method says no filter sock - refugium first- skimmer - return pump. I also increased the return pump flow to 10x as instructed. Not sure how important it is to make these changes, I couldn't find any evidence anecdotal or otherwise that said that it had better results but if I want to assess the method I have to follow it exactly (well almost).

One thing I haven't changed (though triton doesnt seem to mind) is I have kept rowaphos vs there own AL99 product. AL99 gets mixed reviews and with a tank with a lot of sps i cant afford for my phosphates to go wrong.

The first few days I closely monitor my parameters. I have slightly increased the dosing instructions as it stated this was based on a low/normal stocked tank and I am sps dominant. To my delight, everything holds steady.


Next post: first observations, first icp results

I don't believe you're supposed to be running GFO or AL99 with the Triton method as your refugium is supposed to be managing your phosphates. I believe they tell you to use it if needed on your ICP results.

 

[Terri Caton]

Thanks for this!

Why did you choose not to combine C and D?

I'm skeptical about the refugium being first. Won't you lose a lot of Pods?

 

[ShadowReef]

Thanks for this!

Why did you choose not to combine C and D?

I'm skeptical about the refugium being first. Won't you lose a lot of Pods?

Purely because my dosing container couldn't hold enough RO water to mix both amounts in full.

It's a good question, and one hard to prove I guess. I think Tritons thinking is that by having the refugium first it has more of an opportunity to consume nutrients before the skimmer gets them. First time I've tried this way around but I guess I will keep an eye on my mandarin just in case

 

[ShadowReef]

Started my aquarium with Triton and it’s been running 18 months
You can alternate between rowa and al99 it’s what I do,

Interesting, why do you alternate? I heard AL99 can pull stuff out of the water that rowa cant, but also AL99 can leach phosphate and aluminium back into the tank