I recently got my Triton results for my 210 gallons display, which is an SPS dominant, but mixed, reef tank. I use Instant Ocean. I dose Randy's DIY 2-Part. I (by "I", I mean my wife) feed very heavily, mostly mixed frozen foods, but also some flake and a few pellets now and then. I dose vodka, and I skim. I also use RowaPhos. My top off water is RO, but since I'm on a well, I burn through DI resin like nobody's business, and so I gave up on keeping the DI resin fresh long ago. My untreated well water TDS is usually around 50 or so, and the output of the RO is usually around 4-5.
The one thing worth mentioning is that prior to sending in my Triton test about a week and a half ago, I have done virtually no water changes since last November! I had an event around last Thanksgiving where I did somewhere around a 15-20% water change. Prior to that, I had been doing a semi-continuous water change of about 1.5% daily using dosing pumps and my Apex controller. After the relatively large water change, I turned off the continuous water change program, and then, just ended up leaving it turned off. For almost nine months! The tank continued to do well, and many Acropora continued to thrive and grow well, with good color and polyp extension so I just let it go. The only water changes that happened were very small ones when I acclimated some new livestock, or when I had to add some saltwater to make up for the fact that I skim pretty wet, and the increase in salinity due to my using two-part doesn't always keep up with the amount of skimmate I produce. The only other things I have occasionally dosed during the last 9 months are some AcroPower, a DIY potassium supplement, and a DIY iodine supplement, but none of these had been dosed for at least three months before the sample was sent to Triton.
I decided months ago that I'd see how long I could get away with no water changes, but did want to get Triton results before MACNA 2015, so here we are.
There are a few surprises, and also a few unusual results that are not really surprising.
One surprise is the absence of any "Unwanted Heavy Metals" at all. I was expecting (with some trepidation) to see some non-zero results in this category, but am very happy to find all these to be reported at zero.
The total absence of any Bromine in the "Macro-Elements" category is another surprise. I'm not sure if I need to be worried about dosing Bromine or not, but this is another interesting result.
The high Strontium is a bit of a surprise.
The extremely high Lithium result is quite unusual, but not entirely unexpected. While I don't have the highest Lithium results reported in this forum so far, it is still pretty close to the top. For the magnesium chloride component of the mag portion of my DIY 2-part, I used a non-Randy-Holmes-Farley-approved product, and I suspect that it contains high amounts of Lithium, and probably also Strontium, as shown by the unexpected high Strontium result.
Like the Instant Ocean test results I also recently posted, I believed my salinity to be right at 35 PPT when I submitted the sample, but I calculate my salinity from the Triton results to be right at 34 PPT (just like the IO). Like a few others have noted, I find my Ca result to be a tad higher than I expected it to be (I was expecting 420 ppm). I am happy to see that my sulfate is right where it should be -- a testament to how well Randy's DIY 2-part recipe works to keep things nicely balanced!
The one thing worth mentioning is that prior to sending in my Triton test about a week and a half ago, I have done virtually no water changes since last November! I had an event around last Thanksgiving where I did somewhere around a 15-20% water change. Prior to that, I had been doing a semi-continuous water change of about 1.5% daily using dosing pumps and my Apex controller. After the relatively large water change, I turned off the continuous water change program, and then, just ended up leaving it turned off. For almost nine months! The tank continued to do well, and many Acropora continued to thrive and grow well, with good color and polyp extension so I just let it go. The only water changes that happened were very small ones when I acclimated some new livestock, or when I had to add some saltwater to make up for the fact that I skim pretty wet, and the increase in salinity due to my using two-part doesn't always keep up with the amount of skimmate I produce. The only other things I have occasionally dosed during the last 9 months are some AcroPower, a DIY potassium supplement, and a DIY iodine supplement, but none of these had been dosed for at least three months before the sample was sent to Triton.
I decided months ago that I'd see how long I could get away with no water changes, but did want to get Triton results before MACNA 2015, so here we are.
There are a few surprises, and also a few unusual results that are not really surprising.
One surprise is the absence of any "Unwanted Heavy Metals" at all. I was expecting (with some trepidation) to see some non-zero results in this category, but am very happy to find all these to be reported at zero.
The total absence of any Bromine in the "Macro-Elements" category is another surprise. I'm not sure if I need to be worried about dosing Bromine or not, but this is another interesting result.
The high Strontium is a bit of a surprise.
The extremely high Lithium result is quite unusual, but not entirely unexpected. While I don't have the highest Lithium results reported in this forum so far, it is still pretty close to the top. For the magnesium chloride component of the mag portion of my DIY 2-part, I used a non-Randy-Holmes-Farley-approved product, and I suspect that it contains high amounts of Lithium, and probably also Strontium, as shown by the unexpected high Strontium result.
Like the Instant Ocean test results I also recently posted, I believed my salinity to be right at 35 PPT when I submitted the sample, but I calculate my salinity from the Triton results to be right at 34 PPT (just like the IO). Like a few others have noted, I find my Ca result to be a tad higher than I expected it to be (I was expecting 420 ppm). I am happy to see that my sulfate is right where it should be -- a testament to how well Randy's DIY 2-part recipe works to keep things nicely balanced!
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