When should I start dosing?

[BobNY]

At what point should I start dosing?

I have a 125g reef that has been running for 8 years. I went through a period where work and life prevented me from giving it the attention that it needed. During that time aiptasia, bubble algae and caulerpa took over the tank. Literally every square inch has something bad on it. I've spend the past year getting it back into shape. All the pests are gone and I have redone my sump and plumbing so I can implement the Triton method. The past few weeks I have done 5 - 30g water changes and the tank is looking good. I have a very light bio load at the moment. A pair of clowns that have been in there since the tank started, a Matted File Fish 5 and Peppermint shrimp. The only coral in there is a Blue Ridge coral that is as old as the tank as well. Since I started getting things back into shape it has taken off and started growing like crazy again.

My parameters are:
Phosphate: 0.0 Hanna Checker. Need to get a ULR Phosphorus checker.
Nitrate 20-25. Very high. I just put Chaeto in my huge the other day. Hopefully that comes down soon
Magnesium: 1400
Alk: 6.3. I used Red Sea blue bucket for my last bunch of water changes. I didn't realize it mixes at only 7.7 DKH.

So my dilemma is... Do I start dosing Triton 3a and 3b now to try to get my alk up and then start dosing 1 & 2 once I get to 8 dkh on the alk? Or do I do a bunch more water changes using salt mix with a higher ALK level until it comes up? The positive of that is it should also help my nitrate level come down. Although the last 5 didn't do much to help that..I haven't sent in a ICP test yet. Will probably send that off tomorrow.

I will start adding more coral one the Alk and nitrate are in check. It will be a while before I get more fish. I have to set my quarantine system up. The soonest I will have more fish will be 6 weeks. Probably a bit longer.

Sorry for the long post. Any advice from Triton veterans would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

 

[keithdoc]

We are in parallel worlds - I am in the exact same situation. Work. Kids. Neglect.
Setup new sump and plumbing, with a slight relocation.
125G Reef tank for a few years. light bioload - a kole tang, and black and white clownfish - over 10y old (sadly, lost a wrasse in rocks during move).
And just started dosing Core7 today.

Parameters:
Phosphate: 0.0
Nitrate <0.5
Magnesium: 1040
Alk: 6.2
Ca: 347
Mg: 1040
(I use HW Marinemix Reefer, but must have added 20G of RO/DI instead of salt during the move - cause it's normally is 9.0, 450, 1200)

Question:
Should I briefly switch my top off to use saltwater to slowly bring Ca, Alk, Mg (and salinity) up to snuff?
with evaporation, I can do 20g in 2 weeks on a 125G tank.

Or should I use up ALL the BRS 2 part and magnesium kits - is Triton's version really any better?

 

[BobNY]

We are in parallel worlds - I am in the exact same situation. Work. Kids. Neglect.
Setup new sump and plumbing, with a slight relocation.
125G Reef tank for a few years. light bioload - a kole tang, and black and white clownfish - over 10y old (sadly, lost a wrasse in rocks during move).
And just started dosing Core7 today.

Parameters:
Phosphate: 0.0
Nitrate <0.5
Magnesium: 1040
Alk: 6.2
Ca: 347
Mg: 1040
(I use HW Marinemix Reefer, but must have added 20G of RO/DI instead of salt during the move - cause it's normally is 9.0, 450, 1200)

Question:
Should I briefly switch my top off to use saltwater to slowly bring Ca, Alk, Mg (and salinity) up to snuff?
with evaporation, I can do 20g in 2 weeks on a 125G tank.

Or should I use up ALL the BRS 2 part and magnesium kits - is Triton's version really any better?

I found this on Tritons Website and ordered it from BRS. https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/alkalinity-booster-co3-1000ml-triton.html
I am going to use this to bring my KH up and sit back and not do much else until my ICP comes back.
It's just difficult to know weather I should start dosing now with no real bio load, or wait until I have more corals using up elements.
My KH dropped .4 in 11 days.

They also have these for CA and MG. If I had all of these out of whack I think I would fix using water changes.

 

[Jeremy Luke]

It would appear that you may not know how much Alk, Calc and Mag your tank is consuming. If you don't really have much coral I doubt there would be much consumption. If your Alk is low perhaps you should do a few large water changes using a high Alk salt like reef crystals. My 126g tank has quite a few pieces of SPS (Around 20?). I would consider most still frags and one colony. The tank has been up for almost a year. I started with dry rock. It now has a bit of coraline on it. I use Fritz RPM Salt which mixes up pretty low on the Alk. I still don't dose. I do a 25 gallon water change every 2 weeks and my Alk stays right around 9.

 

[keithdoc]

Isn't the whole point of Triton method to NOT do water changes?
Honestly, it should be fairly equal consumption of alk/calcium, so just following the alk (and adjusting all 4 base solutions) should account for all 3.

My coral load is just small frags, so very little consumption at present. I'm dosing 4.4ml/day for a lightly stocked 125.
I decided to use the 2 part and magnesium I have laying around, to get them to baseline (should be same effect as stuff you ordered).
Once things are dialed in/stable for a week, I"ll send in my first test.

Good luck!!!!

 

[Jeremy Luke]

Right on. I forgot about that aspect as I've never used that method.

 

[BobNY]

Thanks for the reply's .
Since My nitrates are a bit high and my KH is low I think I may do a water chance this weekend to try to bring their levels closer to what they should be. If my nitrate was low I would probably just start with the ALK additive. One more water change cant hurt. I added chaeto to my sump this past weekend. Not sure how long it will take to have a impact on the nitrate level. My phosphate reads 0.0 on my Hanna checker, so not sure what the exact level is. I hope to pick up a ultra low range checker this weekend. One I have all parameters in check, I will start adding some coral and watch the levels.