Take all of what I say based on what you paid for it.
Triton is a method. I am refering to what is called Triton Core 7 Full Method and not what they call other methods. They have a set of recomendations about how to duplicate thier method. Thisndoesnt mean that its the only way to get the desired results but its one way they have found to get them.
The main requirements that most people seem to struggle with is turnover and refugium size. Here is my approach.
I did not skimp on the refugium. From all the research I did and reading about the method the refugium appeard to me to be the priority. I have a 220g display and have a dedicated 29g tank for just the refugium. I attempted to fit a 40g in that spot but fell a few inches short.
For turnover I am not at 10x just with my return pump. Evennwith a minimalist design on the return pipes I am not able to get 10x out of it. However as
@wopadobop stated, you can get extra flow by using a pump in the refugium. I stumbled on this due to adding a pump to the refugium right under the dosing tubes to create a super high flow area for the dosing of the elements. I cannot be understated what the importance of extremely high flow for where you dose the triton liquids.
I have also thought about running two return pumps instead of just one. I am going to hold off on that until the tank tells me I need it.
I have not been running my tank that long but I have also not done a single water change since thenday I put the water in the tank and I have no plans on doing that unless some situation arises that makes me do one. I test regularly and my ICP results tell me what additional trace elements I need on top of the core 7.
My fish are healthy, my corals are doing good, mostly all LPS with a few trial SPS in there right now. Some would say to early but my water chemistry is stable and I plan to keep it that way.
The neat part about any method is that it is just
A method. You can approach it differently and may get the same results or maybe not. However, its a great starting point and if you either run a lower return rate or a 9.5% refugium you may only have to make some small changes to get similar results. I would say that the furthur you deviate from the core set of requirements the less likely you may be in achieving the same or similar results.
What I have not seen is a table of success linked to deviation of the requirements. Is it linear, exponential or logarithmic? Time will tell and feedback from the community will be key to getting that data since I dont think Triton could possibly test every permutation.
How close can you get in your system?
