New Triton Tank Questions...

MaryL · Jun 22, 2019

Hi everyone. I'm four months into a new 230 gallon Triton set up. I have no corals yet, no coralline, and am not dosing elements yet. I'm almost finished stocking fish, and I'm still trying to get my macros to thrive. Can anyone help me with these two noob questions?

1. Triton says to run carbon in a reactor, but every time I do, my chaeto, sea lettuce, and red ogo seem to suffer. Is it possible carbon is stripping out something they need? Should I take it offline indefinitely?

2. ALK keeps slowly but steadily dropping, but I have no corals. The only thing I can think of is the macros are using it. Should I start dosing the Triton elements now to keep them going?

Thanks!

Mhart032 · Jun 22, 2019

what fuge light do you have over your fuge? how big is the fuge? lighting makes a big difference. I have the Kessil h380 over the fuge and my macros have been growing like crazy from the tank start up. my nitrates and phosphates are so low that i have to dose them. im running 2 part, but the tank was setup for trition, dont plan to switch till a few months before i stock the tank with corals. its FOWLR till i feel everything stables out, prob at the 8 months to 1 year mark.

Mhart032 · Jun 22, 2019

what fuge light do you have over your fuge? how big is the fuge? lighting makes a big difference. I have the Kessil h380 over the fuge and my macros have been growing like crazy from the tank start up. my nitrates and phosphates are so low that i have to dose them. im running 2 part, but the tank was setup for trition, dont plan to switch till a few months before i stock the tank with corals. its FOWLR till i feel everything stables out, prob at the 8 months to 1 year mark.

Mhart032 · Jun 22, 2019

what fuge light do you have over your fuge? how big is the fuge? lighting makes a big difference. I have the Kessil h380 over the fuge and my macros have been growing like crazy from the tank start up. my nitrates and phosphates are so low that i have to dose them. im running 2 part, but the tank was setup for trition, dont plan to switch till a few months before i stock the tank with corals. its FOWLR till i feel everything stables out, prob at the 8 months to 1 year mark.

CMO · Jun 22, 2019

MaryL said:
Hi everyone. I'm four months into a new 230 gallon Triton set up. I have no corals yet, no coralline, and am not dosing elements yet. I'm almost finished stocking fish, and I'm still trying to get my macros to thrive. Can anyone help me with these two noob questions?

1. Triton says to run carbon in a reactor, but every time I do, my chaeto, sea lettuce, and red ogo seem to suffer. Is it possible carbon is stripping out something they need? Should I take it offline indefinitely?

2. ALK keeps slowly but steadily dropping, but I have no corals. The only thing I can think of is the macros are using it. Should I start dosing the Triton elements now to keep them going?

Thanks!

Carbon should have no affect on your macros. I run carbon on my Triton tank in a reactor permanently with no issues. Definitely something else causing issues with the macros, probably just new tank syndrome or lack of nutrients or other elements. If you're running full Triton it contains elements that will help your fuge thrive that may be depleted without dosing or water changes (are you doing water changes?). As for ALK, I started dosing Triton from day one to maintain 8 dkh with good results (granted the dose was very little early on). I would start dosing and run an ICP test a bit thereafter to see how things are tracking and adjust from there.

Jason mack · Jun 22, 2019

Core 7 has extra iron in it for the macro ...so I'd first do an fe test maybe ..personally I wouldn't start dosing untill WC wont keep up ..but build it up slowly adding corals ..

CMO · Jun 22, 2019

It also has extra Iodine which is important for chaeto health and growth. Check your iodine levels and dose if necessary. I supplement dose iodine even with Core 7 full Triton since it gets depleted otherwise.

pigmo · Jul 23, 2019

@MaryL yes and yes. our experience is triton makes tanks ulns, and we need to dose no3 and po4. what are your levels with these? ours would be zeros if we didn't dose both... we're practically at the point of taking down our cheato section. our no3 is on a doser, and we're rehooking up po4 on our doser tomorrow. btw, our system is 18 months old.

michelle ;Cat