S element reading on Triton

dgrigor02 · Jul 9, 2016

I have been doing zero water change for the last 15 months. All the results have been good with very little rise or decrease over time except for the S - sulfur reading. It has steadily been going down.

Any recommended way to increase ? I currently dose Kalkwasser for CA/Alk, I use the Randy Mg recipe ( 7/1 ratio of Mg Chloride and Mg Sulfate ). Would changing to a 8 cup Mg Sulfate recipe increase or is there something else I should do ?

Here is the trend from the 4 tests I have done thus far.

S 1043 mg/l - reading from Freshly mixed Instant Ocean

S 978 mg/l - When I started the zero water change

S 828mg/l - Approx 8 months later

S 671 mg/l - Latest reading approx 15 month after starting.

biom · Jul 9, 2016

Randy Mg recipe is actually 3 cups of Sulfate and 5 cups of Chloride, that's why your readings of Sulfur drop slowly.
Using Magnesium Sulfate only for certain period seems to be a fine plan.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jul 9, 2016

Sulfate doesn't decline noticeably due to consumption. Did you switch to a new salt mix that might have lower sulfate?

Or salinity is dropping.

dgrigor02 · Jul 9, 2016

No salt switch always have been Instant Ocean. Haven't done a water change ( other than incidental spillage ) in 15 months which is approx 20-40g total. Salinity checks out between 1.025-1.026 using Milwaukee electronic that is calibrated before each use.

I'm a bit unconvential. No skimmer, Algae Turf Scrubber for over 4 years. I do harvest a pretty agressive amount of algae per week. Average between 32-64oz cup worth that is rinsed and hand squeezed for a 180g tank.

Would algae reduce the amount of sulphate more rapidly ?

Sounds like changing my Magnesium ratio to more Magnesium sulphate may be the answer I just wanted to be sure. My test was this June, will see if the trend continues at the next Triton test around Thanksgiving.

biom · Jul 10, 2016

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Sulfate doesn't decline noticeably due to consumption. Did you switch to a new salt mix that might have lower sulfate?

Or salinity is dropping.

IMO the problem comes from zero water changes plus adding Two Part with very small amount of Sulfate.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jul 10, 2016

biom said:
IMO the problem comes from zero water changes plus adding Two Part with very small amount of Sulfate.

Yes, that would do it over time.

That's why I try to get people to use the recipe as designed, even if they think they do not "need' magnesium. In other two parts, they just do not see the magnesium, but it is the same amount.

dgrigor02 · Jul 10, 2016

I only use 2 part for major adjustments and extremely rare ( just a cup or two per year ). I've been using Randy's Resevoir Kalkwasser method since 2003'ish. With frag/sump tank, show tank combined surface area, evaporation has never been a limiting factor for Kalkwasser. Surprisingly its the summer when I need to sometimes spike some vinegar. Since house stays pretty dry in Winter from the constant furnace use, winter is when I evaporate the most.

You guys have me thinking, I honestly can't remember if I did recipe #1 or #2 for the Magnesium. Its been so long since I've mixed some up becuase I do 4-5 gallons at a time to use up the whole dry container since it gets rock hard the dry material sit. Its' probably been 2 years since I mixed up a batch.

I'll use 100% Magnesium Sulfate until Thanksgiving time when due for my next Triton test. All my other parameters looks inline so I think I'm pretty well covered on all the other major/minor elements. Tank has done well but then again it was doing well before attempting near zero water change. Mostly just trying for fun to see if possible. I'm not opposed to water changes and use to do a bag of Instnat Ocean per week.