Triton Insanity?

[Michael Weismann]

Anyone buying into the Triton Method? Never doing water changes and tinkering with the same "stale" water for years seems nuts to me. Although, Ryan at BRS seems to be having pleasure over it in their latest video.

 

[Mebeknob]

Right?

 

[Mebeknob]

I followed a guy that used it and his tank crashed hard. But not sure why or if it was because of triton or not.
But I do like the video showing the whole refugium benefits with a quality light.

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

An interesting thought experiment: how do you know how much calcium to add to your tank? Well, you use a calcium test kit. You test how much calcium is in your water. Then you use one of the many calcium supplement calculators out there to determine exactly how much calcium you need to add. Seems pretty straight forward. But in the early days of reefing, hobbyist-grade calcium test kits were not available. There was no easy way of knowing how much calcium was in your water. Even if you knew how much calcium was in your tank, there wasn't good consensus on how much SHOULD be in your tank. So people just added calcium in whatever quantity they thought was best. Mike Paletta's 2014 MACNA presentation at MACNA discusses this (fast forward to 15:52 to get that part specifically).

Logically, the Triton method is just an evolution of that theory. All you're doing is testing for exactly what's missing using high-precision laboratory equipment. Then, you simply add what's missing. Just like testing and correcting calcium. Nutrient removal is handled via a refugium and impurities or toxins are handled with binders and resin. If you know exactly what's in your water and all the levels are good because you've made them so, the question is, why would you change your water?

 

[Michael Weismann]

Because logic tells me that each living organism in the ocean never sees the same water twice.

 

[Mebeknob]

It comes down to why do people do water changes in the first place?

If your water is perfect, what's the difference of keeping it in your tank or replacing it with perfect water?

 

[EW_Fish]

Because logic tells me that each living organism in the ocean never sees the same water twice.

Well in a closed loop its hard for an organism not to see the same water 100s of times before you do a water change so i dont see your point.

It comes down to why do people do water changes in the first place?

If your water is perfect, what's the difference of keeping it in your tank or replacing it with perfect water?

We do water changes to replenish trace elements and to lower nutrients. In the triton method you replace trace elements and lower nutrients by a fuge and media/resin. Which takes away the need of doing water changes.


Needless to say I dont use Triton but I do see where it could be useful. For me you have to find the method that works for you.

 

[reefwiser]

Actually the Method has been around for a few years in Europe. Look at https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-dsr-method-dutch-synthetic-reefing.162872/
This is method that is similar that you can do with hobby test kits. Triton made it easy in that you don't have to do the testing. The idea is to maintain the levels of elements in your water as they are used up.
Now this can be a harder or simpler method depending on your work style. You must maintain testing of the tank at regular intervals and you have to dose the elements at regular intervals. If you do the method you will have your tank under total control there will not be any why did this happen as you will fully under stand the chemistry of your aquarium.

 

[Xclusive Reef]

Anyone buying into the Triton Method? Never doing water changes and tinkering with the same "stale" water for years seems nuts to me. Although, Ryan at BRS seems to be having pleasure over it in their latest video.

Well if you also actually think about it you adding fresh RODI tapoff water everyday so as far as stale? not sure.

 

[Chevyaddiction]

Well if you also actually think about it you adding fresh RODI tapoff water everyday so as far as stale? not sure.

That's what I was thinking. Water is being replaced via top off.

 

[Michael Weismann]

No getting rid of those water change stations though. It says if you have too much of something, water changes are part of the solution. Plus how often do you need to send in a sample? I can't imagine you would want to go too long and that sounds expensive.

 

[EW_Fish]

No getting rid of those water change stations though. It says if you have too much of something, water changes are part of the solution. Plus how often do you need to send in a sample? I can't imagine you would want to go too long and that sounds expensive.

Their site states that you should test every 1-3 months. I think when you first start its more frequent till you can get your elements set right. Once everything is set you can pretty much let it run by just replacing elements and doing your routine test. This method isnt just for anyone, You need time and money

 

[Husker]

Shouldn't feeding of fish be able to replace most trace elements? I'm wondering if you could do a simpler "Triton" with lots of feeding, a big skimmer, and a big refugium? This is kind of what I am trying with my setup. It gets around the cost and complexity of Triton testing.

However, I feel like lack of water changes also means no siphoning of the sand bed. Sand get get pretty grody after a few months.

 

[Scarybo]

Because logic tells me that each living organism in the ocean never sees the same water twice.

Actually if you get truly specific the water we use today is the same water from prehistoric period and before. It is just recycled from various states (liquid,gas,solid). I find Triton interesting because you are only replacing what is needed based on advanced testing.