Triton method and nitrates

[Pete_the_Puma]

Hi,

I have a fairly new setup tank (see build thread). It’s about 3 month old.

It’s a 140G and I’m going full Triton method.

I have a ball of Cheato in the refugium and a Kessil H380. The Cheato is growing like crazy. Everything is going great except my acropora were a little pale and so I decided to test nitrates/phosphates. They have been zero all week despite what I would consider absolutely ridiculous amounts of feeding and a decent bioload.

I am considering dosing nitrates. Does anyone else have this issue with the Triton method? Is there any nitrate already added as “trace” in any of the triton solutions?


Any input is appreciated,


Pete

 

[Aardvark1134]

You could just turn your light down about 10-15% Not enough nitrate just take less out.

 

[JohannesFFM]

Hi There,

1. Triton recommends 0,06-0,08 Watt/L Refugium light. for your system thats about 30-42Watt refugium light. so first step dial down your refugium light.
2. put more fish in your system and feed more, that should help
3. if your test eg hanna ulr p show 0 and nitrates show 0. i would dose p, till i have at least 0,01. when your corals look better then thats all you need todo, if not does some nitrate till you have 1-2 . i did this myself and it saved my corals and stopt stn on acros.
4. corals process ammonia from your fish and ammonia is a better nitrogen source for corals then nitrate. so more fish is better then nitrate dosing.

hope that helps

 

[jzw]

we dose nitrates on a doser and sometimes dose po4 by hand

 

[Mhart032]

I have the same light over my fuge with the same issues. I only turn the light on every 3 days to combat the low nutrients.

 

[Pete_the_Puma]

I've reduced my photoperiod, I'm dumping a little bit of nasty skimmate back into the tank every now and then. I will keep an eye on my nitrate. If it remains zero and corals remain slightly pale I will try dosing some nitrate.

The H380 unfortunately is not "dimmable", I have moved it physically as far as possible from the algea bed.

I will let you guys know how things go.

 

[CMO]

Yes, very common with Triton. I dose nitrates regularly and sometimes even phosphates. And no, core 7 does not contain nitrate already.

Be cautious of the advice from many non-Triton users that trivialize this by saying to just feed more, skim less and reduce your fuge photo period as an end all. While those are certainly the best places to start, dosing may still be required even after exhausting these efforts.

I feed a TON with heavy fish stock, skim very dry (mostly just for gas exchange), have a short 8 hour fuge photo period, and still register 0.00 nitrate (per ATI ICP) absent dosing on my Triton tank. SPS were very pale similar to your experience prior to dosing.