Triton Results - Few Questions

[Beastie]

I received my results back.

Looking over it:

1- I can see that my P and PO4 is way high. This is a bit surprising to me as I have zero hair algae or any other type of nuisance algae in the display tank. This however would explain why I cannot seam to keep SPS for more than a few weeks before they go down hill. I have tested it in the past and it was slightly elevated .08-.09. Guess it is time to get a new test kit as I think the old was was giving bad reading and truthfully never really check it that regularly since I never had an algae problem.

I did a 40 gallon water change this weekend, vacuumed out the sump and changed around the flow pattern to try and get anything off the rocks. I also started to run GFO and cleaned out the cheato shake loose any particles trapped in it. I am planning on doing two more 40 gallon water changes this week. I also run and UFAS that I clean every two weeks. Anything else I should be doing?

2 - Is there anything else really on the result I should be concerned about. Lithium, Vanadium, Bromine, and Boron is high. Iodine is low. Is this something I should worry about correcting? If so what is the best way to go about this?

The total system is about 380 gallon with a 220g display with a 90g rock fuge, 55g cheato / Frag tank and 100g sump filled up about half.

Thanks,
Brad

 

[Cory]

The same for me. I run a waterfall scrubber, ive got no algae in the display. But po4 is about .13ppm via hanna. I suspect that no3 is too low for the scrubber to get that extra po4. Triton doesnt give results for no3?

Boron could be coming from any seachem products. But imo isnt a problem.

 

[mcarroll]

PO4 is way high. This is a bit surprising to me as I have zero hair algae or any other type of nuisance algae in the display tank.

Not surprising - think of it as a see-saw with PO4 on one side and algae on the other. If you had algae, you'd wonder why you tested no PO4 in the water.

vacuumed out the sump

Was it bad?

changed around the flow pattern to try and get anything off the rocks

Careful not to leave any corals with a drastically different flow pattern after making changes...some are really sensitive.

Do you find lots of junk on/in the rocks?

cleaned out the cheato shake loose any particles trapped in it

Was there much crud in there? You're probably lacking flow and/or growing your chaeto too big if it's accumulating crud.

I also run and UFAS that I clean every two weeks.

What's the production like on that?

Anything else

That's a lot of 40 gallon water changes. What's the normal (average over time) water change schedule for this system?

How old is this system?

Have you checked the sand bed (beds?) for detritus? Stir up a few small spots here and there - if anything comes up into the water that isn't pure aragonite-white you have a good argument for further investigation and maybe removal of the sand bed. (Not as hard as it might sound, and sand is cheap.)

 

[jason2459]

2 - Is there anything else really on the result I should be concerned about. Lithium, Vanadium, Bromine, and Boron is high. Iodine is low. Is this something I should worry about correcting? If so what is the best way to go about this?

Your lithium levels are common among many other tanks. I wouldn't worry much about it.

I don't know about vanadium.

Do you use ozone?


I would be most concerned about the aluminum levels. Molybdenum is elevated as well.

I also would not worry about the Iodine.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

The aluminum may not produce a visible result, but if you have any ceramic media, I'd consider removing them.

As Cory suggested, the boron may come from alk supplements. What are you using?

Aside from the phosphate, there is not much else I'd worry about. Since you do not have algae, that means something else is limiting it. If that something else is also limiting coral growth, that could be a concern. Iron, for example.

High phosphate itself is not necessarily a problem for SPS.

 

[Beastie]

Trying to answer all the questions in one post.....

The same for me. I run a waterfall scrubber, ive got no algae in the display. But po4 is about .13ppm via hanna. I suspect that no3 is too low for the scrubber to get that extra po4. Triton doesnt give results for no3?

Boron could be coming from any seachem products. But imo isnt a problem.

I use Seachem reef salt.

Not surprising - think of it as a see-saw with PO4 on one side and algae on the other. If you had algae, you'd wonder why you tested no PO4 in the water.



Was it bad?



Careful not to leave any corals with a drastically different flow pattern after making changes...some are really sensitive.

Do you find lots of junk on/in the rocks?



Was there much crud in there? You're probably lacking flow and/or growing your chaeto too big if it's accumulating crud.



What's the production like on that?



That's a lot of 40 gallon water changes. What's the normal (average over time) water change schedule for this system?

How old is this system?

Have you checked the sand bed (beds?) for detritus? Stir up a few small spots here and there - if anything comes up into the water that isn't pure aragonite-white you have a good argument for further investigation and maybe removal of the sand bed. (Not as hard as it might sound, and sand is cheap.)

There was a few large pile of crud in the sump that were removed and a good bit did shake off the cheato, going to add a power head to the cheato to keep it moving a bit more. I think I just need to be a bit more regular with cleaning up the sump instead of "once it looks bad" and do it every 3 months or so.

When I changed the flow I mostly just ran the powerhead over the rock work. Stuff blew off but nothing major. I rework the flow a bit last night as the anemone did not seam to like the change, but everything else looked good.

I do a 40 gallon water change just about once a month on the system of 380 gallons. Just about 10% a month (or every 4-5 weeks depending on weekend schedule)

I pull about a softball size lump of hair algea out of the scrubber every 1.5-2 weeks.

System is 2 years old. I only have about 1-1.5" of sand and when I stir it up not too much comes out. I have a huge hermit crab that spends it whole day digging through the sand bed.

Your lithium levels are common among many other tanks. I wouldn't worry much about it.

I don't know about vanadium.

Do you use ozone?


I would be most concerned about the aluminum levels. Molybdenum is elevated as well.

I also would not worry about the Iodine.

No Ozone dosing.

The aluminum may not produce a visible result, but if you have any ceramic media, I'd consider removing them.

As Cory suggested, the boron may come from alk supplements. What are you using?

Aside from the phosphate, there is not much else I'd worry about. Since you do not have algae, that means something else is limiting it. If that something else is also limiting coral growth, that could be a concern. Iron, for example.

High phosphate itself is not necessarily a problem for SPS.

I have a few ceramic frag holders and such in the tank. about 10-15 small ones in total to hold coral. Should I take these out?

I am using BRS 2 part supplements for alk and Ca. Dosing about 55 ml of alk and 28 ml of Ca.

What else could be limiting coral growth? All my leather grow great, Zoas are good, but LPS and SPS struggle.

Is there a way to reduce the aluminum in the tank? Think I should try to add some Iron supplements?


Thanks for all the help and responses

 

[mcarroll]

I think I just need to be a bit more regular with cleaning up the sump instead of "once it looks bad" and do it every 3 months or so.

I agree....more frequent maintenance in general if you are able to - especially detritus removal from top to bottom. Water changes combines with detritus cleanup is a powerful combo.

I wouldn't add any new supplements until things normalize where you'd like them to be.

As Randy said, something is holding back all the PO4 from being used...it would be good to keep it that way until YOU get rid of the PO4 (vs algae).

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I have a few ceramic frag holders and such in the tank. about 10-15 small ones in total to hold coral. Should I take these out?

I am using BRS 2 part supplements for alk and Ca. Dosing about 55 ml of alk and 28 ml of Ca.

What else could be limiting coral growth? All my leather grow great, Zoas are good, but LPS and SPS struggle.

Is there a way to reduce the aluminum in the tank? Think I should try to add some Iron supplements?

I wouldn't worry too much about the aluminum. I was looking for something easily removed (like using Phosguard to bind phosphate). The frag plugs should stay at this point, IMO. GFO may remove some of the aluminum.

One thing to try is a general trace element supplement. I agree with above that you may get algae, but if that happens, you can stop or be more aggressive on the phosphate removal.

 

[Beastie]

One thing to try is a general trace element supplement. I agree with above that you may get algae, but if that happens, you can stop or be more aggressive on the phosphate removal.

Thanks for the advice. I will started to dose Aquavitro Fuel (had some on hand I won at a frag swap a few months back). It has trace elements in it along with other supplements.

Started out with half the recommended dosing this week and will increase or decrease depending on algae growth and continue with the phosphate removal steps stated above. Hopefully this will get things back on track. I will update with any changes or my results.

Thanks again to everyone for their help.

Brad

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Good luck and let us now how it works out.