Triton Test - Trying out for... SCIENCE!

Electrobes · Oct 30, 2014

... I think you may have the wrong thread Dreamkeeper?

Dreamkeeper · Oct 30, 2014

Triton Test Results received today

Sorry User/Mac error, following Triton Test results received today,all parameters were good with the exception of:

Copper 3.88 ug/l set point .10 ug/l
Iodine 8.80 ug/l set point 60.00 ug/l
Phosphorus 2.40 ug/l set point 6.00 ug/l
Phosphate .007 mg/l set point 0.018 mg/l
surprised with Cu results as I never dosed it.
Any suggestions/ recommendations on the above?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 30, 2014

Electrobes said:
Well dang, now I am motivated to pull it out. Your thoughts on that move??

Edit: Meh I pulled it out. Thought I feel extra surface area is nice, I am not a fan of elevated aluminum, especially given my one not-Monti is a leather!

Is the leather doing well?

Electrobes · Oct 30, 2014

Can't say... you see it had been on the ground for a while, and this was after pulling it off a rock to which I did not know it was partially attached to. I fastened him back to the rock, partially squishing him.. and honestly I am surprised it hasn't crawled out of the tank in search of another reefer. In other words.. it's mad.. but not sure if it is still mad at me. This was around the time I stuck in the Marine Pure.

Sangheili · Oct 31, 2014

Two things MAY work in pull that aluminum out of the water. Two Little Fishies MetaSorb UH and PolyFilter. I am trying out the Polyfilter in my tank (the one Randy linked to earlier).

With that being said, it may be more beneficial for you to not use them and instead do some regular water changes before your next test, that way we may be able to zero in on what is causing the aluminum in the first place.

Electrobes · Oct 31, 2014

Sangheili - I'm with you as I pulled out the block, and will continue with normal water changes. I plan on doing the Triton test once a month for a couple more months (or more depending if I feel it to be beneficial) so we'll eventually see if it gets lowered.

Electrobes · Oct 31, 2014

I should add that in response to elevated phosphate levels, I have installed my Phosban reactor using BRS' GFO. I started on their suggested starting amount.. About a cup and a half.

I have also fixed a long running issue with my skimmer. The neck never fit well into the body and I finally ground it down where it's now a comfortable fit. I reinstalled the gate valve onto the outlet of the skimmer and am now producing wet skim (tea-colored) versus dry skim (pitch black).

Maximus · Nov 1, 2014

Randy, what could an elevated level of aluminum do to our tanks? I also run the 8x8 block of Marinepure and it has been keeping my nitrates at 0 for the past 10 months. If it is indeed leeching aluminum, then I will pull it. I emailed Cermedia just now and asked about the composition of Marine Pure. I will report back as soon as I find anything.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 1, 2014

Maximus said:
Randy, what could an elevated level of aluminum do to our tanks? I also run the 8x8 block of Marinepure and it has been keeping my nitrates at 0 for the past 10 months. If it is indeed leeching aluminum, then I will pull it. I emailed Cermedia just now and asked about the composition of Marine Pure. I will report back as soon as I find anything.

Aluminum can be toxic to many organisms, and can irritate corals, such as leathers, mushrooms, and green star polyps. I did an experiment years ago, described in the link below, where I added measured amounts of aluminum to a test tank. At 0.05 ppm (50 ppb) I saw no noticeable effect. At 0.50 ppm (500 ppb) several types of corals closed up.

But that was adding the aluminum all at once. If it accumulated slowly, and had to to get bound to organic matter, the results might have been different (less toxic).

This article has more, including some literature toxicity references and my experiments:

Chemistry And The Aquarium: Aluminum In The Reef Aquarium ? Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog

Electrobes · Nov 1, 2014

Because my corals look okay, and my hermits also don't seem overly affected, I am going to avoid any type of filters to directly yank out the Aluminum. Instead, I am going to continue with my regular 10G weekly water changes, and see if my Aluminum level starts decreasing. I'll send off another Triton Test in about.. actually.. I should ask you Randy: When would be a good time to re-send a Triton test, in terms of seeing the progression of decreasing Aluminum? Two, three, or four weeks?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 1, 2014

Electrobes said:
Because my corals look okay, and my hermits also don't seem overly affected, I am going to avoid any type of filters to directly yank out the Aluminum. Instead, I am going to continue with my regular 10G weekly water changes, and see if my Aluminum level starts decreasing. I'll send off another Triton Test in about.. actually.. I should ask you Randy: When would be a good time to re-send a Triton test, in terms of seeing the progression of decreasing Aluminum? Two, three, or four weeks?

I think 4 weeks would be good. I'm not sure how fast it declines in ways other than water changes, but I'm sure it does.

Maximus · Nov 1, 2014

Thanks Randy. I am waiting to see what Cermedia says about their blocks and will report back asap.

coralcruze · Nov 2, 2014

I was considering triton tests a little while ago, so just tagging along. great thread.

Maximus · Nov 3, 2014

I just received a response from Paul at Cermedia (makers of Marinepure). He gave me permission to post his email:

Thank you for your question. I have been following several threads discussing aluminum and it is all very interesting. Our product does contain Alumina, which is Aluminum tied up with oxygen in ceramic form, not the metallic form of Aluminum, or aluminum ion as measured by the Triton test. Most ceramics will contain some alumina. Our products have been used many years with great success by sophisticated reefers and they have never seen a problem.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 3, 2014

OK, thanks for posting that. So one would expect that it will release aluminum ions in a similar way that Phosguard and other aluminum oxide products do.

That doesn't mean that it is necessarily a problem, only that it may be the cause of your elevated aluminum.

FarmerTy · Nov 4, 2014

Interesting, I just got my Triton results today and I have a block of Cermedia block in my sump too. My aluminum is elevated as well... 82.33 ug/L (0.082 ppm), set point at 2.0 ug/L (0.002 ppm).

I'll make my own thread with my Triton results and link it back here in case people are interested in seeing my results.