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My 300ltr Triton Mixed Reef
- Thread starter jordlr
- Start date
jordlr
Registered
Thanks Jim for the comments.... Sorry for the tardy response, I am very guilty of not updating this thread very often as i usually frequent the 'other' forum.....
Tips for triton....Dont get obsessed with ICP tests and the results, Ive only done 2, one once the tank was settled on set up and another a few weeks ago. Let the tank do the talking. After my first test i found i had very high metals which i managed to trace down to split insulation in the ATU pump. I did 3 small water changes, changed the pump and left it at that.
Make sure your RO water is top notch. I neglected my filter not testing the TDS out when filling up my ATU container as i was so used to it being at 0. The thing that tipped me off there was something wrong was a cyno and algae bloom in the tank and the fact it now only took 10mins to fill a 10ltr container insteaa\d of 30mins. The membrane was perished and the carbon and DI were exhausted. I renewed everything and the cyno and algae were gone within a few weeks.
Expect to dose iodine. Virtually everyone doing triton doses it. I think probably every tank is difficient, its just that the ICP tests show it up and mostly only triton users do ICP tests....
I'll try and think of some more.... :whistling:
Tips for triton....Dont get obsessed with ICP tests and the results, Ive only done 2, one once the tank was settled on set up and another a few weeks ago. Let the tank do the talking. After my first test i found i had very high metals which i managed to trace down to split insulation in the ATU pump. I did 3 small water changes, changed the pump and left it at that.
Make sure your RO water is top notch. I neglected my filter not testing the TDS out when filling up my ATU container as i was so used to it being at 0. The thing that tipped me off there was something wrong was a cyno and algae bloom in the tank and the fact it now only took 10mins to fill a 10ltr container insteaa\d of 30mins. The membrane was perished and the carbon and DI were exhausted. I renewed everything and the cyno and algae were gone within a few weeks.
Expect to dose iodine. Virtually everyone doing triton doses it. I think probably every tank is difficient, its just that the ICP tests show it up and mostly only triton users do ICP tests....
I'll try and think of some more.... :whistling:
jordlr
Registered
Update time 
All the algae has gone (before picture not available but the rock looked like medusa with 6inch + strands of algae sprouting out along with some briopsis and purplu brush algae) thanks to me renewing the RO filter membranes and prefilters and also due to the addition of a lovely yellow tang who cleared the rockwork within 48hrs. He mustve been a hungry fish!
Im thinking of getting rid of the mushroom rock and replacing it with a smaller mound for something else to grow on......
I also took a couple of picture a few weeks ago to track growth rates of my SPS frags. Growth was slow to start with, probably due to the RO filter saga but now things are really taking off. I swear when i get home at the weekend each week they are slightly bigger than before. I also took a new FTS. One thing that is strange is that my scolly and one branch on my my torch are both receading on one side. I hope its not a nipping fish as i havent noticed anything but that dosnt rule it out. I may move the scolly and see if it improves.
All the algae has gone (before picture not available but the rock looked like medusa with 6inch + strands of algae sprouting out along with some briopsis and purplu brush algae) thanks to me renewing the RO filter membranes and prefilters and also due to the addition of a lovely yellow tang who cleared the rockwork within 48hrs. He mustve been a hungry fish!
Im thinking of getting rid of the mushroom rock and replacing it with a smaller mound for something else to grow on......
I also took a couple of picture a few weeks ago to track growth rates of my SPS frags. Growth was slow to start with, probably due to the RO filter saga but now things are really taking off. I swear when i get home at the weekend each week they are slightly bigger than before. I also took a new FTS. One thing that is strange is that my scolly and one branch on my my torch are both receading on one side. I hope its not a nipping fish as i havent noticed anything but that dosnt rule it out. I may move the scolly and see if it improves.
Thanks [MENTION=11587]jordlr[/MENTION] good job you said about the r.o filters ive just changed mine and the pre filter was in bad shape, tanks looking imppressive photo's of sps shots like yours is one off the main reasons ive switched to triton, ive just started dosing today @70ml each for my 700l
jordlr
Registered
Im just hoping the colours start to come through soon. The brown ones pictured went brown when my PO4 levels were up. The frags ive added since getting them down have kept thier colour such as the tri colour and the forest fire...... Adding the ATI dimmable ive got in the garage should help too
Have you got a thread to yours?
Have you got a thread to yours?
Clearwater
Registered
Nice update
Iodine looks to be important in all tanks running low nutrients
whilst not following Triton method I found the ICP tests very helpful
Iodine looks to be important in all tanks running low nutrients
whilst not following Triton method I found the ICP tests very helpful
jordlr
Registered
Wow i didnt realise that it had been so long since updating this thread!
The tank continues to be completely stable on triton. Its coming up to its first birthday at the end of the month and is starting to get into a right growth spurt now it has matured. I really need to clean the back glass as it is now covered in coraline which is also starting to crumble off now so this weekends task will be to get out the razor blades....
I cant remember what new additions ive added since last updating. I think the yellow tang and a pair of common clowns along with a few more sps frags.
A few photos and some growth shots....
URL=http://s275.photobucket.com/user/jordlr/media/montidigijan.jpg.html]
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The tank continues to be completely stable on triton. Its coming up to its first birthday at the end of the month and is starting to get into a right growth spurt now it has matured. I really need to clean the back glass as it is now covered in coraline which is also starting to crumble off now so this weekends task will be to get out the razor blades....
I cant remember what new additions ive added since last updating. I think the yellow tang and a pair of common clowns along with a few more sps frags.
A few photos and some growth shots....
URL=http://s275.photobucket.com/user/jordlr/media/montidigijan.jpg.html]
jordlr
Registered
Its a Blue Eye or Two Spot Bristle tooth tang (Ctenochaetus binotatus) The same family as a kole tang. It goes the most amazing gold colour all over when spooked or being territorial with its reflection
jordlr
Registered
Sounds great! Look forward to seeing the thread. Ive got some acylic cut now for my dosing containers. They will still sit in front of my sump as the cylinders currently are but due to the width of them they should hold 4ltrs of solution compared to the he current containers 1ltr. That should save me topping them up so often
jordlr
Registered
I always forget to update this thread :laugh:
Well a year on and the tank is shut down temporarily..... despite adding no new stock disease has hit the fish and the rock was riddled with aips. So ive moved the remaining fish to QT, drained the tank and now everything is being deep cleaned ready for a fresh start.
Well a year on and the tank is shut down temporarily..... despite adding no new stock disease has hit the fish and the rock was riddled with aips. So ive moved the remaining fish to QT, drained the tank and now everything is being deep cleaned ready for a fresh start.
jordlr
Registered
Hello all, long time no see.........
After stripping the tank at christmas i started again. I froze, boiled, pressure washed and soaked the rock, replaced all the sand, water and the algae bed and then did a 3-4 week traditional cycle followed with a concentrated bacteria boost.
The tank is up and running again and so far its all good. No aips and very little algae to speak off and im starting to restock my corals slowly. The tank is glowing with life with my clowns now spawning, the tank having been turned into a turbo snail farm as i currently have hundreds of the blighters everywhere and the sump is teaming with pods, mysis, pinapple sponges, snails, filter worms etc....
I havent started dosing triton yet as the reef flowers sand i used when starting the tank up is buffering the levels very well. Alk has taken 4 months to drop from 9dkh to 7.7 so i expect to bring it online soon as i want to mantain alk at 7.5-8dkh.
Im typing this up at work so no access to pictures but i will upload some soon.
Current set up and stocking list is as follows.
Fish
Blenniella chrysospilos - Orange Spotted Flymo Blenny
Ctenochaetus binotatus - Two Spot/Blue Eye Bristletooth Tang
Zebrasoma flavescens - Yellow Tang
Amphiprion ocellaris - Common Clown x2
Inverts
Nassarius, Mexican Turbo, & Stomatella snails, Limpets & Fighting Conch.
Corals (common name):
Acanthastrea - 3 mixed colour acan frags
Lobophyllia - orange and green frag
Trachyphyllia - Rainbow coloured
Acropora SP. - Cali tort
Acropora SP. - Hirstua?
Montipora (encrusting) - superman and LA Lakers
Montipora setosa branching
Duncans
Ricordia Florida - single green polyp
Zoas - loads :laugh:
Perameters:
S.G 1.024/35ppm
Temp 25.9c
Alk 7.7dKH
Nitrate 0
PO4 0.015-0.008
Equipment:
Tank: 100x50x60cm, Sump: 70x36x45cm, Gloss black cabinet and open back hood. Hood ventilated with 2x80mm fans.
Vortech MP40wes in lagoon.
Vertex Omega 150 skimmer
Ehiem compact 5000+
Oceanlife overflow
Nextreef shorty media/phos reactor with eheim 600 pump
Eheim 200w heater and visitherm 150w heater in sump
Kamoer 3 channel independant doser
Reef float pro auto top up.
TMC mini reef white tile as algae bed sump light
2x hydra 26 1x hydra 26HD 1 hydra currently not running
After stripping the tank at christmas i started again. I froze, boiled, pressure washed and soaked the rock, replaced all the sand, water and the algae bed and then did a 3-4 week traditional cycle followed with a concentrated bacteria boost.
The tank is up and running again and so far its all good. No aips and very little algae to speak off and im starting to restock my corals slowly. The tank is glowing with life with my clowns now spawning, the tank having been turned into a turbo snail farm as i currently have hundreds of the blighters everywhere and the sump is teaming with pods, mysis, pinapple sponges, snails, filter worms etc....
I havent started dosing triton yet as the reef flowers sand i used when starting the tank up is buffering the levels very well. Alk has taken 4 months to drop from 9dkh to 7.7 so i expect to bring it online soon as i want to mantain alk at 7.5-8dkh.
Im typing this up at work so no access to pictures but i will upload some soon.
Current set up and stocking list is as follows.
Fish
Blenniella chrysospilos - Orange Spotted Flymo Blenny
Ctenochaetus binotatus - Two Spot/Blue Eye Bristletooth Tang
Zebrasoma flavescens - Yellow Tang
Amphiprion ocellaris - Common Clown x2
Inverts
Nassarius, Mexican Turbo, & Stomatella snails, Limpets & Fighting Conch.
Corals (common name):
Acanthastrea - 3 mixed colour acan frags
Lobophyllia - orange and green frag
Trachyphyllia - Rainbow coloured
Acropora SP. - Cali tort
Acropora SP. - Hirstua?
Montipora (encrusting) - superman and LA Lakers
Montipora setosa branching
Duncans
Ricordia Florida - single green polyp
Zoas - loads :laugh:
Perameters:
S.G 1.024/35ppm
Temp 25.9c
Alk 7.7dKH
Nitrate 0
PO4 0.015-0.008
Equipment:
Tank: 100x50x60cm, Sump: 70x36x45cm, Gloss black cabinet and open back hood. Hood ventilated with 2x80mm fans.
Vortech MP40wes in lagoon.
Vertex Omega 150 skimmer
Ehiem compact 5000+
Oceanlife overflow
Nextreef shorty media/phos reactor with eheim 600 pump
Eheim 200w heater and visitherm 150w heater in sump
Kamoer 3 channel independant doser
Reef float pro auto top up.
TMC mini reef white tile as algae bed sump light
2x hydra 26 1x hydra 26HD 1 hydra currently not running
Last edited:
jordlr
Registered
Thanks
Long story but July 2015 we sold our house and went to live with the mother in law while our new house was being built. She lives across town so I was able to put all the rocks, corals and fish in boxes, the water in tubs and had the tank stripped, moved and set up again in her garage within about 2-3hrs. Apart from breaking a few sps everything survived and continued to grow for the next 5 months.
When our house was finally ready in December I thought to myself that I would take my time setting up the big tank again and put the stock in holding tanks. Big mistake. I came down one morning and found one of the tanks had crashed taking out everything in its milky watery death, with the other tank on the turn too. I hastily set up the big tank in an attempt to save the remaining stock. It worked in the fact that my fish survived but over the next 12 months, partly due to my haste and partly due to a massive chemical imbalance caused by my doser not dosing any triton element 3 for 3 weeks, all my corals were smothered by hair algae and cyano. They all died except the rainbow trachy, and that was nearly there.
I managed to pull it back by but then I had a bit of an aiptasia explosion and I think I contaminated my water with the water from a zoa frag because my fish were all struck down with disease. This took out my mandarin, yellow tang and my Christmas wrasse. As I had to treat the remaining tang, clowns and blenny in a hospital tank, I took the opportunity to strip the tank and start from scratch again. The tank was stripped in November. The rock was processed and the tank wet again by Christmas, with the corals and inverts living in the sump the whole time .
I planned on a slow 8 week cycle but approx 3-4weeks into this the hospital tank I had my fish in had a massive ammonia spike. I dosed the tank with NT labs bacteria and chucked the fish in which had been in copper for about 6-7weeks by this point and all looked disease free again.
Fast forward 4 months and the tank is very healthy with minimal algae, no cyano or aips, and the corals are colourful and growing. I just need to get more of them as the tank is a but sparse at the moment
Long story but July 2015 we sold our house and went to live with the mother in law while our new house was being built. She lives across town so I was able to put all the rocks, corals and fish in boxes, the water in tubs and had the tank stripped, moved and set up again in her garage within about 2-3hrs. Apart from breaking a few sps everything survived and continued to grow for the next 5 months.
When our house was finally ready in December I thought to myself that I would take my time setting up the big tank again and put the stock in holding tanks. Big mistake. I came down one morning and found one of the tanks had crashed taking out everything in its milky watery death, with the other tank on the turn too. I hastily set up the big tank in an attempt to save the remaining stock. It worked in the fact that my fish survived but over the next 12 months, partly due to my haste and partly due to a massive chemical imbalance caused by my doser not dosing any triton element 3 for 3 weeks, all my corals were smothered by hair algae and cyano. They all died except the rainbow trachy, and that was nearly there.
I managed to pull it back by but then I had a bit of an aiptasia explosion and I think I contaminated my water with the water from a zoa frag because my fish were all struck down with disease. This took out my mandarin, yellow tang and my Christmas wrasse. As I had to treat the remaining tang, clowns and blenny in a hospital tank, I took the opportunity to strip the tank and start from scratch again. The tank was stripped in November. The rock was processed and the tank wet again by Christmas, with the corals and inverts living in the sump the whole time .
I planned on a slow 8 week cycle but approx 3-4weeks into this the hospital tank I had my fish in had a massive ammonia spike. I dosed the tank with NT labs bacteria and chucked the fish in which had been in copper for about 6-7weeks by this point and all looked disease free again.
Fast forward 4 months and the tank is very healthy with minimal algae, no cyano or aips, and the corals are colourful and growing. I just need to get more of them as the tank is a but sparse at the moment
jordlr
Registered
Im happy to say my corals are starting to really take off now since bringing the triton online a few weeks ago, especially my encrusting montipora which is spreading almost as you look at it.
Im having to dose it unbalanced at the moment though due to my sand buffering the alk. So at the moment im dosing 10ml a day of solution 1 which is still slowly raising my alk, and 15ml of solution 2 (cal) and 3 (mag)... both were also at 10ml, but my alk had crept up to 9.3 and my cal and mag were low at 320ppm and 1180ppm respectively so i had to raise those 2 channels to bring them up. I suspect the increased growth im seeing now probably wont let that happen :laugh:
I also need to send off an ICP test soon to check my levels (iodine, strontium etc) as i dont want some very nice SPS ive received recently taking a plunge. Currently everything is doing well, i had a branch snap off my Cali Tort and that only took 3-4 days to heal over so im hopeful i should see it base out nicely soon.
Im having to dose it unbalanced at the moment though due to my sand buffering the alk. So at the moment im dosing 10ml a day of solution 1 which is still slowly raising my alk, and 15ml of solution 2 (cal) and 3 (mag)... both were also at 10ml, but my alk had crept up to 9.3 and my cal and mag were low at 320ppm and 1180ppm respectively so i had to raise those 2 channels to bring them up. I suspect the increased growth im seeing now probably wont let that happen :laugh:
I also need to send off an ICP test soon to check my levels (iodine, strontium etc) as i dont want some very nice SPS ive received recently taking a plunge. Currently everything is doing well, i had a branch snap off my Cali Tort and that only took 3-4 days to heal over so im hopeful i should see it base out nicely soon.
jordlr
Registered
Ill try and get some decent shots soon, ive not really been at home the last month due to being on holiday and now house sitting for someone but these are from when i first set up again and from the beginning of June. The exposure is way too bright so you cant really see the corals
Have a new lens for my camera now so ill do my best to provide some tank porn
Have a new lens for my camera now so ill do my best to provide some tank porn
