Is a no water change tank possible with the Triton Method? | Reef FAQs

[randyBRS]

Happy Reef FAQ Wednesday!

Will the Triton Method completely eliminate the need for water changes? Well...maybe not completely, but it can have a pretty large impact on how frequently water changes are needed!

Today Ryan answers this common question and talks about how using the Triton Method may relieve you of some maintenance in the long run.

 

[GregOyeah]

With Triton you can eliminate water changes!!!!.......until youre told to do a water change.....which will be all the time.

one of the most misleading claims to a product in the hobby IMO

 

[CMO]

With Triton you can eliminate water changes!!!!.......until youre told to do a water change.....which will be all the time.

one of the most misleading claims to a product in the hobby IMO

ICP tests are not 100% accurate so therefore the Triton recommendations should be taken with a grain of salt. I've ignored the advise of Triton water changes many times unless it corresponds with something clearly and consistently elevated (or deficient) that is dangerous over several tests (or if corals show signs of stress). If you follow Triton blindly it would probably not be a fun method and riddled with things like constant water changes or chasing numbers with additives. I've done 2 small water changes in about 1.5 years now on my SPS dominant Triton tank with zero issues. While Triton is seemingly sold as an easy methods for beginners, my take is that it's more appropriate for advanced reefers that know how to read their tank and have confidence in what they're seeing vs. being told by Triton reports.

 

[GregOyeah]

ICP tests are not 100% accurate so therefore the Triton recommendations should be taken with a grain of salt. I've ignored the advise of Triton water changes many times unless it corresponds with something clearly and consistently elevated (or deficient) that is dangerous over several tests (or if corals show signs of stress). If you follow Triton blindly it would probably not be a fun method and riddled with things like constant water changes or chasing numbers with additives. I've done 2 small water changes in about 1.5 years now on my SPS dominant Triton tank with zero issues. While Triton is seemingly sold as an easy methods for beginners, my take is that it's more appropriate for advanced reefers that know how to read their tank and have confidence in what they're seeing vs. being told by Triton reports.

i can get behind that. doesnt change my mind that its the most misleading claim in reef keeping.

it can benefit advanced aquarists but its marketed for lazy aquarists. people are gonna be attracted to this product bc theyre sick of water changes, not only are they still gonna have to do water changes, theyre going to be out of the habit/routine of doing them

BRS is great because they put the disclaimer on the product themselves, and like you said and BRS said in the video, most advanced reefers will find the best way to use this product, which is to use it as an additive along with your routine water changes

 

[CMO]

i can get behind that. doesnt change my mind that its the most misleading claim in reef keeping.

it can benefit advanced aquarists but its marketed for lazy aquarists. people are gonna be attracted to this product bc theyre sick of water changes, not only are they still gonna have to do water changes, theyre going to be out of the habit/routine of doing them

BRS is great because they put the disclaimer on the product themselves, and like you said and BRS said in the video, most advanced reefers will find the best way to use this product, which is to use it as an additive along with your routine water changes

Generally agree but in my experience of doing two 20% water changes in 1.5 years I wouldn't call that routine. I think advanced reefers can very well use Triton with infrequent water changes as intended. The only reason I even did those 2 water changes was post chemiclean and fluconazole treatments. But again, this is only my experience so I'm certainly not disagreeing overall, just saying it is possible to use Triton as marketed if you keep your system free of contaminants and know when it's appropriate to disregard Triton ICP recommendations.

 

[reefaland310]

Generally agree but in my experience of doing two 20% water changes in 1.5 years I wouldn't call that routine. I think advanced reefers can very well use Triton with infrequent water changes as intended. The only reason I even did those 2 water changes was post chemiclean and fluconazole treatments. But again, this is only my experience so I'm certainly not disagreeing overall, just saying it is possible to use Triton as marketed if you keep your system free of contaminants and know when it's appropriate to disregard Triton ICP recommendations.

 

[reefaland310]

Same here. Two 10% waterchange in 16 months

 

[User1]

Great job @randyBRS and thank you for taking the time to throw this together. You pretty much removed any possible biasness from the video by clearly stating that you tried and actually ran a successful trident system. I think that goes along way with regards to credibility when these discussions come up.

I also believe that most any of the popular additive based solutions can work provided the hobbyist follows the instructions and built the system accordingly. If I was to run one I would probably lean towards the DSR method but I think it is a personal preference. In any case thank you again for taking the time to put these out. Time is money and nothing is free - so just wanted to say thanks.

Now - if I can just get a call from that Trident list of yours that would be grand! J/K

 

[Jeff Collins]

I've been running Triton for almost 2 years now. I have done a 20% water change after doing a peroxide treatment for some GHA once. I do really like it but I agree you do need to watch parameters and how your coral is doing.

Side note - BRS called with my trident!!! However work got in the way and couldn't take the call... Back of the line for me...

 

[User1]

Side note - BRS called with my trident!!! However work got in the way and couldn't take the call... Back of the line for me...

You have 12 hours! So if it was today call back maybe they have vmail. Otherwise send a chat or email. If you are over 12 hours then yeah - back in line I believe is how it works.

 

[Jeff Collins]

Yea, they called yesterday and I called back today.

 

[BryanD]

The number 1 "secret" of this hobby, fresh salt or brackish, is water changes. Don't want to change water, find another hobby.

 

[CMO]

The number 1 "secret" of this hobby, fresh salt or brackish, is water changes. Don't want to change water, find another hobby.

I'd humbly completely disagree with that assessment. You should take a look at @FarmerTy current tank of the month which is a beautiful SPS dominant no water change system. And here is my tank at about 1.5 years with next to no sizable water changes.

 

[Sallstrom]

The number 1 "secret" of this hobby, fresh salt or brackish, is water changes. Don't want to change water, find another hobby.

Why change the water if all measurable values are okey and the tank looks fine?

I agree on those earlier post, it's not just to stop doing water changes. It's still a lot of work keeping the parameters where you want them.
If you are not willing to do that work, sure regular water changes might be better for you. But don't say water changes is a key for a successful reef.

Here's a tank from my work. No water changes for more than five years.

 

[bar|none]

I started a reefer 170 - 2 months ago which is designed for full triton. Early days but going well so far. I customized the sump for more fuge area and am using a much smaller skimmer than most. See my build thread.

 

[GregOyeah]

So what do you guys say to a company like BRS who has said in their videos that they moved away from the triton method because they like the consistency of the routine water changes. They said there were times they ignored tritons recommendation and the tank suffered because of it.

Do you guys think they’re doing something wrong in their tanks? It seemed like triton had them doing water changes on the regular, and I’ve heard that from a lot of other people as well

 

[randyBRS]

So what do you guys say to a company like BRS who has said in their videos that they moved away from the triton method because they like the consistency of the routine water changes. They said there were times they ignored tritons recommendation and the tank suffered because of it.
Do you guys think they’re doing something wrong in their tanks? It seemed like triton had them doing water changes on the regular, and I’ve heard that from a lot of other people as well

You raise great questions here. I think the overarching message here is that using the Triton Method approach towards Major/Minor/Trace elements coupled with a natural and adequate filtration method will very likely lead creating a reef system that is far less dependent on water changes (to perform the same functions). As we all know and have heard tons of times over, not all tanks are the same. So, the degree to which water changes are reduced is going to be subjective from tank to tank where we may see some tanks not require water changes for very long stretches of time, or others that may need them more frequently than that.

The primary reason why the BRS160 ICP results continually said to do water changes was because I didn't follow the ICP instructions from previous tests. This was 100% a fault of my own for not following the procedure and definitely wasn't caused by any fault of the Triton Method itself. It's true we are moving away from Triton on the BRS160, but in reality...only for the reason of trying something new and seeing if our BRS/WWC Hybrid System is possible to do on an already established tank. Trying new reef keeping methods and testing theories is really one of our core focuses with many of the tanks we setup here and moving away from Triton is another opportunity to do that.

 

[GregOyeah]

Thanks for the reply Randy, when you say the instructions from the previous ICP test weren’t followed, are you talking about water changes they recommended or the dosing trace elements that they suggested?

 

[CMO]

So what do you guys say to a company like BRS who has said in their videos that they moved away from the triton method because they like the consistency of the routine water changes. They said there were times they ignored tritons recommendation and the tank suffered because of it.

Do you guys think they’re doing something wrong in their tanks? It seemed like triton had them doing water changes on the regular, and I’ve heard that from a lot of other people as well

While I'd certainly give BRS ultimate respect, believe it or not there are others out there with equal skill level getting different results which ultimately plain and simple proves that an alternative viewpoint is justified. However, as explained by BRS themselves above it sure doesn't sound like they are ruling out no water change systems as a possibility.

Here just one example of back to back ICP tests with no water changes done in between where the first test indicates that I should have perform 6x 15% water changes (I did not).

This was presumable a result of slightly elevated V since everything else was in order. If I followed Triton every time I got silly recommendations like this the system would be an absolute nightmare. Notice on the subsequent test Vanadium is magically back to normal even though I did nothing to correct it (no water changes).

 

[Entz]

How often are you supposed to do the tests? It may reduce water changes but at what point does the cost of the tests outweigh any benefits in not doing WCs.