Reef crystals vs esv - triton test

[msderganc]

Here are mine - I use IO (and RSCP sometimes):

 

[Afishionado]

wow!! what a interesting test!! Thanks OP.

 

[Lazys Coral House]

I wish the results would have the element full name opposed to the abbreviation. I don't know what most of those things are without doing a search

 

[Rob Top1]

I wish the results would have the element full name opposed to the abbreviation. I don't know what most of those things are without doing a search

Agreed and while taking some Chem classes are on my bucket list I'm not going back to school until I am no longer "cool" to my kids. While I am just don't have the time. They are 9&11 so it could be as early as the spring I guess

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Here are mine - I use IO (and RSCP sometimes):

Thanks for posting that.

Can you describe the husbandry practices in your tank? Skimming, water changes, etc. ?

 

[msderganc]

Thanks for posting that.

Can you describe the husbandry practices in your tank? Skimming, water changes, etc. ?

Well, this tank has been up for about a year, and it primarily SPS. I do have some LPS (a duncan, and a few acan lords) and a good amount of soft corals (mostly Zoas/Palys). Since it's only been up a year, I've got some mini-colonies, but a lot of the SPS especially are still just largish frags.

I started off using RSCP until about August, when I switched to Instant Ocean. On the 240gallon system, I do 15% water changes (36 gallon) every other week, but I've been considering going to monthly. I've been moving this way since I find that my parameters shift around water changes unless I spend a lot of time testing and adjusting the water before I add it. I use kalkwasser at a set rate, and dose BRS two-part (calcium chloride and soda ash) on top of that to fill the remaining demand.

For filtration, I have a good sized skimmer (SRO 3000xp INT), and I skim medium-wet. I'm running about a liter of biopellets, a cup or so of GAC which I change monthly, and about 300ml of Purigen which I change when it gets browned out. I also have a lit refugium with live rock, miracle mud, and chaeto.

For reference, I tested the same water I sent, and here were my results:
Nitrate: 5ppm (Salifert)
Phosphate: 0ppm (Hanna Phosphate)
Calcium: 375ppm (Salifert)
Alkalinity: 7.7 dkH (Hanna Alkalinity)
Magnesium: 1330ppm (Red Sea)
Salinity: 35ppt (calibrated seawater Refractometer)

One last point - I do use some of the Zeo additives (coral vitalizer, pohl's xtra occasionally, coral snow, sponge power) but no trace element mixtures (other than what may be in the Zeo stuff).

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Great, thanks.
here's why I asked...

One correlation that I've started to see, and is consistent with yours, is that iodine accumulates in some form in tanks without water changes/skimming, but I don't know what form it is.

Also, some tanks have greatly elevated lithium and some not. Yours doesn't, but I'm not yet sure what it is coming from. Salt mixes and possibly other supplements.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I wish the results would have the element full name opposed to the abbreviation. I don't know what most of those things are without doing a search

If we chemists gave away all our secrets, what use would we be? :lol:

 

[msderganc]

Great, thanks.
here's why I asked...

One correlation that I've started to see, and is consistent with yours, is that iodine accumulates in some form in tanks without water changes/skimming, but I don't know what form it is.

Also, some tanks have greatly elevated lithium and some not. Yours doesn't, but I'm not yet sure what it is coming from. Salt mixes and possibly other supplements.

I figured you had some sort of ulterior motive :sad:

However, I did notice that my trace elements (and less popular macro elements) are low across the board. I added a few of the trace elements that I had, as well as about 10ppm of Potassium and some Iodide.

This morning, some of my corals were pretty closed up - even a millepora that is usually resilient to anything. Could increasing 10ppm K in a day annoy them? I used the Seachem Flourish Potassium.

Any suggestions on how to dose the rest of the elements?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

FWIW, Triton cannot read low enough of some trace elements, such as iron, to know if you have more than NSW, NSW levels, or below NSW levels.

Their target levels may not reflect NSW levels.

10 ppm potassium in one day should be fine, as long as it is adequately pure. What did you use?

What else do you want to dose?

 

[msderganc]

FWIW, Triton cannot read low enough of some trace elements, such as iron, to know if you have more than NSW, NSW levels, or below NSW levels.

Their target levels may not reflect NSW levels.

10 ppm potassium in one day should be fine, as long as it is adequately pure. What did you use?

What else do you want to dose?

Ok, so I dosed the following:

Seachem Flourish Potassium - 5ml/30g for 2ppm per the instructions. I assumed 220g net (to be conservative probably more like 240), dosing 183ml.
Brightwell Replenish Trace & Minor Element - .061 mg/oz Zinc, .0063 mg/oz Iron, .00344 mg/oz Manganese, .000344 mg/oz Cobalt - 1/2ml per 25 gallons every other day per the instruction. Not too specific, so I just did one dose of 2ml
Kent Tech I - .1676% Iodide - 10ml/50g every week per instruction, so I dosed about 40ml.

I took a look at the tank, and only two very similar millepora (both are sunset color variants) and my red planet colonies are affected. Everything else has great polyp extension. My acans and montis are looking especially good. I did notice a dusting of film algae, which I haven't seen for a while, even with 5ppm Nitrates. Prior to this, I've been cleaning my glass maybe once a week, and even then it was not too much.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Not sure what might have caused issues.

The algae might be from the iron (or maybe something else) if it was limiting to algae growth before dosing.

 

[msderganc]

Not sure what might have caused issues.

The algae might be from the iron (or maybe something else) if it was limiting to algae growth before dosing.

One other question - any reason why our test kits are so far off? My Salifert calcium kit was a good ~70 ppm off, and my Red Sea Magnesium was about 60-70 short. I thought that the accuracy was significantly greater. Is there any reason why it could have differed so much? Should I calibrate my testers to this? I.e. add 70 ppm to my calcium readings?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

One other question - any reason why our test kits are so far off? My Salifert calcium kit was a good ~70 ppm off, and my Red Sea Magnesium was about 60-70 short. I thought that the accuracy was significantly greater. Is there any reason why it could have differed so much? Should I calibrate my testers to this? I.e. add 70 ppm to my calcium readings?

It is difficult to make an inexpensive kit that lots of untrained users can get accurate results with.

That's why labs use expensive machines, trained operators, and validate the results with standards every day.

 

[Kungpaoshizi]

Great, thanks.
here's why I asked...

One correlation that I've started to see, and is consistent with yours, is that iodine accumulates in some form in tanks without water changes/skimming, but I don't know what form it is.

Also, some tanks have greatly elevated lithium and some not. Yours doesn't, but I'm not yet sure what it is coming from. Salt mixes and possibly other supplements.

I see a negative deviation under target for I?
-38.65 deviation from a target of 60, with a result of 21.35?

I've got my own Triton tests on the way so I can do a test of the Fluval salt.
Interesting reads so far, ESV seem high for Lithium. But as you mention, I wonder if it's something else going on.

Msderganc, it's the best test result I've seen back from a tank yet, made me chuckle to see IO was being used...

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I see a negative deviation under target for I?
-38.65 deviation from a target of 60, with a result of 21.35?

I've got my own Triton tests on the way so I can do a test of the Fluval salt.
Interesting reads so far, ESV seem high for Lithium. But as you mention, I wonder if it's something else going on.

Msderganc, it's the best test result I've seen back from a tank yet, made me chuckle to see IO was being used...

i don't think that iodine is a useful additive for most aquaria, and mine was about the same. I don't think it worth dosing to bring it up.

FWIW, I also use IO.

 

[Kungpaoshizi]

i don't think that iodine is a useful additive for most aquaria, and mine was about the same. I don't think it worth dosing to bring it up.

FWIW, I also use IO.

I've heard mixed generalities for dosing iodine. I think it would probably in the end be more of a tank-specific necessity... (I hate performing that test with the red sea kit lol)

One thing I have noticed so far in paying attention to the Triton chatter, is the main guy behind it(can't recall his name) said 80-90% of the US test results seem to have the higher lithium trend. They're investigating why... (I would think it's because of specific salt usage; what's the most popular salt? brand? so this test result is I think 2nd or 3rd RC/IO I've laid eyes on, hoping to find more on the net)

 

[Big E]

I would suggest that anyone having good results in their tanks change nothing based on any salt mix test results. Every time there has been some salt mix testing, some people seem to think that they should change salts which often comes with negative results. The animals we keep become accustomed to the conditions they are living in, and making major changes can be a shock. Simply changing methodology based on salt mix numbers alone, not taking into account the health of the animals, seems like a bad idea.

+1000

 

[that Reef Guy]

Why on earth would Reef Crystals have Copper in it?

That kills everything.

I guess I have to switch to another salt brand now.

Maybe that is why my corals are not as colorful as others people's (Especially SPS).

 

[wangspeed]

Why on earth would Reef Crystals have Copper in it?

That kills everything.

I guess I have to switch to another salt brand now.

Maybe that is why my corals are not as colorful as others people's (Especially SPS).

A little bit of copper isn't going to "kill everything". It is in fact needed at some level. Depending on your aesthetic taste, adding copper in the form of zeospur may improve the coloration by forcing coral, namely SPS to expel some zooxanthelle and reduce brown coloration.