Triton Elementz Methode

timvdb

New member
Hello all,

This is a new dosing methodology proposed by a German shop that includes all elements required to stabilize your reef in 3 bottles - you also remove a proportion of water from your tank at the same time. You need a sump with chaeto to make this work and should expect very low nutrients and a very stable tank. A few guys have been running this for some time now in Germany with great success. I am thinking about it as well but wanted to check this highly regarded forum's members for some persepective / experience.

IMO it takes some elements from balling but adds a whole lot of other stuff to feed the bacterial population / macro-algae / corals.

http://www.triton.de/cms/upload/Triton_PDF_T-Methode_EN.pdf

Thoughts?
 
I am living in Düsseldorf (Germany). My work is very close to the triton shop.

I switched to this method 7 month ago. Works great for me. Corals are healthy and for me the best: no more water changes.

However, without water changes you need to perform a very accurate water analysis. Triton has a HPLC lab. You need to perform an analysis every few month to detect drifts in the water parameters.
 
I know the method - the only advantage I see in comparison with other currently used systems is that the company actually measures a lot of major and minor elements with mass spectrometry or some other lab grade devices and you get customized additives to get things back to (near) natural seawater levels.

So I think it's not a bad system if you really get your water tested regularly and the respective additives to even out unbalances. In other regards it's definitely not a "magical" system.
 
I am living in Düsseldorf (Germany). My work is very close to the triton shop.

I switched to this method 7 month ago. Works great for me. Corals are healthy and for me the best: no more water changes.

However, without water changes you need to perform a very accurate water analysis. Triton has a HPLC lab. You need to perform an analysis every few month to detect drifts in the water parameters.

Thanks for the colour. I am currently running redsea' nopox system with very good results and NO3 at 0,00 and PO4 at 0,02ppm. And my corals' colours (mostly SPS acro, stylo, seriato, pocillo and monti) and growth are fab. Are you also getting good results in SPS?
 
I know the method - the only advantage I see in comparison with other currently used systems is that the company actually measures a lot of major and minor elements with mass spectrometry or some other lab grade devices and you get customized additives to get things back to (near) natural seawater levels.

So I think it's not a bad system if you really get your water tested regularly and the respective additives to even out unbalances. In other regards it's definitely not a "magical" system.

Hi Alexandre, thanks for the colour. I am getting some HPLC tests done by reefanalytics to see where I am at and then decide which method to go.
 
The article has a number of inaccuracies, in my opinion. I would stick with water changes. I think they're safer than dosing trace element mixes, and probably cheaper than this approach.
 
Hi Jonathan, thanks for taking the time to read the article. Can you please mention the inacurracies that you have discovered? I plan to have a chat with Eshan, who developped the method and I can discuss these points as well.
 
The description is very long and mostly marketing, but the "Base Elementz" is just a generic mix of ingredients, and there's no reason to believe that it corresponds to anything. There are many different species in our tanks, many different foods being fed, and many different filtration methods used, so there's no way to create such a mix in any meaningful way. The ad lists sodium bicarbonate and calcium chloride as ingredients: they will precipitate if they are present in any significant amount, so that's very suspicious.

When the ad talks about "completely ruling out" ionic shifts, that claim is simply absurd. Furthermore, talking about water changes as being uncontrolled while not discussing the issues with supplements such as "Base Elementz" make me laugh. Without measuring all 123 ingredients in the water column, you have no way of knowing whether this supplement is appropriate. Water changes are far more appropriate, and they also can remove allelopathic compounds and other organics that can build up.

I would go on, but I don't enjoy reading marketing gunk.
 
Hi Jonathan,

Thanks for your thoughts! Just to clarify a confusion that I read between the lines of your comment on the sodium bicarbonate and calcium chloride: the method uses 3 different additives (as in Balling) and they are added at different times so there is no risk of precipitation.

You'd also be surprised at what he can do with his ion chromatography gear. Even though HPLC has been around in Germany for a few years, the labs have been focused on reading the major 8 cations and anions on a commercial basis (and BTW these readings are TüV approved which means that the quality and margins of error are checked by an independend third party).

I spoke to Eshan and at the moment, triton will will read 5 cations and 7 anions on a commercial basis, but this will be expanded next month on a new website!

I am going to wait for a few months before I shift to his method to check out the quality of his analysis but these are exciting times for reefing!
 
Using separate supplements would prevent the precipitation problem, but it doesn't change the issue with the trace elements.
 
I agree with you that that is one area where he either has made a significant breakthrough - and confirmed that any reef system has a "synchronised" - for a lack of a better term - consumption of trace elements or where there is a source for potential imbalances in the system. I discussed it with him and in his experience (he has developped his method over 10 years and there are more than 100 tanks running his method mainly in Germany and the UK now) this works fine in most cases. There are some exceptions and for those, his system also allows for the separate long-term addition of F, B, K, MG, Sr, LI and N.


Another area of potential concern for me is the long-term effect of continuous additions of RO/DI water, where there may be traces of heavy metals and other elements that are not present in NSW, even if one uses 2 mixed resin beds after the RO system and measures a TDS of 0!
 
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Hello
Not long ago I read about a Patent for "Closed Fish Farming Systems ",
unfortunately i didnt save the link,
is this the same method as Triton Methode?
What kind of HPLC is he runing and what is the cost for the tests?
I find it very hard to read the different colour changes in some of the colorimetric tests
,so if this is the new way to do some tests why not if it isnt to expensive.
Regards
 
Hi Praslin,

I think that EcoDeco have applied for a patent on their DyMiCo system. Not aware of any patent application for Triton. They are very different systems!

Regarding his HPLC, I understand it to be state of the art and undergoing another upgrade right now. Costs range from €12 to €22! Not expensive IMHO for a very accurate, labour free test!
 
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