Triton Test

I won the Triton Test at Fall fest this year, and finally got around to collecting my samples.

A month ago my tank looked great. I have had great growth on everything, coral colors are great and fish are thriving, but recently I've noticed some bleaching on the largest sps colonies at the bases. It may be because of an Alk drop (and subsequent spike) after my calcium reactor ran out of media, it may simply be shading or it could be something else hopefully this test will let me know. With the exception of the 2 colonies with slight bleaching, the tank still looks really good.

Now for the tank details. I have a 110 gallon tank that has been up and running in its current state for 2 years, The only piece of filtration equipment I run is a DIY Waterfall Algae Scrubber. Cal, alk and Mag is provided by a Knopp C Calcium Reactor.

I have not changed the water for 2 years.

As far as dosing goes, I add 4 mls of Nualgi every week. I have added iodide and potassium, but do not dose routinely.
After my alk dropped I raised it with baking soda and a calcium block about a week ago. I expect my salinity to be off some. I currently have a swing arm salinity checker that reads .00245.

The Samples get shipped tomorrow, so hopefully Ill have results by Christmas Eve.

 

Well, I sent the test in over a month ago, only to find out Triton goes on vacation from December 19 to Jan 19th. Must be nice.
Finally got the tests back, and was shocked because they were the opposite of what I expected.
After 2 years and no water changes very little dosing many of the trace elements actually measured high, my phosphates however were shocking. I was in Florida when the results were emailed last week, which probably prevented me from doing something stupid. After reflection, these results are actually a month old, my corals have been recovering since the alk swing and the tank is actually looking pretty good, not as good as 8 weeks ago, but pretty good.
Will probably do a big water change, add a gfo reactor or start siphoning out my sandbed over the next couple weeks. Advise is welcome.
I do want to point out that my tank is heavily stocked
Kole Tang
Yellow tang
6 line
Regal angel
Flame angel
Watchman goby
2 lyre tail anthias
Clown Pair
Bangaii
2 mandarins
And a couple of small Gobies

 

No it stopped about a month ago, but the tank did take a big hit. Only large colonies though. Everything is recovering now.

Im not in panic mode, I would like to do something to bring my phospates down but am in no hurry to do so.

 

I just read some articles and looked at Richard Ross' tank. Very interesting. I can't say the phosphates have not had a detrimental effect on some of my corals, but my tank has minimal algae growth, good coloration and I rarely lose a life (fish or invertebrate).
Many Acros and montipora type xorals grow pretty rapidly and look great. Millepora type corals however seem to grow very slow for me, their colors are good, but I get very little upward growth and polyp extension is nothing like I see in other peoples tanks.
I've read a few of the articles written by Richard Ross, his perspective is refreshing and really makes you question many of the rules you hear or are told regarding reefkeeping. There are so many things at play in these mini ecosystems we try to create, determining a baseline, or acceptable number for a single element is extremely difficult if not impossible.
Thanks for turning me on to his work.

 

A waterchange would help lower the numbers, im sure. I do dose Nualgae still, and like it. I used to have hair algae grow on my powerheads, after using nualgi it does not, also I only need to wipe my glass down 1x per week.

All the corals I got from you have been doing well, colors are great, and growth is good..(except that tort, looks great with polyp extension and color, but has only grown a little if atall.)

It funny how some corals, that can be difficult survived unscathed when my alk went wacko, but easy corals like moti caps were devastated.

 

It works good for me, but I've spoken to others who have not had good results. It will make your tank look worse before it looks better.