TRITON METHOD REPLACE TRIAL AND ERROR WITH CONSCIOUS CONTROL. Do I need to know any chemistry? A SIMPLE REEF KEEPING RECIPE... How does it work?

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1 A Guide to the... TRITON METHOD Versio 1 REPLACE TRIAL AND ERROR WITH CONSCIOUS CONTROL What is the TRITON Method? How does it work? Do I eed to kow ay chemistry? A SIMPLE REEF KEEPING RECIPE... 3 SIMPLE STEPS... NO - WE TAKE CARE OF THAT! Desiged to reproduce ad maitai Natural Seawater i your aquarium so your reef ecosystem ca flourish ad grow. (1) Test your seawater, (2) Kow what s i it, ad, (3) Act to fix it. All you eed to do is occasioally test your seawater. If you eed to take ay actio we tell you precisely what to add ad how much. It s simple ad requires o specialised kowledge of chemistry. APPLIED REEF BIOSCIENCE

2 About seawater Cosumptio THE TRITON Aimals, plats, bacteria ad biochemical cycles are costatly Set up your system Begi dosig ormal value iteractig with the seawater i your aquarium. As reactios occur elemets are cosumed ad their availability i your seawater chages. Ca Mg Sr Accummulatio time Biochemical reactios also covert elemets ito ew compouds. Over time these ca accummulate ad alter the balace ad A TRITON system requires a sump where you add the dosig solutios (see below) that keep your water chemistry i balace. The sump is also a refuge for algae which remove uwated itrate (NO 3 ) ad phosphate (PO 4 ) from the seawater as they grow. Note: your sump eeds a lightig system suited to the growth of macro algae. Dosig replaces the elemets cosumed by the biological / biochemical activity takig place i system. Oce your aquarium is setup ad cycled you ca stock it with some hardy corals. Now ru a daily test of your water alkaliity - as soo as you measure a drop i alkaliity below 8dKH start dosig Base Elemets (or Base Elemets CORE7 cocetrate) ito your sump. If your readigs are remai below 8dKH gradually icrease the dose (or vice versa). You ca reduce the frequecy of alkaliity tests oce the system has settled i. liveability of your seawater. Thik of your tak as a stuffy room full of people with the CORECHEM PRODUCTS widows ad doors closed. Cotamiatio Aother way your aquarium s seawater ca depart from Natural Seawater is whe udesirable elemets are itroduced. This cotamiatio ca be itroduced by the corrosio of metallic compoets, usig impure supplemets, toxis from pait ad eve what you feed your reef critters. With over tests completed TRITON uderstads the chemistry of seawater aquaria better tha aybody i the world. With the TRITON Method you do ot eed to uderstad chemistry - we do that for you - you just focus o keepig your seawater atural. Algae refuge / sump 1. Add Base Elemets daily to maitai system alkaliity close to 8dKH Reef System

3 METHOD MIND MAP Begi ICP testig Purchase a ICP test kit from your TRITON stockist. Set up a accout o the TRITON LAB website ( create your aquarium profile ad register the barcode provided i your test kit. Sed the water sample from your aquarium to TRITON Lab for aalysis. The ICP test provides a comprehesive sapshot of all the importat chemical elemets i your seawater. Review your results Log i to your accout ad you will see the cocetratios of each elemet i your seawater compared with TRITON s set poits for Natural Seawater developed through extesive scietific research over the last 10 years. You do ot eed to uderstad the chemistry - we do that for you - just follow the easy-to-uderstad colour codes (gree for good, yellow for cautio, red for actio). Act to fix problems If you eed to fix a red problem just refer to the Help ad Dose tabs for a descriptio ad ay actios eeded to fix it. This advice recommeds ay ecessary supplemets (or treatmets) as well as the correct doses calculated for the size of your system. SUPPLEMENTS FOR SEAWATER SEAWATER ANALYSIS TREATMENTS FOR SEAWATER Read o for detailed iformatio about each of these steps Test your seawater Kow what s i it Act to fix it Checklist Reef System Sump (TRITON layout preferred, see page 2) Retur pump capable of producig 10x system turover 2. Sed water sample to TRITON LAB usig TRITON Test Kit 8dKH ALKALINITY TARGET 3. Review Olie Water Aalysis Report 4. Refer to Help ad Dose tabs of your Water Aalysis Report to rectify elemets at variace from Natural Sea Water Strog protei skimmer Full spectrum display tak lightig Suitable marie algae lamp 4 chael dosig pump Dosig cotaiers Media reactor 10 litre storage cotaiers (if usig origial Base Elemets) 1

4 Settig up your system Sumps, pumps ad refuges Puttig plats to work A healthy algae refuge will cosume aimal waste by-products ad some metals while exportig useful proteis, carbohydrates ad metabolites. By usig the TRITON Method with a algae sump, Base Elemets dosig ad regular ICP testig you ca elimiate the eed for routie water chages. The TRITON Method requires a sump where you add the dosig solutios (see page 4) that keep your water chemistry i balace. The sump is also a refuge for algae which remove uwated itrate (NO 3 ) ad phosphate (PO 4 ) while producig / releasig amio acids, vitamis ad sugars that are beeficial to your system. The combiatio of dosig, regular testig ad a efficiet algae filter makes the TRITON Method truly holistic ad is the reaso TRITON systems ca ru without regular water chages. The sump is split ito 3 compartmets. The algae refuge compartmet should be as large as practical but at least 10% of the volume of the mai display tak. It should house a variety of algae types as each species will have it s ow utriet removal characteristics. Note: some of the algae should be allowed to die-back, it is durig this process that the acids, vitamis, ad sugars are released. There should be o sad bed i the algae refuge compartmet however a few small pieces of live rock (ad the beasties they shelter) are beeficial. The water eters the sump directly ito the algae refuge compartmet, TRITON does ot recommed the use of filter socks/floss as they remove beeficial igrediets that algae require. Ay detritus that builds up ca be removed as ad whe required. The water should leave the algae refuge compartmet over the first baffle ad dow ito the skimmer compartmet. Your skimmer should be rated to easily cope with the size ad load of your system (ask your LFS). You may fid that, with time, your skimmer produces less waste because your system becomes more balaced. This is because a stable ecosystem has fewer microorgaisms livig / dyig uecessarily. As the water leaves the skimmer compartmet it should pass uder the ext baffle. This esures the skimmer has more cotact time with the proteis i the water which are proe to rise. Additioal baffles may be used as bubble traps ad to maitai the water level i the skimmer compartmet. Without the additioal baffle the water height ca be set ad maitaied by the Automatic Top Up (ATU) float should you have oe. The fial compartmet houses the retur pump. Reactors for Phosphate removal ca also be housed i here. A additioal ATU reservoir may be added if required. The algae refuge should be lit o a reverse cycle (i.e. the algae refuge light comes o whe mai tak lights go out) to aid i prevetig a ph swig occurrig. TRITON recommeds lightig the algae refuge with T5 s usig a mix of the blue ad white spectrum. Success ca also be had with other light sources such as CFL or full spectrum LEDs. The retur pump should be capable of providig a miimum flow of 10x the total system volume per hour after takig ito accout ay head loss, taps for reactors etc. This is to esure that the whole system water is flushed through the sump regularly. Note: too much flow through the sump will reduce the efficiecy of the Algae refuge 10-20% of mai tak volume Protei skimmer Retur pump 10x mai tak volume per hour algae bed ad the skimmer. TRITON does ot recommed the use of UV sterilisers or Ozoe as they do ot differetiate betwee good or bad microorgaisms. 2

5 The TRITON Method lets you sped more time ejoyig your reef tak. 3

6 Cyclig: New reef taks eed to kick start the itroge biochemical cycle before they are safe for reef creatures! Google 'cyclig a saltwater aquarium' for details. Tip: As the ihabitats i your reef tak grow the uptake of the Base Elemets will icrease also. Over time ICP testig may detect oe particular elemet i your seawater is beig cosumed at levels greater tha the quatity supplied by the dosig elemets. This may be due to the particular biochemical prefereces or stockig levels of a species ad ca be remedied by idividual dosig of that elemet usig TRITON Supplemets (see page 8). Dosig Replacig the elemets cosumed by your livig system Oce your tak has bee cycled ad you have observed a drop i alkaliity below 8dKH, it s time to start dosig. The four TRITON Base Elemets dosig solutios are a collectio of ioically balaced elemets ad compouds desiged to provide (replace) everythig the bacteria, plats, ivertebrates ad fish i your ecosystem eed. A rough guide for your first dose with Base Elemets is 10ml per 100L of the display tak volume for each bottle (Base Elemets 1, 2, 3a ad 3b). If you are usig the Base Elemets CORE7 cocetrate the startig dose will be ~2ml per 100L. Note: these startig doses are based o a lightly stocked system with little cosumptio. As your stockig levels icrease so will your daily dose. Now begi daily moitorig of alkaliity (dkh). Base Elemets CORE7 dosig solutios use a improved formulatio ad are more coveiet / sustaiable at a cheaper price. Alkaliity Whe settig up your system your goal is to create stable water chemistry that approximates Natural Seawater ad stays that way! Every reef tak is a uique combiatio of seawater, substrate ad biology. The target alkaliity is aroud 8dKH, which you cotrol by dosig with the Base Elemets solutios. The balaced ature of these solutios esures all of your other parameters remai as they should. Should your alkaliity drop, gradually icrease the dosage of all of the Base Elemets equally util the required level returs, if it goes up the reduce the dose. Do t obsess about achievig a costat readig of 8dKH, stability is the goal, if your tak maitais a stable dkh of 7.3 the that is just as good as 8. Note: for users of Base Elemets CORE7 we recommed a target dkh of 7. Moitor the alkaliity daily for a week, or util the system settles, after which you ca test at loger itervals. Oce you have a stable alkaliity / dosig regime it is time to sed a sample of tak water off for ICP testig - see page 6. Base Elemets are a suite of ioically balaced dosig solutios that supply the essetial macro ad trace elemets cosumed i the daily fuctio of your reef system. 4 NEW

7 How to dose The origial Base Elemets solutios (see opposite page) come i 4 x 1 litre cocetrated bottles that make up 4 x 10 litre solutios Base Elemets 1, 2, 3a & 3b whe mixed with RO/DI water (see below). Note: 10 litre cotaiers are also available through your LFS or TRITON supplier. Base Elemets 1 is i powder form ad should be mixed with approximately 9.75L of RO/DI to make up 10L, this is doe with the aid of a small pump i a bucket for a few hours (or util all of the powder has dissolved), addig a heater to the mix ca aid the process. Base Elemets 2, 3a ad 3b should be added to 9 litres of RO/DI water respectively. It should be oted that oly the best RO/DI water should be used i mixig the Base Elemets with a total dissolved solids (TDS) readig of zero. Base Elemets CORE7 solutios are 7 times more cocetrated the stadard Base Elemets. All four bottles are liquid solutios which ca be dosed udiluted savig time, space ad waste. Just take your empty bottles to your LFS ad use oe of our TRITON Refill Statios. Base Elemets CORE7 dosig solutios use a improved formulatio ad are more coveiet / sustaiable at a cheaper price. Solutios should be dosed ito a area of high flow i the sump with a iterval betwee each solutio to prevet them reactig with each other. This ca be achieved usig a automated dosig pump to eable the solutios to be scheduled throughout the day. No two reef taks are the same i terms of dosig. Oe 200L reef system may use 50ml of each Base Elemets solutio / day while aother may oly use 25ml. The daily dose is determied by your stockig level ad the uique combiatio of livig creatures i your system. Note: keep dosig tubes above the water surface to prevet back siphoig ad the solutios reactig with the tak water which ca cause the tubes to block. CORE7 solutios 3a ad 3b react whe mixig with salt water - this is ormal. Covertig a reef tak to the TRITON Method If you are covertig a existig system to the TRITON Method it is a good idea to get a ICP test doe before you start to uderstad the state of balace of your seawater. Alteratively, if you are cofidet of your seawater s parameters just start dosig the Base Elemets solutios. Covertig from a differet method may result i some parameters (Alkaliity, Calcium, Magesium, Potassium) havig elevated levels so a follow up ICP test is highly recommeded so you ca make iformed decisios durig the trasitio period. If you have elevated parameters, lower the alkaliity over a umber of days to avoid crashig the system. Covertig from Base Elemets to CORE7 CORE7 is 7 times more cocetrated, has a improved formulatio ad does ot require mixig with RO/DI before use. Whe switchig from dosig with Base Elemets to CORE7 divide your curret dose by 7. What s RO/DI? RO/DI stads for reverse osmosis ad deioizatio - a method for purifyig tap water. RO/DI removes udesirable impurities (e.g. metals, chlorie compouds) from tap water. Usig RO/DI water for dosig solutios ad seawater mixes miimises a source of cotamiatio i your system. Importat! If the system you are covertig to the TRITON Method did ot use a algae sump for utriet cotrol the it is importat that you make the trasitio slowly. It is best to ru existig filter systems beside the algae sump to allow time for the algae to build up eough capacity to hadle the utriet load. Note: You may observe a iitial icrease i uptake whe switchig over as Core7 operates at a high ph tha the origial Base Elemets, this usually settles back dow after a umber of weeks. Avoid cotamiatio by creatig pure, deioized water for your seawater mixes ad top ups. Suitable for ay method. Note: ever add directly to the aquarium. 5

8 Test your seawater Usig ICP testig to take a sapshot of your seawater chemistry ICP a.k.a. Iductively Coupled Plasma - Optical Emissio Spectrometry (Do t paic, you do ot eed to uderstad it!) ICP is a powerful scietific istrumet capable of detectig ad precisely measurig the followig elemets i your seawater: Mercury (Hg) Atimoy (Sb) Titaium (Ti) Calcium (Ca) Boro (B) Lithium (Li) Vaadium (V) Chromium (Cr) Beryllium (Be) Seleium (Se) Arseic (As) Copper (Cu) Magesium (Mg) Strotium (Sr) Nickel (Ni) Zic (Z) Cobalt (Co) Silico (Si) Cadmium (Cd) Alumiium (Al) Scadium (Sc) Potassium (K) Sulphate (S) Molybdeum (Mo) Magaese (M) Iro (Fe) Phosphorous (P) - also displayed as () Ti (S) Lead (Pb) Sodium (Na) Bromie (Br) Tugste (W) Lathaum (La) Iodie (I) Barium (Ba) (Do t paic, we iterpret the chemistry for you!) TRITON LAB offers comprehesive, affordable, professioal aalysis of your seawater so you ca moitor the health of your reef system. Each test is a sapshot of the elemets (ad their precise quatities) foud i your seawater at that time. By comparig your results to Natural Seawater the elemets beig cosumed by your livig system ca be idetified. Likewise, udesirable elemets eterig your system as cotamiatio will also be detected. Testig ca be doe as ofte or as little as you like. Typically it is a good idea to ru a series of regular tests while settig your system up the fall back to periodic maiteace testig to make sure you catch problems before they become lethal / expesive. The poit is that testig puts you i cotrol of your system ad without it you are flyig blid. Testig ivolves sedig a sample of your seawater to the TRITON lab for aalysis. First purchase a pre-packaged test kit from your official TRITON stockist, register with the TRITON LAB website, create your aquarium profile ad the assig the barcode from your test kit to your relevat aquarium profile. Now sample your aquarium, rememberig to rise the sample tubes i tak water. Always sample before feedig to avoid cotamiatio of the sample. Pack the sample i the provided evelope or box ad attach the label ad required postage. Comprehesive, affordable professioal grade ICP-powered laboratory seawater aalysis. 6

9 Kow what s i it How TRITON makes your results easy to uderstad You will receive s updatig you o the status of your sample o its way to TRITON Lab: oe whe it arrives at the regioal hub, aother whe it arrives at the lab ad fially whe your results are ready to view. Note: if you have set the sample direct to the lab the you will ot get the hub . Add this address ifo@trito-lab.de to your cotacts so your results do t lad i your juk folder!! Log i to your accout to see your results expressed as the cocetratio of each elemet i your seawater compared with the expected values, or set poits, for Natural Seawater. You do ot eed to uderstad the chemistry - we do that for you - just follow the easy-to-uderstad colour codes (gree for good, yellow for cautio, red for actio). The colour gradiet gives you a sese of the urgecy for resolvig a problem. Our recommeded actio required to fix a problem ca be foud uder the Help ad Dose tabs at the top of the page. Set poits Set poits describe the acceptable cocetratio rage for ay give elemet i typical reef aquarium seawater as measured by your ICP test. TRITON set poits are based o over seawater aalyses performed o samples from customer reef taks, wild reefs aroud the world ad research carried out i our ow aquaria. View your results, advice ad dosig actios via these tabs. TRITON Olie Water Aalysis Report The colour code system makes it easy to see problems ad their severity. Dosig istructios Total 6 days 500 ml/day for 5 days ml for 1 day The Help ad Dose tabs provide advice ad details of ay actio you eed to take. 7

10 Act to fix it Usig TRITON s built i Help ad Dose reports to solve problems There are two geeral categories of actio. (1) Supplemetig elemets that have bee idetified as low relative to atural seawater. This is most likely due to atural cosumptio by the liveware i your system. Just follow the advice of your Help ad Dose reports ad dose with the relevat TRITON Supplemet. (2) Treatig cotamiatio: a example of a cotamiatio error would be a build up of a uwated heavy metal like copper which is detrimetal to corals ad other ivertebrates. The first actio is to locate the cause / source of the copper cotamiatio: e.g. a broke piece of equipmet or copper wire exposed to the water. With the source removed ow take urget remedial actio usig TRITON Detox treatmet followed by activated Carbo ad corrective water chages. See opposite page for some typical treatmets. Supplemets vs. treatmets Supplemets are macro or trace elemets which you add to your system to replace or top up those cosumed by atural biochemical processes i your system. Treatmets are usually remedies to exteral chemical cotamiatio of your system. Typically they ivolve a chemical reactio that scrubs the cotamiat from your seawater. For a full list of TRITON supplemets ad treatmets see the backpage. Supplemets 8 Oly TRITON supplemets are guarateed cotamiatio free by usig ICP testig i TRITON Lab.

11 Treatmets TRITON AL99 Phosphate remover does exactly what it says o the bottle, removes phosphate. TRITON AL99 phosphate remover is a alumiium based pellet which is best used i a reactor. The AL99 should be washed i RO/ DI prior to use ad oly have a slow flow passig over it. Do ot tumble. You may fid with cotiued use that your AL levels start to rise o your ICP test, if this is the case the it is recommeded to alterate AL99 with a differet product. A list of recommeded products ca be foud o our website. Maiteace checklist The followig routie maiteace is good practice: Clea dosig cotaiers ad refill Base Elemets solutios whe required Ispect dosig hoses for blockages Replace AL99 every other moth or whe required Replace Carbo every moth or whe required Clea Skimmer regularly Prue Algae whe required to prevet excess die back Note: as a alumiium based phosphate remover AL99 will also bid arseic, barium ad fluoride. TRITON Detox TRITON Detox is a useful treatmet for the removal of excess heavy metals. Whe Detox is added it bids with metals like copper ad lead which ca the be removed with a carbo filter. Coclusio We hope you ejoy usig the TRITON Method of Reefkeepig ad the beefits it brigs: Sypho detritus out of sump every 3 6 moths Routie ICP-OES testig every 2 3 moths or whe required to detect problems before they become lethal / expesive a stable ecosystem that combies peace-of-mid with ease-of-use the kowledge to replace trial ad error with coscious cotrol o more water chages! The TRITON Method brigs sigificat cost savigs (from avoided system crashes / water chages) way i excess of the cost of the occasioal ICP test. Activated Carbo Activated carbo is well kow i the hobby for removig pollutats from the water ad the TRITON Method is o differet. Carbo ca be used i its ow reactor or simply i a bag, placed i a area of good flow. Agai this should be washed i RO/DI prior to use. Trito recommeds ICP testig after prologed treatmets. Remember: Test your seawater Water chages Kow what s i it Act to fix it If you follow the TRITON Method (with algae sump ad Base Elemets dosig) the regular ICP testig will detect problems early makig routie water chages a thig of the past. However, whe cotamiatio does occur a water chage is a useful tool for rapid recovery. Oly use good quality salts such as TRITON Pure Salt (which is guarateed without impurities) or Tropic Mari Pro. Keep i mid that may salt maufacturers ru their salts at elevated levels, so care should be take i pickig your brad. You ca use a ICP test to quality assure your choice i which case mix the etire bucket before samplig to get a true represetatio of the mix. 9

12 INDUCTIVELY COUPLED PLASMA - OPTICAL EMISSION SPECTROMETRY TRITON MINDMAP Comprehesive, affordable ICP-powered full rage laboratory seawater aalysis Quality assured reagets for creatig, supplemetig ad treatig seawater SEAWATER ANALYSIS CORECHEM PRODUCTS SUPPLEMENTS FOR SEAWATER TREATMENTS FOR SEAWATER Iductively Coupled Plasma - Optical Emissio Spectrometry testig Li Si Be P TEST METHOD: ICP-OES B S Na K Mg Ca Al Sc Ti V Cr M Fe Co Ni Cu Z As Se Br Sr Mo Cd S Sb I Ba La W Hg Pb... more comig soo NEW NEW Base Elemets 1 3a 2 3b Base Elemets CORE7 (7x cocetrate) (1) (3a) TRITON PURE 2.0 Salt PURE 2.0 Reef Supplemets CORE7 (7x cocetrate) REEF SUPPLEMENTS (1) REEF SUPPLEMENTS (3a) (2) (3b) REEF SUPPLEMENTS (2) REEF SUPPLEMENTS (3b) Salts for Ballig ad other methods NaHCO3 CaCl2 Dihydrate MgCl2 Hexahydrate Suitable for ay reefkeepig method Used for the TRITON Method Trace elemets Co Cr Fe I M Mo V Z Macro elemets B Br Ca F S Sr Li K Ni Mg Phosphate remover AL 99 Deioisig resi for creatig very pure water DI Excess heavy metal remover DETOX Activated carbo for uptake of toxis ad other uwated molecules CARBON Alkaliity Icreaser CO3 CO3 TRITON METHOD The TRITON Method is a holistic reefkeepig system that combies the beefits of TRITON s research ito advaced elemetal aalysis of seawater (TRITON Lab) with highly pure reagets for supplemetig ad treatig seawater (TRITON Reagets). Together with our famous customer support TRITON iovatio makes reefkeepig a pleasure, ot a chore. Frachise your ow full rage seawater aalysis laboratory i-house Free resources ad tutorials for the reefkeeper (comig soo) THE INVENTOR OF MODERN REEFKEEPING TRITON GmbH Rather Broich Düsseldorf Germay Phoe: +49(0) ifo@trito.de