Apex Trident Issues vs Hanna Checkers... Loosing faith.

BlingityBling

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Hello,
A couple questions for those used to the trident from apex. Aquired one for Black Friday and have been using it since... I thought without problem. The last two weeks, it gradually day by day showed my Alk going higher and my Calcium going down without any change in my routine. Trusting it, I stopped Alk dosing and manually added Cal Cloride thinking I was bringing it back in check. Yet every Calcium test for 2 weeks did noting but go down steady. It showed Alk coming down steady as I would expect after stopping the dose. The unfortunate result is I now know I overdosed my tank chasing it. So I've changed fluids and recalibrated the trident... twice... Trident currently reads Mag at 1376... My Hanna Checkers have Alk at 9.7 and Cal at 544... Now for the insane numbers, trident, since calibrated with the new solution is giving me Alk of 8.2, Cal at 809 (Hello? is that even possible before precipitating?) and Mag at 1376 still. So... 9.7 vs 8.2 and 544 vs 809... I'm not even going mention the Salt probe... too late lol... The only thing I have that agrees reasonably close is the ph between hanna and trident.

Does anyone have any insight as to why this happened? Anyone else have a similar issue?
Could this be a bad machine? Bad Fluid? Bad calibrating fluid? The reagent was just bought and arrived a week ago.
I'm tending to trust the Hanna more simply because the numbers seem more reasonable to me. No coral or fish have died or seem visibly distressed other than a moody gsp in a mixed reef tank.

Any help is appreciated... Thank you
 

reeferguy125

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Hello,
A couple questions for those used to the trident from apex. Aquired one for Black Friday and have been using it since... I thought without problem. The last two weeks, it gradually day by day showed my Alk going higher and my Calcium going down without any change in my routine. Trusting it, I stopped Alk dosing and manually added Cal Cloride thinking I was bringing it back in check. Yet every Calcium test for 2 weeks did noting but go down steady. It showed Alk coming down steady as I would expect after stopping the dose. The unfortunate result is I now know I overdosed my tank chasing it. So I've changed fluids and recalibrated the trident... twice... Trident currently reads Mag at 1376... My Hanna Checkers have Alk at 9.7 and Cal at 544... Now for the insane numbers, trident, since calibrated with the new solution is giving me Alk of 8.2, Cal at 809 (Hello? is that even possible before precipitating?) and Mag at 1376 still. So... 9.7 vs 8.2 and 544 vs 809... I'm not even going mention the Salt probe... too late lol... The only thing I have that agrees reasonably close is the ph between hanna and trident.

Does anyone have any insight as to why this happened? Anyone else have a similar issue?
Could this be a bad machine? Bad Fluid? Bad calibrating fluid? The reagent was just bought and arrived a week ago.
I'm tending to trust the Hanna more simply because the numbers seem more reasonable to me. No coral or fish have died or seem visibly distressed other than a moody gsp in a mixed reef tank.

Any help is appreciated... Thank you
Hi Bling,

I have not used the Trident yet, but I do have one on the way soon, next week if I remember correctly without looking.
I also have the Hannah checkers, and always some sort of cheap chemical test kit, currently API. I try to confirm readings once a month using the api, and I intend to continue testing will all 3 once I receive my Trident.

I will let you know what I see as far as the numbers go as soon as I get enough data on the trident to know anything with certainty.

There is also still plenty of room for error with the Hannahs also 1.1ml when exactly 1ml is called for can throw the reading off a bit.

Placement of the probes on the apex will change some of the readings too, make sure you do not have an air bubble in your salt probe.

If you have any power cables close to the probe leads, try moving them as far away as possible too, its said power cables will throw off the readings also.

As long as everything in your tank is happy and healthy, I wouldnt stress it to much, but I would try moving the probes around atleast just to see if the numbers stay the same.

If you really need the peace of mind like I will if I see that with my trident, you can send a water sample in to have it lab tested.
 
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BlingityBling

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Hi Bling,

I have not used the Trident yet, but I do have one on the way soon, next week if I remember correctly without looking.
I also have the Hannah checkers, and always some sort of cheap chemical test kit, currently API. I try to confirm readings once a month using the api, and I intend to continue testing will all 3 once I receive my Trident.

I will let you know what I see as far as the numbers go as soon as I get enough data on the trident to know anything with certainty.

There is also still plenty of room for error with the Hannahs also 1.1ml when exactly 1ml is called for can throw the reading off a bit.

Placement of the probes on the apex will change some of the readings too, make sure you do not have an air bubble in your salt probe.

If you have any power cables close to the probe leads, try moving them as far away as possible too, its said power cables will throw off the readings also.

As long as everything in your tank is happy and healthy, I wouldnt stress it to much, but I would try moving the probes around atleast just to see if the numbers stay the same.

If you really need the peace of mind like I will if I see that with my trident, you can send a water sample in to have it lab tested.
I was thinking of sending in a sample... I started, and still use api on my quarantine tank. I’m ok with the margin of error on things. But something has to be a trustworthy base point to go by. Good luck and have fun!
 

magikfly

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Get an ICP test done. Compare results with both Hanna and Trident and get rid of the one(s) that are off. This is the only way you'll ever be sure.
 

Dilan Patel

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did you try using the trident calibration fluid (after you calibrated trident of course) with the hannah checker? Allbeit has to be within an hour or two of opening the calibration solution but since this solution is known you can verify your hannah testing method/reagent are still viable. Hannah alk reagent are notorious for giving inaccurate readings as the reagent grows old/gets used up. I believe the reagent once opened are good for ONLY 25test or 30 days whichever comes first...I may be off on the number of tests but its close to that. If you have a new reagent you can open it and test your water with both reagents and I would not be surprised if the reading is over 1dkh different depending on how old the current reagent is. I experienced this issue with hannah. Had a older test reagent and it read over 2dkh different than the new reagent.
 

Dilan Patel

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And just so you can visually see a red sea alk test and how the reagent changes over time here is a pic. 1 is brand new and the others were open within 2 months and stored in a cool dark place in the box...needless to say I received
IMG_2637.jpeg
different results but the new bottle was within error of my trident.
 

am3gross

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Seems like a lot of responses here so I will ask you this question.

If you have a Hanna checker that checks your take giving you a number, say 450, even though that number is wrong, does it it really matter? Yes I want to know the exact number that my calcium is, but what I really want to know is if my calcium is going up and or down. So if my cal level is wrong based on XYZ test method, but it is consistently bad ( but giving the same bad number consistently, isn't that what really matters? Have you tried taking the test 2x in a row? See what you get if the number stays the same +/- a few?

Kind of interested in thoughts here. Let me know if I am way off please in my line of thinking.
 
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BlingityBling

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did you try using the trident calibration fluid (after you calibrated trident of course) with the hannah checker? Allbeit has to be within an hour or two of opening the calibration solution but since this solution is known you can verify your hannah testing method/reagent are still viable. Hannah alk reagent are notorious for giving inaccurate readings as the reagent grows old/gets used up. I believe the reagent once opened are good for ONLY 25test or 30 days whichever comes first...I may be off on the number of tests but its close to that. If you have a new reagent you can open it and test your water with both reagents and I would not be surprised if the reading is over 1dkh different depending on how old the current reagent is. I experienced this issue with hannah. Had a older test reagent and it read over 2dkh different than the new reagent.
That’s very possible, I am at the end of that bottle, thank you.
 
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BlingityBling

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Seems like a lot of responses here so I will ask you this question.

If you have a Hanna checker that checks your take giving you a number, say 450, even though that number is wrong, does it it really matter? Yes I want to know the exact number that my calcium is, but what I really want to know is if my calcium is going up and or down. So if my cal level is wrong based on XYZ test method, but it is consistently bad ( but giving the same bad number consistently, isn't that what really matters? Have you tried taking the test 2x in a row? See what you get if the number stays the same +/- a few?

Kind of interested in thoughts here. Let me know if I am way off please in my line of thinking.
I agree. I don’t care what the exact number is other than I don’t want my base to be so far far off that those swings up or down could be detrimental. after spending that money on the trident, my core issue is over the two week period it read my calcium dropping everyday, trusting those readings I kept adding extra doses to try and level it off. Then the reagent ran out and needed changed... new reagent put in, recalibrated and the machine went from telling me calcium 290 to now over 800... then I went to the Hanna checkers to see if this could be right. I probably didn’t make that clear in the beggining. so as was suggested maybe the Hanna reagent was bad... I can see that Since it was at the end of the supply. It does make me curious if the trident reagent went bad before the standard time of two months they advertise... especially that last two weeks. I think I have some things figured out and got some good suggestions from you guys... Thank you!
 

Drewbacca

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Hello,
A couple questions for those used to the trident from apex. Aquired one for Black Friday and have been using it since... I thought without problem. The last two weeks, it gradually day by day showed my Alk going higher and my Calcium going down without any change in my routine. Trusting it, I stopped Alk dosing and manually added Cal Cloride thinking I was bringing it back in check. Yet every Calcium test for 2 weeks did noting but go down steady. It showed Alk coming down steady as I would expect after stopping the dose. The unfortunate result is I now know I overdosed my tank chasing it. So I've changed fluids and recalibrated the trident... twice... Trident currently reads Mag at 1376... My Hanna Checkers have Alk at 9.7 and Cal at 544... Now for the insane numbers, trident, since calibrated with the new solution is giving me Alk of 8.2, Cal at 809 (Hello? is that even possible before precipitating?) and Mag at 1376 still. So... 9.7 vs 8.2 and 544 vs 809... I'm not even going mention the Salt probe... too late lol... The only thing I have that agrees reasonably close is the ph between hanna and trident.

Does anyone have any insight as to why this happened? Anyone else have a similar issue?
Could this be a bad machine? Bad Fluid? Bad calibrating fluid? The reagent was just bought and arrived a week ago.
I'm tending to trust the Hanna more simply because the numbers seem more reasonable to me. No coral or fish have died or seem visibly distressed other than a moody gsp in a mixed reef tank.

Any help is appreciated... Thank you
I had the same thing happen to me.. neptunevsaid not to calibrate as it needed to run a week and if it is off it would be minimal since it was calibrated at the factory. I stopped dosing Cal since it said 525 and after 3 days of not dosing it finally just peaked below 500.. I got another test and it said 340 , so I confirmed and started dosing cal again.. as all my largecsps colonies lost color and died.. every single one.. superman monte the size of a dinner plate my son got me for fathers day as a frag.. and many others.
Find it exponentially drifting up or down all the time and have to recalibrate.. and since they only give ONE calibration solution for every TWO MONTHS.. and are always out of stock.. I have a years worth of reagents.. and one calibration solution left. It should be at least TWO per box.. just put the same amount into TWO THINNER BOTTLES.. THEN INSTEAD OF HALF GETTING THROWN AWAY AFTER 8 HRS.. Its sealed and awaiting use in another bottle. I Paid the high price to be MORE Stable with LESS EFFORT. I trust the test immedietly after calibration. Less variables than hanna. But I can rely on hanna's consistency
 

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I had the same thing happen to me.. neptunevsaid not to calibrate as it needed to run a week and if it is off it would be minimal since it was calibrated at the factory. I stopped dosing Cal since it said 525 and after 3 days of not dosing it finally just peaked below 500.. I got another test and it said 340 , so I confirmed and started dosing cal again.. as all my largecsps colonies lost color and died.. every single one.. superman monte the size of a dinner plate my son got me for fathers day as a frag.. and many others.
Find it exponentially drifting up or down all the time and have to recalibrate.. and since they only give ONE calibration solution for every TWO MONTHS.. and are always out of stock.. I have a years worth of reagents.. and one calibration solution left. It should be at least TWO per box.. just put the same amount into TWO THINNER BOTTLES.. THEN INSTEAD OF HALF GETTING THROWN AWAY AFTER 8 HRS.. Its sealed and awaiting use in another bottle. I Paid the high price to be MORE Stable with LESS EFFORT. I trust the test immedietly after calibration. Less variables than hanna. But I can rely on hanna's consistency
You could get some calibration fluid from other suppliers. Fauna Marin makes a reference solution. Or you could test your tank water with quality test kits and calibrate to those numbers like some other Trident users.
 

Dryanimtt

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what i've experienced as well as some others I know is that the first set of reagents you get with the trident is really all over the place. which i was aware of at the start. so i didnt put much weight into the readings i was getting and still relied on hanna or other test kits during that time.. once i got a fresh supply of reagents in and calibrated the trident has since been right on par with my other test kits.. not sure if your still on the reagents supplied with the new unit but after that the trident has been good to me... though admittedly the Ca values i get dont make much sense sometimes since i dose with kalkwasser and its an equal ratio of alk to Ca addition. I rely more heavily on the alk and mag readings as they have proven to stay consistent for me.. Ca not so much.
 

Doctorgori

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I had the same thing happen to me.. neptunevsaid not to calibrate as it needed to run a week and if it is off it would be minimal since it was calibrated at the factory. I stopped dosing Cal since it said 525 and after 3 days of not dosing it finally just peaked below 500.. I got another test and it said 340 , so I confirmed and started dosing cal again.. as all my largecsps colonies lost color and died.. every single one.. superman monte the size of a dinner plate my son got me for fathers day as a frag.. and many others.
Find it exponentially drifting up or down all the time and have to recalibrate.. and since they only give ONE calibration solution for every TWO MONTHS.. and are always out of stock.. I have a years worth of reagents.. and one calibration solution left. It should be at least TWO per box.. just put the same amount into TWO THINNER BOTTLES.. THEN INSTEAD OF HALF GETTING THROWN AWAY AFTER 8 HRS.. Its sealed and awaiting use in another bottle. I Paid the high price to be MORE Stable with LESS EFFORT. I trust the test immedietly after calibration. Less variables than hanna. But I can rely on hanna's consistency
my story almost exactly, and I got another dead tank …my ca read over 700 which is impossible I THINK….my current situation is my Trident says alk is 7.5 while my Hanna shows 9.3 ….I’m waiting for a calibration kit now
 

gbroadbridge

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Red sea pro test kit is pretty accurate as far as calcium, mag and alk goes
The stated accuracy of the red sea Ca test is much better than the hanna checker.

It matches ICP within 20ppm which is good enough and is probably within the uncertainty of both..
 

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I trust my Trident over any test kit, my hands shake and i suck at perceiving color. Where is your sample tube for trident? where do you dose? what times are you dosing? Where does your ato top off at? You must consider all of these things when setting up a Trident. Throw your Hanna's in the trash.
 

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