Calibrating a Trident... with tank water

[REEFTIDE]

I did a bad thing and calibrated with tank water because the readings from the trident were so far off Hanna and Salifert. I've been reading on the FB forums that lots of people do it that way ***while it is not recommended at all *** but it certainly made my readings match up almost to a T. Did I just set myself up for failure?? And have you done this before? Lets discuss...

 

[Biglew11]

I measured the calibration solution with my hanna, and my hanna was different than what the calibration solution was labeled as.

So in my case I trust the trident measurements over the hanna checker.

You might want to check your calibration solution with the hanna and see if it measures it accurately.

 

[sublime275]

I’ve been doing the same for the last year or so. No issues for me.

 

[REEFTIDE]

I measured the calibration solution with my hanna, and my hanna was different than what the calibration solution was labeled as.

So in my case I trust the trident measurements over the hanna checker.

You might want to check your calibration solution with the hanna and see if it measures it accurately.

I will go ahead and test the calibration solution. The reason I trusted the Hanna/ Salifert results are because that's what we've been testing with and as long as its consistent I'll be happy. The trident calibration reading was over .5 off from both hanna and salifert which concerns me. I ran two calibration protocols as well to verify

 

[REEFTIDE]

I’ve been doing the same for the last year or so. No issues for me.

Good to hear it wont just light itself on fire because I chose to use tank water lol

 

[dwair]

I will go ahead and test the calibration solution. The reason I trusted the Hanna/ Salifert results are because that's what we've been testing with and as long as its consistent I'll be happy. The trident calibration reading was over .5 off from both hanna and salifert which concerns me. I ran two calibration protocols as well to verify

.5 is most likely acceptable range. Thats not alot. I thought you were saying it was like 20-30ppm off. For Alk/Calc/Mag .5 is nothing.

 

[REEFTIDE]

.5 is most likely acceptable range. Thats not alot. I thought you were saying it was like 20-30ppm off. For Alk/Calc/Mag .5 is nothing.

With tank water its pretty exact which is why we went that way. .5 could be within range but it'll drive me nuts haha

 

[dwair]

With tank water its pretty exact which is why we went that way. .5 could be within range but it'll drive me nuts haha

I get that! I'm OCD too LOL.

 

[Gtinnel]

My last (and first actually) full reagent swap caused my calcium to be off by a lot. I tested 2 calibration fluids that I had and one of them I got the same value with my red sea test kit, the one that I used with the reagent change was different by around 80 on calcium.
I started reading online and I've seen people stating that the neptune calibration solutions are often not the values stated on the bottle.
From now on I plan on calibrating with my tank water.

 

[blaxsun]

I absolutely don’t trust the Trident calibration solution. I’ve tested two separate bottles of Trident calibration fluid with my Hanna and the numbers were off by +/-100ppm. That’s not even remotely close... I also tested the calibration fluid with various titration tests and they also indicated the stated values were severely off.

User error aside, it’s next to impossible to screw up either a digital or titration test to the tune of +/-100ppm if you follow the instructions precisely. Case in-point, I calibrated my Trident with tank water+Hanna a month ago and the Trident read 460 calcium the other day. A Red Sea titration test generated a reading of 470 at the same time, so within +/-10ppm or 0.02ml difference in the reagent used (which is negligible).

 

[RMS18]

I had a bad Neptune calibration fluid batch. My bottle had mold in it. Neptune sent me 3 new bottles from a different batch number, numbers after matched Hanna, salifurt and redsea.

 

[REEFTIDE]

Thank you everyone, I feel a lot better about not following rules now haha

 

[RMS18]

Here's the one of the bottles I had from the batch. Neptune said the mold wouldn't have affected the calibration. However with the new bottles they sent my numbers went back into the normal range that other kits fell within. This mold continues into the bottle even under the water line.

 

[Biglew11]

I absolutely don’t trust the Trident calibration solution. I’ve tested two separate bottles of Trident calibration fluid with my Hanna and the numbers were off by +/-100ppm. That’s not even remotely close... I also tested the calibration fluid with various titration tests and they also indicated the stated values were severely off.

User error aside, it’s next to impossible to screw up either a digital or titration test to the tune of +/-100ppm if you follow the instructions precisely. Case in-point, I calibrated my Trident with tank water+Hanna a month ago and the Trident read 460 calcium the other day. A Red Sea titration test generated a reading of 470 at the same time, so within +/-10ppm or 0.02ml difference in the reagent used (which is negligible).

I haven't seen any of these but gives me the idea of testing against something like the faunamarin calibration solution as a test to see wich cal solution is closest to the numbers labeled.
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/fauna-marin-multi-reference-solution.html

When I tested the trident calibration alk the hanna read 1dkh higher than the trident. So not terrible but I didn't think it was good either.

 

[REEFTIDE]

Here's the one of the bottles I had from the batch. Neptune said the mold wouldn't have affected the calibration. However with the new bottles they sent my numbers went back into the normal range that other kits fell within. This mold continues into the bottle even under the water line.

Its super strange that mold got in there. This pic made me double check my bottle. While mold free the parameters from my calibration bottle were supposed to be:
DKH: 8.35
Ca: 400
Mg: 1240

What I got with my tests:
DKH: 8.9
Cal: 400
Mag: 1200

 

[blaxsun]

Its super strange that mold got in there. This pic made me double check my bottle. While mold free the parameters from my calibration bottle were supposed to be:
DKH: 8.35
Ca: 400
Mg: 1240

What I got with my tests:
DKH: 8.9
Cal: 400
Mag: 1200

0.55 dKH isn’t exactly a small amount, and neither is 40ppm magnesium. Factor in a margin of error with the Trident and you could end up with some wild swings...

 

[REEFTIDE]

0.55 dKH isn’t exactly a small amount, and neither is 40ppm magnesium. Factor in a margin of error with the Trident and you could end up with some wild swings...

IMO 0.55 is a big amount, I hardly test the remaining two but alk is tested almost daily and a change like that means a lot of problem solving needs to be done

 

[bdouglas119]

Here's the one of the bottles I had from the batch. Neptune said the mold wouldn't have affected the calibration. However with the new bottles they sent my numbers went back into the normal range that other kits fell within. This mold continues into the bottle even under the water line.

I had the exact same thing in a bottle I just opened yesterday. My readings after calibrating seem pretty consistent with the old reagent testing. I did do a test comparing Red Sea Cal & Mag to trident and it was off alot but im more concerned with consistency rather then the number

 

[RMS18]

I had the exact same thing in a bottle I just opened yesterday. My readings after calibrating seem pretty consistent with the old reagent testing. I did do a test comparing Red Sea Cal & Mag to trident and it was off alot but im more concerned with consistency rather then the number

Let them know, Its important they know there was issues with a batch or multiple. They will also send you (most likely) new bottles for free.

 

[Stevorino]

I've had wonky CA/MG readings from the start with this thing since I got it and it just dawned on me yesterday to try calibrating using tank water.... glad to see this isn't a totally ridiculous idea.