DIY Trident Calibration Solution

[Matt1997]

@Randy Holmes-Farley any idea on how to create a DIY trident calibration solution? I would like to calibrate my system a little more frequently using a controlled solution I can trust

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

@Randy Holmes-Farley any idea on how to create a DIY trident calibration solution? I would like to calibrate my system a little more frequently using a controlled solution I can trust

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-06/rhf/index.htm
Its a conductivity meter.

 

[Matt1997]

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-06/rhf/index.htm
Its a conductivity meter.

I’m hoping to get a trident calibration solution. One with consistent Alk, Ca, and Mg levels to replace the small bottles Neptune makes you buy for $11 each.

 

[Roosterjack]

Just verify your results against another test kit. Mine doesn’t drift much over the course of a reagent set.

 

[ReefBeta]

If you want it to match your test kits, you can use your water as calibration, then input the reading from your test kits.

 

[Chad3407]

Terrance has mentioned they use 2little fishes salt as the calibration solution. They say it mixes up the most consistent of all the salts they tested.

 

[Willu]

I also just calibrate using values from test kits. My trident has been giving consistent testing values relative to the test kits I use.

 

[Matt1997]

I would rather create my own solution with a known Alk, Ca, and Mg and I am asking how to do so.

 

[JimWelsh]

Having done exactly what you describe for many, many, many combinations of the big three in the course of developing the Trident, let me tell you that's it's really not as easy as you might think at first glance.

You need a minimum of six different salts of sufficient purity to make a crude seawater analogue, and each of them has some of the others in them as contaminants at various levels. Even when using reagent grade salts, there is still the matter of the uncertainty of the water in the Ca and Mg salts. For accurate results, you need to standardize the Ca and Mg solutions by either a Mohr titration of the chloride or an EDTA titration of the metals. The reagents used for those titrations need to be standardized themselves.

So, in order to be able to make the solutions up, you not only need to be able to test for all the analytes of interest, but also source the salts and work hard to carefully make up the desired mix.

It is vastly easier to get good at (meaning both precision and accuracy) testing for Alk, Ca, and Mg, and then use your freshly mixed ASW or tank water as the reference standard, after your careful testing of it.

 

[archgetty]

@Randy Holmes-Farley any idea on how to create a DIY trident calibration solution? I would like to calibrate my system a little more frequently using a controlled solution I can trust

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/fauna-marin-multi-reference-solution.html

 

[Biglew11]

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/fauna-marin-multi-reference-solution.html

+1 was going to post the same thing
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/fauna-marin-multi-reference-solution.html

 

[xionggotstyle]

Has anyone tried the fauna marin as a calibration solution?

 

[JCrowe86]

Has anyone tried the fauna marin as a calibration solution?

I just calibrated using it however it's still off. Bottle has calc at 422, mag at 1315 and dKH at 6.6. After calibration when comparing results, for calc trident reads 516, salifert gives me 460, mag trident gives 1306, salifert gives me 1450, and dKH trident gives me 8.06 while both salifert and hanna give me 8.4. I just don't know what to trust any more. Especially when I'd like to start dosing and maybe using the trident to automate it.