Does a Trident make all the difference?

[robbyg]

All that said I am an old guy and yea some of the current tech is crazy overwhelming and most of it I do not understand.
If under the impossible for some reason humans from the age of 45 on up all died suddenly and the electronics went out for good I don't know that humans would survive.
Most under the age of 45 have no idea how to dig a hole or use simple hand tools.
ROTFL. If it aint on YouTube they could never make it, maintain it, nor fix it.

LOL I figure you said that in Jest but just in case you did not. I think you should clarify that statement and say maybe 80% of Americans under 45 and an equal amount from some other wealthy countries may not be able to use simple tools but out of the 8 billion people on this planet very few are privileged to stay at home and watch YouTube and play video games. Most kids wake up at 5am and take care of the animals and help with the tiny property farms that their parents have before going to school. Unfortunately many do not get to go to school and work daily along side their parents doing labor intensive jobs. I have a video I shot while I was abroad of a 12 Year old boy driving an 18 wheeler with a crane attached to the back and he single handedly hooked up all of the load onto the crane and pulled it up, restrained it and then drove the truck to the drop zone and then hoisted it into position right to the alignment holes. I sat there in awe as he did the work and his father who is the owner of the truck said to me that he lets the Kid do all the difficult jobs because he has better coordination. I asked the kid how does he do it and he said it's hard driving the truck but operating the Crane is easy because he got use to it from video games. He then told me he has a PS4 and a big screen TV plus listed a bunch of other expensive toys. Ends up dad gives him 25% of the profits on every job he does. The Father only drives the truck on the public roads but the son handles the equipment once they get to the property. I suspect the same thing happens on many American owned family farms.

 

[JohnnyBeagle]

with a DOS you can keep alk/calc extremely stable, I'd say its worth it

 

[K7BMG]

LOL I figure you said that in Jest but just in case you did not. I think you should clarify that statement and say maybe 80% of Americans under 45 and an equal amount from some other wealthy countries may not be able to use simple tools but out of the 8 billion people on this planet very few are privileged to stay at home and watch YouTube and play video games. Most kids wake up at 5am and take care of the animals and help with the tiny property farms that their parents have before going to school. Unfortunetly many do not get to go to school and work daily along side their parents doing labor intensive jobs. I have a video I shot while I was abroad of a 12 Year old boy driving an 18 wheeler with a crane attached to the back and he single handedly hooked up all of the load onto the crane and pulled it up, restrained it and then drove the truck to the drop zone and then hoisted it into position right to the alignment holes. I sat there in awe as he did the work and his father who is the owner of the truck said to me that he lets the Kid do all the difficult jobs because he has better coordination. I asked the kid how does he do it and he said it's hard driving the truck but operating the Crane is easy because he got use to it from video games. He then told me he had a PS4 and a big screen TV plus listed a bunch of other expensive toys. Ends up dad gives him 25% of the profits on every job he does. The Father only drives the truck on the public roads but the son handles the equipment once they get to the property. I suspect the same thing happens on many American family owned small farms.

Yes it was a jestfull comment, but not so far from the truth.
I am not so worldly that I can comment on other countries.
The farmers yes they have to learn at a young age how to do things.
Nobody else around to get it done.

I am an electrical contractor and let me tell you what I see now in the construction trades umm well lets just say its not impressive when it comes to mechanical abilities or tool knowledge.
Most know what a hammer is, but beyond that........? Blank slates.
This is fine, as most have a willingness to learn and do though.

 

[User1]

Yes it was a jestfull comment, but not so far from the truth.
I am not so worldly that I can comment on other countries.
The farmers yes they have to learn at a young age how to do things.
Nobody else around to get it done.

I am an electrical contractor and let me tell you what I see now in the construction trades umm well lets just say its not impressive when it comes to mechanical abilities or tool knowledge.
Most know what a hammer is, but beyond that........? Blank slates.
This is fine, as most have a willingness to learn and do though.

This is a byproduct of removing vocational classes in public and private classroom settings. Drafting, small engine, wood working, and electrical shop in high school (US) was invaluable. But this is changing the tone of the thread so I apologize.

The best way I can say why the Trident makes a difference in my home aquarium is this. I dislike testing. I am inconsistent with most hobby grade checkers. My tank is still maturing with it only being 2 and 1/2 years old so manual testing at some point is critical to see how the chemistry is to what I'm visually seeing with the corals growth. I see corals, I see my results, and I can make a decision.

Why the trident makes the difference. Because I dislike testing and my results even back to back are different I ended up only testing what was:

A. Fast
B. Consistent
C: Quick/Easy

That means Nyos nitrate, Hanna Phosphate, and Hanna Alk. That was it. Not too bad and probably a good set but Mag, Cal, or anything else forget it. Enter trident. Once the mini game of Dora the Explorer was finished and I found one available it was the best thing because now it tested for me, consistently, and with what some consider the 3 key elements or foundation in Alk, Ca, and Mag.

It is automated so I know it gets done now whereas before it is when I remembered. Not like it was taking a lot of time that would be a lie but now it is getting done. I send off 3 ICP tests a year to ATI for another check and at that time run through a manual test of alk, phosphate, and nitrate for the trifecta check (Trident, ICP, and Manual).

TL; DR - it saves time and is consistent so it gets done. I'm lazy I guess so this isn't viable for all but hey. It was either a trident or a bottle of wine. At least this one I didn't pee away :D

 

[Drendo]

Sorry if this is a slight hijack, but I would love to see some Apex controlled Alkalinity and Calcium dosing settings. Also curious to see who is having more success with the setting where the Trident doses more during the day than at night.

 

[smacbride]

... It was either a trident or a bottle of wine. At least this one I didn't pee away :D

I want to drink the wine that you are drinking !!! :p

 

[K7BMG]

I do not have my Trident controling my Apex Dos units.
Someday I am sure I will but for now I dont.
I can change the Dos settings through fusion of needed.
I prefer this at this time.
Once I see my Trident is foolproof and accurate for a year I will allow it to take over. 8 months in 4 to go.
There are several things to do to ensure accuracy.
Check8ng results are the same after reagent changes and the like.

So as automated as the Trident can be we must be carefull and watchful when allowing it to control the dosing.

 

[ReeferBean]

The Trident made a big difference for me. I have less and less time these days for tank tinkering, with two small kids (babies). Not having to worry about testing my parameters regularly is amazing. Creating alerts if the alk is too high or low for instance, stuff like that. I've had mine since April of 2019. Occasionally the calcium gets wacky but nothing recalibrating hasn't fixed. Alk has always been within .5 dkh of my salifert kit everytime I've checked it. The number itself isn't really that important anyway. Just that its consistent and shows you trends. I don't and prob never will do Trident controlled dosing but that's just me.

 

[User1]

I want to drink the wine that you are drinking !!! :p

It isn't an every day occurrence but a few years back we got a screaming deal on a case of Heitz Celler Cabernet Sauvignon from their Martha's Vineyard. 2012. It is a nice wine but not something I could afford to drink daily let alone frequent but we do enjoy it when pull them out.

It is another interesting hobby with similar parallels in the boutique cellars to that of color morphs of corals. I do not want to say chop shops because that is disrespectful. But corals, names, and colors with history demand a pretty high price and I see that with small cellars / boutique / limited run wines. Both interesting and expensive.

Oh well - I've derailed this enough but it is a good Cab with a thick juicy steak :) Not going to lie.

 

[Jowieg]

I bought the whole system because I was having good and then bad stretches. Sometimes my coral looked beautiful and happy and then suddenly they were bailing. I know most of it was alkalinity swings because I was not checking enough. I also did not have all the pieces to the puzzle until I was also able to follow other parameters with the probes (specifically the pH probe). COVID19 and the stay at home orders caused our house to have more CO2. I was having significant pH drop and changes which effects alkalinity. I don’t know I would have realized this unless my app showed me the trends. 5 people at home all day caused a change in my alkalinity. Now I have macro algae and the pH is stable above 8.0.