How accurate is the Apex Trident VS Red Sea

[stanleo]

I got a Trident a couple weeks ago. I calibrated it 5 days after I got it. When I set it up on Jan 29, It read that the calcium was 434. After I calibrated it on Feb 3 it read calcium as 568! I tested with Red Sea to make sure and it said the same so I assumed the calibrated value was accurate. Since then I have been doing 20 gallon water changes (my system is roughly 145 gallons) every couple days to bring the calcium down. I got it down to 480 and decided to work on getting my alkalinity to 9 because that was testing at around 7.74 . The Alk was testing at around 7.75 so Decided to dose BRS liquid soda ash to raise it to 8, this raised my calcium to just over 500 so I did a couple more water changes and got it down to 466. My alk was 7.74 again so I dosed it 27.5 mL to get it to 8 and that worked but again my calcium jumped to 493 and the next test 12 hours later said 494. I tested with Red Sea twice and both say 440. Alk and Mag tests are testing the same with Red Sea as the Trident is. Should i do another calibration on the Trident? I have a new solution that came with a reagent refill I ordered. This is really confusing me. Besides the two times I dosed alk I have not been dosing anything except Nitro to get my nitrates up.

 

[stanleo]

bump

 

[Waters]

To be honest, the only number I trust with the Trident is ALK. Ca and Mg seem to drift all over the place in the 4-5 years I have used the Trident. I use those numbers more to watch for swings then anything else, testing manually if I see something that doesn't look right.

 

[ScottF]

Put the sample line in the Trident calibration solution bottle and select "Prime Sample". Then run a "Combined" test on the calibration solution to see what it says. Then use your Red Sea test kit on the same bottle of calibration fluid and see what its says.

I just had an issue where my Trident was falling out of calibration immediately after calibrating it. It turned out to be a clog in the sample tube inside of the Trident. When I was troubleshooting this problem, my Hanna Alk checker matched the label on the calibration solution exactly. My Salifert calcium and Mag kits also matched the label exactly.

Here is a link to the Neptune troubleshooting video that I used to clear my clog:

 

[ScottF]

If it is a brand new Trident, open the drawer and look at the back of the inside of the Trident. Make sure all of the little tubes are fully connected to the manifold. My original Trident came with a tube that wasn't fully connected to the manifold and was leaking fluids all over the solenoids.

Neptune support insisted on doing a RMA even after I connected the tube to the solenoid in case there was any damage to the solenoids from the fluids.