Should i buy the Trident for my Apex?

joekidwell

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Hello all I currently have a 28 gallon nanocube full of lps and some sps. I will be upgrading to a 100+ gallon waterbox within a year.

I'm currently just dosing kalk with a dosing pump controlled by ph on the apex.

I work 12 to 14 hours a day so testing isn't something I have time for.

Is the Trident worth it, should I buy the DOS so it can test and dose for me? Will it work with just kalk at the moment until I go two or three part?
 

MnFish1

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Hello all I currently have a 28 gallon nanocube full of lps and some sps. I will be upgrading to a 100+ gallon waterbox within a year.

I'm currently just dosing kalk with a dosing pump controlled by ph on the apex.

I work 12 to 14 hours a day so testing isn't something I have time for.

Is the Trident worth it, should I buy the DOS so it can test and dose for me? Will it work with just kalk at the moment until I go two or three part?
Lots of people love them - lots of people would say 'it's not worth it'.

IMHO - no. It's one more thing to 'go wrong'. IMHO - you do not need to test daily unless there is a problem with your tank. You can dose with the DOS without a trident.

Whether it is 'worth it' to you is strictly up to you. Good luck whatever you decide
 

Reefer Matt

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It depends on what your usage is of Alk, Ca, and Mg, imo. I have a 75g all sps tank that uses about 50ml alk and ca a day, so I do run a trident to make sure the parameters stay in range. There are ways to program it to only test when you want to, instead of the preprogrammed amounts. Up to you, but I like mine alot.
 

hart24601

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After owning an alkatronic and later a trident I do recommend some method of auto testing alk. Of course many tanks, and every tank more than 2 or 3 years ago got along without it, but I have found it phenomenally useful and I know it’s been a positive for my coral health. Couple of my personal examples:

a head came off my dosing pump, I got an alert that day alk dropped out of range. (0.5dkh) Corrected the head.

ran out of 2 part. Again notified that day. Fixed.

Can tell what supplements help coral growth my making only that change and referencing the alk consumption. Same with lighting schedules and other additions. Much easier to consistently track when testing is automated.

ability to see any issues when traveling. Change in alk consumption can sometimes happened before anything looks off, can have a friend go and check the tank

Sure you can manually test every day but having reef systems for so many years I just don’t. Maybe once a week and I would have not caught those issues as fast. I don’t know if coral would have died, but I do know it would have been harder on them.

now is it worth the price? That’s up to you. I have single coral frags that cost almost as much as the trident so seems a no brainer to me. For a softie system or all lps probably not as valuable.
 

areefer01

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Two things.

1. You are already in the Neptune ecosystem so that would be the ideal choice for automated testing.
2. You have a nano today and will upgrade in the future

Personally speaking with a tank of that size it doesn't seem like there should be that much of a swing to warrant the investment "today". You can more or less do a one manual test when you are free and save the money. You could also dose a single solution with less hassle.

With regards to the Trident? It is great. Love mine and it is accurate. I have been using it since a couple months after launch when I was able to track down the unicorn. I use the Neptune reagents and performed the self service a few months back. Pretty reliable kit and tests for what I care about. I run the lowest tests which is 4 alk, 2 ca, and 2 mg. Reagents consumption based on my levels more or less last the projected 2 months per kit. I buy the 6 month sets.

tl;dr - not sure I'd use the trident on such a small system. However once you upgrade and everything is running smooth it may be the right product.
 

SPR1968

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I have over 650g in water in both my reefs

Do I use, or need, or want trident, most definitely not. And I have 2 independent Apex systems

If you like equipment to maintain, refill, fail etc go for it, and I have no issues at all with those who like this sort of equipment it’s easy, when it works.

I do weekly water tests, takes me about 10-15 minutes for 2 tanks. Thats it.

Its all personal preference, and trident is a fine piece of equipment if that’s what you need or want.
 

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