Trident ACM Mg Confidence

[spartanman22]

How much confidence do we put in the Trident Magnesium values? I don’t have a Mg Hanna checker, but I’ve found alk and Ca to track right with Hanna. I understand there’s some method concerns with the trident Mg? I’ve got a Hach DR3900 so I’m going to order some Mg TNTs to test.

Main reason is that I’m running low on Mg. I’m using AF’s all in one dosing component (really just wanted to give it a shot). In previous systems I’ve ran the AF 3 part with great results. I’ve been trying to slowly raise Mg. I’ve been dosing about 60 mL daily (morning and night) into my 75 gallon AIO. I’ve gotten it to raise about 100 mg/l but I’ve stalled out there over the past several days.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I don’t know whether it is reliable enough to guide dosing. The Hanna and other home kits are not, IMO.

 

[spartanman22]

I’m curious to see how the TNT works. See if the trident is similar at all. I’d like to get my Mg more to around 1300-1400, just not sure how much faith I put in the current value.

 

[Waters]

I have always dosed based on that number....whether or not it is accurate, who knows lol.

 

[Sdbuehler1]

I find that the Calcium and Magnesium test results start skewing pretty bad as the reagent gets pretty low on the Trident. I just replaced my reagents yesterday on one of my tanks and the magnesium was off by > 50 ppm compared to my salifert test. I calibrate my Trident every time I replace all of the agents using Hanna Alk, Hanna calcium, and the salifert Magnesium as the baselines with tank water instead of the calibration fluid that comes with the trident agents.

 

[spartanman22]

I find that the Calcium and Magnesium test results start skewing pretty bad as the reagent gets pretty low on the Trident. I just replaced my reagents yesterday on one of my tanks and the magnesium was off by > 50 ppm compared to my salifert test. I calibrate my Trident every time I replace all of the agents using Hanna Alk, Hanna calcium, and the salifert Magnesium as the baselines with tank water instead of the calibration fluid that comes with the trident agents.

Interesting, I’ve found my trident ACM’s calcium and alk to be really consistent with Hanna. I check about 1x/week just to make sure.

I do find my Trident NP gets really wonky. It’ll be rocking and rolling and then nitrates shoot to 30+ and phosphates to zero. After 2-4 days of samples it dials itself back in. Really strange. Doesn’t seem to track reagent volumes (I.e. not happening only when reagents are low, etc).

 

[spartanman22]

@Randy Holmes-Farley Hach’s TNT method utilizes the metalphthalein. I admittedly don’t know what method the trident is following. Thoughts? The TNT also is for 0.5 - 50 mg/l ranges. Seems like a drastic dilution to get detectable values. Once upon a time I was a wastewater chemist. Now I just babysit grown adults. So need a smarter chemist to chime in .

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

@Randy Holmes-Farley Hach’s TNT method utilizes the metalphthalein. I admittedly don’t know what method the trident is following. Thoughts? The TNT also is for 0.5 - 50 mg/l ranges. Seems like a drastic dilution to get detectable values. Once upon a time I was a wastewater chemist. Now I just babysit grown adults. So need a smarter chemist to chime in .

I’m not sure what you are asking, but I do not know if the Hach method will be any better. I would not assume so.

 

[Sdbuehler1]

Interesting, I’ve found my trident ACM’s calcium and alk to be really consistent with Hanna. I check about 1x/week just to make sure.

I do find my Trident NP gets really wonky. It’ll be rocking and rolling and then nitrates shoot to 30+ and phosphates to zero. After 2-4 days of samples it dials itself back in. Really strange. Doesn’t seem to track reagent volumes (I.e. not happening only when reagents are low, etc).

The Alk is usually very consistent. It’s the calcium and magnesium that start drifting towards the end of the bottle. You can see on my graph below where they both drift upward quite a bit and then I calibrated them after changing out the bottles and now they level off again. This usually happens every time at the end of the B and C bottles.

 

[spartanman22]

The Alk is usually very consistent. It’s the calcium and magnesium that start drifting towards the end of the bottle. You can see on my graph below where they both drift upward quite a bit and then I calibrated them after changing out the bottles and now they level off again. This usually happens every time at the end of the B and C bottles.

Good to know. I haven’t made it through a reagent B and C bottle yet. I’m more interested in precision over accuracy.