My trident went from reading the alkalinity from 8.17 to 13.24 and then 13.08 overnight. Nothing was dosed in that time. I did however notice that the waste line fell out of the container and was dumping out near the trident. The Calcium and magnesium seem to be reading correctly. I am currently recalibrating and was wondering if there are any other steps I should take?
Trident alkalinity reading way off
- Thread starter keithw283
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srobertb
Well-Known Member
Funny not funny. I just had this issue with my calcium. I got woken up to “calcium is 750.” I ran out to see a snowstorm and my tank looked normal. All other parameters were normal aside from a schism on the graph where magnesium suddenly dipped and calcium suddenly spiked.
Step 1: What’s your PH? Did it rise with your new high Alk? If it didn’t, it’s a trident error. Still do step 2.
Step 2: Test alkalinity. If it’s really that high I imagine your tank is in bad shape. If it’s normal. Move to step 3. If it’s not, begin the ancient dance of the major water change!
Step 3: Make sure the needle for your testing solution is sitting correctly in the container and the line isn’t pinched. Make sure the needle and hose are tightly on the 90deg elbow at the lid.
Step 4: Open up the little front gray cover above the reagent tray. Look at the cuvette with a flashlight. Does it look dirty? If yes, google how to clean it. It’s easy. This needs to be done every 6 months anyway.
Step 5: While it’s open, note the small circular device at the back of the machine with all the hoses going in and out. Each one has a small actuator that pinches the lines closed or opens them depending on the test. Make sure each button is pinching and releasing correctly. You can manually press each button to make sure it’s working.
Step 6: Clean your sample line by unplugging it and forcing water through it.
Step 7: Re-prime everything and run a test with the drawer open so you can confirm nothing is pinched.
I did all of this, reset and re-set it up, and it still gave insanely high calcium. I had to replace it.
Step 1: What’s your PH? Did it rise with your new high Alk? If it didn’t, it’s a trident error. Still do step 2.
Step 2: Test alkalinity. If it’s really that high I imagine your tank is in bad shape. If it’s normal. Move to step 3. If it’s not, begin the ancient dance of the major water change!
Step 3: Make sure the needle for your testing solution is sitting correctly in the container and the line isn’t pinched. Make sure the needle and hose are tightly on the 90deg elbow at the lid.
Step 4: Open up the little front gray cover above the reagent tray. Look at the cuvette with a flashlight. Does it look dirty? If yes, google how to clean it. It’s easy. This needs to be done every 6 months anyway.
Step 5: While it’s open, note the small circular device at the back of the machine with all the hoses going in and out. Each one has a small actuator that pinches the lines closed or opens them depending on the test. Make sure each button is pinching and releasing correctly. You can manually press each button to make sure it’s working.
Step 6: Clean your sample line by unplugging it and forcing water through it.
Step 7: Re-prime everything and run a test with the drawer open so you can confirm nothing is pinched.
I did all of this, reset and re-set it up, and it still gave insanely high calcium. I had to replace it.
keithw283
Active Member
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dang I've only had mine for 3 months. Hope I don't have to replace it.
1: PH is fine
2: I never replaced my old test kit when they ran out but tank looks like it's in good shape.
3-7: I'll do these after the calibration solution is done running it's course. Thanks for the response.
There is a chance that something got pinched because the trident is just on a box that got wet so it tilted quite a bit.
Reach out to Neptune via their website. I have found their customer service to be top notch. I had a similar issue and they quickly arranged a zoom call and held my hand through the whole process. My Trident was up and running correctly very quickly.
Cjeippert
Active Member
I have learned the hard way to not trust and react based on trident readings. For example today my hanna reads 7.9 dkh for my aquarium water and 8.0 for the salt water in mixing bin. However, trident says it is 6.9. In the past I added more soda ash and calcium which caused precipitation events. I do clean the trident but the same test results happen. I wonder if the calibration solution could be off. I think I am going to calibrate trident with my aquarium water which I have tested and confirmed with 2 other test kits hanna and salifert. Then use that water and my own numbers. I am going to also test with hanna and salifert the calibration solution. Wondering if it is possible for the trident calibration bottle to change values over the year from production temperature fluctuations etc before we actually use it.
Susan Edwards
5000 Club Member
My alk has been dropping yet I'm dosing over 50. Did the hanna test and it was 7.5 yet trident said 8.1. I had done a hanna test a couple weeks ago a nd it was very close. So I did a calibration with their liquid. Alk higher, cal lower and mg lower, 1200 instead of 1500! So I tested again h anna alk (same) and hanna ca and got 585! So tested salifert and got 360 ca and 1350 mg.
what the heck. Calibrated with my tank water again. Using hanna and salifert
what the heck. Calibrated with my tank water again. Using hanna and salifert
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