Trident FAQ

[coralcruze]

who makes aquatronic? web site? thanks

 

[mitch91175]

It’s called Alkatronic. Focustronic makes it.

 

[iReefer12]

and now for thanksgiving i can unsub from this thread.

And to this, I give Thanks! Happy thanksgiving all.

 

[scubaX]

I had to make the decision with Black Friday and jumped to Alkatronic. Tired of going away for 2 weeks with no one being able to care of tank and coming back sometimes to low alk and some upset corals. Now I can have peace of mind. Waited as much as I could

Same here , jumped to Alkatronic . I own full apex range , tried of waiting .

 

[TeotheCoral]

Terence! You’re the man dude. Love watching you on YouTube talking tech about your products and throwing other people’s products away like trash! You’re the man dawggg.

 

[markstubb]

Terence! You’re the man dude. Love watching you on YouTube talking tech about your products and throwing other people’s products away like trash! You’re the man dawggg.

Context?

 

[sdreefrob]

If I waited this long for the trident I might as well stay the course...hopfully all the bugs will be all worked out.

 

[Jamie7907]

I agree the alkatronic is a very nice piece of equipment (probably the nicest alk monitor on the market imo) with many safe guards in place. And in all honestly I would have already bought it if I didn’t think the trident was close enough around the corner in the next few months. That being said I don’t see why the trident can’t have the same safe guards as the alkatronic

The trident is only a tester and will NOT dose or control anything, programming the main apex to do so will be left up to the end user.

 

[CMO]

The trident is only a tester and will NOT dose or control anything, programming the main apex to do so will be left up to the end user.

Permanently or just at initial release? I figured an update would occur down the road to add automated alk management, no?

 

[mitch91175]

Permanently or just at initial release? I figured an update would occur down the road to add automated alk management, no?

Your guess is just as good when it comes to that occurring.

 

[Jamie7907]

I’ll bet it’ll be left to users to minimize Neptune’s risk if and when something goes wrong. The code required to not only automate control but also put meaningful safeguards in place won’t be just a small snippet. I have all three of the alk controllers out now and all do good except the kh guardian which is junk. The GHL and Alkatronic both have safeguards in place. I have found that with a calcium reactor calcium and magnesium levels stay right about where they should be with only one adjustment in 6 months. I’ll still be getting the trident just because though the price puts me off.

 

[ShadowR55]

I’ve only had the alkatronic for a few days now and it’s awesome. It’s an awesome machine, If you have the means to spend $900 now and then maybe buy the second version of the trident after it comes out and the little bugs are refined even more, then I would do it. That’s my plan if it’s actually all the hype it’s supposed to be. Everything Neptune I have, and it’s a lot, is great and they built an awesome ecosystem so i’m sure they are taking their time for a good reason.

 

[justingraham]

I’ll bet it’ll be left to users to minimize Neptune’s risk if and when something goes wrong. The code required to not only automate control but also put meaningful safeguards in place won’t be just a small snippet. I have all three of the alk controllers out now and all do good except the kh guardian which is junk. The GHL and Alkatronic both have safeguards in place. I have found that with a calcium reactor calcium and magnesium levels stay right about where they should be with only one adjustment in 6 months. I’ll still be getting the trident just because though the price puts me off.

What’s wrong with the khg?

 

[Jamie7907]

Cheaply made, poor design. It tips over if you look at it sideways. I’ve had several motors quit on the units I’ve had, most commonly the trash pump and the stirrer motor. Coralvue has been great but even they know it’s junk and hence why it’s no longer offered for sale. It’s just a matter of time until they run out of replacement parts and the people who purchased them are left with no remedy other than buying a different unit. The first production run was slightly higher quality produced with better quality motors and a glass ph probe but by the second production run cheaper motors were used and a $3 plastic ph probe that you would be lucky to ever be able to calibrate correctly and since the whole measurement process revolves around the ph probe any results given were questionable at best. It’s easy enough to swap a ph probe with a better quality unit but imo you shouldn’t have to until the one supplied wears out in a year or so. I’m fortunate to have a lab grade Hach alkalinity tester to compare results with and I’ve seen firsthand which is why I would never recommend anyone waste their money on a kh guardian especially when most purchasers simply compare the results to that of their favorite test kit. Most of the time the results from them while precise are inaccurate and I’ve seen may posts where users of all of the available alkalinity testers adjust the displayed results to match them.

 

[ShadowR55]

Cheaply made, poor design. It tips over if you look at it sideways. I’ve had several motors quit on the units I’ve had, most commonly the trash pump and the stirrer motor. Coralvue has been great but even they know it’s junk and hence why it’s no longer offered for sale. It’s just a matter of time until they run out of replacement parts and the people who purchased them are left with no remedy other than buying a different unit. The first production run was slightly higher quality produced with better quality motors and a glass ph probe but by the second production run cheaper motors were used and a $3 plastic ph probe that you would be lucky to ever be able to calibrate correctly and since the whole measurement process revolves around the ph probe any results given were questionable at best. It’s easy enough to swap a ph probe with a better quality unit but imo you shouldn’t have to until the one supplied wears out in a year or so. I’m fortunate to have a lab grade Hach alkalinity tester to compare results with and I’ve seen firsthand which is why I would never recommend anyone waste their money on a kh guardian especially when most purchasers simply compare the results to that of their favorite test kit. Most of the time the results from them while precise are inaccurate and I’ve seen may posts where users of all of the available alkalinity testers adjust the displayed results to match them.

Since you have a lab grade Alkalinity tester, which would be more accurate? My alkatronic which tests through PH or the Hanna alkalinity checker? Have you tested the Hanna checker against your tester and if so, what was the difference? Much appreciated.

 

[Jamie7907]

Alkatronic. Yes I have compared both of my Hanna’s and they each read .7 dkh high, within their margin of error. This doesn’t make them bad because they show this consistently very precise though not accurate. Results can change when you change reagents skewing results. If you read Randy Holmes Farley’s write up on diy alkalinity test it gives an excellent explanation of what is happening, some are waiting for ph to hit 4.5 where others like the Hanna use an indicator dye I believe that changes at a certain ph, still can be accurate but there have been numerous issues with reagents especially when your test requires more than one you introduce other potential areas for error. The Alkatronic uses an acid and is titrated down to 4.5 and then the amount used is measured and alkalinity is calculated. I haven’t tried it with the Alkatronic yet but with my KH Director you can replace the GHL reagent with off the shelf .1N hcl acid and save quite a bit of money. If you want to save even more and have the equipment you can buy concentrated hcl and make your own .1N hcl. I can buy 500 ml of 36.5% hcl from the science store and dilute it down. Here is a handy calculator. https://www.sigmaaldrich.com/chemis...er/technical-library/molarity-calculator.html

 

[wesman42]

Is there any way to block a thread from appearing over and over? I'm tired of seeing this....and I'm not even subscribed to the topic.

 

[markstubb]

top right of each page, unwatch thread. click it.

 

[wesman42]

top right of each page, unwatch thread. click it.

Thank you!

 

[Ikikimo]

I was going to wait until the release of the Trident to pick up an Apex, but I couldn’t resist the Black Friday deal from Marine Depot. Can’t wait to get it running and obviously very excited about the upcoming trident.