Trident FAQ

[Chris155hp]

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.

Nice! Make sure you update firmware and modules at the beginning. I kept banging my head with some issues until I realized there was an update when I setup my apex. It’s was when it first came out but just a good practice

 

[Ikikimo]

Nice! Make sure you update firmware and modules at the beginning. I kept banging my head with some issues until I realized there was an update when I setup my apex. It’s was when it first came out but just a good practice

Thanks, I did just that!

 

[Chris155hp]

So it looks like my prediction of NSI going out b4 the holidays was a flop sadly :/. Anyone heard any news ?

 

[MyReefRobbedMe]

So it looks like my prediction of NSI going out b4 the holidays was a flop sadly :/. Anyone heard any news ?

There is No news . I think atleast 50-60% of everyone that was waiting it out has since moved on to Alktronik or GHL .. probably was just a marketing gimmick to get people to buy newer Apex gear . Which no doubt has worked . I know I upgraded mine

 

[Stickboy15]

I’m about to pull the plug on them because I’m tired of waiting but idk what I want to buy tho

 

[Tft12]

I’m about to pull the plug on them because I’m tired of waiting but idk what I want to buy tho

I'm interested to see how the Reefbot pans out...Trident too. I haven't given up on the Trident yet.

 

[Kalibur2]

I ended up pulling the plug. Could not pass up on Alkatronic Black Friday deal. I love it no worries about alkalinity when I’m away

 

[SaracensRugby]

Anyone here given up on the trident and gone with the GHL product, and if so thoughts on its performance? My GHL doser is rock solid, but was not the easiest to set up.

 

[roberthu526]

Thanks to Neptune I established a habit of testing water every 2-3 days and now I actually enjoy it. I don't think I will ever need a trident now. With manual testing now I know my tanks better than ever and I spend time to look at the tank much more.
Technology doesn't necessary bring us closer to the hobby I guess. I am so glad Neptune didn't push out Trident as they said they would!

 

[CMO]

Manual testing = no long vacation for me. Alk needs tested at least once per day on my tank and I don't have anyone I trust to come test my tank and make adjustments while I'm gone for a week plus.

The Trident will help make reef keeping practical which regular manual testing, dosing, etc. makes prohibitive or prone to error by potentially letting people unfamiliar work on your tank.

 

[roberthu526]

Manual testing = no long vacation for me. Alk needs tested at least once per day on my tank and I don't have anyone I trust to come test my tank and make adjustments while I'm gone for a week plus.

The Trident will help make reef keeping practical which regular manual testing, dosing, etc. makes prohibitive or prone to error by potentially letting people unfamiliar work on your tank.

Once a day? I am guessing your tank is pretty new? I did that for the first month when I just started dosing. Now my alk fluctuate 0.1 every week and I usually wait until the variance is 0.2 or more before I adjust anything.

 

[Epic Aquaculture]

I gave up and got an Alkatronic. I couldn't be happier with it!

 

[CMO]

Once a day? I am guessing your tank is pretty new? I did that for the first month when I just started dosing. Now my alk fluctuate 0.1 every week and I usually wait until the variance is 0.2 or more before I adjust anything.

Nope. A year old. Large tank with a lot of budding SPS so alk needs are constantly increasing and will continue to do so for quite some time as the SPS matures. I also allow about a 0.2 variance before adjusting the dose. My alk is generally slowly increasing so while I could get away with longer testing intervals on average, I have caught some pretty sharp spikes or declines with daily testing that could have been problematic if I let it go a week. For example, I was tracking pretty stable at 7.8 for the past several weeks but within a matter of one day that dropped to 7.4 due to a growth spurt (presumably, since everything else was constant including testing time and double checked the result). Had I not increased my dose immediately this would have been detrimental if I let it drop like that for a week. I also dose PO4 and NO3 which causes significant fluctuations depending on where I'm at in my nutrient dosing cycle. I generally let NO3 fluctuate between 1-5ppm (not realistic to keep it exactly constant). So while I'm dosing from 1ppm up to 5ppm NO3 my alk dosing needs are quite different (higher) than when I shut down NO3 dosing and let it fall to 1ppm. Same with PO4.

Thus the starting 4x per day alk testing interval on the Trident.

 

[hart24601]

I also gave up and went to alkatronic. Set up was fine and really all I care about is alk so overall it's a better solution for me. I literally just got a notification my alk is 8.83, right where I want it and hasn’t deviated more than 0.1dkh the past 2 days.

 

[MnFish1]

Thanks to Neptune I established a habit of testing water every 2-3 days and now I actually enjoy it. I don't think I will ever need a trident now. With manual testing now I know my tanks better than ever and I spend time to look at the tank much more.
Technology doesn't necessary bring us closer to the hobby I guess. I am so glad Neptune didn't push out Trident as they said they would!

Curious - how many times that you do the test do you change your settings?

 

[roberthu526]

Curious - how many times that you do the test do you change your settings?

Now I test twice a week and the results I get are pretty stable. I only change the dosage if my alk drops by 0.2 or more. It’s a very subtle change usually 5ml and my system total volume is 400G.

 

[MnFish1]

Now I test twice a week and the results I get are pretty stable. I only change the dosage if my alk drops by 0.2 or more. It’s a very subtle change usually 5ml and my system total volume is 400G.

Thanks - the reason I asked - is that I've thought about buying (one) of the various brands - but I keep thinking - what am I really gaining? Is there really a benefit to keeping the alk at x.0 vs x.3... Then I think about all of the potential problems using another piece of equipment to potentially fail. Then I realize that my tank does fine checking alk every 2 weeks - and I haven't adjusted anything for 6 months... But - the idea is still cool - so still debating the purchase

 

[Muttley000]

I gave up and got an Alkatronic. I couldn't be happier with it!

Ok so I'm search lazy, can the aka tropic talk to the apex somehow?

 

[User1]

Manual testing = no long vacation for me. Alk needs tested at least once per day on my tank and I don't have anyone I trust to come test my tank and make adjustments while I'm gone for a week plus.

The Trident will help make reef keeping practical which regular manual testing, dosing, etc. makes prohibitive or prone to error by potentially letting people unfamiliar work on your tank.

Once a day? That is a job and no longer a hobby at this point.

 

[CMO]

Once a day? That is a job and no longer a hobby at this point.

Exactly. Thus the need for Trident. I know a lot of sps folks that manually test twice a day. Not uncommon. When you have several grand of sensitive sps on the line alk swings are not an option.