Trident FAQ

[MyReefRobbedMe]

I wanna hear the hiccups if there is any . And Do you Trust The Trident

 

[Thales]

Really well. I just coded my CaRx to stop co2 if alk is above 9.7. Awesome

 

[Millimylilly]

It makes me wonder about the actual quality of this product since it hasn’t been released yet...

 

[Billldg]

The fact that Neptune and @Terence isn't releasing an inferior product at the pressure of customers complaining means to me that they will release a top notch product.

 

[Zaireguy]

Maybe during rap we will get some new updates

 

[stacksoner]

Anyone see the HBO documentary "Out for Blood"?

 

[MnFish1]

So - this is just a question - and will see whether the answer is what I think it will be or not. Is it best to beta test with people who are really active, interested, motivated - or more the average customer? Im not sure how they chose who gets to test the product. But the testing is only as good as the competency of the people doing the testing - and their motivation.

 

[wesman42]

Just get the ReefBot at this point. Way better and you won't be saddled to an aging product line.

 

[DLHDesign]

Is it best to beta test with people who are really active, interested, motivated - or more the average customer?

Both. There are different goals, however.
In the former, you're looking for "what can it do" types of use cases being tested. The user who is actively involved in the testing will - generally - push the limits of the system to see how far they can go with it. They'll try things that might not have been thought of, because they are looking for that "something extra" - or else they are looking to break the system through border-line misuse (and that's okay; that's what beta testing is for - sometimes the result is a document change to "don't do this").
In the latter, you're looking for "what can it withstand" types of use cases being tested. There's value in knowing how a product can survive a chaotic amount of neglect. True chaos in a controlled environment (such as manufacturer testing) is actually hard to do - the designers are too close to the product and are biased to test the strong areas and ignore the weak. That's where the disinterested or under-target user comes into play; they either don't care to follow the carefully provided instructions, or don't understand them. This reveals weaknesses that skilled testers and more engaged people would miss.

I suspect that - at this price point - there's not likely as much worry with finding the latter. People won't be dropping down hundreds of dollars on something they don't really see a need for nor feel passionate about having. That demographic actually makes user-testing much easier. Especially because the user base will (in almost every case) have a vested interest in seeing the device work.

But the testing is only as good as the competency of the people doing the testing - and their motivation.

One of the nice parts of the Neptune family of devices (and this one in particular) is that they are connected. Aside from some hardware issues, practically everything about the device can be monitored remotely. And even some of the hardware issues that are possible can be extrapolated from other devices on the same tank...

 

[Reefpuck]

Just get the ReefBot at this point. Way better and you won't be saddled to an aging product line.

"Way better"

Thanks. That's helpful.

 

[MnFish1]

I suspect that - at this price point - there's not likely as much worry with finding the latter. People won't be dropping down hundreds of dollars on something they don't really see a need for nor feel passionate about having. That demographic actually makes user-testing much easier. Especially because the user base will (in almost every case) have a vested interest in seeing the device work.

Im just remembering when the Apex 2016 was released - and there was an uproar on the support community website because of connectivity issues. It turned out that in some units with certain serial numbers had chip problems - there were numerous firmware updates and after several months the product was much more stable. Im not faulting Neptune for this - things happen - that come out after testing. But there were certainly lots of people willing to put out lots of money for a product that was designed merely to make tank automation easier (which in some/many? cases leads to paying less rather than more attention.

One of the nice parts of the Neptune family of devices (and this one in particular) is that they are connected. Aside from some hardware issues, practically everything about the device can be monitored remotely. And even some of the hardware issues that are possible can be extrapolated from other devices on the same tank...

I know - the theory behind it is wonderful. Part of my point was if you take a group of testers that are highly selected - and therefore highly motivated to 'do everything completely correctly' - etc - does that mean the product will perform similarly - when the average reefer (many of which WILL imho fork out lots of money for the newest thing (see above) who may ignore calibration (just once) - or expiration dates on reagents, etc. I don t know - it was more of a philosophical question. If only experts are asked to test the device - user error (which can be a big problem) will be minimized won't it?

In any case - I agree with your post was just curious wondering I guess if anyone knows if they are doing testing under more 'average' 'below average' conditions.

 

[WillH]

"Way better"
Thanks. That's helpful.

It's a product that is a good alternative, if you are looking for something right now. It burns through reagents at an astonishing rate, will require some tweaking to get going and it will not log in your apex at the moment. To counter this apex logging issue, it does have very good interface for storing all your testing results. It can also send notifications through push and email. And IMO the biggest benefit is that it is not stuck to three tests. Personally, I believe the Trident will be easier to setup, cheaper reagents and have more consistent results out of the box and I will probably end up using it for my big three testing, with the reefbot supplementing any tests that I want to do beyond that.

 

[CMO]

Not a good alternative for those of us running no water change systems. I need to monitor and adjust cal and mag from time to time in my tank and would prefer to do away with weekly testing of those. Only Trident will do that...

 

[MnFish1]

Not a good alternative for those of us running no water change systems. I need to monitor and adjust cal and mag from time to time in my tank and would prefer to do away with weekly testing of those. Only Trident will do that...

Curious - I'm not sure why a no water change tank would be any different than another - with regards to Ca and Mg. how often do you need to adjust Mg on a weekly basis - or Ca (based on your testing) The reason I ask - is that if yo do water changes - you're changing Ca and Alk - most people that do water changes also dose 2 part or something equivalent - so they also need to do testing. People that dont do water changes - add the same elements - and test the same - its just they aren't changing all of the other elements in a complete water change. Note - if its just your personal preference - I understand - I didn't understand the 'need' part. Thanks

 

[CMO]

Curious - I'm not sure why a no water change tank would be any different than another - with regards to Ca and Mg. how often do you need to adjust Mg on a weekly basis - or Ca (based on your testing) The reason I ask - is that if yo do water changes - you're changing Ca and Alk - most people that do water changes also dose 2 part or something equivalent - so they also need to do testing. People that dont do water changes - add the same elements - and test the same - its just they aren't changing all of the other elements in a complete water change. Note - if its just your personal preference - I understand - I didn't understand the 'need' part. Thanks

Well not entirely different for the reasons you pointed out but at least with regular water changes you can be somewhat safe that your levels aren't going to get too far out of line. I got lazy testing Cal on my Triton tank and it hit 600 in my last ICP test. With regular water changes it likely would have never got that high so no need for as strict of monitoring. A slight dosing imbalance in a no water change system can really build over time while it would be diluted in a water change system.

 

[TTNuge]

Just get the ReefBot at this point. Way better and you won't be saddled to an aging product line.

When you don't have a product line I guess you don't have to worry about it aging. Instead you have to worry if you just bought a product from a "company" that may or may not be around in a year. I mean who would want to deal with a company that's been around for as many years as Neptune, spends 100s of thousands of dollars on R&D bringing multiple products to market and has a lot better chance of being around in 5 or 10 years.

 

[justingraham]

Not a good alternative for those of us running no water change systems. I need to monitor and adjust cal and mag from time to time in my tank and would prefer to do away with weekly testing of those. Only Trident will do that...

Apparently u haven’t been paying attention to GHL which might even be out before the trident

imagine that a company actually announcing it when it can realistically be sold....and it is standalone dont need a prolifix to use

No upgrade needed

 

[CMO]

Apparently u haven’t been paying attention to GHL which might even be out before the trident

imagine that a company actually announcing it when it can realistically be sold....and it is standalone dont need a prolifix to use

No upgrade needed

Yes, looks like I missed their announcement 7 days ago.

 

[Debacle]

Im just remembering when the Apex 2016 was released - and there was an uproar on the support community website because of connectivity issues. It turned out that in some units with certain serial numbers had chip problems - there were numerous firmware updates and after several months the product was much more stable. Im not faulting Neptune for this - things happen - that come out after testing. But there were certainly lots of people willing to put out lots of money for a product that was designed merely to make tank automation easier (which in some/many? cases leads to paying less rather than more attention.



I know - the theory behind it is wonderful. Part of my point was if you take a group of testers that are highly selected - and therefore highly motivated to 'do everything completely correctly' - etc - does that mean the product will perform similarly - when the average reefer (many of which WILL imho fork out lots of money for the newest thing (see above) who may ignore calibration (just once) - or expiration dates on reagents, etc. I don t know - it was more of a philosophical question. If only experts are asked to test the device - user error (which can be a big problem) will be minimized won't it?

In any case - I agree with your post was just curious wondering I guess if anyone knows if they are doing testing under more 'average' 'below average' conditions.

Let me assure you. I am not a chemist nor do I play one on TV. I am about as lackadaisical as they come. I sometimes go weeks between water changes and my testing mantra is "when I have time and nothing is on TV and the sun is at it's zenith and...". You get the point. So when they chose me as a beta tester they chose a person who has is juggling family and professional life, has a technology background and finds the scientific way to determine how chemical A interacts with substance B in a reef aqaurium tedious and above my pay grade.

So during the beta testing of trident I have been performing my Red Sea tests, comparing them to the Trident and letting the administrators of the program know the results. I report any findings, failures or suggestions I may observe or think of in an effort to make fool proof a product that quite possibly can destroy thousands of dollars of hardware and livestock because of the failure of a simple capacitor or overlooked line of code. So in summary, I'm not a scientist. I'm an average Joe who is putting the trident though it's paces in a typical environment.


And to be perfectly honest, if it wasn't for my Apex I more than likely would have given up due to time constraints yes ago.

 

[Dr. Reef]

i missed it completely what is GHL coming out with?