trident or not
- Thread starter jose hernandez
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currentking
Rookie
Not a must have but worth it if you like information...
Ask around first. Been thinking of pulling that trigger also, but just don’t fully trust that the regeant supply will always be on the shelf. Its been historically spotty but not of late far as I can tell
I can tell you that in the short time that I have had mine I have been able to avert both a dip in alk and a spike. So when looking into the alk consumption I noticed a few patterns and one day the pattern in the dips was slightly larger than the other. The next morning the alk was even lower so I went in to see what was going on. Conclusion was that the alk dosing line had gotten clogged and I was able to quickly fix the problem. The other time with the spike was that I caused i mini cycle in my tank by doing some major siphoning of the settled detritus in the sump and the corals alk consumption dropped for a few days. I noticed the alk rising and was able to adjust my dosing accordingly. Very much worth the expense in my opinion.
jose hernandez
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its 50/50 on it some swear by it others dont i like the fact that it has controlled dosing i was thinking calcium reactor but dont understand it at all researched everywhere and still dont understand figured the trident would help
Arricefe
Well-Known Member
@jose hernandez Well we all know it isn't a MUST have BUT to have a successful reef tank good stable parameters are a MUST, the only way to know what the parameters are is to test. Trident will test your water, you will know where your parameters are and you will know if you need to adjust your maintenance. It's expensive but I have more in coral and I want that coral to thrive. Full disclosure: I JUST got my Trident and I am installing it today so I am biased considering I just payed all that money for it.
How old is the tank, what is the alk demand like? Is the tank in a humidity stable environment? Fresh air supply? Clam heavy? Acro heavy?
All the above might matter. You can achieve reasonably stable alk dosing using top off with saturated kalk, IF the evap rate is stable or the demand isn’t heavy like with clams of fast growing sps.
I dunno, I can see $600 when you got thousands in sticks to protect....
I got mine back in March of this year and have not turned on controlled dosing but I have modified my dosing several times myself based on what i see on the results of my tests. I am currently testing 4 times a day. I have wanted to truly understand my alk demand and consumption myself prior to turning it over to the hardware itself. I will be turning on the controlled dosing in January and will move to testing 6 times a day for more accuracy within the doses of my 2 part.
In my understanding of the Trident helping with a CaRx is that you would still need to tune the Reactor to a point near the demand of your tank and then the trident will fine tune the alk level with the use of some kind of Alk using a DOS.
There are other alk monitoring devices on the market. Alkatronic, GHL has their version of it as well. there are some differences in price points and in the way that they conduct their tests. Trident is the only one that will test Calcium and Magnesium. The testing reagents from what I have heard may be cheaper on some of the other machines but they are more expensive up front. I do not want to give any false information as I am not familiar with the other testing equipment. I will say that in the long run the Trident is probably more costly based on reagents and at some point maintenance that will be needed to keep it running accurately.
A must? No. But pretty darn handy? Yes!
I've had mine for almost a year now and it's made my life easier and by byproduct, made my tank much more stable. I hated testing (still do), and didn't test ALK enough.
Now I get numbers I can create a pattern, or "feel for" and act on them. I'm not saying it's 100% accurate, cuz it ain't, but it allows me to maintain stability much easier (well for ALK,Calcium, and Mag) and for me, stability is the main thing.
I started having it control my dosing (I dose all for reef) about 2 months ago and so far, so good.
I've had mine for almost a year now and it's made my life easier and by byproduct, made my tank much more stable. I hated testing (still do), and didn't test ALK enough.
Now I get numbers I can create a pattern, or "feel for" and act on them. I'm not saying it's 100% accurate, cuz it ain't, but it allows me to maintain stability much easier (well for ALK,Calcium, and Mag) and for me, stability is the main thing.
I started having it control my dosing (I dose all for reef) about 2 months ago and so far, so good.
Ippyroy
Defeater of Dinos
I like the Trident. It is not a bad price considering the time I no longer spend testing and cleaning up afterwards. Only having to test Alk once or twice a month is awesome. Not having to redo a calcium or magnesium test because I wasn't sure of the color change is awesome. I have it set to control the dosing, seems to work great so far. Coraline is growing like crazy and corals are starting to take off.
If you already have an Apex I'd highly recommend it.
If you already have an Apex I'd highly recommend it.
U
User1
Guest
No cheaper version. Only one in town? Not really but sort of.
Reefbot is out. You supply test kits and it automates the process.
Trident is out now.
GHL ION down the road.
Why they charge so much? No, not at all. 600 bucks is nothing especially when people pay that for corals if not more. Reagents, test kits, probes, reference fluids, doesn't matter. What you need to understand as a hobbyist is what is the cost of entry point and then subsequent cost over the course of ownership by day, month, or however you want to break it down. One interesting data point is cost per test.
Do you or anyone need an automated tool? No, of course not. None of these are mandatory be it Neptune Trident, GHL ION, Reefbot, or Bob your Uncle. A skimmer isn't needed either or a calc reactor or sump or other tools that we use. The key is using the right tool for the job when you find a use for one.
Here is the no bull sheet deal. You don't need one. If you want one then ask yourself a few basic questions to at least get you pointed in the right direction.
1. Do you own a controller?
2. If you own one, which is it?
2A. If Neptune, look at Trident since you are in their ecosystem
2B. If GHL, look at the ION since you are in their ecosystem
3. If you do not own a controller but looking at one then make a list of your requirements, check the two primary controllers that support automated testing (Neptune Apex and GHL), and see which one interested you more
4. Do homework on controller and based your selection from there
5. If no controller, no plan for controller, then for the most part the Trident and ION are off the list and that leaves you with Reefbot.
You get the idea? I'm biased as I own a Trident. I already had an Apex so it made financial sense to buy it rather than switch to GHL. There isn't one better than the other. One is out today, the other tomorrow (figure of speech but soon). Different ways of conducting their tests. I've never run into a reagent shortage and I've had mine for a while now. Few small issues but fixed via support tickets and quick. I'm pretty happy overall and can't see having a tank without one.
Why? Because I'm lazy. I do not test. Of the tests that I do test they are the easy ones that are repeatable, give good results, and consistent. That means:
Nyos Nitrate
Hanna ALK
Hanna Phosphate
There you go. It works for me. 600 bucks was nothing more than me holding off on buying a bottle or two, or case of fine wine I sometimes splurge on. I buy wine so that is my reference others pay 600 bucks on fish or corals (a vice is a vice is a vice...). Hope this ramble helps but it really is a great product but know that I'm biased as I own one.
So I'll add a little more to my post above and add some options in case it's of any use.
-If you have an Apex, or are planning to get one, then I'd suggest a Trident, OR if you can find one , and only care about KH, then a KH Guardian pro would likely fit the bill (get the adapter for it to connect to your Apex. (As noted above, I have the Trident, use it and am happy with it, but if I didn't have it, I'd get the KH Guardian)
-If you have, or are considering a GHL Profilux, then the KH Director will measure KH and you'd need to add the Ion Director for Ca, Mg, K, and NO3. (I've had the GHL Profilux in a couple of different versions, but only used the KH Director, not the Ion Director, it worked well and I have no complaints)
If you're fiyin' stand-alone and don't want a controller, then I'd suggest either the KH Guardian or the Alkatronic. I have no first-hand experience with either, but I have friends who have both and love them.
As far as it being expensive, well that's relative. Compared to the other options, it's right in line with some and less than others. The kicker is having to use the Apex controller, which if you already have one, it's not an issue, but if you need to buy the controller and the Trident, then it's likely to require a bit more thought on what you're long term plans are, your budget, and really, just what you like better.
-If you have an Apex, or are planning to get one, then I'd suggest a Trident, OR if you can find one , and only care about KH, then a KH Guardian pro would likely fit the bill (get the adapter for it to connect to your Apex. (As noted above, I have the Trident, use it and am happy with it, but if I didn't have it, I'd get the KH Guardian)
-If you have, or are considering a GHL Profilux, then the KH Director will measure KH and you'd need to add the Ion Director for Ca, Mg, K, and NO3. (I've had the GHL Profilux in a couple of different versions, but only used the KH Director, not the Ion Director, it worked well and I have no complaints)
If you're fiyin' stand-alone and don't want a controller, then I'd suggest either the KH Guardian or the Alkatronic. I have no first-hand experience with either, but I have friends who have both and love them.
As far as it being expensive, well that's relative. Compared to the other options, it's right in line with some and less than others. The kicker is having to use the Apex controller, which if you already have one, it's not an issue, but if you need to buy the controller and the Trident, then it's likely to require a bit more thought on what you're long term plans are, your budget, and really, just what you like better.
ramullins86
Active Member
I have been looking at getting the trident. So I can get away with buying the 600 setup vs the 1700 setup? I want to go more automated so I’m not having to test every week per say. An manual dosing.
Assuming you don't have, or want/plan to get an Apex or GHL controller, you can get a stand-alone, automated KH tester. I had done some research on the KH Guardian in the past, and have several friends who use it to test for KH and control their Calc reactors.
I didn't really do a lot of research on the Alkatronic, but I do know folks who have it and swear by it.
Also, please be aware that I'm not an authority on testing gear or anything like that, I'm just providing my opinion and experiences. There very well may be other options out there (like the Reefbot) that you would prefer. It's all about the research and deciding what you really want.
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