Trident Test A Fail Question

[Alexandru B]

So I don't understand what is wrong with my trident. I just calibrated the trident with the regular solution at 8.3 ALK and after the calibration,
1) I set up the regular testing and I am getting this error Test A Fail.
2) I did reset and reprime the lines and did another Alkalinity test and I am getting the same issue.
3) Then what I did I did a combined test with the calibration solution and I was getting the Alk Value at 8.33ppm so is good.
4) Then I did another alkalinity test with the regular tank water and I got the same error Test A Fail.

I have no idea what is going on. The test is working but is not working with my regular water.

I did a Salifer Alk test and my Alk came up to be 6.1ppm.

Not sure what is going on. Do you guys think because the value between 8.3 and 6.1 is too high my Alk test is failing?
Or maybe I have some chemical in my tank water that is affecting the chemical composition?
What could I do at this point?

Another strange thing happening. You can see my trident readings.
Before my trident was recording my ALK; before changing the Alk test fluid and before calibration was 11ppm - 10.5ppm. Is supper strange my trident was testing the 11ppm to 10.4ppm range before and I stopped dosing alkalinity for the past 4 days and has the same range reading as I was dosing regularly. I am usually dosing ALK 110 ml/day of BRS Alk. That is why my alk dropped to 6.1ppm because I stopped the dosing trying to figure out the Tridend Alk Testing. How is possible for the Trident Alk reading to fluctuate so high up (The tests were done before September 11) if I was not dosing any alkalinity to my 150gallon system?

 

[Jason_MrFrags]

Is it a brand new trident?
Don't rely on it for controlling dosing.
Its more of a safety backup.

If your tank alk is actually 6.1 and your calibrating with 8.7 calibration fluid, trident doesn't like the large difference between the 2. You would be better off calibrating with tank water, so when it goes to measure after you calibrate there is not a big diffrence. Or bring your tank alk up closer to the calibration fluid.

 

[Alexandru B]

I see so if the tridend is reading a big gap it will fail the test because he does not know what is going on with the reading.

 

[Dan Reef]

I'm honestly very disappointed with the Trident. I sent once to repair due to this same reason "test a fail" and I'm having the same issue again. I simply can't calibrate as this message appears every time I try to.

 

[gbru316]

Is this a brand new trident?

If not:
1. check for loose tubes (pull out the tray and take a look at the manifold in the back)
2. Look for signs of a leak on the tray or elsewhere within the body
3. It's imperative that the sample line be in the same position for calibration as when you're testing your tank. If they're not, the calibration will be "off" because it takes more/less pressure to pull the sample compared to when it's operating in the tank.
4. Calibrate with your tank water. Not going to get into the "normalization" vs "calibration" debate -- but many of us have found that testing our water with standard reliable test kits (titration kits, NOT hanna checkers), then calibrating with the numbers those yield works out much better than using the calibration solution. I do this once a month because I've found the trident tends to drift a bit over time.

 

[Dan Reef]

Hi! thanks for the answer

Why not using Hanna?

When you say much better, what's better exactly?

Thanks!

 

[gbru316]

Hi! thanks for the answer

Why not using Hanna?

When you say much better, what's better exactly?

Thanks!

I've found Hanna to be easier to introduce test error in. And at least for alk, reagent age can be a big factor in accuracy. I only use them for colorimetry tests -- the ones where you compare the color of the solution to a color chart. These sort of tests are fairly subjective and often difficult to discern (i mean, you're comparing pink against... pink against... pink...). Using a checker for these removes a lot of the subjective nature of colorimetry testing.

For titration tests -- ie "count the drop until color change," there's not really a whole lot of uncertainty. Either the color has changed, or it hasn't. Sure, there's often an in-between stage that lasts for a drop. But we're not looking for lab grade results here, we're looking for ballpark. And so long as you use the same point each time (the "it's changed a lot, but doesn't quite match the final color yet" point or the "it's absolutely the final color" points) it doesn't really matter. And it's not like the tests take a long time -- I can knock out Mg, Ca, and Alk with salifert kits in under 5 minutes.


I often had trouble calibrating with the calibration solution. I even had trouble using Tropic's calibration solution. I ended up just using tank water to normalize after finding the suggestion here. Also, ABC reagents no longer even ships a calibration solution and instructs the user to just use the tank water.

 

[Dan Reef]

Wow, nice answer, thank you for that! I'll follow your suggestion as with Fauna Marin calibration solution I always get "test a fail". However Trident is working correctly with no leaks or problems.