Trident users

[Waters]

Those that are using the Trident.....do you trust it enough to control your dosing yet? (or will you ever?)

 

[leepink23]

Mine has been controlling for 2 weeks. No issues. It’s been running for about 6 weeks.

 

[Waters]

Mine has been controlling for 2 weeks. No issues. It’s been running for about 6 weeks.

Does that make you nervous knowing that one malfunction could wipe out your tank or are you able to write code which watches ALK levels and shuts off the dosing in case of a hardware issue? I have had a lot of hardware issues with Apex equipment over the years so it makes me nervous handing over dosing control to the Trident/Apex. If the addition of the Trident allows you to include ALK level statements into the coding that there wouldn't be any issues.

 

[ArmyReefer]

Honestly the whole reason that I want a trident is to control dosing. I have big PH swings and my alk consumption can change drastically through out day to day. Redundancy is key, and I think a simple hanna checker every once in a while will make sure things are on track.

I know smart apex owners can write code to where it only doses a certain amount per time. Like lets say 1 ml ever dose, so if something where to happen and it was trying to dose more than that your apex could shut down the DOS.

 

[leepink23]

Does that make you nervous knowing that one malfunction could wipe out your tank or are you able to write code which watches ALK levels and shuts off the dosing in case of a hardware issue? I have had a lot of hardware issues with Apex equipment over the years so it makes me nervous handing over dosing control to the Trident/Apex. If the addition of the Trident allows you to include ALK level statements into the coding that there wouldn't be any issues.

It has programming that if it’s out a range that you set then it diverts back to your original dosing. So really not concerned. So far I discovered I have big alk spikes with water changes, I switched salts and smoothed that out, overall it’s very good.

 

[TTNuge]

I could see a malfunctioning DOS that doesn't shut off causing issues but the Trident has built in safe guards to prevent a catastrophe. If the Trident results go too far out of wack it reverts back to what you manually set for the dosing amount. Been trusting the Trident controlled dosing for over a month without issues.

 

[leepink23]

Does that make you nervous knowing that one malfunction could wipe out your tank or are you able to write code which watches ALK levels and shuts off the dosing in case of a hardware issue? I have had a lot of hardware issues with Apex equipment over the years so it makes me nervous handing over dosing control to the Trident/Apex. If the addition of the Trident allows you to include ALK level statements into the coding that there wouldn't be any issues.

You can write code if you want, I do for alarms, but using the DOS it’s integrated.

 

[Waters]

Ok sounds like you guys answered my question.......I didn't realize there were safeguards built into the Trident. My fear is that the trident reads the ALK incorrectly and automatically changes the dosing, which would be based on an incorrect number. If that were to happen, you couldn't even use coding to turn it off because it will see the ALK number as correct, even if it wasn't. The fact that there is built in safeguards (if the ALK starts dosing like crazy) is good. I already use coding for everything else but up until now, we couldn't write code based on ALK or CA levels.

 

[TTNuge]

Ok sounds like you guys answered my question.......I didn't realize there were safeguards built into the Trident. My fear is that the trident reads the ALK incorrectly and automatically changes the dosing, which would be based on an incorrect number. If that were to happen, you couldn't even use coding to turn it off because it will see the ALK number as correct, even if it wasn't. The fact that there is built in safeguards (if the ALK starts dosing like crazy) is good. I already use coding for everything else but up until now, we couldn't write code based on ALK or CA levels.

Yep, you set:
Volume of your standard dose in ml
Your Desired Value for Alk/Cal
A Range +/- that is acceptable to you for the value to be away from that desired value
A % Limit on the +/- of the amount of Alk/Cal you are willing to let it dose.

So if you have it set to 8.5dKH, a range of +/- .50 and a limit of 40% for example. It will try to keep your dKH at 8.5 by adding or subtracting from the base ml of additive you have set. So if you are dosing 50ml it will allow it to dose as much as 70ml or as little as 30ml. If for some reason your dKH gets above 9 or below 8 it will stop adjusting and return to the default dosing amount that you set, in this example the 50ml.

 

[TheHarold]

Those that are using the Trident.....do you trust it enough to control your dosing yet? (or will you ever?)

Yup I use it and it’s awesome. It can adjust my dosing up to 20% based on consumption, and then will send me an alarm if it needs more than that. Love it.

 

[Waters]

Yep, you set:
Volume of your standard dose in ml
Your Desired Value for Alk/Cal
A Range +/- that is acceptable to you for the value to be away from that desired value
A % Limit on the +/- of the amount of Alk/Cal you are willing to let it dose.

So if you have it set to 8.5dKH, a range of +/- .50 and a limit of 40% for example. It will try to keep your dKH at 8.5 by adding or subtracting from the base ml of additive you have set. So if you are dosing 50ml it will allow it to dose as much as 70ml or as little as 30ml. If for some reason your dKH gets above 9 or below 8 it will stop adjusting and return to the default dosing amount that you set, in this example the 50ml.

Ok this all makes sense....but what if the Trident incorrectly shows an ALK of 6 (when it is actually 8). I assume it isn't immune to incorrect test results at some point? It will increase dosing to raise ALK, just based on the initial incorrect number. Am I over thinking this lol?

 

[User1]

I am going to, yes. I trust it otherwise why would I buy it? It was hard enough to get as it is and after using it for about two weeks I think it is presenting enough data that my tank (starter corals) are starting to use the three items it tests. So why wouldn't I?

Also it seems that it is smart enough to only dose enough based on what I set. So as long as I set it correctly I don't see it doing anything wrong. You know what saved my tank? The heartbeat check in Fusion. What to also know what saved my tank just this past weekend? The energy bar.

Car wreck this past Saturday. Driver went through a utility power pole. Line broke, started a fire, which then took out another line. Neighborhood lost power. Upon restore redundancy or lack of or just flat out too much power went into our neighborhood a then homes many of us which have since lost major appliances due to too much power entering the mains. 2 refrigerators here, Solar panels, inverter, tea pot, toaster, AC, thermostat, 2 x Cor 15's, Trident, and the drum beat goes on. File claim with homeowners, file claim with utility company, etc.

I also have a Cor 20. Someone at Neptune (I forget support reps name or maybe the creator of the Trident - again who I forget the name (SORRY!)) suggested in a talk to put the Cor 20 into another socket and not the energy bar. So while I lost the 1 link devices at first glance my Cor 20 return kept the tank alive while on Sunday I could get to the tank and its components.

Turns out the energy bar does do something to handle the surge and the yellow breaker switch on it finally reset after I unplugged everything and powered off the bar. 1 link came back online or whatever it does and 1 by 1 the Cor 15 pumps, and trident, came back online...go figure.

Things go bad for sure. No product is perfect. But to ask would I trust it - yes. I do. Otherwise I would not have invested in the ecosystem. I am a customer since 2000 when they had the X10's. Even back then someone in support was great when I was talking about the head unit being used as a chew toy by my German Shepherd Dog (puppy). Even though I left it on the ground for some dumb reason and she got it - it still worked. The Rep laughed and said his Great Dane did the same darn thing. Come on - love dogs, great support. Sign me up.

Here is my ALk graph and what I hope to achive to dose once I get my ESV 2 part ordered today. Dosing 10 ml is my intent during the evening or whatever the Trident/DOS recommends. I just need to read a bit more to understand (learn) and then I will enable it.

yes, I'm a fan or biased. I can admit it.

 

[leepink23]

Ok this all makes sense....but what if the Trident incorrectly shows an ALK of 6 (when it is actually 8). I assume it isn't immune to incorrect test results at some point? It will increase dosing to raise ALK, just based on the initial incorrect number. Am I over thinking this lol?

Let’s say you set your desired level to 8, it reads 6 but really was 8. It will revert back to its original dosing that you established. Also you can program the apexto alarm for levels. In this case my dos would go back to its original dosing and I would receive a text with the 6 alk

 

[Brian_68]

New product development engineers can't think of every failure mode or even protect from all the failures they can think of but eventually once hundreds or thousands are in the field they find scenarios they did not think of in this case possibly when someone's tank crashes. Similar to car manufacturers with the first model year that typically has more bugs. Hopefully not the case but time will tell how robust the testing and development was. Hard to say this early on.

 

[ca1ore]

I'm not …. partly because you can never fully anticipate failure vectors, partly because I have had some past stability issues with apex (plus the whole single point of failure thing) and partly because I see no way to control a CaRx that is better than what I do currently. Now, if it were possible to dynamically control CO2 addition I might reconsider.

 

[Centerline]

Those that are using the Trident.....do you trust it enough to control your dosing yet? (or will you ever?)

I have 3 Tridents and all of them work flawlessly. All three Trident units have been handling A/C/M for about two months with zero issues. It was with great trepidation that I started using the units for dosing. I obsessively re-tested for the first 6 weeks and finally had to conclude the units worked as advertised. If you are apprehensive let me suggest that you test a couple of days a week to verify the Trident results. Do so at the same time of day and with the same test kits. If anything looks more out of wack more than 10-15 points call Neptune support. Don't forget to calibrate your DOS units before hand.

 

[CMO]

Yes, even as a skeptic, I have my Trident managing my Triton alk dosing on a packed 165g SPS tank. It's an absolute dream and has worked flawlessly for me so far. I do monitor is very closely but so far after about 2 months it hasn't skipped a beat.

 

[Waters]

Thanks for the info.....I will most likely do as suggested and test like crazy. It will probably be always in the back of my mind though that as soon as I stop testing and double checking it is going to mess up lol. Oh well....if I am going to spend the money I may as well use it as it is intended :)

 

[leepink23]

Thanks for the info.....I will most likely do as suggested and test like crazy. It will probably be always in the back of my mind though that as soon as I stop testing and double checking it is going to mess up lol. Oh well....if I am going to spend the money I may as well use it as it is intended :)

I double tested at first, now I don’t test anymore. It really has been awesome!!

 

[DarthSimon]

I have had the Trident since January of this year, as well as been doing the controlled dosing since it was first introduced to the NSI Group. I run a Calcium reactor, as well as a DOS for supplemental dosing. I can tell you with controlled dosing, I have been able to keep alk at a steady 8.7 to 8.9 consistently. Calcium 475 to 490.