Why did i return / sell my trident?

[d5332]

Folks, hoping to get your input on the Neptune trident and if applicable the Dos pump.

Is the trident at this point truly a time and money saver or the tech is too new to fully rely on it and consistent manual testing is simply easier than the maintenance the trident requires?

Any Dos users to auto adjust alk based on trident readings? Any close calls? Tank wipe outs?

Long story short, in 15 years I have wiped out the tank 4 times.
1. Played with vodka and went to fast
2. Was traveling too much and did not set alk dosing pump correctly during maintenance
3. Did not use kalk reactor correctly
4. Chased icp test results

Is the tech worth it?
does it save time?
Does it keep tank steady?
Is it reliable?
Is the maintenance less labor intensive thank standard husbandry?

 

[FlyPenFly]

Will never have a reef tank without a Trident or other reliable alk monitor. It's just too useful. For a first generation product it's very very good but I got a later batch than other people and let it mature a year before I adopted it.

 

[Reef man 89]

Do you need it? absolutely not! But I can tell you once I set mine up I am in love with! I will never run a tank with out it. I will still once in a while it the readings don’t add up I will pull out my Hanna/Red Sea kits just to double check. But I think it worth it

 

[cidermaster]

I have had a few problems with mine that have driven me crazy . But on the flip side of it it has also saved my tank a few times that I know of .. I would never run a tank without one again .

 

[d5332]

@cidermaster what type of problems?
Was it the type of problems that took hours to resolve?

Appreciate the input

 

[d5332]

Do you need it? absolutely not! But I can tell you once I set mine up I am in love with! I will never run a tank with out it. I will still once in a while it the readings don’t add up I will pull out my Hanna/Red Sea kits just to double check. But I think it worth it

@Reef man 89 what is your maintenance schedule like?
Most directly, if the trident needs attention are we talking a few minutes or always a significant task?

 

[d5332]

I opened this thread but all of the already existing threads do not provide visibility into why so many people sell their trident so quickly after buying it.

 

[JBs_Reef]

Even though I run a trident in each of my systems I am not a huge fan. Despite hours with the helpful folks at Neptune mine rarely gives accurate readings for all three tested elements. I do still find it VERY useful to monitor trends. If the Alk is trending down according to trident it is still trending down even if the values are not accurate.

mid you are looking to replace testing then this is not your answer. IMO O would never control Alk dosing and such with the Ttident. There are horror story after horror story about this.

Also be aware that when you regents run low the reading go haywire. There are so DIY tubing holders for inside the regent bottle that help with this.

Despite all the negatives I still have mine running. If I had to do it over again would go with the Alktronik.

good luck

 

[User1]

Folks, hoping to get your input on the Neptune trident and if applicable the Dos pump.

Is the trident at this point truly a time and money saver or the tech is too new to fully rely on it and consistent manual testing is simply easier than the maintenance the trident requires?

Any Dos users to auto adjust alk based on trident readings? Any close calls? Tank wipe outs?

Long story short, in 15 years I have wiped out the tank 4 times.
1. Played with vodka and went to fast
2. Was traveling too much and did not set alk dosing pump correctly during maintenance
3. Did not use kalk reactor correctly
4. Chased icp test results

Is the tech worth it?
does it save time?
Does it keep tank steady?
Is it reliable?
Is the maintenance less labor intensive thank standard husbandry?

1. They are not necessary
2. They do save time if you run any of the three tests manually
3. It will not crash your tank if you enable trident assisted dosing (it has a built in safety net designed into it)

I could add more but that will start to cross my bias line Honestly, there isn't an automated system be it the Trident, reefbot, or soon to be ION, that is necessary. We can look back on history and see many a successful tank without them. They are a tool to improve the hobbyist quality of life. At least that is how I see it. It takes an otherwise tedious task and automates it. By doing so saves us time and in theory provides more consistent results.

I'm sure this goes without saying but hobbyists can still use a tool incorrectly...

 

[Pntbll687]

Even though I run a trident in each of my systems I am not a huge fan. Despite hours with the helpful folks at Neptune mine rarely gives accurate readings for all three tested elements. I do still find it VERY useful to monitor trends. If the Alk is trending down according to trident it is still trending down even if the values are not accurate.

mid you are looking to replace testing then this is not your answer. IMO O would never control Alk dosing and such with the Ttident. There are horror story after horror story about this.

Also be aware that when you regents run low the reading go haywire. There are so DIY tubing holders for inside the regent bottle that help with this.

Despite all the negatives I still have mine running. If I had to do it over again would go with the Alktronik.

good luck

I bolded that part that seems to frustrate most people abou the trident. It may not be super accurate, but it does a decent job of showing trends. Allot of people do not want to spend $600 dollars to know a trend, they want at least a mostly accurate testing for that amount.

As for me, I don't have an apex/trident/controller of any kind. It's not my thing. I'm not a gear junkie. I use metal halide lights on a smart outlet, hell even one light is still on a old school outlet timer.

 

[User1]

mid you are looking to replace testing then this is not your answer. IMO O would never control Alk dosing and such with the Ttident. There are horror story after horror story about this.

Hmm...haven't seen them. I use it and haven't run into an issue. In fact I can't see how that would happen based on the design implementation of trident assisted dosing.

I do agree with your assessment though. The OP's issues by their own admission are user derived. A tool isn't going to fix that or could be used incorrectly.

 

[burningmime]

There are a few other options. Kh Guardian isn't sold anymore, but there's Kh Director and Alkatronic. Both of those allow you to use DIY reagents, while with the Trident, you're payinbg upwards of $300/year for reagents if you can find them in stock.

I have a brand new Trident not set up yet; thinking about trading it for Kh Director or Alkatronic just for the reagent issue.

 

[User1]

There are a few other options. Kh Guardian isn't sold anymore, but there's Kh Director and Alkatronic. Both of those allow you to use DIY reagents, while with the Trident, you're payinbg upwards of $300/year for reagents if you can find them in stock.

I have a brand new Trident not set up yet; thinking about trading it for Kh Director or Alkatronic just for the reagent issue.

6 month reagents are in stock so using the min test 4/2/2 you are looking at 200 bucks / year. If you opt to test more than of course it will increase the cost.

Yes, there has been reagent shortages but c19 and a few other things sort of made that a bit more of a challenge be it reagents or toilet paper. 6 month kits are available. I can't speak for everyone but so far not ran into any reagent issues. Then again I don't wait until I'm bingo reagents to buy more...

Edit: when I swap my last A reagent I start to look for a new replacement. Works for me.

 

[DC Reefer]

I have two tridents. One is on a system w/ a CA reactor and the other I have the trident control my ALk and CA dosing. I have found the trident to more accurate for Alk than CA and MG for me. Each time I open a new box of regents I calibrate both Tridents so they both get calibrated about 1 per month. I also have my alarms set for any significant swings in Alk on the Trident that controls my dosing. For me the only maintenance is swapping out regrants and calibration each month. If something starts to look off I will generally run a manual test to confirm. Note on the one controlling my dosing I also look at how much Alk and CA it is doing each day to make sure the actual level being dosed is within my known tank uptake.

I find it a good tool to monitor but doesn't replace hands-on monitoring of my tanks. It does give some additional comfort when gone for a week or two at a time and I have a Housesitter taking care of the tanks

 

[K7BMG]

My trident has been on par with all my manual test kits always. So I have no experience with that.
Yes I have had the low reagent levels alter the test result but this is not an issue for me.
If I see an off result I check the reagent level. Simple, then I just change the reagent out, Ok so I loose at most 5 tests I don't consider this a deal breaker. Especially when I look around at all the other reefing equipment that has wasted or cost me more money overall.

Also I have only ever found reagents to be out of stock for short periods of time.
This has never been an issue for me.
I have learned long long ago like the gas tank on your vehicle never run out.
I always order replacements when I have one box left on the shelf. Plenty of time to get more. To me this is personal responsibility issue over a Neptune issue.

 

[Reef man 89]

@Reef man 89 what is your maintenance schedule like?
Most directly, if the trident needs attention are we talking a few minutes or always a significant task?

If your talking in terms of maintenance on the trident. Then all I do is change the reagent and run a calibration every time I open new box of reagent. Takes me all of five minutes to change out reagent and maybe 30-45 min to run the calibration. Other then that I don’t touch it. I have had it for about a year now and it’s been running great. It helps me with spot checking my dosing if I need to increase/decrease my 2 part. It’s definitely a luxury tool and NOT a necessity.

 

[FlyPenFly]

First production this might have had some issues. I honestly just don’t trust the Indie makers long term for a $1,000 investment in my tank in terms of reagents or hardware replacement or maintenance. GHL is the closest real competitor but you have to get even more hardware and do more programming with their equipment...

My trident has been more accurate than my trusty Hanna checker. I hope long term is stays that way with proper calibration.

 

[Ben Pedersen]

I do not have a Trident, but I continue to read terrible posts of people crashing their systems do to calibration and other Trident issues.

These issues are happening to pros and newbies a like. With that, I personally would not trust it alone for performing critical and potentially threatening activities on my tank.

I am including a link to a recent post that demonstrates the risk:

My Coral Collection - photo intense!

Hey bud! Random but how’s your Papaya doing?

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Terence]

I do not have a Trident, but I continue to read terrible posts of people crashing their systems do to calibration and other Trident issues.

These issues are happening to pros and newbies a like. With that, I personally would not trust it alone for performing critical and potentially threatening activities on my tank.

I am including a link to a recent post that demonstrates the risk:

My Coral Collection - photo intense!

Hey bud! Random but how’s your Papaya doing?

www.reef2reef.com

It is impossible if using Trident Controlled Dosing to have any issue of over supply to the tank. I think no one should count on any single piece of equipment - and, as was the case in the thread you posted above - you sometimes have to trust your gut and double check when readings seem strange. How many times does this happen on refractometers, for instance.

The Trident alone cannot crash your system any more than an old or improperly used test kit can. There is certainly no more incidence of Trident users crashing their tanks than there are customers using traditional testing methods - in fact i would suggest the opposite is likely more true.

But, this is the beauty of this hobby, many ways to get to the same results, either up or down

 

[burningmime]

6 month reagents are in stock so using the min test 4/2/2 you are looking at 200 bucks / year. If you opt to test more than of course it will increase the cost.

Yes, there has been reagent shortages but c19 and a few other things sort of made that a bit more of a challenge be it reagents or toilet paper. 6 month kits are available. I can't speak for everyone but so far not ran into any reagent issues. Then again I don't wait until I'm bingo reagents to buy more...

Edit: when I swap my last A reagent I start to look for a new replacement. Works for me.

My impression from scanning other feedback is that the 6 months reagents don't actually last 6 months, especially if you keep your Alk high. Even at $200/year, that's a fair price, but far from the $10/year of bulk HCl.