Why so many Neptune Tridents for Sale?

[fishybizzness]

I've been noticing lately that after the initial craze of people trying to get a Trident, some even paying ridiculous prices for them, that alot of them are coming up for sale. I'm wondering what the reason for this is. Is it the unit itself? Is it not as useful as everyone thought? Is it the fact that people are realizing that it's not really something they need? Is it the cost/availability of the reagent refills? What are your thoughts on this topic?

 

[dank reefer]

I've been noticing lately that after the initial craze of people trying to get a Trident, some even paying ridiculous prices for them, that alot of them are coming up for sale. I'm wondering what the reason for this is. Is it the unit itself? Is it not as useful as everyone thought? Is it the fact that people are realizing that it's not really something they need? Is it the cost/availability of the reagent refills? What are your thoughts on this topic?

I think the hype has faded away, and people are realizing that it's NOT a game changer when it comes to testing.
FOMO hit hard for the few that paid over MAP pricing for it.

 

[MONTANTK]

Personal thought is that people either don’t want to go through the trouble of setting it up or they don’t fully trust it which is understandable. It doesn’t really take that long to test manually and if the reagents aren’t readily available you have to test manually anyway

 

[Devaji]

I was wondering the same thing. I am mosly an LPS softie reefer so I dont test all that often anyway. i dont understand why you need that many test times daily? maybe if you are an expert SPS keeper with 100K+ of corals then sure.

IDK IMHO I think there should be an option to only test once a day that way the regents would last longer.

I am not buying one anytime soon. maybe once my new build (mixed reef) but mostly LPS gets cooking in a year or 2 with some SPS, there might be a V2 out and might attract me?

curious to see what others have to say on the topic.

 

[Brett S]

I got my trident within a month or so of release day and you can pry it out of my cold dead hands. I love the trident and I wound not go back to manual testing at this point. In fact I recently sold my Hanna alkalinity and calcium checkers because I realized that I haven’t used them since I got the trident.

I absolutely don’t need to test alkalinity 4 times a day, but it doesn’t hurt to test that frequently and the reagent isn’t a huge cost. (A six month supply is $99 with free shipping at most of the retailers, so it works out to $16.50 a month).

That $16.50 a month saves me from having to do manual calcium and alkalinity tests, which for me was a big burden. For some reason I had a hard time testing as frequently as I should have and that would lead to alkalinity and calcium swings. Since I’ve gotten the Trident the apex handles my alkalinity and calcium dosing and keeps my parameters very stable. As a result my corals are much happier.

Is the Trident a necessary piece of equipment? Absolutely not. If you are the type of person who doesn’t mind doing manual tests and/or has your dosing dialed in so that your parameters are staying stable, then there might not be a big benefit to you. But if you want to stop or cut back on the manual testing, then it can definitely be worthwhile.

Right now I’m only doing manual testing for phosphates and nitrates and if Neptune introduced another version of the Trident that could test for phosphates and nitrates I would buy it in a heartbeat. I’m actually seriously considering getting a reefbot for that, but I really don’t have a place to put it near my tank.

 

[fishybizzness]

That was also my opinion. Do you really need to test that many times a day? Sells more reagent i guess.

 

[fishybizzness]

I got my trident within a month or so of release day and you can pry it out of my cold dead hands. I love the trident and I wound not go back to manual testing at this point. In fact I recently sold my Hanna alkalinity and calcium checkers because I realized that I haven’t used them since I got the trident.

I absolutely don’t need to test alkalinity 4 times a day, but it doesn’t hurt to test that frequently and the reagent isn’t a huge cost. (A six month supply is $99 with free shipping at most of the retailers, so it works out to $16.50 a month).

That $16.50 a month saves me from having to do manual calcium and alkalinity tests, which for me was a big burden. For some reason I had a hard time testing as frequently as I should have and that would lead to alkalinity and calcium swings. Since I’ve gotten the Trident the apex handles my alkalinity and calcium dosing and keeps my parameters very stable. As a result my corals are much happier.

Is the Trident a necessary piece of equipment? Absolutely not. If you are the type of person who doesn’t mind doing manual tests and/or has your dosing dialed in so that your parameters are staying stable, then there might not be a big benefit to you. But if you want to stop or cut back on the manual testing, then it can definitely be worthwhile.

Right now I’m only doing manual testing for phosphates and nitrates and if Neptune introduced another version of the Trident that could test for phosphates and nitrates I would buy it in a heartbeat. I’m actually seriously considering getting a reefbot for that, but I really don’t have a place to put it near my tank.

Always great to get opinions from both sides of the fence!

 

[MarshallB]

That was also my opinion. Do you really need to test that many times a day? Sells more reagent i guess.

Thats how I feel about it. I would absolutely pick one up if I could dictate how often tests occur.

 

[Brett S]

That was also my opinion. Do you really need to test that many times a day? Sells more reagent i guess.

The reason it needs to test so frequently is because it only has access to reagent and saltwater. It needs to test often enough that the tubes and the testing vial don’t dry out or salt/calcium deposits can form which can block the tubes or affect the test readings.

Like I said above, testing 4 times a day is probably excessive, but it’s not really a huge expense, so the fact that I can’t test less frequently doesn’t really bother me much.

 

[fishybizzness]

Does make sense.

 

[fishybizzness]

I do however feel that the cost of reagents are a deciding factor for some. IMHO, if they were in the 30-40 $ range for 6 months the amount of times testing a day wouldn't be an issue for most people.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Many were turned off when they couldn’t get reagents and realized it was cheaper and cost effective to do so manually
I had this gut feeling hence why I never bought one

 

[GregOyeah]

Constantly getting the reagent refills and the hassle associated with finding them would be my guess.

 

[Jminasalli]

I love mine and would never go back to manually testing. It frees me up from that and I get to enjoy the tank more.

 

[MarshallB]

I do however feel that the cost of reagents are a deciding factor for some. IMHO, if they were in the 30-40 $ range for 6 months the amount of times testing a day wouldn't be an issue for most people.

Sure, lots of things wouldn't be a issue if they were cheaper.

However, even if they were cheaper I still don't have a need to test multiple times a day. If they were free I still wouldn't have a need to test multiple times a day.

 

[KrisReef]

My biggest fear is that reagents will not be available for the tests I use. The 4x day testing reminds me to much of my dear mother asking if my homework is done, so I would not want a Trident to remind me of that on my tank.
I have also noticed the sudden availability of these units, but just figured that this is the same market trend for new must-have products. After the initial rush some folk are going to decide the product is not for them. So often folks say; "Patience pays off in this hobby." Now is the time to pick up an almost new Trident from a trusted reefer?

 

[dank reefer]

Here are my wants on a Trident V2
RODI Reservoir - once test is complete, rinses the vial out
Ability to remove vial for deep cleaning without having to take the whole unit apart.
NO3/PO4 testing
Allow me to run test at my schedule
Cost of reagents go down.

 

[Brett S]

Sure, lots of things wouldn't be a issue if they were cheaper.

However, even if they were cheaper I still don't have a need to test multiple times a day. If they were free I still wouldn't have a need to test multiple times a day.

For me, at least, it’s easier to think of it as testing 4 times a day is how the unit needs to operate. Testing multiple times a day doesn’t hurt anything even if you don’t need results that frequently and it keeps the unit running.

 

[Devaji]

Here are my wants on a Trident V2
RODI Reservoir - once test is complete, rinses the vial out
Ability to remove vial for deep cleaning without having to take the whole unit apart.
NO3/PO4 testing
Allow me to run test at my schedule
Cost of reagents go down.

yup i would prob. pick on up if that was the case. maybe in a few years it might happen. guess I better start saving now.

 

[Devaji]

BTW I don't see a V2 trident coming anytime in the next few years maybe 5.