Reliability of Control Testing with Apex, Trident, and DOS

[pledosophy]

I am looking for info on the control testing option to see how well it works. I currently I have an Apex, Trident, and Dos and am using the DOS to dose 2 part.Is anyone using the control option so the DOS automatically doses the amount of 2 part needed for your desired levels?

My levels seem to fluctuate and require adjusting on a weekly basis. Having it automated would be helpful, but also seems risky. I just don't know of anyone who is actually doing this.

Seems like it would be a dream if you could combine the control testing option with kalk in an ATO to get that pH kick from the kalk at night and keep everything consistent.

Tanks ahead of time!

 

[Jonify]

I would be very nervous about that, but I’ve seen tanks that do it and they look very good! Apex has controls so that if the measured alk is way lower than what it was during the last test, it just stops dosing and throws an alarm so you can inspect and decide what to do. Still, my Trident always had issues, so I would never trust it to handle dosing. Just monitoring.

 

[aherre07]

You'd have to first have an idea as to how much your tank consumes daily. You program the DOS to dose that amount daily. Then as you test your apex will make some adjustments within a certain range determined by you in your programming. You then will be able to see the daily dosage and can follow up with increases or decreases based on demand. Been using it for a few years now and feel it's been a great.

 

[pledosophy]

Then as you test your apex will make some adjustments within a certain range determined by you in your programming.

I don't follow this line.

Right now I have my Apex Dos set to dose 27ml a day. Then every few days I go in and do maintenance doses to get things up or down. If I do some fragging I usually have to add a bit more.

I was hoping I could program the Apex to auto adjust with the DOS, but I do experience inconsistencies with the Trident, which it took this week to remind me of.

 

[aherre07]

It will auto adjust within a set parameter that you choose. I believe you can choose an allowable percentage increase or decrease of the daily dose based on testing. However, once you begin to notice the increase has become a routine you can go in and change the daily dose amount so that it is not making a correction all the time. I hope that helps.

 

[areefer01]

Not sure I understand the question fully but the Trident does have an option of Trident controlled dosing using the DOS. There is a task that will set this up or follow their guide. Note the Trident should be in final resting location, installation, and running for at least 10 days. I think they said 7 to 10 but again check. Also as noted the hobbyist needs to understand the amount of additives needed for maintenance. So we need to do our homework to see what the daily consumption is and what is added of X product to get back to our numbers. This is very important Trident or not, right?

Again the document Neptune created for this is actually really good. The main question that comes up is related to the Trident control range. I think they use the word Influence over dosing volume. Anyway this is the key and the safety net that it falls back to should a test result be out of range - it defaults back to the normal dosing amount.

Bold and italics since this is the important part. The Trident will assist dosing based on test results but will never over dose should a test fail or be out of range. It defaults back to the normal dosing amount that the hobbyist set. Safety.

Not sure if this helps but do a search on their portal for Trident Assisted Dosing or something like that and you should get the docs. I ran this for a bit using ESV 2 part and also a single part solution (Tropic Marin All For Reef). Two part worked better but that could be due to TM AFR lag in Alk.

 

[NEFFx]

I wish you could define the low and high range the DOS can control vs having a deviation from the standard value.

For instance, if my Kalk loses potency or my calcium reactor has issues. My Alk drops a lot and I want the DOS to keep up. But if the algorithm having the ability to learn and weigh dosing based on how much to dose based on how far the Alk is from the desired value.

I’m unsure how it does this.

Should be noted that my system is SPS heavy and 600g volume so it can consume 700ml a day of Alk.