Apex hands-free testing vs. manual titration

[getwicky]

Hello there, I appreciate this forum and find it highly helpful. This is my first post.

I have been using the trident "hands-free" testing for Mg, Alk. and Calcium for the past 18 months, until this month when the unit broke down. Neptune is asking for $200 to replace/refurbish .... and after a couple weeks of manual titration testing I am wondering about people's preferences for either approach (I'm using the Salifert "Profi" tests this month). I assume the obvious differentiators are cost and error rate with manual titration. I love the "set it and forget" it with tridents, but am I overpaying and fine to continue using manually titrated test kits from now on?

Thank you!

 

[((FORDTECH))]

Hello there, I appreciate this forum and find it highly helpful. This is my first post.

I have been using the trident "hands-free" testing for Mg, Alk. and Calcium for the past 18 months, until this month when the unit broke down. Neptune is asking for $200 to replace/refurbish .... and after a couple weeks of manual titration testing I am wondering about people's preferences for either approach (I'm using the Salifert "Profi" tests this month). I assume the obvious differentiators are cost and error rate with manual titration. I love the "set it and forget" it with tridents, but am I overpaying and fine to continue using manually titrated test kits from now on?

Thank you!

This is all about opinion and preference, and the time that you have in your life

 

[((FORDTECH))]

Someone with a lot of time on their hands, may find it OK to do manual testing when they have the time and then someone with a lot of money without a lot of time may not care about how much trident regent cost

 

[getwicky]

great thank you!

 

[MichaelReefer]

Personally I wanted to make my system as "low maintenance" as possible. I Work 11 hour days, so just trying to free up as much time as possible.

 

[Gtinnel]

I use a trident and a few months back I also had to send mine in (well technically I did the advanced replacement) and the week or two that I went without my trident made me realize how much I like it. I am able to keep my alkalinity within a very narrow window thanks to controlled dosing.
I would go back to manual testing if I had to but IMO it’s well worth the money to get it repaired.

 

[rtparty]

Over 6 months with my Trident and I never want to go back to manual testing. I setup mine to test half as often so $100 a year in reagents. That gets me alkalinity twice a day and calcium, magnesium once a day. Manual testing would cost me WAY more especially when time is taken into account.

 

[((FORDTECH))]

I just want to throw this out there for some of you, DIYers, and for even some who are not that handy. The trident do it yourself service repair. Kit is actually very cheap and simple to do if you know how to follow directions I just recently did this on my little over a year old trident that started having test a fail every two or three days so I said what the heck instead of paying the $200 The repair kit was $70-$80 or so and took me about less than two hours to do my self in the end. I ended up having to use a syringe to shoot hot water through the regen a tubing from the regen bottle all the way into the machine and chunks of stuff came out of the line. I’m sure this was what it Was causing my problem and I would recommend this repair over sending it in. on top of all that ever since I did the repair kit a week ago my alkalinity has never been as steady as it is now has a margin of .05-.1 fluctuation through the day. And before it was .2-.25 thru the day

 

[Christian0505]

What is broken in your trident? They don’t offer service in the Netherlands, so I had to replace everything my self and it is actually quite easy. As long as the motherboard or laser isn’t broken the trident is fixable.

For me personally I would never purchase the trident again. The thing is inaccurate as can be. Everytime it scares the living **** out of me with my kh is down 1 kh or up 1 kh, and keeps saying it after multiple tests, it is still wrong when checked by a manual test.
I would choose auto testing over manual testing, but never again a trident..

 

[Simon Reefing]

Thinking about getting one I’m nervous now with some of the reviews here lol

 

[srobertb]

Hello there, I appreciate this forum and find it highly helpful. This is my first post.

I have been using the trident "hands-free" testing for Mg, Alk. and Calcium for the past 18 months, until this month when the unit broke down. Neptune is asking for $200 to replace/refurbish .... and after a couple weeks of manual titration testing I am wondering about people's preferences for either approach (I'm using the Salifert "Profi" tests this month). I assume the obvious differentiators are cost and error rate with manual titration. I love the "set it and forget" it with tridents, but am I overpaying and fine to continue using manually titrated test kits from now on?

Thank you!

I replaced my trident about 2 years ago -or so. Time isn’t my thing…which is why I happily paid $200 for a new Trident. Is it perfect? LOL. Do the reagents really need to be changed at more like 33%? Yep.

But I do not have time to test weekly and do the math let alone daily.

“Overpaying” is highly subjective. If my time is worth $500/hr then something that gives me back that much time per week is priceless.

 

[areefer01]

Hello there, I appreciate this forum and find it highly helpful. This is my first post.

I have been using the trident "hands-free" testing for Mg, Alk. and Calcium for the past 18 months, until this month when the unit broke down. Neptune is asking for $200 to replace/refurbish .... and after a couple weeks of manual titration testing I am wondering about people's preferences for either approach (I'm using the Salifert "Profi" tests this month). I assume the obvious differentiators are cost and error rate with manual titration. I love the "set it and forget" it with tridents, but am I overpaying and fine to continue using manually titrated test kits from now on?

Thank you!

I'm not really sure what you are asking. Are you asking what hobbyist prefer as it relates to testing? If one prefers manual over automation? If so that will vary. Some prefer automation. Some prefer manual. Others prefer a little bit of both while others do both until they see the pattern and then use observation and data trending using all of the above.

Also note you more than likely either misunderstood or typed information incorrectly regarding Neptune's ask. There are three options for Trident service.

• DIY - $74.95
• Send and service (refurbished returned) $144.93 - shipping one-way included (includes reagent kit)
• Cross ship, or advanced replacement (forget what they call it) $199.95 which includes shipping both directions and reagents (probably the best deal if you don't want to DIY)

 

[Simon Reefing]

I'm not really sure what you are asking. Are you asking what hobbyist prefer as it relates to testing? If one prefers manual over automation? If so that will vary. Some prefer automation. Some prefer manual. Others prefer a little bit of both while others do both until they see the pattern and then use observation and data trending using all of the above.

Also note you more than likely either misunderstood or typed information incorrectly regarding Neptune's ask. There are three options for Trident service.

• DIY - $74.95
• Send and service (refurbished returned) $144.93 - shipping one-way included (includes reagent kit)
• Cross ship, or advanced replacement (forget what they call it) $199.95 which includes shipping both directions and reagents (probably the best deal if you don't want to DIY)

Do you recommend the trident? I am in the process of buying one and just wanted to know if you have had any issues with yours?

 

[Christian0505]

Do you recommend the trident? I am in the process of buying one and just wanted to know if you have had any issues with yours?

Get yourself something with a ph probe. Makes the kh reading a lot more stable, as the kh is determined by a simply calculation. If your kh is off you simply calibrate the ph probe, or toss the ph probe and buy a new one.

the trident is based on a chlorometer, which means you need to calibrate everytime you use a new reagent set, as each reagent set differs. Which would not be a problem if the calibration fluid supplied would be accurate, but it is not….
second, this also means that if you change your activated carbon, your trident reading is off, as your tank water is less tainted.

 

[areefer01]

Do you recommend the trident? I am in the process of buying one and just wanted to know if you have had any issues with yours?

I do not like spending other people's money so do not recommend anything to others. To your second question have I had issues. Yes, a few but nothing catastrophic.

I've been using my Trident since I was able to find one which is about 5 or 6 months after launch which would put me around the end of 2019 or the beginning of 2020. Let us just say 3 years. I was one of a few people who initially reported Ca drift after the reagent reached 50% or so of the bottle. I worked extensively with Neptune on my Trident placement, water sample location, and a few other environmental concerns they had which also included various reagent changes. In any case that was probably the most exciting or larger issue I had but Neptune worked with us who had consistently reported the issue and resolved it.

I had a line come off of the manifold inside and a puddle of reagent was under the Trident. I wasn't sure of the cause, created a ticket, Paul replied in under 24 hours, called me, walked me through opening the unit, and I fixed it. Pretty chill. In fact I recall this being the day after Thanksgiving and he wasn't supposed to be working.

Other than that I performed the self service using the DIY kit on or around the 2 1/2 mark for no reason other than to do it. The Trident for me is source of record and the data, or results, are consistent. Periodically I will send in an ICP test (I use ATI) and will collect the sample water a few minutes before the Trident does a combined test. At this time I will manually test ALK, Phosphate, and Nitrates (using Hanna kits), enter results in the Apex, note date, time, and then send off the ICP to ATI. Once results come back I can compare to my manual tests and the Tridents and all have been within their respected margin of error.

You will see on this forum and others people who report issues or have accuracy concerns. I can only report what I experience and I'm happy. Everyone has a different experience so your mileage may vary. It should be noted that I am a long time user of Neptune products going back to around 2001 give or take when they used the X10 relays.

 

[Simon Reefing]

I do not like spending other people's money so do not recommend anything to others. To your second question have I had issues. Yes, a few but nothing catastrophic.

I've been using my Trident since I was able to find one which is about 5 or 6 months after launch which would put me around the end of 2019 or the beginning of 2020. Let us just say 3 years. I was one of a few people who initially reported Ca drift after the reagent reached 50% or so of the bottle. I worked extensively with Neptune on my Trident placement, water sample location, and a few other environmental concerns they had which also included various reagent changes. In any case that was probably the most exciting or larger issue I had but Neptune worked with us who had consistently reported the issue and resolved it.

I had a line come off of the manifold inside and a puddle of reagent was under the Trident. I wasn't sure of the cause, created a ticket, Paul replied in under 24 hours, called me, walked me through opening the unit, and I fixed it. Pretty chill. In fact I recall this being the day after Thanksgiving and he wasn't supposed to be working.

Other than that I performed the self service using the DIY kit on or around the 2 1/2 mark for no reason other than to do it. The Trident for me is source of record and the data, or results, are consistent. Periodically I will send in an ICP test (I use ATI) and will collect the sample water a few minutes before the Trident does a combined test. At this time I will manually test ALK, Phosphate, and Nitrates (using Hanna kits), enter results in the Apex, note date, time, and then send off the ICP to ATI. Once results come back I can compare to my manual tests and the Tridents and all have been within their respected margin of error.

You will see on this forum and others people who report issues or have accuracy concerns. I can only report what I experience and I'm happy. Everyone has a different experience so your mileage may vary. It should be noted that I am a long time user of Neptune products going back to around 2001 give or take when they used the X10 relays.

Thanks for the detailed response! That is awesome that everything worked out in the end! For me it’s a bit different I work from home and don’t care so much about testing once a week. The main reason I want the trident is because I hate touching the chemicals I have sensitive skin and don’t let risking the powder or liquid touching my skin lol. Besides when it spilled do you have to touch any reagent? Does the dirty water go in the same place is it safe for it all to mix?

 

[areefer01]

Thanks for the detailed response! That is awesome that everything worked out in the end! For me it’s a bit different I work from home and don’t care so much about testing once a week. The main reason I want the trident is because I hate touching the chemicals I have sensitive skin and don’t let risking the powder or liquid touching my skin lol. Besides when it spilled do you have to touch any reagent? Does the dirty water go in the same place is it safe for it all to mix?

My general response on various maintenance tasks is to glove up. I keep a box of disposable nitrile gloves with my aquarium supplies. I also keep a few in the garage on a couple of my work benches. They come in handy and easy to dispose of. Keep hand clear of some harsh chemicals or glue, etc. I bring this up as you noted about touching chemicals or sensitive skin - I highly recommend them or one that meets dermatology requirements if that makes sense.

Back to the trident. You will need to replace reagents. Replacing reagents will require opening the lid, setting aside the cap(s), removing old, replacing with new, reattaching sample cap, etc. Do I get reagents on my hands while doing this task? No, not really. Could it happen? Sure, it is possible. Have I spilled some accidentally? Yes. Careful, gloves, paper towel or rag, you are good.

I don't understand the dirty water part but maybe you are talking about the reagent waste and/or reagent waste and sample water? Part of the initial trident setup asks you if you run the waste line to a drain (unlimited) or container (limited). If container you set the size of the container (in ml I believe) and it will warn you (estimated) when it needs to be changed. Pretty simple to clear and if sized properly can be done as part of the reagent swap.

 

[Simon Reefing]

My general response on various maintenance tasks is to glove up. I keep a box of disposable nitrile gloves with my aquarium supplies. I also keep a few in the garage on a couple of my work benches. They come in handy and easy to dispose of. Keep hand clear of some harsh chemicals or glue, etc. I bring this up as you noted about touching chemicals or sensitive skin - I highly recommend them or one that meets dermatology requirements if that makes sense.

Back to the trident. You will need to replace reagents. Replacing reagents will require opening the lid, setting aside the cap(s), removing old, replacing with new, reattaching sample cap, etc. Do I get reagents on my hands while doing this task? No, not really. Could it happen? Sure, it is possible. Have I spilled some accidentally? Yes. Careful, gloves, paper towel or rag, you are good.

I don't understand the dirty water part but maybe you are talking about the reagent waste and/or reagent waste and sample water? Part of the initial trident setup asks you if you run the waste line to a drain (unlimited) or container (limited). If container you set the size of the container (in ml I believe) and it will warn you (estimated) when it needs to be changed. Pretty simple to clear and if sized properly can be done as part of the reagent swap.

Thank you so much! I was referring to the waste that is perfect. I need to buy gloves for the garage that is a good suggestion! I think I will end up buying the trident. If I don’t like it or use it I can always sell it. Thank you again!

 

[homer1475]

Both processes work, it's more a matter of convenience, time, and money.

Trident is the most convenient, but also the most expensive. Manual testing takes your time, but costs way less.

 

[gbroadbridge]

Hello there, I appreciate this forum and find it highly helpful. This is my first post.

I have been using the trident "hands-free" testing for Mg, Alk. and Calcium for the past 18 months, until this month when the unit broke down. Neptune is asking for $200 to replace/refurbish .... and after a couple weeks of manual titration testing I am wondering about people's preferences for either approach (I'm using the Salifert "Profi" tests this month). I assume the obvious differentiators are cost and error rate with manual titration. I love the "set it and forget" it with tridents, but am I overpaying and fine to continue using manually titrated test kits from now on?

Thank you!

It really boils down to time.

If you want automatic testing multiple times a day or travel a lot an auto system like the trident (I'd point out there are many others which don't tie you into an single manufacturers ecosystem) can be worthwhile.

If you just want to do a test once a week absolutely nothing beats the salifert profi test for acuracy and time involved.

I can do that test next to the tank in less than 60 seconds and I do it that way once every couple of weeks to compare against my auto system.