Considering a Neptune Trident

[Arricefe]

Howdy All Y’all, I have a 120 gallon 4 foot tank that is doing very well. It’s a mixed reef and so far everything is thriving but I think I am reaching a point where I’m going to have to change my routine. Like I said it’s a mixed reef with my LPS and zoas doing great, I have a few SPS and they are doing ok but I think I’ll need to change something for them to fully blossom. The “problem” is that it turns out that I‘m too lazy to test, I couldn’t tell you what my params are if I wanted too. There’s plenty of live rock in the tank, I have a refugium section in my sump and I do 10%ish water change weekly (without fail). Since I don’t test I don’t dose anything. Question: would getting a trident by itself (I do have an Apex) be worth it or do I need to add dosing equipment to take advantage of the system? Is this the best way to go? Is it a “best practice” of successful reefers? TIA for your thoughts!

 

[User1]

Trident will require a Apex. I can't speak for GHL. Mindstream does not but good luck getting one. Their release is 10x worse than Neptune's Trident and in my opinion anything you pay for upfront is a non starter for me.

So you need to answer the first question on your own which is do you want a controller. And if you do what do you want it to do today, and tomorrow, and do you have any upgrades planned. This will steer you in a direction to choose between the Apex, GHL, or open source controller line. If you go Neptune, then the Trident makes sense. If you go GHL, well, GHL's product makes sense. If you don't want a controller and only want to test then you narrowed down your options.

Those are:
Mindstream
Reefbot

There is no best way to go or best practice. Only you can decide what you need or what will help you. For me the decision was easy. I already had an Apex so Trident was it. That and I only really care about Alk / Ca / Mag. Reagents don't bother me. We have been using them since the stone ages and they work wonderfully. Number of tests per day also don't bug me because anything greater than 1 time a day is better than what I was doing (0).

I'm trying my best to give you a unbiased answer not trying to be vague. Ask yourself what you would do with a controller and it may help guide you in a direction. Apex and GHL are both solid products and companies. Either will do what you want. I'd personally wait another 6 months or so if you go the route of Mindstream to give them time working out their production line issues.

Best of luck.

 

[ChadmRoman]

I'm right there with you on testing, just plain lazy and would rather play with my kids. I do try to check Alk every other day (around the same time) and Phosphate weekly. Just bought a Trident from BRS yesterday and will run it with a Jeabo doser. The settings on the doser are easy to change, so not worried about some manual changes every once in a while until I can afford two Apex Dosers.

What I've noticed through doing water changes is the newly added salt mix may throw off your parameters. I went from a one batch of TM Pro mixing Alk at 7.6 every batch to my second bucket mixing at 6.8 every time. This had an affect on my SPS to a point they won't open for a few days until the params stabilize from dosing. May very well be a good reason to automate this to stabilize params, but then again no money because my other hobbies are just as expensive.

 

[User1]

I'm right there with you on testing, just plain lazy and would rather play with my kids. I do try to check Alk every other day (around the same time) and Phosphate weekly. Just bought a Trident from BRS yesterday and will run it with a Jeabo doser. The settings on the doser are easy to change, so not worried about some manual changes every once in a while until I can afford two Apex Dosers.

What I've noticed through doing water changes is the newly added salt mix may throw off your parameters. I went from a one batch of TM Pro mixing Alk at 7.6 every batch to my second bucket mixing at 6.8 every time. This had an affect on my SPS to a point they won't open for a few days until the params stabilize from dosing. May very well be a good reason to automate this to stabilize params, but then again no money because my other hobbies are just as expensive.

I think you will like the Trident. I'm thrilled I was finally able to pick one up. Only thing that has really bugged me a bit was my choice of waste container size. I am using a Voss glass water bottle for the container but it is the 800 Ml. So when i forget to empty it I'll get the container error alert which stops testing. Once reset though it picks up from the last test and runs it. I have a larger bottle ready and will swap it out this weekend.

It is a solid product I have to say and works well.

 

[Arricefe]

Trident will require a Apex. I can't speak for GHL. Mindstream does not but good luck getting one. Their release is 10x worse than Neptune's Trident and in my opinion anything you pay for upfront is a non starter for me.

So you need to answer the first question on your own which is do you want a controller. And if you do what do you want it to do today, and tomorrow, and do you have any upgrades planned. This will steer you in a direction to choose between the Apex, GHL, or open source controller line. If you go Neptune, then the Trident makes sense. If you go GHL, well, GHL's product makes sense. If you don't want a controller and only want to test then you narrowed down your options.

Those are:
Mindstream
Reefbot

There is no best way to go or best practice. Only you can decide what you need or what will help you. For me the decision was easy. I already had an Apex so Trident was it. That and I only really care about Alk / Ca / Mag. Reagents don't bother me. We have been using them since the stone ages and they work wonderfully. Number of tests per day also don't bug me because anything greater than 1 time a day is better than what I was doing (0).

I'm trying my best to give you a unbiased answer not trying to be vague. Ask yourself what you would do with a controller and it may help guide you in a direction. Apex and GHL are both solid products and companies. Either will do what you want. I'd personally wait another 6 months or so if you go the route of Mindstream to give them time working out their production line issues.

Best of luck.

I have an APEX and honestly at this point it's just a pump controller for feeding, my lights have their own programming so as it stands now it's really a waste.

 

[ChadmRoman]

I am using a Voss glass water bottle for the container but it is the 800 Ml.

How often do you test? How often do you empty the bottle?

 

[User1]

How often do you test? How often do you empty the bottle?

Minimum - 4.

At least once a week. The problem is I'll see it out of the corner of my eye and say to myself that I need to change it. Then get caught up in something else and forget... I actually have a larger Voss glass bottle that I'm not using which is 1200 ML I think which will last a lot longer.

I was running 6 tests during the initial week after setup but have since switched back. Also just picked up the 6 month reagent box which saves a lot of money.

 

[ddrueckh]

You should get a trident. It's the best thing since the microwave. It's not neecded, but sure makes things quicker and easier. I was able to get a Trident 3 weeks ago. I love it! I also have the DOS and turned on auto dosing. It is amazing how small environmental changes affect alkalinity. We had a power outage for a day causing the alk to go up some (no lights so I guess the coral didn't use any). Auto dosing slowly brought my alk back down. It has been cold here lately so we have been keeping the windows closed in the house. This has caused CO2 in the house to go up and my tank pH to go down. This also caused lower alk consumption and my alk to rise. The Trident, with auto dosing turned on, takes care of these alk swings caused by environmental factors. People say not to chase numbers, but with these natural changes in consumption...how can you not? Now the Trident automatically adjusts my dosing and keeps the values very steady. This is something I only noticed after getting my Trident.