SO I am really considering buying an APEX/Trident combo...

[ThatTennesseeBeardedGuy]

Well I have recently sold off a 120 gallon tank and some never used canister filters that I had got for free. I also received some cash for my 23rd Birthday and well I have about just enough to get the Apex/Trident combo for about 1400 dollars. Well I would like to hear some advice. I have realized that parameters are really important however I am sometimes too busy for my own good and end up missing testing days and end up putting them off. Well I feel like this is a good route to go to actually get some stability in my reef and even in future reefs. However I have been reconsidering since this would be my largest reef tank purchase to date. I feel like I am getting cold feet hahahah. So I am just wanting to hear from any experiences that other fellow reefians may have.

 

[X-37B]

Not a controller/monitor fan.
Have an apex and never set it up lol.
I run a simple system on my 120.
Bare bottom, 7" filter sock, skimmer, carx, ato.
I only test for alk 1-2 times a week and run a paper log.
Takes all of 5 minutes.
Cal and mag are stable and test once a month.
Dose trace and run a no water change system.
Get the system if you want is my opinion. They are nice!

 

[tankstudy]

Comes down to what you want to keep and how much you want and what you want to keep really.

When my tanks growout completely, testing daily was required, if you missed a day or two, alk could swing greatly. Sensitive corals really don't dig that. The trident really takes the burden off in this case.

If you plan to stock extremely light in coral wise or choose coral that aren't super sensitive to changes, you could easily just test once a week. Trident not so necessary in this case.

I like my trident and its one thing I don't regret buying.

 

[jblasi]

I have ran an Apex for years and it works awesome. It can be frustrating or overwhelming at first if you are not into certain technologies. But once you really get into it, it’s really not that bad. Purchased the trident when it first came out. I will admit that it tends to have it quarks. Definitely not a perfect system by any means but overall I have been happy with it. I will say that I would run the DOS and trident independently of each other. AT FIRST. Get a feel for both and then once your confident you can integrate. The trident reads can get a little skewed as the regents get low and could cause your DOS to dump more or less less then you normally need.

 

[ThatTennesseeBeardedGuy]

For me I am at the lighter stages however I think it could be a game changer so that I could get to the point of adding a larger volume of corals.

 

[phatduckk]

I have a trident and like it a lot. I have 2 tanks - a 10g coral QT and my DT. DT has the Trident but the 10g does not. Having both a manual-testing-tank and the trident-tested-tank really makes me appreciate the automation.

I get busy with work, kids, family, life and don't have time to test manually or have to do it at some absurd hour. Its not a necessity but its a nice to have.

All in all tho - even w/o the trident I really love the apex. Its nice to automate simple things plus im a big fan of controlling all the things from a single app as opposed to using 5 different apps to prep for feeding time or maintenance