Thoughts on Trident?

[denverjon]

I'm thinking of taking advantage of the Black Friday sales and buying an Apex EL and Trident. I've been manually dosing 2 part for years but can't say my parameters are always stable as I tend to have an issue once or twice a year. Are people happy with the trident and would you recommend it?

 

[Doctorgori]

I have one….I’d buy it but you are also buying a $200/yr reagent subscription

 

[jmichaelh7]

It’s like having a Tunze ATO … makes life easier

 

[Oldreefer44]

If like me, you just want something to tell you what your parameters are on a daily basis, so you can react with your own doser or use the Trident to automatically dose for you then I think it is exactly what your looking for. I have been using one for a year for exactly that with no issues.

 

[denverjon]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm looking for something that's easy to use and reliable and it sounds like the Trident fits both bills.

 

[SuncrestReef]

My Trident has worked great for over 3 years. You can read my detailed Trident thread here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/trident-hands-on.596716/

 

[Jeffcb]

I have thought about getting one. My question is it accurate and how do we know it is accurate?

 

[SPR1968]

Ok I’ll give you my personal view and I have 2 large systems, 1 very big

Do I need to know calcium alkalinity etc every few hours, well no. But I think there’s a reason for this, like replacing reagents.

It takes me about 10 minutes once a week to carry out tests if that. Nothing to maintain refill or pay for

Trident needs maintenance cleaning and refilling and if you like gadgets etc go for it Im not against that in any way. But it’s not for me

And then there’s the accuracy and reliability issues…..

 

[Joe31415]

It takes me about 10 minutes once a week to carry out tests if that. Nothing to maintain refill or pay for

What are you using to test that doesn't require any refills or additional costs? I can't convince myself to buy into the Neptune system yet (much less the Trident). But whether you use Hanna or Salifert or Nyos or whatever, there's still ongoing costs for reagents or new kits.

 

[IKD]

If you have time, you may want to wait and see how the GHL ION Director does. It was supposed to come two years ago, but seems like early next year is when you’ll hear a wider user base giving feedback

I’ve had a Trident for a year now and I’m happy with it. The readings to trend inaccurately as reagents run low, but hasn’t been enough of a concern for me say it’s not worth it

 

[SPR1968]

What are you using to test that doesn't require any refills or additional costs? I can't convince myself to buy into the Neptune system yet (much less the Trident). But whether you use Hanna or Salifert or Nyos or whatever, there's still ongoing costs for reagents or new kits.

I use NYOS for calcium magnesium nitrate

I use Hanna for alkalinity phosphate

Yes they need replacing but very infrequently because I only test once a week and randomly on many parameters

 

[Gtinnel]

I bought an apex/trident/dos about 6 months ago. I now do controlled dosing and absolutely love it. It's not cheap to get into, but it's well worth the cost in my opinion.

 

[Joe31415]

I use NYOS for calcium magnesium nitrate

I use Hanna for alkalinity phosphate

Yes they need replacing but very infrequently because I only test once a week and randomly on many parameters

What would be interesting is to see how the price compared to running the same tests at the same frequnecy with the Trident.
As someone that doesn't have an Apex or Trident, I really don't have much of an idea how much some of these things cost. I've only casually looked at some of the Apex accessories and I know they're pretty spendy.

 

[Gtinnel]

What would be interesting is to see how the price compared to running the same tests at the same frequnecy with the Trident.
As someone that doesn't have an Apex or Trident, I really don't have much of an idea how much some of these things cost. I've only casually looked at some of the Apex accessories and I know they're pretty spendy.

Just looking at alkalinity. My trident does 4 tests a day which is 1,460 test a year. The Hanna alkalinity reagent is $9 for 25 tests. So for 4 test per day from Hanna I'd have to buy 59 bottles of reagent. At $9 a bottle it'd be $531 for as many tests as the trident does a year.
That in not including the calcium and magnesium tests. That is how I justified paying $200 a year for the trident reagents.

 

[Joe31415]

Just looking at alkalinity. My trident does 4 tests a day which is 1,460 test a year. The Hanna alkalinity reagent is $9 for 25 tests. So for 4 test per day from Hanna I'd have to buy 59 bottles of reagent. At $9 a bottle it'd be $531 for as many tests as the trident does a year.
That in not including the calcium and magnesium tests. That is how I justified paying $200 a year for the trident reagents.

But that's comparing almost 1500 tests per year on the Trident to 52 tests per year with the Hanna.
BRS doesn't sell the reagents individually, but if we make the assumption that they all cost the same thing, based on a 6 month kit for $100. We get 7¢/Trident test and 36¢/Hanna test.
It says that expire, so if we buy the 2 month kit for $45, it's 9¢/test.
At one test per week, that's $18.72/yr for Hanna and $4.68/yr for Trident.
I'm assuming the Trident doesn't require you to run it 4 times per day. So while it's a huge initial expense, if it doesn't break, it seems you do come out quite a bit ahead with Trident...assuming I did all my math correctly.

Again, I don't have any Neptune gear, I'm not pushing for anyone else to get it, I've just never worked out the math on the reagents.

 

[Gtinnel]

But that's comparing almost 1500 tests per year on the Trident to 52 tests per year with the Hanna.
BRS doesn't sell the reagents individually, but if we make the assumption that they all cost the same thing, based on a 6 month kit for $100. We get 7¢/Trident test and 36¢/Hanna test.
It says that expire, so if we buy the 2 month kit for $45, it's 9¢/test.
At one test per week, that's $18.72/yr for Hanna and $4.68/yr for Trident.
I'm assuming the Trident doesn't require you to run it 4 times per day. So while it's a huge initial expense, if it doesn't break, it seems you do come out quite a bit ahead with Trident...assuming I did all my math correctly.

Again, I don't have any Neptune gear, I'm not pushing for anyone else to get it, I've just never worked out the math on the reagents.

I only compared them at that number of tests because the trident requires a minimum of 4 alkalinity and 2 calcium/magnesium tests per day.
It obviously is absurd to even consider doing 4 tests per day with the Hanna.

 

[Joe31415]

I'm surprised it requires you to do that many. But, yeah, from that POV, I'd personally stick with Hanna since I only test once a week or so as well.

 

[jmichaelh7]

It’s knowing parameters daily especially if your into SPS

 

[Gtinnel]

It’s knowing parameters daily especially if your into SPS

I though it seemed stupid to get the parameters checked multiple times a day, but now that I get the results multiple times a day I couldn't imagine going back. I absolutely love the trident controlled dosing.