Trident FAQ (official)

[Smarkow]

Not to take away any potential sales but it would be interesting if you did. There is a known drift issue that they spoke about during the Feb 20th live stream but said it effected only about 1% of the user base. Not sure if this is related but would be interesting to pass along in case it helps them.

I always wondered why they didn't run the internal tube to the bottom and curve it so it wraps around the bottle. Sort of like the Easter Egg holders when the kids dye eggs for lack of a better description.

This happened to me as well but I never correlated it to the needle in the bottle. The reality is that I mostly paid attention to the alkalinity part, figuring (correctly?) that the other 3 were more stable than they tested... my guess would be this is >1% of the user base, but that some of us just hadn’t figured it out?

 

[Hydrored]

I know of two others locally that have the issue, But I’m in the same boat as them that the alk is key since I dose equal parts. My drifting problem has been solved but I see next to nothing in fluctuations anyways for mag and calc.

 

[Joe Rice]

I think I'm going to start replacing the bottle when it gets down to 30% and set it aside. Then when the next bottle gets down to 60%, I'll top it off with reagent in the previous bottle. I know this isn't recommended but I'm thinking it'll won't be too much of a problem. I'll let folks know if it is!

 

[Shinister]

@Terence is this normal to have build up in the mixing chamber? I have noticed that there is a purple build up on the wall with in the mixing chamber. Is there a way to clean it? Will this affect. My testing results? I have noticed my calcium values are just climbing way up there.

Yours is actually pretty clean. I was getting inconsistent alk readings. After trying everything and Neptune monitoring it, they asked me to look at the vial and sure enough it was dirty. It had a film on all sides of the vial. They gave me instructions on how to open the unit and access the vial. I used a cotton swab and cleaned the vial and it worked great afterwards. I wasnt using a filter sock before but Im using them now. It may have not been the culprit but I just want to make sure there's less stuff floating around that can get sucked up into the sample line.

You can see the film on the vial wall and some sediment on the plug (small white pill looking thing on the bottom)

Here's a shot looking down the vial.

This is how dirty it was.

 

[somethinq else]

My Cal level climbing up to 520-550 level since last month. Today I changed all the reagent and did a calibration but no luck. the cal level is still hover around 520 ish. It's around 420ish when the trident is new(hanna checker shows 430 as well). Did you find a way to solve this? thx

I've noticed that my cal climbs as well. It usually starts happening around a month after recalibration sometimes a little sooner. The only way I have found to combat the situation is to test your system manually and then calibrate the trident to your actual values fhat.you rendered.from.your test rather than using the calibration solution. Ive had several issues with my trident since its purchase when it was all the hype, being one of the first to obtain a unit. Ots a great tool to have to monitor and kind of see what your system is doing but good advice is always verify, verify, verify. My unit has been back to neptune twice now for servicing. Once a new pump was replaced after it was only a month old, and then 6 months later the entire brain portion of it was replaced because it was doing things that neptune just couldn't explain t he reason there of. In the midst of it all, I still think it's a great machine/tool...however when I see cal values of 262 or 595...ans I've seen as high as 788...ive learned before panicking and doing major water changes....calm down and restest...reverify...and then recalibrate. And i as well have a little reagent residue in the capsul from time to time. Ive never noticed it being to far from accurate until it becomes time to recalibrate

 

[Kann]

I just turned on the Trident Controlled Dosing last week and am making small adjustments. Is there a way to find out what the target alkalinity (or calcium or magnesium) is set to? The only place I've seen it is when you initially set up the controlled dosing parameters.

I tried googling and the search function on Reef2Reef, but came up empty handed...

 

[Charles4400]

I have the same issue with CA climbing when reagent bottle gets low as well. Happens most of the time. Just sent in a report ticket.

If anyone else has this problem, please report it to Neptune so at least they will have an idea of how many people this affects to prioritize a fix.

 

[PigFarmer]

Reporting same experience i'm having here !

 

[pizzaguy]

How long did everyone wait to calibrate for the first time?

 

[TheHarold]

How long did everyone wait to calibrate for the first time?

Follow the instructions, no? It should say- needs to run a few tests first.

 

[User1]

How long did everyone wait to calibrate for the first time?

I waited a week but the docs say about 48 or 72 hours - something like that. You basically want the unit to get to know your tank as it is already tested from Neptune at their last mile. Let it run some tests at your testing interval, check the results to your last manual tests. Or tests that you run in parallel, then after 3 or 4 days run through the process.

 

[Reefltx]

Well, no clue what’s up with mine. Just after a week after calibration my calcium has been going up. Manually tested with salifert & Red Sea (430/420ppm) but my trident results are 478ppm. Both cal/mg reagents are only at 82%. I also pull my samples from the overflow, there’s no micro bubbles or heavy flow going through that can cause problems that I can see.

 

[aherre07]

The "drift " is a known issue from neptune. There is a user on here @Brasileiro561 who made some needle holders to put on the caps to hold the needles vertical. This helps eliminate the drift in results.

 

[Reefltx]

The "drift " is a known issue from neptune. There is a user on here @Brasileiro561 who made some needle holders to put on the caps to hold the needles vertical. This helps eliminate the drift in results.

Well, they just arrived, I haven’t installed them yet. But I thought they were used mainly to remedy the issue when the reagents are low.

 

[evolved]

Well, no clue what’s up with mine. Just after a week after calibration my calcium has been going up. Manually tested with salifert & Red Sea (430/420ppm) but my trident results are 478ppm. Both cal/mg reagents are only at 82%. I also pull my samples from the overflow, there’s no micro bubbles or heavy flow going through that can cause problems that I can see.

Check and make sure the needles inside the caps are well in place, and haven't started to pull out. Sucking air some place in the line could cause that.

 

[Charles4400]

I talked to neptune about the rising CA. Its a known issue for some they said. I was told they are working on a solution but still trying to isolate the cause from users that report it. Again this is for the low reagent causing rise in CA and not just regular abnormally high readings. May or may not be related.

Recommend starting a ticket with neptune as the more people that they are aware of with this type of problem, the easier it will be to find similarities of setup and then the cause/fix.

They have certain questions about placement and some other factors that could guide them to a fix.

In the meantime I bought the needle guides from @Brasileiro561. Came in fast and hes easy to deal with. Will put those in on next reagent change.

 

[Brasileiro561]

I talked to neptune about the rising CA. Its a known issue for some they said. I was told they are working on a solution but still trying to isolate the cause from users that report it. Again this is for the low reagent causing rise in CA and not just regular abnormally high readings. May or may not be related.

Recommend starting a ticket with neptune as the more people that they are aware of with this type of problem, the easier it will be to find similarities of setup and then the cause/fix.

They have certain questions about placement and some other factors that could guide them to a fix.

In the meantime I bought the needle guides from @Brasileiro561. Came in fast and hes easy to deal with. Will put those in on next reagent change.

No need to wait for the next reagent change. you can add those right now. it won't change any thing. and you'll be able to try them out and see the results faster

 

[User1]

No need to wait for the next reagent change. you can add those right now. it won't change any thing. and you'll be able to try them out and see the results faster

Also just to piggy back on this if you do use the 3-d printed holders please report back to Neptune if it made any changes to your situation. Also back on their live stream deal in Friday they said the drift problem is maybe 1% of the user base. As you said or someone did above they have a couple ideas on what is causing it and collecting some information on it.

It is interesting that it is Ca, Mag and not ALK. Also another interesting data point would be testing frequency. Again, I think this is some of the data they are looking at.

 

[Reefltx]

I talked to neptune about the rising CA. Its a known issue for some they said. I was told they are working on a solution but still trying to isolate the cause from users that report it. Again this is for the low reagent causing rise in CA and not just regular abnormally high readings. May or may not be related.

Recommend starting a ticket with neptune as the more people that they are aware of with this type of problem, the easier it will be to find similarities of setup and then the cause/fix.

They have certain questions about placement and some other factors that could guide them to a fix.

In the meantime I bought the needle guides from @Brasileiro561. Came in fast and hes easy to deal with. Will put those in on next reagent change.

Well, according to Neptune, my drift in cal/mg is within error range. ;Bored

 

[Reef man 89]

I also have the rising calcium problem I talked to Neptune they sent me a questionnaire because I’m in that group of supposed 1%.I have also noticed my trident has been getting louder when it’s running and once in a while a big clunk noise from one of the pumps inside