yeah it’s not a bug, it’s called following the setup instructions
.
Follow them.
Don’t skip things like putting the calibration solution at the same height that you will normally be sampling from.
This is very important and it will hold true to any other automated water testing system be it GHL, the MS, or Reefbot. This is not a ding against any of them. They have beta testers. They feed information. Some changes are made to the units and or documentation. Rinse, repeat. Go to market. What
@TheHarold and others are saying is that you have to follow them
Not saying you didn't but it is important. Be aware the location of the trident placement and follow the installation instructions from setup to running in "your" installation location, through calibration and their precision process. It isn't a tool that you are going to install and forget like a return pump, light, wave makers, etc. This is something that is iterative. And once that is done and 10 or more days have passed then you can decide if you want to let it manage dosing for you.
This is also probably one reason some prefer discs or probes. They all have their place but it doesn't mean one is better than the other. But that is a different debate and we'll let it go.
My Trident works pretty well and matches up to both manual tests and water samples from ATI. I do about 3 ATI tests a year and the last one I used a water sample before my 12:00 PM test. Sent off ATI's sample, did a manual test for ALK and Phosphate, and then let the Trident do its thing. Two weeks later compared ATI's numbers with Tridents and my Alk test and they are all within their respected margin of error. So to me that is all I needed and can't really ask for more.
To my issues. Placement is key as is the sample line location in the sump. I was using a brightwell block (the one like the marine pure bloc) and it was starting to break down. It clogged my sample line one time. Ticket into Neptune support on a Friday, I got a call on Saturday, and they walked me through over the phone clearing it. Easy. Second issue was numbers being off but as noted above the dosing dripping line should be opposite of the sample line. I think this is covered in their docs or FAQ. I would say common sense but honestly it didn't cross my mind.
Not sure if this helps you at all but remember the unit has a final check at Neptune before it gets sent to the reseller. Then you have to set it up in your location which is why you don't calibrate it until until it runs a few tests in your specific installation location. The numbers will more than likely be within your expected area after this because of the calibration fluid.
One last suggestion. Take a cup of water out of the tank before you calibrate. Once you are done you can use that cup of water with the left over calibration fluid and test your manual test kits then compare with the tridents final numbers. You will not be using the calibration fluid again so run some quick manual tests on Alk to compare.
Best of luck.
