Trident Reading Low Alk

[Arisbel]

And I know you don’t wanna hear it but what most of us Trident users are looking for is consistency not the actual number if it says 7.5 for a week straight even though Hannah says eight.5 either way it’s consistently 7.5 or 8.5 meaning stable

I honestly wouldn’t mind thinking this way if the unit didn’t cost 600+ dollars. But, it does, so to me, it’s hard to overlook its constant miss-readings. Neptune should do better.

 

[BroccoliFarmer]

I honestly wouldn’t mind thinking this way if the unit didn’t cost 600+ dollars. But, it does, so to me, it’s hard to overlook its constant miss-readings. Neptune should do better.

I agree whole heartedly. I actually reached out to @Bulk Reef Supply and there paraphrased response was 'live with the difference, worry about the consistency'. Starting to pack it up and sending it back. For this price they should do better.

 

[((FORDTECH))]

I’m not sure I agree but this is why everyone has their own opinion how I feel is in a hobby that I spend $600 per frag to spend $600 on a piece of equipment is not very much money and is considered hobby grade to me at that price When I also have sets of wrenches in my toolbox with 10 wrenches that cost me almost $600

 

[Jon's Reef]

Dose 2 or 3 part based on Alk only. Alk is normally pretty spot on. It can vary a small amount between Alk only and the full test. It is something to do with residual reagent.

Tank calibration is the way to go. Use “your trusted” method to determine the tank, then calibrate using the tank water. If you run a test right after the calibration it should come back the same…. That is the point of the calibration. Problem is if it is not coming back that way there is a deeper issue.

 

[((FORDTECH))]

Dose 2 or 3 part based on Alk only. Alk is normally pretty spot on. It can vary a small amount between Alk only and the full test. It is something to do with residual reagent.

Tank calibration is the way to go. Use “your trusted” method to determine the tank, then calibrate using the tank water. If you run a test right after the calibration it should come back the same…. That is the point of the calibration. Problem is if it is not coming back that way there is a deeper issue.

I’ve done this a few times. It’s never exact but again pretty close good enough to see it’s calibrated. 8.3 would be 8.27, 430 would say 437 and 1345 is like 1342

 

[BroccoliFarmer]

Dose 2 or 3 part based on Alk only. Alk is normally pretty spot on. It can vary a small amount between Alk only and the full test. It is something to do with residual reagent.

Tank calibration is the way to go. Use “your trusted” method to determine the tank, then calibrate using the tank water. If you run a test right after the calibration it should come back the same…. That is the point of the calibration. Problem is if it is not coming back that way there is a deeper issue.

Ive donethe tank callibration method. Immediately after callibration and retesting the same sample..alk is tested at over 1 DKH lower.

 

[((FORDTECH))]

Ive donethe tank callibration method. Immediately after callibration and retesting the same sample..alk is tested at over 1 DKH lower.

But when doing this did you take in consideration what I wrote to you about keeping the hose in approximately the same location not moving it far from where it’s going to normally sit because that could affect it due to the change in suction pressure depending on how the line is

 

[BroccoliFarmer]

But when doing this did you take in consideration what I wrote to you about keeping the hose in approximately the same location not moving it far from where it’s going to normally sit because that could affect it due to the change in suction pressure depending on how the line is

Yes. Litterally put the sample in my sump about 2 inches from where the normal intake is.

 

[Gophish1982]

So I’m pretty sure with this situation my trident is not the same as Hannah either and I don’t believe many others is also but what people are doing is taking their Hana testers and measuring their tank and then taking those values and using them as the values to calibrate the trident along with using the actual tank water for the calibration solution instead of Neptunes calibration solution than your calibrating your trident to your Hannah readings of your tank water

I’m having a problem with my Alk always reading low on the trident. I did exactly what you suggest with calibrating using tank water and results from Hanna. Input 8.6from Hanna, calibrate, then run a test immediately after calibration. Trident says water is 7.25 not 10 minutes after I just told it the same sample (my tank water) was 8.6

 

[Gophish1982]

Dose 2 or 3 part based on Alk only. Alk is normally pretty spot on. It can vary a small amount between Alk only and the full test. It is something to do with residual reagent.

Tank calibration is the way to go. Use “your trusted” method to determine the tank, then calibrate using the tank water. If you run a test right after the calibration it should come back the same…. That is the point of the calibration. Problem is if it is not coming back that way there is a deeper issue.

This is my problem. Tank water is 8.6 according to both Hanna and a salifert. Gave trident that number, calibrated with tank water, run a test and Trident says 7.25

 

[((FORDTECH))]

I’m having a problem with my Alk always reading low on the trident. I did exactly what you suggest with calibrating using tank water and results from Hanna. Input 8.6from Hanna, calibrate, then run a test immediately after calibration. Trident says water is 7.25 not 10 minutes after I just told it the same sample (my tank water) was 8.6

So this sounds to me like your trident is having a calibration issue this could be a couple things one of the things I would do would be to clean The glass vial also make sure the sample line is not clogged or restricted in anyway and then after the cleaning of the glass vile try recalibrating again

 

[((FORDTECH))]

I usually have to clean my glass file about every 4 to 6 months on both of my tridents

 

[Gophish1982]

So this sounds to me like your trident is having a calibration issue this could be a couple things one of the things I would do would be to clean The glass vial also make sure the sample line is not clogged or restricted in anyway and then after the cleaning of the glass vile try recalibrating again

Well this trident is less then 60 days old and my problems began after my very first calibration on day 4 of use. So I doubt the cuvette was dirty on day 4. After that first calibration It read consistently 1.4 lower then Hanna/salifert. The Hanna/salifert tests were verified using fauna Marin reference solution. I also used the fauna Marin solution to do the trident calibration. Around day 12 I calibrated again with my tank water according to my 3rd party test results. I told the trident the sample water (my tank water) was 8.5, after that calibration I ran another test and didn’t even move the sample line. Trident once again gave me a number 1.4 lower then I just told it what the value was.

 

[Gophish1982]

Well this trident is less then 60 days old and my problems began after my very first calibration on day 4 of use. So I doubt the cuvette was dirty on day 4. After that first calibration It read consistently 1.4 lower then Hanna/salifert. The Hanna/salifert tests were verified using fauna Marin reference solution. I also used the fauna Marin solution to do the trident calibration. Around day 12 I calibrated again with my tank water according to my 3rd party test results. I told the trident the sample water (my tank water) was 8.5, after that calibration I ran another test and didn’t even move the sample line. Trident once again gave me a number 1.4 lower then I just told it what the value was.

I feel I should mention that Alk was very close to my 3rd party tests when it was first plugged in, but Ca read in the 600s when I knew it was in the mid 400s based on ICP testing. Mg has always read pretty close. After the first calibration Ca was corrected and ca/Mg have been close enough, but 1.4 below on Alk isn’t acceptable. I can’t trust the machine.

 

[BroccoliFarmer]

I feel I should mention that Alk was very close to my 3rd party tests when it was first plugged in, but Ca read in the 600s when I knew it was in the mid 400s based on ICP testing. Mg has always read pretty close. After the first calibration Ca was corrected and ca/Mg have been close enough, but 1.4 below on Alk isn’t acceptable. I can’t trust the machine.

Interesting that seems to be a really common problem with the same symptoms...alk reading over 1 dkh low. And it seems to be with the newly purchased units, i wonder if this is a batch manufacturing defect. I have heard of poor production controls since covid. Had to replace my HVAC squirrel cage 3 times until we figured this issue out.

 

[Gatorpa]

I am in a similiar but worse situation. I initially calibrated with the provided sample. When I tested the calibration solution with both Hanna AND salifert to confirm the sample and the tank. Immediately after calibrating, the Trident was testing almost .9 below Hanna and Salifert. After getting the canned response from Neptune on 'do the mental math and live with it', I tried to calibrate using tank water. Again, testing the same with both Salifert and Hanna, getting 9.0 and calibrating to 9.0, the immediate test on THE SAME SAMPLE, Trident started testing at 7.2. Again I follow up with Neptune and they are telling me to live with the mental math. Hopefully BRS is willing to swap this out with a functioning unit.

Would love ideas on what I should be doing / saying because this isnt right and I cant get past the neptune gate keepers.

I’ve had the exact same issue.
Didn’t bother to call Neptune.

my trident seems to run 1.0 lower dkh compared to salient.
When I tried to cal to tank water and input values it will cal to those values but then measured 2.5 DKH lower.

Changed out the reagent a and did another cal with new cal solution and now I’m back to a 1.0 DkH difference. living with it for now but have ABC reagents on order and will use their cal solution

 

[Gatorpa]

Well first thing Is how long has the trident been running for before you started to try this calibration it’s good to run it at least two or three days to get the fluid moving through the hoses. With that being said the next thing I would check is to make sure that the hoses that go to the region bottles are not kinked in anyway I actually removed the cover from my trident so I can see inside of it when I close the drawer and I make sure that the hoses are routed properly and the way I do it is different from what Neptunes states but I find it to work best this way. It is very strange that if you tested your tank water and then used those values for the calibration values that you would be at 7.2 from a 9.0 that’s way off I’m suspecting something to do with testing error Not a bad unit yet

I had the same thing happen as well unit is 5 months old.
Ive seen other with the same issue

 

[Gatorpa]

I’m not sure I agree but this is why everyone has their own opinion how I feel is in a hobby that I spend $600 per frag to spend $600 on a piece of equipment is not very much money and is considered hobby grade to me at that price When I also have sets of wrenches in my toolbox with 10 wrenches that cost me almost $600

Guess I’m cheap when it comes to frags. Wouldn’t spend over 100 on one.
But for $600 it’s sad that many seem to have the same issue as noted here.

 

[Gatorpa]

I usually have to clean my glass file about every 4 to 6 months on both of my tridents

How long does that process take and what do you clean it with?

 

[Gatorpa]

Interesting that seems to be a really common problem with the same symptoms...alk reading over 1 dkh low. And it seems to be with the newly purchased units, i wonder if this is a batch manufacturing defect. I have heard of poor production controls since covid. Had to replace my HVAC squirrel cage 3 times until we figured this issue out.

I bought mine in May of this year.
Very similar situation to those above.