Waited for the trident, got the alkatronic

[tgbaby]

Btw alk and ph vary with a clear relationship to the coral growth especially during photo period, thats why advanced reactors like dastaco have a photo sensor that dial down the alk during night. They had this long time ago before anyone. Then others started copying them...

I notice the same, high alk consumption during the photoperiod and little overnight. I have heavily stocked 120g SPS tank running a GEO618 calcium reactor. Wish I had a way to automatically adjust output throughout the day.

Overall I’m happy with the Alkatronic, it’s been running without issue for ~9 months. I’m heavily invested in Apex gear but I just didn’t have the patience to wait.

 

[408Dartfish]

Good choice on the alkatronic. It would be my choice to monitor alk at 900$. Compared to Trident for me 600$ (apex unit) 600$ (trident) 300$ (dos). If trident measured more than just the alkalinity be nice as I think the calcium and magnesium tests redundant

 

[ReefyB]

I can care less spending on reagents, monitoring all three is big if hou have lots of SPS.

Is it though? Alkalinity sure, but why is it necessary to test Ca and Mg, twice daily, everyday. I run a SPS dominant mixed reef and find myself testing Ca like once a month, and Mg even less than that (and for what it’s worth, have never had a “bad” reading in either). And even IF you did have a Ca or Mg “swing”, it’s not nearly as concerning as an Alk swing. It just seems those two are better suited to manually testing much less frequently rather than burning resources continuously testing simply because you can.

I think Trident only makes sense for people who already have a full Apex set already (controller, couple DOS, etc), because you can add-on full alkalinity monitoring/control for $600. But for those that don’t, paying more than double that, if all you’re really after is the monitoring/control, just doesn’t make as much sense when compared to the other options. Apex should have considered making a stand-alone alk monitor, like every other competitor in the market did, if they wanted to break into the population of currently non-Apex using hobbyists. Instead they made a product suited for Neptune fans, which isn’t a bad thing of course as that is also a large population, and released it in a fashion to ensure it remains in demand for quite awhile.

The alkatronic seemed great right up until you mentioned issues with noise. That would probably be a dealbreaker in my house so I’m hoping the other options out there aren’t all as loud.

 

[SneakyTortuga]

Is it though? Alkalinity sure, but why is it necessary to test Ca and Mg, twice daily, everyday. I run a SPS dominant mixed reef and find myself testing Ca like once a month, and Mg even less than that (and for what it’s worth, have never had a “bad” reading in either). And even IF you did have a Ca or Mg “swing”, it’s not nearly as concerning as an Alk swing. It just seems those two are better suited to manually testing much less frequently rather than burning resources continuously testing simply because you can.

I think Trident only makes sense for people who already have a full Apex set already (controller, couple DOS, etc), because you can add-on full alkalinity monitoring/control for $600. But for those that don’t, paying more than double that, if all you’re really after is the monitoring/control, just doesn’t make as much sense when compared to the other options. Apex should have considered making a stand-alone alk monitor, like every other competitor in the market did, if they wanted to break into the population of currently non-Apex using hobbyists. Instead they made a product suited for Neptune fans, which isn’t a bad thing of course as that is also a large population, and released it in a fashion to ensure it remains in demand for quite awhile.

The alkatronic seemed great right up until you mentioned issues with noise. That would probably be a dealbreaker in my house so I’m hoping the other options out there aren’t all as loud.

I agree with everything you said except....

They all make noise. Trident, alkatronic, khg, ghl’s. if you’ve ever used a brs dosing pump or pretty much any dosing pump that’s the noise the alkatronic makes. Like I said in my initial post it is audible over the other tank equipment but just slightly.

I have a 100+ high end sps and the only thing I’ve ever tested semi consistent in the past 2 years has been alk. Calcium/ magnesium have never been out of where there supposed to be if my alk was where it was supposed to be.

For me it just fit.

 

[SneakyTortuga]

The Trident is out, sell the Alkatronic and buy the Trident. Yes Neptune shouldnt have made the announcement so early and leave people waiting so long, it ****** off many. The Trident seems to be a beter overall product according to the reviews out there. I saw the Alkatronic work at RAP, it is WAY too loud.

That is, if you are over the reagent spending with the Trident every two months. I know the Alkatronic has a longer lasting, concentrated solution.

I can care less spending on reagents, monitoring all three is big if hou have lots of SPS.

I bought the alkatronic because I didn’t like the trident. I wouldn’t agree that it’s a better overall product. I would say the first 30 seconds it makes regular dosing pump noises after that it is a slight clicking.

I don’t agree monitoring all 3 is necessary on a daily. I have always gotten away with just monitoring alk consistently

 

[road_runner]

I notice the same, high alk consumption during the photoperiod and little overnight. I have heavily stocked 120g SPS tank running a GEO618 calcium reactor. Wish I had a way to automatically adjust output throughout the day.

Overall I’m happy with the Alkatronic, it’s been running without issue for ~9 months. I’m heavily invested in Apex gear but I just didn’t have the patience to wait.

Yup, funny at some point you realize how less valuable ca and mag testing is omce you add a ca reactor. You only need kh to adjust the rractor flow which will bring everything in check)
You can adjust the reactor output flow rate based on the kh the which should be enough to put everything in check.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

My guess about the development of the trident is that once you did the R&D on a unit and sourced the extremely accurate pumps and optical sensors, worked out the coding etc, for an alkalinity monitor, they probably realized they could add in Ca and Mg function pretty easily at a fraction of the cost. You’re already 80% of the way there, why not just take it the last 20% and be the only one on the market. Makes sense to me.

In regard to all the people saying they only want to test alk once a day, or twice a week, or don’t want to test Ca as frequently... that’s not the point of this unit. The goal is not to replace your current testing regimen. It’s to provide near real time results off all the major parameters. You might not think you need to test these daily... until you do. You are thinking about testing needs when everything is going great. That’s not what this is for. If I do a water change with a bad batch of salt, or a dosing line falls out of the sump, or my dosing container runs dry, or my cat chews a hole in the dosing line, or I counted the number of cups wrong when mixing up my latest batch of two part, or dumped the wrong additive in the wrong container (I could keep this going all day), I don’t want to wait a week to find out. I want to know ASAP.

 

[road_runner]

I bought the alkatronic because I didn’t like the trident. I wouldn’t agree that it’s a better overall product. I would say the first 30 seconds it makes regular dosing pump noises after that it is a slight clicking.

I don’t agree monitoring all 3 is necessary on a daily. I have always gotten away with just monitoring alk consistently

If you have alot of sps you should consider ca reactor. If you have ca reactor you can only regulate using kh, testing ca and mag is useless.
If you parameters in check you should dose ca and kh in a balanced way. So many reefers get in to the trouble by dosing one more than the other only to discover that they created an imbalance in the ca kh ratio.

Randy Holmes have done some incredible write up about this.
Rich Ross who Neptune host every now and then, would tell you if you ask him, you need kh, and he will call the rest bonus.
I think both products have pros and cons. For me trident had more cons than pros. For you its the opposite, thats what make these forums fun, discussions and exchange ideas.

 

[road_runner]

My guess about the development of the trident is that once you did the R&D on a unit and sourced the extremely accurate pumps and optical sensors, worked out the coding etc, for an alkalinity monitor, they probably realized they could add in Ca and Mg function pretty easily at a fraction of the cost. You’re already 80% of the way there, why not just take it the last 20% and be the only one on the market. Makes sense to me.

In regard to all the people saying they only want to test alk once a day, or twice a week, or don’t want to test Ca as frequently... that’s not the point of this unit. The goal is not to replace your current testing regimen. It’s to provide near real time results off all the major parameters. You might not think you need to test these daily... until you do. You are thinking about testing needs when everything is going great. That’s not what this is for. If I do a water change with a bad batch of salt, or a dosing line falls out of the sump, or my dosing container runs dry, or my cat chews a hole in the dosing line, or I counted the number of cups wrong when mixing up my latest batch of two part, or dumped the wrong additive in the wrong container (I could keep this going all day), I don’t want to wait a week to find out. I want to know ASAP.

If you have a cat that like to chew on ca or mag tubing then you better get trident ha ha ha.
some people regretted moving from traditional float based ATO following similar hypotheticals only to discover they made a mistake and dealt with bigger disasters than the hypotheticals they assumed in the first place.

You raise some good points.
I think people are looking at cost benifits ratios. Whats in the market and what's coming soon...etc..It's not that black and white.

 

[infinite0180]

I wish they came out with a stand alone alk unit. I rarely test mag and cal. It should have been alk, no3, and po4 for the trident :x

 

[408Dartfish]

I wish they came out with a stand alone alk unit. I rarely test mag and cal. It should have been alk, no3, and po4 for the trident :x

Bingo. My big three I test for.

 

[road_runner]

I wish they came out with a stand alone alk unit. I rarely test mag and cal. It should have been alk, no3, and po4 for the trident :x

I think that's what ghl is doing. They are asking people what would they like to have supported in their ion based tester...ghl is doing some incredible development.
Their kh director was successful and they are looking in to expanding the line up.
Good time to be a reefer)

 

[road_runner]

https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?ur...&share_tid=574280&share_fid=1020&share_type=t

 

[road_runner]

https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?ur...&share_tid=573210&share_fid=1020&share_type=t

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

I wish they came out with a stand alone alk unit. I rarely test mag and cal. It should have been alk, no3, and po4 for the trident :x

It’s not that simple. I know this seems like a magic box but you have to think about the science behind this. Ca, alk, and mg are all titration tests. NO3 and PO4 are different types of tests. I’m not a chemist or engineer but they other three are similar enough to piggy-back the Ca and Mg off the alk technology, but the other two tests you mention would likely require an entirely different design, process, reagents, etc.

 

[FlyPenFly]

In regard to all the people saying they only want to test alk once a day, or twice a week, or don’t want to test Ca as frequently... that’s not the point of this unit. The goal is not to replace your current testing regimen. It’s to provide near real time results off all the major parameters. You might not think you need to test these daily... until you do. You are thinking about testing needs when everything is going great. That’s not what this is for. If I do a water change with a bad batch of salt, or a dosing line falls out of the sump, or my dosing container runs dry, or my cat chews a hole in the dosing line, or I counted the number of cups wrong when mixing up my latest batch of two part, or dumped the wrong additive in the wrong container (I could keep this going all day), I don’t want to wait a week to find out. I want to know ASAP.

GREAT point!

 

[infinite0180]

It’s not that simple. I know this seems like a magic box but you have to think about the science behind this. Ca, alk, and mg are all titration tests. NO3 and PO4 are different types of tests. I’m not a chemist or engineer but they other three are similar enough to piggy-back the Ca and Mg off the alk technology, but the other two tests you mention would likely require an entirely different design, process, reagents, etc.

Haha well actually the trident uses colorimetry. Same tech that hanna uses for po4. Im sure it could be done, just because we have to titrate does not mean thats the only way. I wasnt being entirely serious, just saying those are the big 3 im always testing... its certainly not a magic box look at hannas alk checker, it doesnt require a titration, yet all the other alk tests we titrate. This is what sets the trident apart from the other options like the alkatronic, its essentially a giant hanna checker, the rest are pH based titration systems. Theres more than one way to skin a cat when it comes to chemistry...

 

[FlyPenFly]

Big advantage for Reefbot

 

[road_runner]

Big advantage for Reefbot

Agreed. Also the simplicity in the reefbot is impressive.
Building a consumer product that is so complex you need to send it back to vendor every year for maintenance look problematic in my openion.

 

[FlyPenFly]

Probably because you’d have to ship it back to freaking Lebanon.