New Trident?

[vetteguy53081]

All i care about in my tanks is alk, no3 and po4.

Each person’s needs Will differ from tank to tank

 

[doubleshot00]

Each person’s needs Will differ from tank to tank

Sure. I dont test cal or mag on my nanos at all and haven’t test them on my big tank in a few months.

 

[ingchr1]

There is no reason to test them daily. Weekly maybe. Alk is the only test that should be done daily...

For my tank, no need to test Alk daily either.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

When trident was originally released, the inclusion of Ca and Mg was a bit of a surprise and trump card so to speak. At the time there was a lot of talk about KH auto testers and Neptune kind of crushed the competition by including Ca and Mg too. Yes there were people who said “I don’t need to test Ca and Mg daily” (which is true) but I think Neptune figured out that it would cost them X amount to build an alk tester but once you’ve got all that in place it would only cost ~20% more (random guess) to include Ca and Mg (since you already have the hardware infrastructure in place) and that would be something to give them a distinguishing advantage over all the competition. I was kind of hoping the same would be true for the addition of N and P. I’ll be frustrated if our two options that come out of this are a $1200 Maven or two $700 Tridents. If Neptune can sell a three parameter trident for $675 I see no reason they couldn’t sell a 5 parameter machine for under $1000.

What would be REALLY innovative would be if they released a trident V2 and you could pick which three you wanted to run out of those 5. Keep it $675, discount the remaining stock of V1 tridents to break even cost, and they’d at least come out as a legitimate contender if not obvious advantage over Maven.

 

[marinesnow]

I was turned off by the Trident after buying it and finding out it can't test Alk alone, it has to include Mg and Ca or it ceases to function. This means more reagents = more costs. Furthermore, it's design is flawed because the tubing in it is so small in diameter it's prone to clogging by a single piece of debris, rendering it useless. Finally, the magnetic stirrer in mind rusted a year in and caused it to stop working altogether. I won't be buying this or another Trident related product. End rant.

 

[areefer01]

What would be REALLY innovative would be if they released a trident V2 and you could pick which three you wanted to run out of those 5. Keep it $675, discount the remaining stock of V1 tridents to break even cost, and they’d at least come out as a legitimate contender if not obvious advantage over Maven.

One could argue, well not argue actually, but talk about this probably coming up during the various design phases or meetings. It very well could due to the reagents, or reagent property, and dye that would prevent this. Or maybe it is that they want to release it as an optional unit and let the hobbyist decide which they want ala cart. Then after some time they could assess feedback and other raw data as it relates to dye changes and support and circle back to a single unit and swapping of reagents.

A lot of discussion is happening in both threads about why we need to test, or I don't want to test, or why an add on, or why two sample lines all of which are interesting and valid. At the end of the day most of us would agree automated testing is not necessary to be successful. It is a luxury, time saver, and quality of life improvement from a manual task.

Hope your day is well.

 

[areefer01]

I was turned off by the Trident after buying it and finding out it can't test Alk alone, it has to include Mg and Ca or it ceases to function. This means more reagents = more costs. Furthermore, it's design is flawed because the tubing in it is so small in diameter it's prone to clogging by a single piece of debris, rendering it useless. Finally, the magnetic stirrer in mind rusted a year in and caused it to stop working altogether. I won't be buying this or another Trident related product. End rant.

I wouldn't say your post is a rant - it is feedback. Regarding the small diameter tube there is an optional sample line filter attachment which prevents this. One still has to pay attention to it but it does prevent the tubes from clogging up. Or at least reduces it. I don't remember if this was part of the initial trident or the self service kit. I know I picked mine up from Neptune after one call.

I wasn't using one for a while and had a couple lines clog up. Not so much as debris but these small white pin head dot looking things in my sump that found their way in.

 

[blandi]

I am here to learn and for the comments. As a newbie without any controller, in a few months, I will put my money on Apex, Hydros, GHL, Reef Factory...

And btw, I want to say that if the new "TRIdent" only measures Nitrates and Phosphates, it should be called "BIdent"...

 

[n2585722]

There is no reason to test them daily. Weekly maybe. Alk is the only test that should be done daily.

That said Coralvue didn’t do themselves any favors today. Very vague podcast. It was actual awful and turned me off of them. I don’t need any of this wait and find out crap. I want a price and a launch quarter. Money isn’t an issue. I want to know if it is worth me swapping out all my Apex stuff(which I don’t trust much) to all hydros. Or should I just stick with the Apex and not switch over?

If the Maven is $2,000 and then I need another $2500 in stuff to do what my apex does I’m not switching over. But if the Maven comes in around $1000 I can justify the swap. But time is money too and swapping to a new system will be a massive time investment.

You can always get the Maven since it will work stand alone and also has 2 drive ports which are 12v output ports and 2 sense ports which are inputs for things like temp sensors, water level sensors, leak detectors and more. If you need more you can add to it by getting the controller that has the ports you need and form a collective which is a virtual controller that has all the inputs and outputs of it's member controllers. With the Maven only you can control 2 Hydros simple doser using the 2 drive ports. The Hydros does support dynamic dosing depending on the test results so You can do that without anything but the Maven and up to 2 dosing pumps if the 2 is all you need. If you want a little more there s always the Launch that will have a pH and salinity port along with 4 sense ports. It will also have 4 0-10v inputs. For outputs it has 4 drive ports and 4 AC outlets. The Launch will be $549.99 when it is released.

 

[Naekuh]

The Launch will be $549.99 when it is released.

where did you get this info?
The maven thread has nothing on the price.

 

[lost66]

I was turned off by the Trident after buying it and finding out it can't test Alk alone, it has to include Mg and Ca or it ceases to function. This means more reagents = more costs. Furthermore, it's design is flawed because the tubing in it is so small in diameter it's prone to clogging by a single piece of debris, rendering it useless. Finally, the magnetic stirrer in mind rusted a year in and caused it to stop working altogether. I won't be buying this or another Trident related product. End rant.

Trident can test alk only. Downside is, you can't callibrate alk only. I test alk only once a day using abc reagent.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

where did you get this info?
The maven thread has nothing on the price.

”Launch” is a different hydros product. He’s not talking about the price of the Maven.

 

[n2585722]

where did you get this info?
The maven thread has nothing on the price.

That is not the the Maven price but the Launch price. I was just say since it is that price I expect the Maven to be quite a bit higher than that.

HYDROS Launch

The Launch is the perfect starting point for aquarium control. It measures pH and temperature, controls four outlets, and connects to eight wifi devices. With additional accessories, it can detect leaks, monitor water levels, track salinity, and more. Available this April.

www.coralvue.com

 

[areefer01]

Trident can test alk only. Downside is, you can't callibrate alk only. I test alk only once a day using abc reagent.

The current Neptune Trident tests Alk, Ca, and Mg. You calibrate all three.

 

[thedon986]

The current Neptune Trident tests Alk, Ca, and Mg. You calibrate all three.

What he is saying is that you can set it to custom test for whatever you want but it takes certain coding. There is no coding to only calibrate for Alk though, and you have to calibrate all three.

 

[areefer01]

What he is saying is that you can set it to custom test for whatever you want but it takes certain coding. There is no coding to only calibrate for Alk though, and you have to calibrate all three.

Maybe I replied to the wrong thread or jumped in the middle of something. As I read, and replied, I saw the comment about it only testing Alk. I understand the "custom" code to reduce or change schedules but that isn't the normal operating mode. Calibration is as you noted and all three.

While not the talking point I'd be curious to know why they don't allow more flexibility on the testing schedule. Anyway guess I jumped in when I shouldn't have. Sorry about that.

 

[SpyC]

Maybe I replied to the wrong thread or jumped in the middle of something. As I read, and replied, I saw the comment about it only testing Alk. I understand the "custom" code to reduce or change schedules but that isn't the normal operating mode. Calibration is as you noted and all three.

While not the talking point I'd be curious to know why they don't allow more flexibility on the testing schedule. Anyway guess I jumped in when I shouldn't have. Sorry about that.

Ihad to read it twice too. i understood it the same way you did until the 2nd read.

 

[Zoacoral]

I seen a store taking pre orders on the trident NP. 749. Ill pass at that price point

 

[thedon986]

Yeah that’s gonna kill this product. Does Neptune not know what they are doing?

 

[Yates273]

After having a trident for a few years I can say this is my last reagent purchase. Time to move on from this. Not only does it cost way to much a year for what it does it breaks, often. Sure Neptune will fix it but not for free. If I had to guess after $700 for it when it came out I spend about 200 a year on reagents and have sent it in for 'repairs' 3 times at a 200 clip. That means in the years have had it I have spent about 1500-2000, for something that doesn't help me at all.

The quality of the product is really the problem but Neptune stuff has gone way down hill in the decade since I started with it.

You can save on reagents by buying ABC Reagents and you can change the programming so you only have to test once or twice a day. Saves a ton. No need to test Alk 4 times a day.