Anyone see this?

[mhart032]

https://www.saltwateraquarium.com/apex-trident-alk-cal-mag-monitoring-device-neptune-systems/

[fightinghippo]

@farmerty maybe? I know he has some alk monitoring system not 100% sure it’s the apex one

 

[FarmerTy]

@farmerty maybe? I know he has some all monitoring system not 100% sure it’s the apex one

Its the one for the Apex. I'll let others try it out... I'm happy with my Alkatronic.

The cost of reagent and mandatory service every 18-24 months (where you ship it in) has this guy turning the other direction from the Trident.

Really, monitoring alk is the only thing important to me. Calcium tracks closely with alk usually and Mg I dose once every quarter at best so I really don't need to know either of the other two daily like I do alk.

Just my 2 cents. Someone buy it and test it out for me and let me know though. I'm always curious. [emoji16]

[mhart032]

Id never seen a price on it yet. 599 isn't to bad to be honest. I do like the alkatronic once it's dialed in it's great. I was just shocked that they were finally advertising it with a price and that it's going to be in stock very soon. I knew the new Apex update included support for it and all. 

[victoly]

It went on sale last night. It's pretty much sold out and there is some asshat on ebay selling one for 2k minimum. 
 This one is for sale with 4 bids at 1,425. lol. just lol. 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Neptune-Apex-Trident-In-Hand-And-Sealed/273837404766?hash=item3fc1fb325e:g:QGIAAOSwUv9c0ogl

Rumor is that there is also a self-service or cross shipping option for those who dont wish to have a week or two downtime for the service. 

I'm fine with most of the tradeoffs here, but what I really do not like is the minimum testing. That seems crappy to me. Maybe there is some underlying reason (reagent container volume vs. expiration ?) but I dont want to be told how much I should or should not test unless there is some underlying reason. 

That said, I'll probably be getting one in the next 6 months or so when I have my tank up and running with some kind of measurable alk demand :P.

[mhart032]

I tried to buy one last night. but im not going to jump through all the hoops. if i cant buy it in 30 secs then my attention is diverted elsewhere. im just running fish only for a couple more months anyway and i dont really need to make sure my alk is on point for my coraline algae. 

[eddius-maximus]

I was able to snag one, it’ll be here in a couple days. I agree about 4x minimum testing, what is that? For cal and mag no less. But if the reported reagent prices are accurate then it’ll amount to less than what I’m paying at the moment for daily alk and weekly cal/mag manual testing. 

[mhart032]

2 minutes ago, eddius-maximus said:

I was able to snag one, it’ll be here in a couple days. I agree about 4x minimum testing, what is that? For cal and mag no less. But if the reported reagent prices are accurate then it’ll amount to less than what I’m paying at the moment for daily alk and weekly cal/mag manual testing. 

Nice, ill try again when they come back in stock. 

[victoly]

I read a little more and apparently the reagent has a shelf life (reasonable) and because of the length of tube required to pull the reagent through, it has to be used at a certain interval to flush through fresh reagents for accurate readings. I'm not sure i 100% buy that, but its hard to say without being able to control the sampling frequency on my own. I feel like if I want to let things **** up, that I should be able/allowed to!@

[mhart032]

I agree on that 100% 

[Reefpuck]

I'm sure any equipment with fine calibration/testing equipment testing like the Trident, Alktronic or any other system will need repairs/servicing at some point. Seems like everyone found out a few days prior to the release that there was going to be maintenance fees associated with it though. Never was really a talking point leading up to the release. Oh well. 

Hopefully they send more units out soon. Have a feeling it'll be a while before I can snag one. 

[eddius-maximus]

Trident arrived today. So far so good. It is quiet. Easy setup. 

[Reefpuck]

Lucky. I tried grabbing one on BRS but wasn't quick enough. 

[+olaggie01]

Interesting. I’ve been following throughout the development. I ended up with Alkatronic and while I like it, it does have its limits. I like the fact that I can control the number of tests a day. I’m sure I’ll need to replace the tubing, pumps and pH probe at some point.

[jolt]

@eddius-maximus I assume the Trident will also graph those three parameters for you in Fusion?

[eddius-maximus]

That’s correct jolt, although I don’t have much data to graph yet. 

[mhart032]

How was the setup? Do you need a reservoir for waste discharge? 

[eddius-maximus]

The setup was easy, it took me maybe 20 minutes. Yea, you need a reservoir or a drain nearby. I'm using an old BRS gallon container I had lying around.

[mhart032]

nice, how was the calibration? Pretty easy? I know the alkatronic was not easy and it took forever to setup. I've heard it's easier on a iPhone, but I use Android so it kept disconnecting on me. I hope the Triton works out well, I'd like to switch when I can get one. 

[Timfish]

How do you know when it needs calibration, or maybe more importantly how do you know when it's gone out of calibration?   With the problems I've seen over the decades with electronics failing and bad reagents I want redundancy to assure reliability.   For $6 I'll stick with API which is more than accurate enough.   Replacing calcium, magnesium and alkalinity yearly probably costs me ~$60 a year and it's with test kits I've been using and double checking for a couple decades so I have a high confidence factor with them.