Neptune Aquatics

Trident in need of frequent calibration

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Krak256

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I recently purchased a Trident and have noticed that it needs to be calibrated quite often. I'm not sure if it was an issue with initial set up, but I noticed my readings were way off my Salifert tests. It required 2-3 calibrations before they were generally within acceptable ranges to Salifert.

After my reagents ran out, I didn't think I needed to calibrate again. I re-primed all the regaents but noticed after a while my readings didn't make sense and had to perform another calibration.

Is this normal? Am I supposed to be calibrating after changing out reagents?
 
Yes and No. I think Neptune suggests you recalibrate every time you change reagents, ( this is why they include a bottle of calibration fluid with every box of reagents). But, I have gotten away from not having to do this. I usually only calibrate the unit if I am suspicious of the readings I am getting.
 
What I would do is calibrate with your tank water. And use your Salifer readings if you don't have the calibration reagent.
Also not sure if you bought the trident new or used, but if you bought it used do this:
1) flush all your tubes with a syringe. Make sure you clean the tube for the water intake, water waste and the ones from inside the trident.
2) Clean the vial
And see after that if you have better readings.
 
Krak256 said:
I recently purchased a Trident and have noticed that it needs to be calibrated quite often. I'm not sure if it was an issue with initial set up, but I noticed my readings were way off my Salifert tests. It required 2-3 calibrations before they were generally within acceptable ranges to Salifert.

After my reagents ran out, I didn't think I needed to calibrate again. I re-primed all the regaents but noticed after a while my readings didn't make sense and had to perform another calibration.

Is this normal? Am I supposed to be calibrating after changing out reagents?
Click to expand...
Generally speaking- I typically recalibrate after I replace B & C reagents- one thing to keep in mind that optical chamber does get dirty and so recalibrating it helps to take into account the light penetration in respects to measurement.
 
Also I don't recalibrate after each reagent replacement. I watch to make sure my readings will be consistant after I replace to a new reagent. That way you don't waste too much testing fluid each time. You want the readings to be consistant.
 
Calibrate when you get a new set of 2 month reagents and follow the directions. When you chage out A after a month, no need to calibrate.
If you ran out and didn't run the shut down task, you will for sure have to recalibrate.
Trying to make test kits 'match' will drive you insane, and I suggest you don't do it! Instead note the difference and let it be.
 
Alexx said:
What I would do is calibrate with your tank water. And use your Salifer readings if you don't have the calibration reagent.
Also not sure if you bought the trident new or used, but if you bought it used do this:
1) flush all your tubes with a syringe. Make sure you clean the tube for the water intake, water waste and the ones from inside the trident.
2) Clean the vial
And see after that if you have better readings.
Click to expand...
I bought a new one, albeit it was sitting in a box for a while
 
Thales said:
Calibrate when you get a new set of 2 month reagents and follow the directions. When you chage out A after a month, no need to calibrate.
If you ran out and didn't run the shut down task, you will for sure have to recalibrate.
Trying to make test kits 'match' will drive you insane, and I suggest you don't do it! Instead note the difference and let it be.
Click to expand...
Ah thank you. I did not run the shut down task, which sounds like it caused an issue
 
I didn't shut mine down properly and it sat unused for several months. It hasn't worked right since. I've been a little intimidated to start flushing all the lines.

Those who have done this, it's pretty straight forward right? Just pull one line off at a time and flush it?
 
Srt4eric said:
I didn't shut mine down properly and it sat unused for several months. It hasn't worked right since. I've been a little intimidated to start flushing all the lines.

Those who have done this, it's pretty straight forward right? Just pull one line off at a time and flush it?
Click to expand...
Yes, I know the pipes are 100x smaller than you are used to, but I know you can do it. Unscrew the feet, pop the cover off, use tweezers to take each rubber line off, then push the solenoid and squirt rodi through the appropriate tube. Will likely take you an hour where the first half is wrapping your brain around how fluid moved through "pipes" that small. ;)

Might also need to clean the cuvette up top. Use rodi and a q-tip.
 
Resurrecting this thread. So I read that you only need to run the shutdown task when you plan on storing the trident for an extended period, correct?

I ran out of reagent A and reprimed the line. However, now the trident is giving me a materially different alk reading: before it was 8.3 and now it’s 6.8 (which is actually close to my Salifert test).

What is causing this material difference? Before I ran out of reagent, I recalibrated it based on my Salifert kits and it seemed to be right for a while.

Also is there a way to set up an alarm for when the Trident runs out of reagent? I saw on the Neptune forum someone suggested writing some code but was hoping for a simpler method.
 
I’ve noticed when I was using the Neptune solution. About 25% left, the readings would start to rise and be all crazy numbers. For the past year or so. I’ve been using the ABC reagents. They are a lot more stable that I’ve noticed. Dunno what you guys are using. Just what I noticed. Hope it helps.
 
Krak256 said:
Resurrecting this thread. So I read that you only need to run the shutdown task when you plan on storing the trident for an extended period, correct?

I ran out of reagent A and reprimed the line. However, now the trident is giving me a materially different alk reading: before it was 8.3 and now it’s 6.8 (which is actually close to my Salifert test).

What is causing this material difference? Before I ran out of reagent, I recalibrated it based on my Salifert kits and it seemed to be right for a while.

Also is there a way to set up an alarm for when the Trident runs out of reagent? I saw on the Neptune forum someone suggested writing some code but was hoping for a simpler method.
Click to expand...

It’s sounds like the first calibration was wrong. I’ve found that the calibration solution they provide is wildly inconsistent and I’ve stopped using it years ago. I just test my water with Salifert and calibrate to that when the trident seems to be off, which is once or twice a year.


For the trident alert:

Add the following line to your EMAILALM_I5 outlet

If Error Trident_6_3 Then ON

Replace <Trident_6_3> with the name of your trident.
 
Turkeysammich said:
I’ve noticed when I was using the Neptune solution. About 25% left, the readings would start to rise and be all crazy numbers. For the past year or so. I’ve been using the ABC reagents. They are a lot more stable that I’ve noticed. Dunno what you guys are using. Just what I noticed. Hope it helps.
Click to expand...
Interesting. If true-may give a leg up to the hydros system. The person who created the ABC agents created all of them for the Hydros. Was informed of this last week when I met Richard from Hydros.
 
RandyC said:
It’s sounds like the first calibration was wrong. I’ve found that the calibration solution they provide is wildly inconsistent and I’ve stopped using it years ago. I just test my water with Salifert and calibrate to that when the trident seems to be off, which is once or twice a year.


For the trident alert:

Add the following line to your EMAILALM_I5 outlet

If Error Trident_6_3 Then ON

Replace <Trident_6_3> with the name of your trident.
Click to expand...
The first calibration actually was using Salifert. I tested manually and set my Trident based on the readings. Is that not the right way to do it? I didn’t use the Trident calibration fluid because I heard it’s inaccurate.

I actually am using ABC reagents…
 
Krak256 said:
The first calibration actually was using Salifert. I tested manually and set my Trident based on the readings. Is that not the right way to do it? I didn’t use the Trident calibration fluid because I heard it’s inaccurate.

I actually am using ABC reagents…
Click to expand...

By the book, it is not the correct way, but the calibration fluid from my experience is not always accurate with the values printed on the bottle.

I have been calibrating using salifert values with tank water and calibrating trident with those values for a while now. The ABC reagents should be more or less the same, just the concentration may vary if you’re mixing your own from the concentrated version as human error comes into play.
 
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