Interesting thread. Glad it was finally released. I personally decided to go down the path of a KH Director and the Reefbot. The KH Director works with GHL dosers and can directly influence the dosing if desired. I have the Core7 4 part on the other 4 head GHL doser and plan on programming the dosing based on the measured dKH once I have the confidence things are working properly with animals growing. I wanted that redundancy on my new tank...I didn't want just Apex. Second, the Reefbot allows me to do many other tests other than the 3.
The way the ReefBot works is a bit different than the Trident. The levels are clearly "seen" by the robot and the pumps are quite powerful from my experience so far. It isn't based on "how long should a pump run" to fill the test vial, but rather when it is full, shut off the pump. I am unsure how the Trident does this function...but clearly the strict instructions/guidelines about the length of the feed tube influences this function. There are a multitude of test kits that work with the Reefbot too. There are 8 vials in the robot and you can swap them out if needed to run more tests than what is in the robot. The only downside to the Reefbot so far is how long it takes for a test to complete. Some tests can take 45-60 minutes to complete. It is virtually silent and the software is pretty slick. Finally, you don't "have to run a test" to keep things calibrated. The Trident requires a minimum number of tests per day to keep it calibrated. The KH Director does as well, but only minimally to keep the PH probe wet. Calibration of the KH Director PH probe will be required, but that is a pretty minimal cost.
The initial cost is something to consider. The ReefBot is a bit more expensive and physically larger. However, you don't have to buy a single vendor's reagents. I guess it is hard to know what the total cost of ownership will be per month or year. With the ReefBot, it is purely based on how often you want to run the tests and therefore have to buy a refill test kit. With Trident, there will be a direct ongoing minimal cost for the reagents. Since so many of us are OCD on our parameters, that could become costly on the Trident since you always have to run all 3 at any one test. The more OCD = the more $$ and when you aren't "physically" doing it, it is easy to forget the $$ you might start spending at the press of a button..LOL.
Right now I am testing Nitrite/Nitrate, Phosphate and calcium since the tank is cycling. I am doing them once or 2x per week. I will add Mg and take out something later when the time is right. The refill for the kits are $20-$30 for 50 to 100 tests depending on the kit. Having the choice to pick and choose is nice.
It will be interesting to hear what people think as the Trident gets out there.
. In a while, I got an email and a app notification of the test results.
