I Received a NEW Trident NP Nitrate & Phosphate Tester!!!!

[reef-rc]

Is this the same result after repeated tests? Many here are seeing that after the first test which is speculated to incorrectly place the decimal, it has been accurate thereafter.

I wish the results were closer. I don't expect precision since my two tridents on the same system don't match exactly, but they're close enough.

Mine has been running for about two weeks. The PO04 numbers are not close, even with a decimal adjustment. I have observed that it does adjusts up and down based on each test and is in line with my Hanna manual testing.

I have submitted a ticket to Neptune and sent both .biz and .baz files on Monday as requested. I'll share their response when I hear back. For now, I am using results more for observing trends than accurate results and still do have to bounce these against the golden standard - hanna. The joy of being an early adopter .

 

[t5Nitro]

You would quickly come up against the cost of a Trident NP if you were to use ICP testing to track nitrates and phosphates….

Do you need to check them that frequently when your import and export methods aren’t significantly changing?

 

[Reef Hub]

Are people still experiencing issues with these devices? You can try to return them to BRS if that is where you purchased it. @Notsolostfish shared a screenshot on post number 299 on this thread where BRS accepted his return. They put up a fight but hopefully with this proof in the screenshot he provided, it can help anyone else out still experiencing issues with these. That is your hard earned money and for me, i wouldn't invest/waste it on something that isn't going to make my life easier.

 

[JeffB418]

So far post latest FW update, my numbers have been acceptable. Nitrate has been within 1ppm of hanna, and phos within 0.01 of hanna. I just replaced reagents as well. Going to keep an eye on it and see how it does long term. I am running 7 nitrate and 0.04 phos for ref.

 

[cubsfan16]

Mine is still trending (post software updates) but stays about .10 (low) off the Hanna. I plan to do a factory reset when it’s time to change the reagents

 

[Jamie814]

Just got mine setup today, followed the instructions exactly updated firmware and first test (scheduled for 11am daily) took over an hour to run and no3 was right in line with my Hanna @ 3ppm, po4 was way off @ .250ppm.... almost 10 times more than my Hanna. Hopeful it will fall in line. I'll give it a few days with only scheduled testing and update here.

 

[SDJustin]

Appreciate ya

Hey all. I moved the source files from thingables to printables. new link is here:

Printables

www.printables.com

 

[Adamc13o3]

Has anyone figured out a fix for this? Mine just doesn't work for PO4.....

 

[JeffB418]

How’s everyone’s working now post latest release?

Mine seems to be accurate on phos if it’s stable but doesn’t detect large spikes well unless I force it to retest a few times. Been reading 0.03 for a week now (and has been spot on to Hanna) and I’ve fed heavily last night and registering a 0.06 now on Hanna. But trident only registered a 0.04 after I ran the manual test 3x. Still need more time on it but concerned. Seems like it might be doing some previous test running average possibly, not great if you have sudden changes.

 

[slythy]

How’s everyone’s working now post latest release?

Mine seems to be accurate on phos if it’s stable but doesn’t detect large spikes well unless I force it to retest a few times. Been reading 0.03 for a week now (and has been spot on to Hanna) and I’ve fed heavily last night and registering a 0.06 now on Hanna. But trident only registered a 0.04 after I ran the manual test 3x. Still need more time on it but concerned. Seems like it might be doing some previous test running average possibly, not great if you have sudden changes.

Mine was running down to zeroI did the update the same time I added my old 70g to the tank my phosphates skyrocketed to 0.43 from .08... I thought it was still bugged or a factor of 10 issue like some people where saying... It was not lol. I have been using rowaphos to lower my phosphates from 0.43 to now 0.13. my NP has been within 0.01 of my hanna every day. I think its fixed? I also shook up my reagents a little after the update so I dont know lol

 

[Jamie814]

Mine has not worked at all for PO4 yet. Hanna says .04-.06 consistently NP started at .250 a week ago and has gone down by about .01 daily since, probably will trend down to 0 and sit there like many have reported. I factory reset and calibrated after 5 days of running but it did not change any test results. NO3 is testing inline with my Hanna.

I don't understand how Neptune released this product without proper testing. So many having issues with the PO4 test. Probably was just a beat to market cash grab over the new Hydros system coming out. Neptune will lose me as a longtime 15+year customer if Hydros is everything they are advertising.

 

[RelaxingWithTheReef]

The NP tester itself for the most part seems to work. But for me there is an interesting problem that came up. The long black sample water tubing develops an internal biofilm in a couple days that significantly reduces the phosphate level of the sample water, before it reaches the tester.

For confirmation, I drew 1 ml water from the tube every 5 minutes to collect a 10ml sample. The tank water measured 0.060 ppm, and the sample from the tube measured 0.010 ppm. It’s remarkable that bacteria can consume that much phosphate so quickly. This can explain why some users experience lower then expected readings, even 0 ppm in some cases.

I have been experimenting with eliminating the long sample tube, and having the tester directly sample flowing tank water right at the tester. So far the results look promising.

 

[reef-rc]

Update: N03 continues to be reasonably accurate. P04 continues to be reasonably inaccurate . NP P04 discrepancy is about .4x off (this morning P04 test result: hanna - .04, np - .47)

After working with Neptune support, they are sending a replacement unit. Fingers cross in the upcoming round two.

 

[Chemaholic]

My NP measures NO3 fine but the PO4 is way off. I guess I need to open a ticket with them.

 

[Evaaron]

I had the 10X Po4 issue where my NP read .50 po4 but Hanna, RF smart tester, and ICP agree at .05. Neptune replaced my NP and the new unit read .05 for a couple days then slowly went to 0 and had stayed there while Hanna and RF smart tester read .05-.09
Nitrate is great but Po4 is not accurate or trustworthy. I’m on the latest firmware and have tried calibrations and factory resets.

 

[PigDaddyF15E]

I'll throw in my 2 cents worth. Had the NP for almost two weeks (installed 15Aug). I have not been using any coral food and I feed once per day (TDO Chroma, PE Flakes, Frozen alternating)

TL;DR - I think the Nitrate is probably correct but the Phosphate still has me wondering. I performed the reset defaults and restart per the earlier post. Have NOT calibrated.

Nitrate:

I'd say this one is pretty close in that it's probably within the specifications of my Hanna that I'm using to compare. On the days when I dosed some Sodium Nitrate the next days reading increased. Here are the days I did a test with my Hanna as well:

Date: Hanna NP

15 0.0 0.1
18 3.7 5.0
22 2.3 3.7
28 3.7 4.4

Phosphate:

I'm not sure about this one. I know the Hanna phos has a range of +/- 0.02....so...it's easy to say that given the NP probably has a similar tolerance then it's "accurate". The NP tested 0.07 the first day...then 0.06 the next two days...then 0.05 for the next 4 days...then 0.04 every day since then (last 7 days). I think I read some previous posts about other NP's doing the same thing although "technically" the 0.02 +/- 0.02 from today hanna test is within the range for the NP reading of 0.04. One day...can't remember which...I dosed a couple of capfuls of NeoPhos to see if the reading would change...it was the same next day. Can't say I measured it out scientifically...but I might try to do so for a 0.02 change just to see if it moves the reading a little higher.

15 0.00 0.07
18 0.00 0.04
22 0.01 0.04
28 0.02 0.04

 

[MrWellington]

I can concur with the same finding of a 0.02 +/- 0.02 variance on PO4. NO3's are pretty dead on when compared to Hanna. I'll be more excited when i can strap these results to a carbon dosing scheme.

 

[areefer01]

I'll throw in my 2 cents worth. Had the NP for almost two weeks (installed 15Aug). I have not been using any coral food and I feed once per day (TDO Chroma, PE Flakes, Frozen alternating)

TL;DR - I think the Nitrate is probably correct but the Phosphate still has me wondering. I performed the reset defaults and restart per the earlier post. Have NOT calibrated.

Nitrate:

I'd say this one is pretty close in that it's probably within the specifications of my Hanna that I'm using to compare. On the days when I dosed some Sodium Nitrate the next days reading increased. Here are the days I did a test with my Hanna as well:

Date: Hanna NP

15 0.0 0.1
18 3.7 5.0
22 2.3 3.7
28 3.7 4.4

Phosphate:

I'm not sure about this one. I know the Hanna phos has a range of +/- 0.02....so...it's easy to say that given the NP probably has a similar tolerance then it's "accurate". The NP tested 0.07 the first day...then 0.06 the next two days...then 0.05 for the next 4 days...then 0.04 every day since then (last 7 days). I think I read some previous posts about other NP's doing the same thing although "technically" the 0.02 +/- 0.02 from today hanna test is within the range for the NP reading of 0.04. One day...can't remember which...I dosed a couple of capfuls of NeoPhos to see if the reading would change...it was the same next day. Can't say I measured it out scientifically...but I might try to do so for a 0.02 change just to see if it moves the reading a little higher.

15 0.00 0.07
18 0.00 0.04
22 0.01 0.04
28 0.02 0.04

You can get the test kits respected accuracy on their portal. Example for the two that I use. Neptune trident information is on their portal as well which includes the NP.

Hanna High Range HI782: (±2.0 ppm ±5% of reading @ 25 °C (77 °F)
Hanna Phosphate Low Range HI713 Accuracy @ 25°C (77°F) ±0.04 ppm ±4% of reading

 

[PigDaddyF15E]

You can get the test kits respected accuracy on their portal. Example for the two that I use. Neptune trident information is on their portal as well which includes the NP.

Hanna High Range HI782: (±2.0 ppm ±5% of reading @ 25 °C (77 °F)
Hanna Phosphate Low Range HI713 Accuracy @ 25°C (77°F) ±0.04 ppm ±4% of reading

It's also on the "cards" that come with the checkers.

 

[PigDaddyF15E]

I'll throw in my 2 cents worth. Had the NP for almost two weeks (installed 15Aug). I have not been using any coral food and I feed once per day (TDO Chroma, PE Flakes, Frozen alternating)

TL;DR - I think the Nitrate is probably correct but the Phosphate still has me wondering. I performed the reset defaults and restart per the earlier post. Have NOT calibrated.

Nitrate:

I'd say this one is pretty close in that it's probably within the specifications of my Hanna that I'm using to compare. On the days when I dosed some Sodium Nitrate the next days reading increased. Here are the days I did a test with my Hanna as well:

Date: Hanna NP

15 0.0 0.1
18 3.7 5.0
22 2.3 3.7
28 3.7 4.4

Phosphate:

I'm not sure about this one. I know the Hanna phos has a range of +/- 0.02....so...it's easy to say that given the NP probably has a similar tolerance then it's "accurate". The NP tested 0.07 the first day...then 0.06 the next two days...then 0.05 for the next 4 days...then 0.04 every day since then (last 7 days). I think I read some previous posts about other NP's doing the same thing although "technically" the 0.02 +/- 0.02 from today hanna test is within the range for the NP reading of 0.04. One day...can't remember which...I dosed a couple of capfuls of NeoPhos to see if the reading would change...it was the same next day. Can't say I measured it out scientifically...but I might try to do so for a 0.02 change just to see if it moves the reading a little higher.

15 0.00 0.07
18 0.00 0.04
22 0.01 0.04
28 0.02 0.04

Ok...so....here is an update:

I dosed 2 capfuls of neophos about an hour or so before the NP did it's reading today. It should raise the Phos by about 0.02 based on the formula on the bottle.

Yesterday the NP measured 0.04...today it measured 0.05.
Yesterday the Hanna got 0.02...today it measured 0.07.

Technically I guess both sets of numbers are within the Hanna ULR tolerance of 0.02. Also..."technically" if I dosed enough NeoPHos to raise my tank 0.02 but the NP only registered 0.01 increase ...that's still probably within the tolerance range for the NP

I dosed 1/8th tsp of Sodium Nitrate which should have raised my Nitrate by about 1.4

Yesterday the NP measured 4.4...today it measured 5.6
Yesterday the Hanna got 3.7..today it measured 4.8

Overall I feel pretty confident in the Nitrate measurements. I don't feel that way about the Phosphate numbers but with the numbers being so small and the tolerances being what they are...it's probably "accurate".

I was worried my NP Phosphate numbers were heading down to 0.0 like others have posted...but it did see to move back up with my dose today.