Neptune Trident

[Redfoxtang]

Just seen that ABC reagents is making reagents for the Trident.Not sure how new this is but it is for me. Just wondering if anyone has tested the reagents and if so how accurate are they? They are very reasonably priced as well especially for a 6 month kit!

Edit: Made sure I corrected this as it might have been confusing.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Link?

 

[Redfoxtang]

Here is one. My local LFS is actually carrying them now as well.

3rd Party Testing Reagents Now Available For the Neptune Trident | AquaNerd

3rd Party Testing Reagents Now Available For the Neptune Trident. Learn more at AquaNerd.

aquanerd.com

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Oh, so it is ABC reagent. That reagent is touted as being better not only based on price, but for better quality control.

 

[Redfoxtang]

Of course when I post something about it I see another posting about it lol. Have you used this reagent before?

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

For many reasons, I don't own a trident. However many locals do, and all have moved over to the cheaper ABC reagent without any issue. It was widely talked about when the reagent hit the market. And many concerns were raised and all of them were addressed with convincing reasons not to worry.

Neptune is a bit unhappy because their subscription model was crippled but when an alternative cost for cheaper reagent emerges people are going to flock to the more economical choice.

 

[Redfoxtang]

Yea I definitely missed the boat on this one. Only caught my eye at the LFS and couldn’t find many articles online about it. Last article I see about it kinda just in general talks about calibration for the Trident and how there reagents drifts. So I’m assuming the ABC will as well. I’ll give it a shot why not!

 

[infinite0180]

I use the ABC now for a year or so. Works great!

 

[Redfoxtang]

I use the ABC now for a year or so. Works great!

Where do you get it from? How do you calibrate the trident as I think I read it doesn’t come with calibration solution.

 

[infinite0180]

Where do you get it from? How do you calibrate the trident as I think I read it doesn’t come with calibration solution.

Direct from their website. The kits have included calibration solution but i usually don't need to calibrate that often because my values don't change when i go to new bottles. I usually only calibrate if i move the trident or i see a drastic change in values from reagent to reagent. Most of the time i will calibrate to my tank water. Ill run manual tests and plug those numbers into the trident calibration app and it matches up with my manual test. Last time i did use a left over unopened neptune calibration bottle though and it worked fine with the ABC. Most people are too tough on the trident, in my experience, its best to follow the trends that it shows. I dont really care if its supper accurate as long as its repeatable. Every soo often you need to ignore the cal/mag outliers. Alk always seems spot on for me. I also changed the code so i run a combined test at midnight and an alk only at noon. That way i get 2 alk tests a day and 1 cal/mag. My reagents last twice as long and im saving wear and tear on the pumps. I like my trident alot!

 

[Redfoxtang]

Direct from their website. The kits have included calibration solution but i usually don't need to calibrate that often because my values don't change when i go to new bottles. I usually only calibrate if i move the trident or i see a drastic change in values from reagent to reagent. Most of the time i will calibrate to my tank water. Ill run manual tests and plug those numbers into the trident calibration app and it matches up with my manual test. Last time i did use a left over unopened neptune calibration bottle though and it worked fine with the ABC. Most people are too tough on the trident, in my experience, its best to follow the trends that it shows. I dont really care if its supper accurate as long as its repeatable. Every soo often you need to ignore the cal/mag outliers. Alk always seems spot on for me. I also changed the code so i run a combined test at midnight and an alk only at noon. That way i get 2 alk tests a day and 1 cal/mag. My reagents last twice as long and im saving wear and tear on the pumps. I like my trident alot!

Good to know. I’m gonna try it then! Worth a shot since I can literally get a years worth for a little more than 6 months from Neptune. As long as is close to where I want it I’m fine. I wouldn’t expect a water testing device to be that precise. Kinda just wanted feed back on if it was in the same ball park. Looks like I have to pour this into the trident bottles though correct?

 

[infinite0180]

Good to know. I’m gonna try it then! Worth a shot since I can literally get a years worth for a little more than 6 months from Neptune. As long as is close to where I want it I’m fine. I wouldn’t expect a water testing device to be that precise. Kinda just wanted feed back on if it was in the same ball park. Looks like I have to pour this into the trident bottles though correct?

Yea you might need to recalibrate at first when switching but other than that its fine. And yea save a set or two of the neptune bottles to pour the abc stuff into.

 

[Redfoxtang]

Yea you might need to recalibrate at first when switching but other than that its fine. And yea save a set or two of the neptune bottles to pour the abc stuff into.

Well I ordered some last night. Got a free tee shirt as well lol. I just recalibrated from the 2 month of reagents I got Neptune. Guess I will just use tank water to do it again when switching to the ABC. But I’ll watch and see if the parameters change when switching to the new reagent first.

 

[infinite0180]

Well I ordered some last night. Got a free tee shirt as well lol. I just recalibrated from the 2 month of reagents I got Neptune. Guess I will just use tank water to do it again when switching to the ABC. But I’ll watch and see if the parameters change when switching to the new reagent first.

Yea i would run a few test first and see how your results go. Fwiw i did recieve calibration solution from ABC but maybe thats changing?

 

[Gtinnel]

I’ve used both Neptune and ABC reagents and can’t tell a difference. I actually had a thread saying I was having an issue with trident calibration and a friend and the wife of the owner of ABC reagents both reached out to me to make sure it wasn’t their reagents I was using, which it wasn’t.
I received an order I placed a week or so ago and it did come with calibration fluid. I still calibrate with my tank water though.

 

[Redfoxtang]

I’ve used both Neptune and ABC reagents and can’t tell a difference. I actually had a thread saying I was having an issue with trident calibration and a friend and the wife of the owner of ABC reagents both reached out to me to make sure it wasn’t their reagents I was using, which it wasn’t.
I received an order I placed a week or so ago and it did come with calibration fluid. I still calibrate with my tank water though.

Just curious to why calibrate with the tank water and not with the provided calibration fluid?

 

[Gtinnel]

Just curious to why calibrate with the tank water and not with the provided calibration fluid?

I’ve calibrated with the Neptune provided calibration solution before then when testing my tank it showed different than my manual tests. So I tested a bottle of calibration fluid for alk with both my Hanna and Red Sea kits and those two tests matched but didn’t match the value listed on the bottle. I can’t say for a fact that the bottle label was wrong but I honestly think it was. Since then I just manually test my tank water multiple times with multiple tests and use those values.
I also agree with @infinite0180 that as long as it keeps my values stable I don’t care if it is perfectly accurate or not.

 

[Redfoxtang]

That makes sense. I’ll give the trident a good cleaning before the new reagent and then test and calibrate if needed. I always had a feeling that calibration fluid was off. Just never really thought of testing it myself.

 

[dadnjesse]

I was just on the ABC website and saw they have the reagent in a concentrated version. Just add water to make a gallon jug. Has anyone tried these? Will a gallon jug stay useable until used up?

 

[Redfoxtang]

I was thinking about getting the concentrate as it’s 5- 6 month kits which I have 2 tridents running 4 times everyday. I would assume there would be some type of expiration but it doesn’t say.