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Setting up a used Apex system


John Vinson

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I picked up a used Apex EL, DOS and Trident system and have it all setup.  The alkalinity readings are a little lower than what Hanna is reporting (8.2 for Hanna, 7.83 for Trident).  I know you calibrate the Trident after refilling/replacing reagents, but I was wondering if it's worth calibrating right now (I have about half used bottles of each of the reagents in there now).  Any other tips/suggestions for the new setup?  Thanks in advance for your help!

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If you have a spare bottle of calibration fluid, feel free to calibrate.  But if you don't, then I'd just wait until you replace all the reagents before calibration.

The primary goal is to maintain stability.  So even if the numbers are slightly off from your other test kit, as long as the Trident can help you maintain stable levels you will be much better off than without it.

Before I got my Trident, I always tested Alk every day at 9am, and I thought my parameters were pretty stable.  But after getting the Trident, I quickly discovered that the alk swings quite a bit throughout the day as the lighting cycle triggers the corals to increase and decrease the demand.  Look at this Trident graph showing the daily swings, but my daily 9am readings in red.  Checking the parameters frequently reveals patterns that are otherwise unknown:

image.png

I used this data to adjust my dosing schedule to dose more during the day and less at night to counteract the daily swings.

Read more about my Trident experience and findings here:  https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/trident-hands-on.596716/

 

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One suggestion I got from Neptune tech support about calibration was to calibrate the trident based on the test results I get with my test kits. You can simply put those numbers and calibrate. I did that a few times and it works. It’s stable and accurate. I trust my manual testings and I test two times each just to make sure I’m consistent. 
 

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Thanks for the info gents.  I went ahead and calibrated the Trident and the results are closer to what I'm getting from Hanna now.  I do have another question on the PH though.....Apex is consistently reading it around 7.5, which is quite a bit lower than the Salifert tests that show around 8.4.  I ordered some calibration solution and calibrated the probe, but it's still reading around 7.5.  I plan on taking some water to my LFS and seeing what they get, but what are your thoughts on which reading I should "trust" at this point?  If it's the Apex, what's the general recommendation for getting the PH up?  Do I need to get a reactor of some sort?  Thanks again for your help!

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One last thing (for now at least lol).... The Trident seems to be continuing to dose even after the KH is where I want it (8.5).  Shouldn't it stop dosing when it goes above 8.5, or will it continue to do the 15ml per day that I set it at regardless?  If that's the case, then I need to drop the daily dosage so that it stops climbing, right?

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15 minutes ago, John Vinson said:

One last thing (for now at least lol).... The Trident seems to be continuing to dose even after the KH is where I want it (8.5).  Shouldn't it stop dosing when it goes above 8.5, or will it continue to do the 15ml per day that I set it at regardless?  If that's the case, then I need to drop the daily dosage so that it stops climbing, right?

Trident Controlled Dosing will make small adjustments to increase or decrease the base amount the DOS delivers, but only when the test results are within the limits you defined.  Once the results exceed the limits, the DOS reverts to delivering the base amount and the Trident no longer adjusts it until the next test result falls back within the limits. 

This is by design, so in case a test result is way off, it doesn't instruct the DOS to do anything drastic.

Read this document for details on how it's designed to work:  https://www.neptunesystems.com/getstarted/trident/tridentdos/

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