- So I waited an entire year to do this video
so that I could put the Trident through its paces.
And I gotta say,
the Trident from Neptune Systems makes what is arguably
one of the most tedious parts of reefing a total breeze
and provides a ton of insight on the major three elements,
alkalinity, calcium, and magnesium
by testing multiple times a day,
always displaying the latest test result
right on the Fusion dashboard
and automatically mapping out the history
of your tanks test results on easy to read graphs,
so you can consistently keep track
of the consumption rates of those elements
which makes it easier to dose effectively
and keep parameters stable,
as well as track how changes you make
to flow or lighting could be affecting coral growth
in your tank.
You can get notifications to your smart device
if any of those parameters are too high or too low.
And if you pick up a dose to go along with it,
it can even adjust the dosing amounts for you
to keep those parameters as stable as possible
which can translate
into one of the easiest hands free ways
to achieve a dream reef tank full
of amazing looking corals with steady
and reliable growth.
And the best part is, it isn't complicated.
It's not hard to set up.
Everything's very easy to do right in the Fusion app.
Thanks to the tasks function
that walks you through everything step by step.
When you open up the box, you'll find the Trident
as well as five feet of black and clear tubing
for the sample and waist lines,
a two month pack of reagents,
the calibration solution, a tubing clip,
a one link cable, and the quick start guide.
How it works is actually pretty simple.
In a nutshell, the Trident essentially does tests
for you using some very accurate pumps,
a test vial with a magnetic stir,
a photometer similar to what you'd find
in your favorite checker, as well as reagents.
It draws water from your tank,
places it in the vial,
stirs it up while adding reagent,
reads the resulting color change,
and gives you the test result
in the Fusion app and on your Apex display module,
if you've got one hooked up.
The Trident will test your tanks alkalinity
four times per day
and calcium and magnesium two times per day.
Four, two, and two are the minimum amount
the Trident can test,
but you can set it to test more frequently
if you wanna get an even more thorough look
at how your levels change throughout the day.
Like I was touching on earlier,
you'll be able to see the most recent test results
for alkalinity, calcium, and magnesium
right on your Fusion dashboard,
plus just below those readings you can toggle the tile
to display either a simplified seven day graph
for all three elements or the remaining reagent levels,
so you can get a quick glance
at your reef's trends for the week,
as well as know how soon you'll need
to replace those reagents.
You can also look at each graph
in detail and see the minimum, maximum,
and average levels of each parameter
and even overlay the graphs on one another,
so you can see the relationships,
which you can also do
with important parameters like pH and temperature.
And from there, you can do other things like trigger alarms
and send you notifications to your phone
if any of those parameters are higher
or lower than your safe range,
so that you can take action
before your corals are showing signs of stress.
It can help you to catch an issue with your equipment.
For example, if your calcium or alkalinity is too low,
that could mean your dosing containers have run out
of two part or that your calcium reactor is out of CO2.
On the other hand, if those parameters are too high,
it could mean that a dosing pump may have failed on
and is just dumping way too much additive into your tank.
You can even have it turn off the outlet
that that dosing pump is plugged into to stop the problem.
You can do all kinds of things to make the most
out of those test results automatically.
And probably one of the most awesome things is
that you can take the automation a step further
and pair up your Trident with a Neptune system's DŌS
to automatically adjust your calcium, alkalinity,
and magnesium levels for you.
That means no more dosing by hand
or reprogramming your dosing pumps to account
for changes in consumption as your corals grow,
which makes overall stability
in your reef tank something you can achieve
with way less manual effort.
For someone like me
that's always really loved SPS dominated tanks
and mixed reefs that have a lot of SPS in them,
being able to take one of the most time consuming
and challenging components of reefing
and not only automate it,
but in a way that I just couldn't practically do by hand
while also gaining a wealth of data on my coral's health
and growth at the exact same time,
really makes the Trident a tool that pays
for itself by helping me reach my reefing goals
even if I have less time to put
into my tank on a daily basis.
Now, with all of that said,
you can't run the Trident by itself.
In order to get the Trident setup,
you're going to need either an Apex or an ApexEL.
Once you have the Trident unboxed,
with all the components in front of you,
you can go into the Fusion app,
click on the tasks, clipboard icon
and search for Trident initial setup.
The app will walk you through the entire process
with videos showing you step by step instructions.
It is very easy to follow along with
and takes about 15 minutes to complete.
The only extra item you're gonna need is a container
to be the waste receptacle,
a one gallon jug works really well
and is large enough that you'll only need to dump it
out when it's time to replace the reagents.
You won't want to calibrate it right away.
They are already factory calibrated
and should be well within the ballpark.
And after a few days of running on your tank,
you can calibrate your Trident
to really dial in the accuracy.
I really have to hand it to them,
Neptune systems did a really good job
of making the Trident simple and easy enough
for anyone to set up and calibrate and maintain
with tasks to walk you through everything.
No guesswork, no reading long instructions, no getting lost,
which is exactly what gear like this needs to be,
easy mode for testing so you can take manual testing off
of your plate and get straight to using the test results
to grow an incredible reef at home.
And if that sounds like music to your ears,
you can pick up a Trident for yourself
by clicking right here
(upbeat music)