stylaster Posted September 29, 2017 Share Posted September 29, 2017 (edited) Anyone yet bite the bullet on one of the calcium reactor alkalinity controllers that are coming out? Incase you dont know they work on the principle of constantly testing your alk and then it adjusts your effluent ph in your reactor so you stay at the same alk level. Im seriously considering getting one, but wanted to see if anyone else has tried it yet. An example is the KH guardian pro Edited September 29, 2017 by stylaster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClark Posted September 29, 2017 Share Posted September 29, 2017 I want one Roy. The thing that held me back was that the guardian only doses one thing to make up for a deficit. A 2 part doser would be allot better so you can keep things in balance. APEX is coming out with one next year that will do calcium, alk and mag. That caused me to hold off, smart marketing on their part! LMK what you end up doing, I am a huge fan of automating things... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsBret Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 Wow, awesome if they work correctly! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClark Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 1 hour ago, MrsBret said: Wow, awesome if they work correctly! The reviews are pretty glowing so far, it's a very cool innovation for sure. We used to call it the holy grail and a bunch of inventors and vendors stepped up! Now there are a ton of choices and getting better all the time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClark Posted October 5, 2017 Share Posted October 5, 2017 Did you see this one Roy? There are more options every day and prices are coming down... http://www.focustronic.net/products/equipment/alkatronic.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClark Posted October 5, 2017 Share Posted October 5, 2017 Then there is this guy: https://www.aquariumcomputer.com/products/kh-director/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClark Posted October 5, 2017 Share Posted October 5, 2017 And of course the first to the party, kh guardian http://www.coralvue.com/kh-guardian-pro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClark Posted October 5, 2017 Share Posted October 5, 2017 And there is a KH Alkalinity Monitor, probably a better fit for us with CR. It just monitors instead of adjusting with dosing.. and is half the price at 600 http://www.coralvue.com/kh-guardian-alkalinity-monitor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClark Posted October 5, 2017 Share Posted October 5, 2017 Oh yeah, there is this one too. The market is shaping up nicely, probably fair to anticipate some competitive pricing over time... https://reefbuilders.com/2017/08/18/kh-lab-is-pacificsuns-take-on-the-alkalinity-controller/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClark Posted October 5, 2017 Share Posted October 5, 2017 And this is the one I am most excited about, because it does alk, calcium and magnesium https://forum.neptunesystems.com/showthread.php?20138-Trident-FAQ ast Friday at our 5th Annual MACNA MeetUp we announced a future product, the Trident. The Trident is based on a alkalinity testing technology we acquired from Jim Welsh a few months after MACNA 2016 and, with Jim's continued help, we have made incredible leaps forward from just testing Alkalinity. The Trident automates the testing of Alkalinity, Calcium, and Magnesium.There have been many questions and rumors since we announced last week. In this post, I will provide you with as much information as I can as it stands now, regarding the Trident. Please understand that a number of things either have not yet been decided, or we have yet to finish final testing and do not want to put something out there that we may later need to retract.So here is the FAQ for the Trident as it stands today:What does the Trident measure?The Trident was designed for reefkeepers. It tests for the three things that are the building blocks of coral skeletons in our reef tanks (and what our customers have been asking about for years): Alkalinity (dKH), Calcium, and Magnesium. What are the connections?The Trident connects to your Apex via a 1LINK connection, or via the AquaBus with an external power supply. It also has two tubes out the back, one to draw sample water from your tank, and the other to send waste to a container or a drain.Does it have a pH probe inside?No, the Trident has no pH probe inside that might require frequent calibration.How does it work?The Trident basically automates the proven method that you (and scientists) already know and use - Titration. Since the Trident uses micro-drops delivered via a stepper-motor driven peristaltic pump along with an electric eye, we have taken the human element out of the equation. So, how accurate is it?The Trident produces amazingly consistent results. Alkalinity is +/- 0.05 dKH and both Calcium and Magnesium are +/- 10ppmHow long will the reagent last?The default testing schedule is 4x Alkalinity tests per day and 2x Magnesium and Calcium tests per day. At that rate the reagents will cost about $20/month. That's a per test cost less than any other test kit on the market today. Can I test more or less frequently than that?Yes, within limits. There are operational limits on both ends. Obviously the test takes time so only so many can be fit in a day. Also, once unsealed, the reagents will have a more shortened lifespan. That said we are fairly confident that you should be able to run less tests and get two months out of one set of reagents. How much will the reagents cost?Reagents will be ready-to-use (nothing to mix up), sold in two-month kits and cost ~$40. How much tank sample water is taken?Compared to products that only do alkalinity testing, the Trident uses very little tank water for its samples and produces very little waste. While most testing systems shown to date create 50-90ml of waste per test, the Trident produces under 15ml of waste for all three tests (Alk, Ca, Mg). Is the Trident a standalone system?No, the Trident requires the latest Apex to operate. However, the Trident does not require any external devices like dosing pumps and does not require any outside vessels for reagent or rinse water. Why won't the Trident work with the previous Apex models like the Apex Classic?With the advancement of technology, many times the resources available in prior systems is just not adequate for new devices. We see that with iPhones, gaming consoles, TVs, and many other devices in our lives. There are two key reasons why the Trident will not work with the Apex Classic. 1. Every Apex system must contain the working software for all the devices in the ecosystem. More complicated devices like the Energy Bar 832 and the Trident take up a great deal of code space. More than that is available on the previous Apex models. 2. The Energy Bar 832 and the Trident require more computational horsepower to operate than what is available in the now 10-year-old-designed Apex Classic hardware.But you said that you would not leave Apex Classic owners behind?And we haven't. Since the new Apex was released last year, we have developed a new module (FMM) and many more features in the Apex Fusion cloud service that everyone can take advantage of. At the time of launch last year I said that the only device at that time that would not work was the Energy Bar 832 and that nothing else was in the works at that time - but something could come along. And it did - subsequent to MACNA last year. And remember, we even made the COR compatible with the Apex Classic.Will the new Apex Base Unit be available separately?At this point our demand for complete Apex Systems is so great that we cannot shift the supply to selling the Apex Base Units on their own. This may happen down the road, but customers should realize that the value in getting a complete new Apex System will always be greater than buying the components individually. The new Apex System also comes with the advanced Energy Bar 832 and a set of our new double-junction probes that many customers might need to replace anyways. And remember, the new Apex is backward compatible with all of your existing Neptune Systems products.How big is the Trident?When we designed the Trident we wanted to make it as self-contained as possible. This meant that we wanted all the hardware and all of the reagents to be contained under a single, attractive enclosure. No tubes going this direction or that. No bottles to have to hide. We were able accomplish this in a space of just 4"W x 10"H x 12"D. The Trident should fit nicely under the stands of most aquariums. We intend on having an optional wall bracket available as well. How much will the Trident cost?No firm pricing will be released at this time, but we are committed to bring this to market between $500 and $600.When will it be available?We hope to have units in the hands of our Neptune Systems Insiders by the end of Q1/2018 and have it available to the general public in Q2/2018. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted October 5, 2017 Share Posted October 5, 2017 The Trident sounds like a possible game changer with it being multi factor testing... I think you should be our beta tester Jeremy! Interesting that they settled on a titration methodology - my favorite for stand alone testing but I would have thought that would create some challenges for automation compared to a colorimetric assay or some sort of sensor. Obviously, the latter would require some pretty significant R/D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClark Posted October 6, 2017 Share Posted October 6, 2017 10 minutes ago, albertareef said: The Trident sounds like a possible game changer with it being multi factor testing... I think you should be our beta tester Jeremy! Interesting that they settled on a titration methodology - my favorite for stand alone testing but I would have thought that would create some challenges for automation compared to a colorimetric assay or some sort of sensor. Obviously, the latter would require some pretty significant R/D. I would sign up in a heartbeat! As for the testing methods, you lost me Hahaha.... Just tell me it is AWESOME! repeatable and accurate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted October 6, 2017 Share Posted October 6, 2017 11 minutes ago, TheClark said: I would sign up in a heartbeat! As for the testing methods, you lost me Hahaha.... Just tell me it is AWESOME! repeatable and accurate Haha! Payback for your comment in the other thread Where biologists and programers/developers collide! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClark Posted October 6, 2017 Share Posted October 6, 2017 1 hour ago, albertareef said: Haha! Payback for your comment in the other thread Where biologists and programers/developers collide! That's the beauty of the club! If you don't know something, odds are someone around here does. Thanks for having my back on the apex trident! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stylaster Posted October 6, 2017 Author Share Posted October 6, 2017 The big issue for me is i want only the part that tests alk and controls my calcium reactor. Having one that does the dosing is nice, but not cost effect for my system due to the massive demands on calcium and alk. Ill keep at eye on the coralvue one that looks like the best fit for what i want Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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