Trident recalibration readings - am I wrong?

[TheBigDrewsky]

So tonight I had time to do some testing.

I tested Hannah Ca three times and they were all mere points from one another - 520-526.
I tested Hannah Alk three times and got 7.8, 8.0, and 8.26.
I tested Hannah Mg two times and got 1590, 1580.
I bought and tested Salifert and got 1410 each time.

So crazy me decided to use these numbers to calibrate my trident - figure that made sense - except after calibration with the numbers I just tested to - trident gave me the following results:

calcium 530
Alk 8.67
mag 1616

Am I doing something wrong? These test numbers were minutes old - yet the trident gave me manesium values over 100
More than what I entered into calibration and Alk was .4 higher than calibration.

Immediately retested and got same results as earlier - not trident results. Any idea what I am
Doing wrong?

I dont want to be chasing numbers but inherently knew that 1600 for Mag was not in range. Snails and inverts appear to be doing well, and that may not be the best barometer, but the 1410 was certainly better than the near 1600.

A local reef buddy said today that he thought it was a well known concern that Hannah Mag was known to be really out of range. Not sure about the veracity and opinions about that but that it was interesting to know.

Thanks to all for your comments.

 

[Duds]

I’ve heard that hanna ca and mg both are not as accurate as portrayed. And even alk is hit or miss by the sounds of it. It’s reagents not lasting well and losing their strength for lack of better terms. Then of course with everything in life make sure you’re doing it correctly as there are quite a few different tips and tricks to get consistent results. I use Salifert for everything I think it’s a great hobby grade test kit and has been very consistent with test results for me. Consistency, patience and stability the three goals of reefing lol. Sorry to hear your frustrations, trident wise I’m of no help hope you get it squared away!

 

[Chris.sturgis]

Reef beef had a good summary. I personally use ABC reagents and calibrate with my tank water from my hanna Alk, hanna ca, and redsea mg test kits. they will never be spot on but the trident is good for seeing any swings and not for accurate results IMO. One thing I have found is my numbers will start going sporadic if the reagents fall below 20% so I replenish them before then.

 

[TheBigDrewsky]

Reef beef had a good summary. I personally use ABC reagents and calibrate with my tank water from my hanna Alk, hanna ca, and redsea mg test kits. they will never be spot on but the trident is good for seeing any swings and not for accurate results IMO. One thing I have found is my numbers will start going sporadic if the reagents fall below 20% so I replenish them before then.

I think that’s part of my concern - I calibrated the trident to the test results from tank water - the Mg on Salifert was 1410 which I plugged into the trident calibration screen - then calibrated the trident and it gave me a mag level 180 points higher - it’s confounding as to why it would do that when I had just entered the 1410 into the calibration screen - I did put a ticket into Apex so we will see -