Anyone seen this 6 in 1 monitor?

therootcause · Aug 30, 2023

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Salinity in ppt, or some other unit?

@Randy Holmes-Farley - I see yet another YouTuber marketing these products via "unboxing, setup" type of videos - yet none of them speak to what the "6" and "7" measured parameters actually are. It looks to be measuring pH, Temp, ORP, and Salinity displayed through conductivity, ppt, and SG - essentially useless to have it duplicated this way. These Aliexpress/Wish/Temu devices have been around for a while. The difference is that this brand has been able to market it (successfully) through YouTuber's like @Reefer_NYC and @PupChow (Inappropriate Reefer) , among others. These "trusted" sources for newer hobbyists should come clean about the products falsities.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Aug 30, 2023

PapaFishRocks said:
Salinity in % and SG.

More or less matching up. I’m curious if there is a “built in” conversion based on temp for SG

There certainly should be. However, when it purports to work in fresh water and seawater, such conversions may not be correct for reef tanks.

Danyole · Aug 31, 2023

Rugops said:
Seems like they marked it up and then gave you the discount to make it seem like a discount lol.

I was monitoring it for a few weeks and it the normal price was $90 after the coupon so nah. It's $120 on their website

CRABDADDY · Aug 31, 2023

I wish there was a more middle price range monitor like this. I can't justify shelling out for an apex, but I would consider a cheaper product with less frills. At $100 or so, I'd guess you're getting what you pay for with something like this monitor. I'm sure some company could come up with a product in the $300-400 range that would be more reliable and trustworthy.

PapaFishRocks · Sep 1, 2023

CRABDADDY said:
I wish there was a more middle price range monitor like this. I can't justify shelling out for an apex, but I would consider a cheaper product with less frills. At $100 or so, I'd guess you're getting what you pay for with something like this monitor. I'm sure some company could come up with a product in the $300-400 range that would be more reliable and trustworthy.

Maybe something like Apex Jr would fall in that category? It is $299 and expandable as needed.

monkiboy · Sep 2, 2023

CRABDADDY said:
I wish there was a more middle price range monitor like this. I can't justify shelling out for an apex, but I would consider a cheaper product with less frills. At $100 or so, I'd guess you're getting what you pay for with something like this monitor. I'm sure some company could come up with a product in the $300-400 range that would be more reliable and trustworthy.

Like the Hanna marine monitor?

Marine Monitor pH, Marine Salinity, and Temperature continuous monitor for saltwater aquariums - HI981520-01

HI981520 Marine Monitor continuously monitors pH, Marine Salinity, and Temperature in saltwater aquariums and displays results on a large LCD.

www.hannainst.com

CRABDADDY · Sep 2, 2023

Both the apex jr and the Hanna monitor are actually pretty close to what I'm looking for. Thanks for the recommendations! I'll look into one of those closer to when I get some corals. My 120g is only 2 months old, so I'm not overly concerned with pH yet. However, I do want to keep a pretty close eye on it when I start planting sps frags.

I've got to look into how the apex jr is expandable. I currently use smart plugs on timers to auto feed, ect. It works for me, so I don't really feel the need to upgrade to the full apex just yet, but the Jr is tempting.

Reef_Clown · Sep 19, 2023

Brand newbie, following for all the awesome monitor talk

BanZI29 · Sep 25, 2023

OK here is my WAY overdue review on this monitor.

1. The packaging was pretty good in my opinion.

the size of the probe box is a bit....big, in my opinion.

here are the mounting options. the probe box gets suction cups, and the monitor gets magnets and metal discs.
I am NOT a fan of the metal discs. I know it doesn't go in the water but just having to put something like that on my tank just bugs me, personal preference I guess

Here is the best pics I could get of the inside of the probe box. kind of makes me wonder WHY they put it all in 1 big box. I feel they could have separated them and still kept them connected to the same wire. maybe some circuitry I can't see?

Here it is, connected and running and in my tank. Now I have a 40 gal AIO so this looks a little HUGE in my tank

So now for the most important part, the metrics,
the instructions show that it is calibrated out of the box , well not really, . The error was within the tolerance that was listed in the instruction book for the pH but I did have to calibrate it using their supplied calibration solution powder. I made sure with my other pH tester that is was mixed correctly, and I did re-calibrate my Hanna tester just to make sure everything was on the level.
The salinity was WAY off thou. My salinity was actually 1.023, yea I little low, I fixed it thou, now at 1.025 I used my refractometer that I made sure was calibrated before I checked. the 2.98% one, I am not really sure what that is telling me, it's supposed to be salinity but, not sure how that is supposed to be read. the EC is something I don't understand yet. I am gonna learn about it soon.

My shrimp inspecting the new invader

Now it does give you the option for bias correction. to tell you the truth, that is a double edged sword.
Even if its off after calibration, you can change it based on another measuring device that you KNOW is correct.
I had to do this for pH and salinity. the other edge of this is, if your other tester is also off and don't know it, that can mess you up. BUT most of us make sure that our stuff is calibrated....right??

I only got a partial of the instruction book just to show what they had.

As it stands now, I started this on Aug 27th,
As of today, Sept 25. it had shown readings within its tolerance limits however. There was only a couple days that it actually agreed with my hanna Ph tester. it highest it disagreed with it is .04 (hanna was 8.02, monitor was 7.98 this happened 5 times) but the difference consistently has been within .02. It did tend to show on the low side consistently in my tank. Not to bad I guess. That was with not adjusting the bias at all to correct. The Bias correction stayed at .02

The salinity was also not always right, with it varying .004 max (monitor showed 1.021 refractometer showed 1.025 this happened 3 times) Again only a few days did it actually agree with my refractometer, the difference averaged .002. The bias correction stayed at .005.

The temp was always correct.

My biggest gripe is it physical size, the probe wire length, and the placement of the wires on the monitor. Even with the extension, it was just too short and intrusive. with the probe with on the top and the power wire on the bottom,
it's just take up a lot of visual space and makes it look messy. I did move it to the other side of my tank as that is where the power strip was inside my stand.

(this pic is from when I was moving it around. the readings were not settled yet, that is why the numbers are way off)

Final verdict:

As a monitor, I feel that it would be OK. It did stay within it's tolerance limits for pH, and the salinity, once it was corrected, didn't vary that much in my opinion. It will need calibration for everything out of the box.
That's not the greatest, especially if you do not have something to compare results with like I did.
Unless you REALLY chase your #'s, this is will suffice.

As for ascetics, it is a big NO for me. it is to big and the wires are intrusive for a tank without a sump. Even with a sump, depending on you preference, it is just very "in your face" with the wiring.
if the wiring for the probe and the power were on the bottom together, then it would be WAY better and not as intrusive.
For the mounting options, having to put ANYTHING on the display part of the tank is no bueno. It takes away from the beauty that is our tank. If it could stand on its own or had a stand included, that would be ideal. ( that would allow the wires to be coming from the top of the monitor)

As for the probe, again a big NO from me. honestly I do not see the need for a big plastic box around the probes.
if the probes were individual with a rack to hold them, that would be WAY better then the 2001: the space odyssey monolith that is this thing. The wiring REALLY needs to be longer too. For the folks like us who have small tanks, it's to short.

For the features, for us Saltys, TDS, EC, and the salinity% are of no use to us. ORP would be a better monitor to have ( which seems to be coming out in the 7-in-1 version.)

Anyway will i keep it?............... not sure yet. I am going to see if there is a way to get it to not take up so much valuable space and viewing area. I will let you know.

I hope this helps someone out there.

BanZI29 · Sep 25, 2023

What did you all think of my review?

therootcause · Sep 26, 2023

BanZI29 said:
OK here is my WAY overdue review on this monitor...

I hope this helps someone out there.

Thank you for a comprehensive, unbiased, unpaid review of this absolute piece of junk.

BanZI29 · Sep 27, 2023

So I got an email back from the MFG of this monitor, I have to say, I am very pleased with their interest in what we all think and wanting to make improvements based on our opinions. they did read the review I put on here. For now, I am going to keep it, and just adjust it. still need to figure out how to get the probe monolith to fit in my tank. Hopefully they will be willing to send me another extension cable. I am going to get a 90° USB cable though for the power.

BanZI29 · Sep 27, 2023

monkiboy said:
Like the Hanna marine monitor?

Marine Monitor pH, Marine Salinity, and Temperature continuous monitor for saltwater aquariums - HI981520-01

HI981520 Marine Monitor continuously monitors pH, Marine Salinity, and Temperature in saltwater aquariums and displays results on a large LCD.

www.hannainst.com

the 2 problems with the Hanna is the pH only goes to 1 digit behind the decimal, and its $250.