Dilan Patel
2500 Club Member
Hello guys. I decided to make a thread that explains my experience with the Reefkinetics Reefbot over the past 8 months ago from 01/20/20. The forum/ internet is severely lacking a review on this product and I hope to fill that void with an HONEST review.
I am a student at a university majoring in Biology and Marine Biology. Being a student which means I am unable to see and test my tank for months on end. The Summer of 2019 is when I decided it was time to make this big purchase. Going through a whole year of school without having a reliable and persistent testing method proved difficult for my tank to continue to thrive. The Reefbot seemed to have covered this issue quite well. An automatic chemistry tester which could test many chemicals I would like as well as send me up to date info on my tank parameters is exactly what I needed.
Let me start off by saying this testing device is BIG. I ended up placing this on my ATO reservoir as this was the only place I could fit it lol. The bot has three tubes, a sample(tank) tube, RODI water tube, and a waste tube. I have the sample tube placed in my main display and used to have my other tubes into smaller containers. I found as I have been using this the bigger your containers the better. Currently I am using a 3.5L Rodi container and a 7L Waste container. This allows me to go for about 24 tests or 3 weeks of testing before having to refill or empty my containers. I test Nitrate, Phosphate, Alk and Calc twice a week. The reagents last about 2 weeks before I have to refill at least one reagent container. I get email and app notifications of how many tests remain before I have to empty or fill my RODI and waste as well as how many tests can be run with the reagents before they need to be filled. You also can see how much each container has left volume wise on the app itself...as long as you put in around the correct volumes of your containers. The bot also lets you know when the syringe should be replaced.
I have had some problems with this bot which some have been fixed relatively quickly. The first one was the stirrers were spinning to quickly in the testing chamber and it would fly out of the chamber. I let them know and they were able to remotely access my bot and fix the program and dial down the RPM of the stirrer and has since worked flawlessly. the other issue has something to do with the app itself and the scheduling. I have made them aware of the bug of setting a day such as Monday to test but in actuality it will test on Sunday. Not a big deal but something to keep in mind, if you test everyday you would never notice this bug. I have been told they are working on a fix. I did have some connectivity issues for some reason, seems to fix itself...could be my router or something. I cant think of any more major issues I have had with the exception of a problem I created on my own because I did not trust the accuracy of the bot...i should have trusted the bot instead of my Hannah checker is all im going to say lol. Remember we are "early adopters" so we should find these issues and report them so that they can fix them. Don't be afraid to keep letting them know of issues as they are good about fixing them rather quickly.
The app has the ability to send you notifications when the tests are about to start as well as the results of each test. The Reefkinetics team is continually working on adding more tests as well as tests kits to be accepted by the bot.
Now what we all want to hear...is it reliable. The answer is it is reliable and test on time just a day ahead of schedule which I am fine with. The accuracy is pretty good as it is repeatable if you run the test back to back. Testing by hand and the bot seem to be pretty precise as I use the same test kit to make sure they are close. Its really hard to compare different test kits as all of them have different accuracy. So stick with the same test kit it if you want to check if your bot is operating properly by hand and run the test around the same time as well. I only hand test every few months when im home just to make sure the bot and the test kit by hand are relatively close. Which they are and I got to remember take into account human error.
I haven't had to replace any major parts (except for syringes) yet but with time something will need to be replaced. They offer all the parts needed to fix your bot online and from what I can tell disassembly should be pretty straightforward.
Future: They have a doser coming out hopefully soon which will integrate with the bot. I think its supposed to work like the trident and dose. As you can allow the bot to test and have the doser run based on the results of the test. I am SOOOO excited for this product and cannot wait to get my hands on it. Will def make me feel better having the bot/ me be able to adjust dosages on the app rather than having to tell somebody to adjust the dosages of my chemicals on my current doser. Maybe Reefkinetics will send me one for free to write an HONEST review like this one? Who wouldn't want someone who actually relies on their product to run their tank to write a review lol.
Final thoughts: I really like this product. Even though we are early adopters and bugs will be found. The product is very usable and gives me the piece of mind I need that my tank is doing good. I love that I have access to it all over the world...I have used it in the Turks and Caicos with no problem at all. I hope I answered any questions you guys have had about this product. Please if you guys have any other questions ask away and I will try to answer it to the very best of my ability!
Thanks Dilan
I am a student at a university majoring in Biology and Marine Biology. Being a student which means I am unable to see and test my tank for months on end. The Summer of 2019 is when I decided it was time to make this big purchase. Going through a whole year of school without having a reliable and persistent testing method proved difficult for my tank to continue to thrive. The Reefbot seemed to have covered this issue quite well. An automatic chemistry tester which could test many chemicals I would like as well as send me up to date info on my tank parameters is exactly what I needed.
Let me start off by saying this testing device is BIG. I ended up placing this on my ATO reservoir as this was the only place I could fit it lol. The bot has three tubes, a sample(tank) tube, RODI water tube, and a waste tube. I have the sample tube placed in my main display and used to have my other tubes into smaller containers. I found as I have been using this the bigger your containers the better. Currently I am using a 3.5L Rodi container and a 7L Waste container. This allows me to go for about 24 tests or 3 weeks of testing before having to refill or empty my containers. I test Nitrate, Phosphate, Alk and Calc twice a week. The reagents last about 2 weeks before I have to refill at least one reagent container. I get email and app notifications of how many tests remain before I have to empty or fill my RODI and waste as well as how many tests can be run with the reagents before they need to be filled. You also can see how much each container has left volume wise on the app itself...as long as you put in around the correct volumes of your containers. The bot also lets you know when the syringe should be replaced.
I have had some problems with this bot which some have been fixed relatively quickly. The first one was the stirrers were spinning to quickly in the testing chamber and it would fly out of the chamber. I let them know and they were able to remotely access my bot and fix the program and dial down the RPM of the stirrer and has since worked flawlessly. the other issue has something to do with the app itself and the scheduling. I have made them aware of the bug of setting a day such as Monday to test but in actuality it will test on Sunday. Not a big deal but something to keep in mind, if you test everyday you would never notice this bug. I have been told they are working on a fix. I did have some connectivity issues for some reason, seems to fix itself...could be my router or something. I cant think of any more major issues I have had with the exception of a problem I created on my own because I did not trust the accuracy of the bot...i should have trusted the bot instead of my Hannah checker is all im going to say lol. Remember we are "early adopters" so we should find these issues and report them so that they can fix them. Don't be afraid to keep letting them know of issues as they are good about fixing them rather quickly.
The app has the ability to send you notifications when the tests are about to start as well as the results of each test. The Reefkinetics team is continually working on adding more tests as well as tests kits to be accepted by the bot.
Now what we all want to hear...is it reliable. The answer is it is reliable and test on time just a day ahead of schedule which I am fine with. The accuracy is pretty good as it is repeatable if you run the test back to back. Testing by hand and the bot seem to be pretty precise as I use the same test kit to make sure they are close. Its really hard to compare different test kits as all of them have different accuracy. So stick with the same test kit it if you want to check if your bot is operating properly by hand and run the test around the same time as well. I only hand test every few months when im home just to make sure the bot and the test kit by hand are relatively close. Which they are and I got to remember take into account human error.
I haven't had to replace any major parts (except for syringes) yet but with time something will need to be replaced. They offer all the parts needed to fix your bot online and from what I can tell disassembly should be pretty straightforward.
Future: They have a doser coming out hopefully soon which will integrate with the bot. I think its supposed to work like the trident and dose. As you can allow the bot to test and have the doser run based on the results of the test. I am SOOOO excited for this product and cannot wait to get my hands on it. Will def make me feel better having the bot/ me be able to adjust dosages on the app rather than having to tell somebody to adjust the dosages of my chemicals on my current doser. Maybe Reefkinetics will send me one for free to write an HONEST review like this one? Who wouldn't want someone who actually relies on their product to run their tank to write a review lol.
Final thoughts: I really like this product. Even though we are early adopters and bugs will be found. The product is very usable and gives me the piece of mind I need that my tank is doing good. I love that I have access to it all over the world...I have used it in the Turks and Caicos with no problem at all. I hope I answered any questions you guys have had about this product. Please if you guys have any other questions ask away and I will try to answer it to the very best of my ability!
Thanks Dilan
