Mindstream in the house!

[reef_ranch]

I received my Mindstream today and got it installed pretty painlessly. Here are a few picks and my initial impressions.

The unit is very well made, the magnet is able to hold it on 5/8" acrylic.

Set up was quick and painless. The instructions are simple to understand. Not much room for user error.

I have it installed in the overflow of my 340 display right now because I'm not sure how strong a wifi signal I get in my sump room. And its late, and I REALLY wanted to get this hooked up.

The discs are incredibly well packaged. They are in a round plastic case full of water which is taped shut and placed in a fully sealed black plastic bag which is in a mylar padded envelope. The packaging alone is costly.

After putting in the disk it took about a half hour or less to register the first tests on the web app. In the process I received a few email alerts that some parameters are out of the range I specified in the app. The app itself is well designed, easy to navigate and shows on one page all of the parameters. It appears to update very frequently, more than the 15 minutes I though I had read. I didn't time it so I may be wrong.

As far as accuracy and precision. I can't speak to that yet. I have an alkatronic which is reading Alk at 8.29 while the Mindstream reports it at 8.89. I know they measure alk differently, to what extent I'm not sure. There must be a conversion chart out there somewhere I'll have to find.

Oddly, I'm getting an ammonia reading of 1 or 2 ppb. I didn't expect that.

Assuming all the readings are accurate, I have to say ITS PRETTY AWESOME HAVING REAL TIME POTASSIUM, MAGNESIUM, SALINITY AND CALCIUM readings! Of the others: Alk, pH and temp I already have (but love more data) and the remaining, CO2, O2 and Ammonia I'll have to learn more about.

So far (and its early) this is a home run!

 

[ScottieB]

Wow, thanks for sharing. I’ll be following how this goes (like many others)!
Please keep the updates coming.

 

[Bleigh]

I've GOT to have this! Thanks for sharing! Can't wait to see the updates!

 

[ddrueckh]

Thank you for sharing. I'm glad setup went well and it is working fine. Do you have an additional way you can measure Alk just to see if the third reading leans towards the MindStream or Alkatronic? I guess the most important thing is stability over a magic number so maybe it doesn't matter. I ordered a MindStream yesterday and can't wait to get it. I was going to get a Trident but like some of the benefits this system offers over the Trident.

 

[jaxredsoxfan]

Awesome and thanks for sharing it. I think Daniel got one to yesterday so it will be great to hear real world experiences on this.

 

[Snookin]

Nice! Were the PH and Temp measurements the same as your current methods of testing?

 

[Hemmdog]

I've GOT to have this! Thanks for sharing! Can't wait to see the updates!

Same!! Wow! Those pics blew my mind! It seems so easy!

 

[Jason boles]

So excited!! I should have mine soon. Hopefully in next two weeks.

Following along with your journey.

 

[REEFer86]

I received my Mindstream today and got it installed pretty painlessly. Here are a few picks and my initial impressions.

The unit is very well made, the magnet is able to hold it on 5/8" acrylic.

Set up was quick and painless. The instructions are simple to understand. Not much room for user error.

I have it installed in the overflow of my 340 display right now because I'm not sure how strong a wifi signal I get in my sump room. And its late, and I REALLY wanted to get this hooked up.

The discs are incredibly well packaged. They are in a round plastic case full of water which is taped shut and placed in a fully sealed black plastic bag which is in a mylar padded envelope. The packaging alone is costly.

After putting in the disk it took about a half hour or less to register the first tests on the web app. In the process I received a few email alerts that some parameters are out of the range I specified in the app. The app itself is well designed, easy to navigate and shows on one page all of the parameters. It appears to update very frequently, more than the 15 minutes I though I had read. I didn't time it so I may be wrong.

As far as accuracy and precision. I can't speak to that yet. I have an alkatronic which is reading Alk at 8.29 while the Mindstream reports it at 8.89. I know they measure alk differently, to what extent I'm not sure. There must be a conversion chart out there somewhere I'll have to find.

Oddly, I'm getting an ammonia reading of 1 or 2 ppb. I didn't expect that.

Assuming all the readings are accurate, I have to say ITS PRETTY AWESOME HAVING REAL TIME POTASSIUM, MAGNESIUM, SALINITY AND CALCIUM readings! Of the others: Alk, pH and temp I already have (but love more data) and the remaining, CO2, O2 and Ammonia I'll have to learn more about.

So far (and its early) this is a home run!

I really wish I knew about it !

 

[User1]

Disc is shipped wet?

I know with the Seneye they recommend soaking the slide for 24 or 48 hours in the tanks water (I forget the exact duration). I'm guessing these discs would be similar although I wonder what the water is or how it is calibrated or if it matters.

Thanks for the information!

 

[saltyhog]

I received my Mindstream today and got it installed pretty painlessly. Here are a few picks and my initial impressions.

The unit is very well made, the magnet is able to hold it on 5/8" acrylic.

Set up was quick and painless. The instructions are simple to understand. Not much room for user error.

I have it installed in the overflow of my 340 display right now because I'm not sure how strong a wifi signal I get in my sump room. And its late, and I REALLY wanted to get this hooked up.

The discs are incredibly well packaged. They are in a round plastic case full of water which is taped shut and placed in a fully sealed black plastic bag which is in a mylar padded envelope. The packaging alone is costly.

After putting in the disk it took about a half hour or less to register the first tests on the web app. In the process I received a few email alerts that some parameters are out of the range I specified in the app. The app itself is well designed, easy to navigate and shows on one page all of the parameters. It appears to update very frequently, more than the 15 minutes I though I had read. I didn't time it so I may be wrong.

As far as accuracy and precision. I can't speak to that yet. I have an alkatronic which is reading Alk at 8.29 while the Mindstream reports it at 8.89. I know they measure alk differently, to what extent I'm not sure. There must be a conversion chart out there somewhere I'll have to find.

Oddly, I'm getting an ammonia reading of 1 or 2 ppb. I didn't expect that.

Assuming all the readings are accurate, I have to say ITS PRETTY AWESOME HAVING REAL TIME POTASSIUM, MAGNESIUM, SALINITY AND CALCIUM readings! Of the others: Alk, pH and temp I already have (but love more data) and the remaining, CO2, O2 and Ammonia I'll have to learn more about.

So far (and its early) this is a home run!

Why does it say in the alert that your salinity is 53.1 when the table above says it's 34.9?! What's up with the ammonia? is that real?

Edit...never mind on the ammonia. Didn't notice the PPB that's only 0.002 PPM.

 

[jaxredsoxfan]

"Look Charlotte we got a math whiz over here"... lol

 

[reef_ranch]

Why does it say in the alert that your salinity is 53.1 when the table above says it's 34.9?! What's up with the ammonia? is that real?

Edit...never mind on the ammonia. Didn't notice the PPB that's only 0.002 PPM.

That was the initial reading. The next reading was 34.9. My guess is that the first test was interefered with by bubbles. I didn’t get an initial O2 reading at all, but all readings are very stable since then. No more alerts.

 

[Darrell Brady]

order mine 7/2 mine shouldn't be long now.

 

[saltyhog]

Man, if it would measure PO4 I would do the American thing and put one on the credit card tonight!

 

[Snookin]

Man, if it would measure PO4 I would do the American thing and put one on the credit card tonight!

And nitrates. If those 2 were included this thing would be $

 

[ddrueckh]

I emailed MindStream support and asked if NO3 or PO4 might be added in the future. I also asked if this would require a new unit or if they could be added to the existing unit. Below is their reply...

Hi David,

Thank you for reaching out. Yes – the MindStream Monitor is built with not only with the ability to measure alternate / additional parameters but also to interface with the latest IoT and wireless communication interfaces.

Let me know if you have further questions.

 

[rushbattle]

I emailed MindStream support and asked if NO3 or PO4 might be added in the future. I also asked if this would require a new unit or if they could be added to the existing unit. Below is their reply...

Hi David,

Thank you for reaching out. Yes – the MindStream Monitor is built with not only with the ability to measure alternate / additional parameters but also to interface with the latest IoT and wireless communication interfaces.

Let me know if you have further questions.

The old website (can search way back machine) said they could possibly add NO3, but that P is likely impossible. One of those might be on the Facebook comments also.

 

[Squidmotron]

Don’t think phosphates are possible. Although I havent measured for that in years, it would still be nice.

I have one of these ordered a couple of weeks ago. I was originally in the Trident queue. The ability to just snap a disk in and calibrate nothing though I truly like.

 

[reef_ranch]

Thank you for sharing. I'm glad setup went well and it is working fine. Do you have an additional way you can measure Alk just to see if the third reading leans towards the MindStream or Alkatronic? I guess the most important thing is stability over a magic number so maybe it doesn't matter. I ordered a MindStream yesterday and can't wait to get it. I was going to get a Trident but like some of the benefits this system offers over the Trident.

I also have a Salifert kit and it usually confirms the Alkatronic spot on. The Mindstream measures Alk using the Co2 which gives the Carbonate Alkalinity while the titration tests give you the total alkalinity. The difference? From what I'm reading now, they are not linear. So, I'm going to have to watch the two tests and see how they relate to each other with the view to keeping both readings stable.