Mindstream in the house!

[User1]

To get a trident you need an apex. Together we are talking minimum of 1500 dollars and I don't need an apex for controlling my wavemaker (have tunze controller), lights (orphek has its own controller), skimmer (backup overflow turnoff monitor costs 60), or temp (backup turnoff monitor plug costs 60 bucks). Alkatronic costs 900 dollars. I don't want an auto doser. I don't want to deal with all the reagents and probes that need callibrating of the other auto testers. As for the mindstream, I am bothered by having to pay up front for a product that doesn't arrive for two months as it makes me think the company is on poor financial grounds. How do I get my money back if they go bankrupt? Just as bad, I have a useless piece of crap if they can't manufacture their discs. I don't mind the subscription service. At this point, going to do some wishful watching (unless they lower the price for early adapters).

The main take away for many hobbyist in your post is that each manufacture wants to do their own control. You have wireless for this, dongle for that, and in some cases duplicate things being measured because of this. It is really wrecking the hobby. Automation monitors for elements is just going to add fuel to the fire.

Let us say you have a controller. Apex, then the trident makes sense. MS does not. Why? Because the Apex is already monitoring several things the MS does. There is duplicate.

Let us say you have a reef angel. Again temp, ph covered. Some duplicates but not as bad as the Apex.

GHL? Same thing, more duplicate.

I like how you listed why it wouldn't work for you. I think that is actually a good analysis. I did the same thing but already owning an Apex I looked at what it would do differently and end the end said Trident was the better of the two options for me. What it tests is all I really care about at the end of the day. Had MS offered a smaller disc or subscription fee say like Netflix then it may have been an option.

 

[bam123]

The main take away for many hobbyist in your post is that each manufacture wants to do their own control. You have wireless for this, dongle for that, and in some cases duplicate things being measured because of this. It is really wrecking the hobby. Automation monitors for elements is just going to add fuel to the fire.

Let us say you have a controller. Apex, then the trident makes sense. MS does not. Why? Because the Apex is already monitoring several things the MS does. There is duplicate.

Let us say you have a reef angel. Again temp, ph covered. Some duplicates but not as bad as the Apex.

GHL? Same thing, more duplicate.

I like how you listed why it wouldn't work for you. I think that is actually a good analysis. I did the same thing but already owning an Apex I looked at what it would do differently and end the end said Trident was the better of the two options for me. What it tests is all I really care about at the end of the day. Had MS offered a smaller disc or subscription fee say like Netflix then it may have been an option.

If I already had an apex, I would get a trident as I think having a big community behind you would be nice. In 1999, my mom maintained my 60 gallon mixed reef tank with no testing, 2 part esv bionic every other day, 1 cube of frozen fish food and RO water for top-off for 4 years. My hands were never in the tank. The salinity was off the chart. One of the best looking tanks you have ever seen with large colonies of SPS, shrooms, blue carpet anemone, softies... Maybe, I should just pay her a grand a year to take of my new tank and keep my hands out.

 

[Don Lidtke]

Sorry for the excessive quoting. An accident. I’m new here.

No worries, I haven’t walked on water for a number of years myself. (Since moving away from Minnesota where I use to do a lot of ice fishing.)

Asking questions, regardless of formatting, is the important thing. I believe most of the folks here would agree that we like to “keep the first things first and the second things never.”

 

[User1]

If I already had an apex, I would get a trident as I think having a big community behind you would be nice. In 1999, my mom maintained my 60 gallon mixed reef tank with no testing, 2 part esv bionic every other day, 1 cube of frozen fish food and RO water for top-off for 4 years. My hands were never in the tank. The salinity was off the chart. One of the best looking tanks you have ever seen with large colonies of SPS, shrooms, blue carpet anemone, softies... Maybe, I should just pay her a grand a year to take of my new tank and keep my hands out.

Lol, I bet. You know it was someone on this board in a Trident / MS / other thread that said that while they liked the idea it suddenly hit them. We have been testing for all these years why all of a sudden are they a rush to automate it.

Sort of gave me pause. They are very right. Then I was like oh, wait. I'm a lazy reefer and do not test as frequently as I should

 

[The Italian]

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!

So rad! I just ordered mine at MACNA! They were offering a discount so I had to go for it! Can’t wait. Keep us updated!

 

[1mbrews8]

The 30% off is darn tempting......

 

[HomeSlizzice]

The 30% off is darn tempting......

Where is the 30% off?

 

[1mbrews8]

Where is the 30% off?

Was at macna

 

[GoVols]

I just don't see how Focustronic / GHL or Apex will team up with Mindstream for the controllable end of things. They've all gone their own ways.

It does have a niche for reefer's who only want the testing results alone.

But, holding my alk's dkh at a .3 24/7 variance, with my alkatronic has made a difference in sps growth.

lol
They need to get in Vertex (put the screws to them) with the Cerebra 7.
Vertex needs all the help that can get anyways. That new controller release has been an mash-pit.... ;Yuck

jm 2 cent

 

[bam123]

I don't want a doser automatically making changes. I would rather see the values and dose accordingly manually. For example, if you get a really whacky reading but the corals and fish look great, I would rather then independently test and if confirmed make the changes. I would hate to get an erroneous reading and then treat causing harm. The alkatronic looks really cool, but I like my 2 part ESV and don't have enough sps to worry about big alkalinity swings.

 

[GoVols]

I don't want a doser automatically making changes. I would rather see the values and dose accordingly manually. For example, if you get a really whacky reading but the corals and fish look great, I would rather then independently test and if confirmed make the changes. I would hate to get an erroneous reading and then treat causing harm.

That is Mindstream's niche and there is a market for it.

Understand your confront level.

The Alka-T does crosscheck itself and I do a manual test once a week to make sure it's dialed in, but never leave your comfort level.

If Mindstream was for myself, I would have used that 30% off code yesterday.

 

[Bleigh]

The main take away for many hobbyist in your post is that each manufacture wants to do their own control. You have wireless for this, dongle for that, and in some cases duplicate things being measured because of this. It is really wrecking the hobby. Automation monitors for elements is just going to add fuel to the fire.

Let us say you have a controller. Apex, then the trident makes sense. MS does not. Why? Because the Apex is already monitoring several things the MS does. There is duplicate.

Let us say you have a reef angel. Again temp, ph covered. Some duplicates but not as bad as the Apex.

GHL? Same thing, more duplicate.

I like how you listed why it wouldn't work for you. I think that is actually a good analysis. I did the same thing but already owning an Apex I looked at what it would do differently and end the end said Trident was the better of the two options for me. What it tests is all I really care about at the end of the day. Had MS offered a smaller disc or subscription fee say like Netflix then it may have been an option.

I think this is an issue in the home automation industry too. Each product needs to prove stand alone home automation to be competitive. But the end consumer then ends up with multiple stand alone systems with limited options to combine. For example, nest, ring, Apple TV, etc.

And then the same thing with streaming apps. Many things only come on one streaming platform but then there is a lot of overlap.

No point to this post other than to draw similarities.

 

[aqua_code]

I think this is an issue in the home automation industry too. Each product needs to prove stand alone home automation to be competitive. But the end consumer then ends up with multiple stand alone systems with limited options to combine. For example, nest, ring, Apple TV, etc.

Totally - and the mindstream uses Zigbee protocol. I can't think of any reef equipment currently using this IoT protocol. Hopefully neptune makes an addon or a compatible doser is released. The rest of my house uses z-wave plus for lights and other things.

I ordered on 7/31 and hoping it comes in the next 2 weeks.

 

[Darrell Brady]

I ordered 7/1 an still have not received mine . there telling me mine could still be a few weeks out.

 

[4FordFamily]

Very cool, thanks for sharing!

 

[Reefcowboy]

Gotta say I was pretty set on the trident, as I already have lots of apex stuff. What turns me off towards the trident is more wires, and the device itself is pretty bulky along with need for recalibrating or whatever they say it needs down the road, we need to send it back to Neptune.

The mindstream seems simpler, no waste collecting reservoir, attach it in the sump, done. Get the subscription, nothing else needed.

Oxygen, co2, NH4 are useless to me. Ph, K and the big three are awesome for sps fanatics.

If they added NO3 and PO4 like previously mentioned, this would become the best reef gadget to get.

I am less impulsive with reef products after I got my Apex as soon as it launched in 2016 with tons of defects(I love the apex). I will observe and probably get the mindstream when more is known about it ,possible bugs AND how the company FIXES them.

Also want to know how accurate results are among different units out there.

 

[User1]

Gotta say I was pretty set on the trident, as I already have lots of apex stuff. What turns me off towards the trident is more wires, and the device itself is pretty bulky along with need for recalibrating or whatever they say it needs down the road, we need to send it back to Neptune.

Service. I think they estimated every 14 - 18 months. You can send it in or you can do it yourself. They will sell the kits. MS or other units we are not sure yet. But yeah, something to consider. You also have to buy reagents and the consumption will be based your frequency of testing. The good news here is they just offered a 6 month kit which lowers the monthly cost down significantly.

The mindstream seems simpler, no waste collecting reservoir, attach it in the sump, done. Get the subscription, nothing else needed.

Yep - no waste is nice but not a big deal. Subscription is a bit on the high side. This will be a factor for many. I know it was for me.

Oxygen, co2, NH4 are useless to me. Ph, K and the big three are awesome for sps fanatics.

I think this is another area people will look at. Do they have a controller, what is it already monitoring, and what is important for them. Doesn't matter what coral they are keeping - same rules apply.

If they added NO3 and PO4 like previously mentioned, this would become the best reef gadget to get.

Well, this is a bit subjective but I feel your energy. Personally speaking these tests are not as important to me as opposed to ph, salinity, alk, cal, and mag. I believe in the next couple of years we will find out these numbers are not so important. Or do not play as big of a role as we used to think (being 0 for example).

Also want to know how accurate results are among different units out there.

Results so far have been that is pretty accurate. Best of luck if this is the one for you. Seems a lot of folks are happy which is always a positive vibe.

 

[tdlawdo]

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!

Very cool. Thanks and I was looking at the ads at MACNA had me contemplating.

 

[aqua_code]

I imagine they will sell replacement sides similar to how ecotech sells the MP10 wet side/dry side.

In time - people using it will damage the power supply from overflowing sump/incidents, or the sensor side will need to be replaced as indicated above. There's a 1 year warranty with the mindstream when you purchase.

 

[Larry L]

Oxygen, co2, NH4 are useless to me.

I disagree with you about Oxygen - it might be one of those things that you normally don't need to worry about when everything is going ok, but can be one of the first things to go wonky when things go wrong in your tank. So for me it's less about knowing what my dissolved O2 levels are, and more about being able to monitor continuously and see trends and and be alerted about it when they change for any reason.