My Honest Opinion About The Alkatronic

[erky]

Hi Erky,
Can you point to this Randy Holmes-Farley article? Thanks

https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/a-diy-alkalinity-test.12/

 

[TMB]

Yup great article on DIY alk test.

 

[Twocoralsonetank]

Dont understand this 100 dollars for reagent. Unreal of what I just learned. I understand the need to make money but unless they put something special in the reagent.....

 

[2una]

Dont understand this 100 dollars for reagent. Unreal of what I just learned. I understand the need to make money but unless they put something special in the reagent.....

You aware that 4L is concentrate & mixes to 20L & is supposed to last over a year even at testing every 5-6 hours?
My alk being tested every 6 hours for a year costing me $100 i don't find too painful.

 

[mitch91175]

You aware that 4L is concentrate & mixes to 20L & is supposed to last over a year even at testing every 5-6 hours?
My alk being tested every 6 hours for a year costing me $100 i don't find too painful.

Really not that expensive is you tested your alkalinity frequently doing it manually. With the instructions from Randy to make it, you could save some money doing it that way. I do not think that the Alkatronic has any proprietary formula for the testing. If you watch it test, you’ll notice that it does go to 4.5 just like the reagent Randy posted. I guess common sense wise without needing to send for testing is to realize that the unit is using a pH probe for the testing and the reagent to use that method has already been available.

 

[Twocoralsonetank]

Like most said on here it's just acid and water.... read Randy's article. One gallon of acid cost 7 bucks.....

You aware that 4L is concentrate & mixes to 20L & is supposed to last over a year even at testing every 5-6 hours?
My alk being tested every 6 hours for a year costing me $100 i don't find too painful.

 

[mitch91175]

Like most said on here it's just acid and water.... read Randy's article. One gallon of acid cost 7 bucks.....

So essentially you think that just purchase some 0.1 N standard acid is all that is needed. The question is do you still need to mix it per the Alkatronic instructions or is the mix ultimately 0.1 N standard acid.

 

[TMB]

So essentially you think that just purchase some 0.1 N standard acid is all that is needed. The question is do you still need to mix it per the Alkatronic instructions or is the mix ultimately 0.1 N standard acid.

Well... that’s pretty close, but the actual reagent is more dilute than that if I remember right.

If you want to try a DIY version, send me a PM and I’ll give you some directions.

 

[danoo]

Like most said on here it's just acid and water.... read Randy's article. One gallon of acid cost 7 bucks.....

I hope you take this same opinion about basically every supplement sold for the marine trade. With a little research you can almost always find a cheaper alternative to any supplement, but then you are taking responsibility for figuring out whatever chemical is appropriate, sourcing, quality control, dosing amounts and safety. Many people prefer to pay a company a little bit more to handle that for them. I don't understand why this situation is any different.

Let's hypothetically imagine the reagent is in fact just a commonly available acid. You attempt to buy the right acid, but you mess up and get one that is too strong and destroy your machine. Maybe you injure yourself in the process. Maybe you get the acid from a low quality source and there are impurities that go into your tank and kill all your livestock.

Or instead the person who makes the machine sells their version of the reagent, where they can guarantee the safety, concentration and quality of the product. They mark it up to compensate for the guaranteed nature of the product. They inform you of the price and lifespan of the reagent before you purchase the machine so you can make up your mind if the economics work for you. I think it is pretty unreasonable to be upset with this.

In fact, it would be unreasonable to expect the manufacturer to be able to guarantee the operation of a machine if people are using self-sourced chemicals as their reagent. And BTW, there is nothing about the machine that stops you from using whatever you want as the reagent, but you can't reasonably expect the manufacturer to support this.

-----

Now with that out of the way, my goodness I love this machine. In lieu of recalibrating it, every week I'm testing against my Hanna checker and if I see any divergence then I'll recalibrate it. I want to test to see how long this thing can stay accurate. Thus far for 5 weeks, every measurement has been *spot on*, with both the Hanna kit and the Alkatronic having less than a 0.1 dkh difference every time. Frankly I'm impressed with the precision of both the Alkatronic and the Hanna kit.

I used to run 4 tests per day but now I'm down to 3 with no difference in accuracy. As my tank is beginning to get stocked with corals and alkalinity consumption is increasing, I can easily see the trends in my Apex and increase the co2 rate into my calcium reactor to compensate. I also don't think I've used the app a single time, I just track everything via my Apex and the little screen on the unit. The machine just runs itself.

 

[mitch91175]

I hope you take this same opinion about basically every supplement sold for the marine trade. With a little research you can almost always find a cheaper alternative to any supplement, but then you are taking responsibility for figuring out whatever chemical is appropriate, sourcing, quality control, dosing amounts and safety. Many people prefer to pay a company a little bit more to handle that for them. I don't understand why this situation is any different.

Let's hypothetically imagine the reagent is in fact just a commonly available acid. You attempt to buy the right acid, but you mess up and get one that is too strong and destroy your machine. Maybe you injure yourself in the process. Maybe you get the acid from a low quality source and there are impurities that go into your tank and kill all your livestock.

Or instead the person who makes the machine sells their version of the reagent, where they can guarantee the safety, concentration and quality of the product. They mark it up to compensate for the guaranteed nature of the product. They inform you of the price and lifespan of the reagent before you purchase the machine so you can make up your mind if the economics work for you. I think it is pretty unreasonable to be upset with this.

In fact, it would be unreasonable to expect the manufacturer to be able to guarantee the operation of a machine if people are using self-sourced chemicals as their reagent. And BTW, there is nothing about the machine that stops you from using whatever you want as the reagent, but you can't reasonably expect the manufacturer to support this.

-----

Now with that out of the way, my goodness I love this machine. In lieu of recalibrating it, every week I'm testing against my Hanna checker and if I see any divergence then I'll recalibrate it. I want to test to see how long this thing can stay accurate. Thus far for 5 weeks, every measurement has been *spot on*, with both the Hanna kit and the Alkatronic having less than a 0.1 dkh difference every time. Frankly I'm impressed with the precision of both the Alkatronic and the Hanna kit.

I used to run 4 tests per day but now I'm down to 3 with no difference in accuracy. As my tank is beginning to get stocked with corals and alkalinity consumption is increasing, I can easily see the trends in my Apex and increase the co2 rate into my calcium reactor to compensate. I also don't think I've used the app a single time, I just track everything via my Apex and the little screen on the unit. The machine just runs itself.

100% agree with everything you mentioned @danoo. I think if you are in a position to spend the money to buy the unit, buying the reagent shouldn't be an issue. I do understand that the stock is out which may contribute to the cause of some wanting to try the self-made formula, but it does come with some risk that are not known. @danoo, you are just like me now, I started off testing every 4 hours, then every 5 hours and now I am up to every 8 hours. Now that I am testing every 8 hours, my reagent usage has decrease drastically and I am getting the same results. I feel for those that are holding their breath to wait for the Trident to hit the market. I am literally just manually testing for calcium and magnesium about every 3-4 weeks and making any corrections at that time. It has never been easier honestly and now my not to long ago reef conversion is thriving tremendously. I directly contribute the success that I am having to the Alkatronic. I do not feel that it would have been doing so well without the unit as well. Again, is it perfect, not it isn't, but what is on this planet?

 

[mitch91175]

Well guys, there is some great news with the new firmware coming out next week. For those that haven't seen the Facebook post, this is what is coming: https://www.facebook.com/notes/alkatronic/upcoming-firmware-update-version-40x/717087341961353/

The new features and fixes are:

1. “Stuck in schedule” bug fixed.
2. Action mode now remember its previous status after a power off.
3. New fail safe: First measure after power off is never leading to an action, but after that first measure the action mode is going back to its original status automatically.
4. Wider allowed values in reference settings.
5. Allow to set measure frequency now also to every hour if you want that , thus 1-12 h is now allowed.
6. Better dosing algorithm to get the dKH back and passes the “low ref line” with 0.1 dKH.
7. “Fast Mode “ option with always dosing the full dose independently of how much dKH is missing, but up to a safety point of 0.7dKH. Usable for tanks with extreme dKH consumption.(For more info see manual 5.1 about dosing algorithm)
8. Huge extension of cloud so now possible to do all settings/calibrations through cloud. Thus not necessary to use the app if you do not want that.
9. New fail safe: Never dosing (even if action mode is enabled) if dKH values are obviously wrong due to a technical error (dKH <4.56).
10. New fail safe: If 2 values after each other indicates technical failure like electrode failure, forgot to replace the hose, or something else major issue, machine does not dose, and also close down and requires manual restart and show “Error 01”.
11. In cloud some functions that is crucial and concerns security requires a code to access. (Last 4 numbers in SN).
12. Increased the calibration alerts to every 4 week.
13. A new rotating circle in app that when stop rotate tell you that the settings are correct taken in Alkatronic. Thus not necessary to be in front of machine to get that confirmed.
14. When doing extra measurements, now the coming scheduled measure are never affected or postponed even if the measure is a “blue/red” one.
15. Some cosmetic LCD fixes.
16. Introducing “Dosetronic Mode” in app and cloud, meaning that Pump D is disabled and all dosing instructions is passed to Dosetronic.


These guys just keep on making this unit absolutely phenomenal.

Love how they take the advice that we give as a community and have a great turn around time on implementation.

 

[BrianReefer]

FYI, for those who need it, coralvue now has the 4L of reagent back in stock...

 

[markstubb]

looking forward to some of those updates for sure!

 

[shiftline]

After following this thread for months I finally bit the bullet and picked up an alkatronic. (Better yet a buddy and I both did so it will be I treating to compare results with him
Over time )

I posted an unboxing/ review the other day and thought I would share!



I also hooked up the BNC into the apex today to level it up some more [emoji4]

 

[mitch91175]

After following this thread for months I finally bit the bullet and picked up an alkatronic. (Better yet a buddy and I both did so it will be I treating to compare results with him
Over time )

I posted an unboxing/ review the other day and thought I would share!



I also hooked up the BNC into the apex today to level it up some more [emoji4]

Nice setup and review video. Your gonna love the unit bro. Coral growth is on point using it.

 

[Twocoralsonetank]

Anybody have issues getting the wifi hooked up and working?

 

[TMB]

There have been issues in the past with the WIFI. This normally fixes the problem:
No wifi-connection
The Alkatronic only allows a single connection at a time (Bluetooth via App, or Wifi to cloud). When App is connected, the Wifi is disabled and vice versa. If issues with connecting to your home router, try this:
1. Restart the Alkatronic
2. Wait for BT connection
3. Clear the wifi credentials and press save
4. Enter the wifi credentials and press save
5. Enable alerts for ”dKH high” and ”dKH low”, and press save
6. Kill app
7. Restart Alkatronic again. DO NOT OPEN THE APP NOW.
8. Wait for a few minutes (still do not connect with app)
9. Check in router to see if you can see “raspberrypi”, if you do, Alkatronic now
communicates with your router.
Once you have got this connection to the router, you will of course not have to do these actions anymore(and mostly not at all, as also the first connection is automatically

 

[Twocoralsonetank]

Yeah tried it 4 times, still not working. Anybody have luck hooking this with the ATT 2.4 modem?

 

[Twocoralsonetank]

Yep rage is setting in, shouldn't be this hard. I have tried everything. I have 15 different item hooked up but I can't get this Alkatronic. Don't understand why in this day of age we need to enter SSID manually and have these kinds of issue with a 900 dollar machine.

 

[shiftline]

I entered my wifi ssid and pass hit save (make sure that little circle by the logo is green). Rebooted (un plug power and plug back in) And voila it connected.