My Honest Opinion About The Alkatronic

[Makers Marc]

Does anyone have theirs working on the "cloud"? I have it connected to a 2.4 ghz network. Changed the ssid to something easy so it would not have to use any special characters etc. I know the ssid and password are correct. But when I log into the web portal I have no data. The account works and shows the device at the top but shows n/a as online

When I have time, was going to post a separate review since things get lost on this thread.

But there are alot of unspoken issues on this forum so far, about the glitches and issues with this product. Granted, it is 1st generation so ppl should expect some, but some are so bad they shouldn't be on the shelf.

Not all have these issues. I dont know if my batch was part of a faulty manufacturing or what . Will tell more detail once resolved. But dont wann bash anyone.

 

[2una]

Does anyone have theirs working on the "cloud"? I have it connected to a 2.4 ghz network. Changed the ssid to something easy so it would not have to use any special characters etc. I know the ssid and password are correct. But when I log into the web portal I have no data. The account works and shows the device at the top but shows n/a as online

You should see something like whats in the green box - if not then that's why no data as it hasn't connected

 

[2una]

Are you getting to step 9 ?

 

[mitch91175]

When I have time, was going to post a separate review since things get lost on this thread.

But there are alot of unspoken issues on this forum so far, about the glitches and issues with this product. Granted, it is 1st generation so ppl should expect some, but some are so bad they shouldn't be on the shelf.

Not all have these issues. I dont know if my batch was part of a faulty manufacturing or what . Will tell more detail once resolved. But dont wann bash anyone.

Definitely would like to know what hasn’t been spoken about regarding issues with the Alkatronic. I for one tell it like it is and if you followed this thread through and through I think you’d see (at least from what I have experienced) the majority of the issues I personally feel have been resolved. The initial setup definitely should be refined for sure but outside of that everything else is working as expected.

I am currently on a cruise and have a little downtime. Usually if be freaking out about my tank but haven’t given it really any thought since everything is being handled by my Alkatronic, CaRx, and Apex. Loving it. Wish you the best and if you feel slighted in any fashion, it is best to speak up about it for sure.

 

[Kalibur2]

I gave up on my WiFi for now got to frustrated so I connected it to my apex for now and I’ll give it go again once I can give it time. Would be nice to see it on the cloud though

 

[MentalNote]

Sorry to hear about the issue your having Kalibur2.

I can only speak about my experience. I tried to use the Alkatronic as a monitor device only, and kept adjusting my Alk dosing in the Apex to try to "dial it in." I had mixed success with this, my Alk consumption seemed to vary quite a bit each day making this difficult.

At one point, I had a bit of cyano and dosed Special Blend and Zeovit CynoClean bacteria to combat it. I actually stopped all Alk dosing as my numbers kept rising - even when I didn't dose any 2 part. The Alkatronic facebook page had a note about this possibility, but I never would have guessed it would have happened in my tank. I've never been great at testing consistently, much less every 2 to 4 hours. If it wasn't for the Alkatronic, I would have surely kept dosing 2 part per usual and nuked my SPS tank with these bacteria products. I didn't dose any Alk for about 3 days before the dKH number started to drop.

After this event, and failing at manually adjust my dosing for consistency, I finally setup "pump d" and now let the Alkatronic add Alk solution as needed.

This has been awesome. The stability in my parameters has caused my SPS to really color up. Also, the bar chart showing my Alk has really become steady. I would have not been able to manually adjust my Apex to dose this consistently. Also, the push note to my phone really helps me monitor my tank from afar, and I think is a much better parameter to watch than PH.

It was a pain to setup, and is still a little louder than I would like, but it definitely an awesome piece of equipment and something I would recommend - if you can afford it.

Couple of notes - I test every 4 hours and dump all of the waste back into my tank. I haven't had any issue with that. I cross referenced the Alk # with a LaMotte test kit - it showed the same numbers.

Hopefully someone finds this review useful. I heavily lurked in this thread, and the previous one, before pulling the purchase trigger.

Good luck!

 

[MentalNote]

Sorry to hear about the issue your having Kalibur2.

I can only speak about my experience. I tried to use the Alkatronic as a monitor device only, and kept adjusting my Alk dosing in the Apex to try to "dial it in." I had mixed success with this, my Alk consumption seemed to vary quite a bit each day making this difficult.

At one point, I had a bit of cyano and dosed Special Blend and Zeovit CynoClean bacteria to combat it. I actually stopped all Alk dosing as my numbers kept rising - even when I didn't dose any 2 part. The Alkatronic facebook page had a note about this possibility, but I never would have guessed it would have happened in my tank. I've never been great at testing consistently, much less every 2 to 4 hours. If it wasn't for the Alkatronic, I would have surely kept dosing 2 part per usual and nuked my SPS tank with these bacteria products. I didn't dose any Alk for about 3 days before the dKH number started to drop.

After this event, and failing at manually adjust my dosing for consistency, I finally setup "pump d" and now let the Alkatronic add Alk solution as needed.

This has been awesome. The stability in my parameters has caused my SPS to really color up. Also, the bar chart showing my Alk has really become steady. I would have not been able to manually adjust my Apex to dose this consistently. Also, the push note to my phone really helps me monitor my tank from afar, and I think is a much better parameter to watch than PH.

It was a pain to setup, and is still a little louder than I would like, but it definitely an awesome piece of equipment and something I would recommend - if you can afford it.

Couple of notes - I test every 4 hours and dump all of the waste back into my tank. I haven't had any issue with that. I cross referenced the Alk # with a LaMotte test kit - it showed the same numbers.

Hopefully someone finds this review useful. I heavily lurked in this thread, and the previous one, before pulling the purchase trigger.

Good luck!

 

[markstubb]

When I have time, was going to post a separate review since things get lost on this thread.

But there are alot of unspoken issues on this forum so far, about the glitches and issues with this product. Granted, it is 1st generation so ppl should expect some, but some are so bad they shouldn't be on the shelf.

Not all have these issues. I dont know if my batch was part of a faulty manufacturing or what . Will tell more detail once resolved. But dont wann bash anyone.

I don’t have any sacred cows here either. I agree that initial setup was a pain in the butt, after that I haven’t had any issues. If you have an issue, talk about it. You’re not going to offend anyone. There’s no reason to be so secretive.

I hope you can get your issues fixed as it’s really a great unit once it’s up and doing it’s thing. Support is pretty good so I would imagine if your unit just doesn’t work that you should get a replacement

 

[stevenlu]

Hey guys, so I just got my Alkatronic last night. I got it all calibrated and going. But I can only connect to the machine when I’m close to it and using Bluetooth. When I’m away from work, using internet it would not connect and I can’t read the data. Can anyone help?

Thank you!

 

[Pygmey]

Follow the graphic above. It is in the troubleshooting guide .it worked for me. Log into Bluetooth. Remove wifi settings press save, renter wifi settings press save, kill app on phone, reboot alkatronic and do not start app at all on phone, check online account in a few minutes . Magic

 

[stevenlu]

Follow the graphic above. It is in the troubleshooting guide .it worked for me. Log into Bluetooth. Remove wifi settings press save, renter wifi settings press save, kill app on phone, reboot alkatronic and do not start app at all on phone, check online account in a few minutes . Magic

Thanks a lot! Let me go try those magic when I get back!

 

[Pygmey]

Also make sure it is a 2.4 GHz network with no punctuation in the SSID

 

[stevenlu]

Does anyone know what "Fast Mode" does?

 

[mitch91175]

Does anyone know what "Fast Mode" does?

It doses all of the shortage when measuring

 

[stevenlu]

It doses all of the shortage when measuring

So it will be incorporated with dosetronic in the future? With only Alkatronic we won't have use to it now?

 

[mitch91175]

So it will be incorporated with dosetronic in the future? With only Alkatronic we won't have use to it now?

You can use it now if I’m not mistaken. I really haven’t had to have the Alkatronic do any dosing since I have my CaRx setup. It is keeping my dKH closer to my high point. I do still have it setup to dose just in case. Something that I have noticed is that my dKH does fluctuate a good amount daily. I was trying to get as close to a steady line as possible but realized that right now that isn’t feasible for my setup. I have a ton of SPS frags that are going through growth spurts so one day the dKH is slightly above my range and a the next time it measures it has dropped a good amount. Still within my range but not to a point where I have a nice pretty fluid line graph.

 

[mitch91175]

Here is one of my latest graphs to show what I was referring to. On vacation and loving not to have to worry about it at all.

 

[stevenlu]

You can use it now if I’m not mistaken. I really haven’t had to have the Alkatronic do any dosing since I have my CaRx setup. It is keeping my dKH closer to my high point. I do still have it setup to dose just in case. Something that I have noticed is that my dKH does fluctuate a good amount daily. I was trying to get as close to a steady line as possible but realized that right now that isn’t feasible for my setup. I have a ton of SPS frags that are going through growth spurts so one day the dKH is slightly above my range and a the next time it measures it has dropped a good amount. Still within my range but not to a point where I have a nice pretty fluid line graph.

Sorry what is CaRx? I googled it and nothing comes up. I'm the same as you with many frags and I run a Calcium reactor. I was wondering if there's way to shut of the calcium reactor if it goes above a certain DKH and to turn it on if it goes below.

 

[mitch91175]

Sorry what is CaRx? I googled it and nothing comes up. I'm the same as you with many frags and I run a Calcium reactor. I was wondering if there's way to shut of the calcium reactor if it goes above a certain DKH and to turn it on if it goes below.

CaRx is Calcium Reactor. You can use the Bluetooth adapter to have it shut off the CaRx. All just depends on your setup. If you have a feed pump, you can plug it into the BT adapter and the Alkatronic with turnoff the feed pump when the dKH is higher that the desired range. The Alkatronic will test every 2 hours from that point until the dKH falls within your desired range.

 

[mitch91175]

Sorry what is CaRx? I googled it and nothing comes up. I'm the same as you with many frags and I run a Calcium reactor. I was wondering if there's way to shut of the calcium reactor if it goes above a certain DKH and to turn it on if it goes below.

Here is a link to a thread that I started when getting everything setup. Maybe it’ll help you out a little.

Geo 818/SMC415 Calcium Reactor Setup for my 240 Reef
https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?sh...or-Setup-for-my-240-Reef.463228/&share_type=t

 

[stevenlu]

CaRx is Calcium Reactor. You can use the Bluetooth adapter to have it shut off the CaRx. All just depends on your setup. If you have a feed pump, you can plug it into the BT adapter and the Alkatronic with turnoff the feed pump when the dKH is higher that the desired range. The Alkatronic will test every 2 hours from that point until the dKH falls within your desired range.

Thank you! I'll go figure it out. Do you have it done like that with your Calcium Reactor?