mitch91175
2500 Club Member
Completely removing the original post here and posting an update to how I feel about the Alkatronic.
I have had the Alkatronic for going on 6 months. In that time, it has been an emotional rollercoaster. When I first received the unit, it was loud as heck. It was so loud that I couldn't even sleep at night when it tested. When initially told about the noise, Focustronic determined a solution for the noise level, but was initially going to just put the fix in the 2nd batch of the unit. I personally reached out to them about those of us that had originally purchased the unit and what they would do for us, and they decided to send out the quiet fix to all of their distribution partners to distribute to existing customers. Win for us and win for the Alkatronic unit.
Now to how this unit has changed my entire way of reefing. Like most people, you can get a little complacent in the hobby. Specially when you do not have too much more going into the tank. Yeah you do the maintenance and test, but sometimes you just get complacent. I was having to test dKH multiple time a day and it was becoming very repetitive. Calcium and Magnesium wasn't that much of a hassle for me, but dKH was becoming a pain in the you know what. Since I have had the Alkatronic, overall I would say now I feel like I can actually enjoy my reef more and do the other maintenance that allows me to keep an eye on the reef. Yeah testing dKH doesn't take long, but plotting it manually to see what was going on, yada, yada, was an issue that needed to be resolved.
Measurements from the unit are in line with what I was getting from using my Hanna checker. Now instead of me test dKH multiple times daily, I just test it when I honestly feel like doing so. If I remix any reagent, I definitely test it at that time to ensure that I mixed the reagent properly and determine whether I need to do a baseline adjustment. The reagent will last you a very long time if you purchase the 4L with the unit. Testing every 8 hours, the reagent will last you at least 18 months. Cost wise that isn't much when you calculate out how much you would spend on which ever test kit you use for dKH.
The real beauty about the Alkatronic isn't just the accuracy, but how the people over at Focustronic work with the community on making improvements to the platform. When initially released, you could not manipulate the settings of the unit via the cloud, only in the mobile app. With the most recent firmware update, you can now change all settings via the cloud and do all calibrations through it as well. They also implemented some really nice features like more failsafes (preventing any catastrophic events), etc. You can read more about that here: https://www.facebook.com/focustroni...mjrRRh882TtTLcgBU7RoEpwy5P_sgU9cAZ&__tn__=H-R
Before making my decision to go with the Alkatronic, I looked at the Neptune Systems Trident, GHL KH Director and the KH Guardian. I ultimately decided on the Alkatronic for a number of reasons.
1. The unit can operate independently of any aquarium controller
2. The presence that @JonasRoman had in his original thread and documenting his journey to getting the unit to market
3. The overall design of the unit. Easier to place under my stand.
4. The concentrated reagent. I like buying in bulk.
5. It actually can make corrections to the dKH.
The unit itself isn't 100% perfect that's for sure, but what really is in this world? There are some setup issues that can be worked out like getting it connected to wifi and not needing to use USB to do the firmware update, but outside of those, I'd rate the unit overall a 9/10. Cannot give it a 10/10 because like I said, there are always improvements that can be done.
Here is a great video from ReefDudes about the unboxing and setup of the unit.
One from CoralVue:
For those of you that are on the fence and want to have as stable dKH as you can get for your system, I personally highly recommend you giving the Alkatronic a closer look. Is it a pricey unit, yes it is. If your in this hobby the at the end of the day everything is pricey; that is why it's a hobby. I just needed a better sense of security knowing that I have invested 15x more in my thank than the unit cost so I needed some insurance for the tank. The Alkatronic is my insurance policy.
I have had the Alkatronic for going on 6 months. In that time, it has been an emotional rollercoaster. When I first received the unit, it was loud as heck. It was so loud that I couldn't even sleep at night when it tested. When initially told about the noise, Focustronic determined a solution for the noise level, but was initially going to just put the fix in the 2nd batch of the unit. I personally reached out to them about those of us that had originally purchased the unit and what they would do for us, and they decided to send out the quiet fix to all of their distribution partners to distribute to existing customers. Win for us and win for the Alkatronic unit.
Now to how this unit has changed my entire way of reefing. Like most people, you can get a little complacent in the hobby. Specially when you do not have too much more going into the tank. Yeah you do the maintenance and test, but sometimes you just get complacent. I was having to test dKH multiple time a day and it was becoming very repetitive. Calcium and Magnesium wasn't that much of a hassle for me, but dKH was becoming a pain in the you know what. Since I have had the Alkatronic, overall I would say now I feel like I can actually enjoy my reef more and do the other maintenance that allows me to keep an eye on the reef. Yeah testing dKH doesn't take long, but plotting it manually to see what was going on, yada, yada, was an issue that needed to be resolved.
Measurements from the unit are in line with what I was getting from using my Hanna checker. Now instead of me test dKH multiple times daily, I just test it when I honestly feel like doing so. If I remix any reagent, I definitely test it at that time to ensure that I mixed the reagent properly and determine whether I need to do a baseline adjustment. The reagent will last you a very long time if you purchase the 4L with the unit. Testing every 8 hours, the reagent will last you at least 18 months. Cost wise that isn't much when you calculate out how much you would spend on which ever test kit you use for dKH.
The real beauty about the Alkatronic isn't just the accuracy, but how the people over at Focustronic work with the community on making improvements to the platform. When initially released, you could not manipulate the settings of the unit via the cloud, only in the mobile app. With the most recent firmware update, you can now change all settings via the cloud and do all calibrations through it as well. They also implemented some really nice features like more failsafes (preventing any catastrophic events), etc. You can read more about that here: https://www.facebook.com/focustroni...mjrRRh882TtTLcgBU7RoEpwy5P_sgU9cAZ&__tn__=H-R
Before making my decision to go with the Alkatronic, I looked at the Neptune Systems Trident, GHL KH Director and the KH Guardian. I ultimately decided on the Alkatronic for a number of reasons.
1. The unit can operate independently of any aquarium controller
2. The presence that @JonasRoman had in his original thread and documenting his journey to getting the unit to market
3. The overall design of the unit. Easier to place under my stand.
4. The concentrated reagent. I like buying in bulk.
5. It actually can make corrections to the dKH.
The unit itself isn't 100% perfect that's for sure, but what really is in this world? There are some setup issues that can be worked out like getting it connected to wifi and not needing to use USB to do the firmware update, but outside of those, I'd rate the unit overall a 9/10. Cannot give it a 10/10 because like I said, there are always improvements that can be done.
Here is a great video from ReefDudes about the unboxing and setup of the unit.
One from CoralVue:
For those of you that are on the fence and want to have as stable dKH as you can get for your system, I personally highly recommend you giving the Alkatronic a closer look. Is it a pricey unit, yes it is. If your in this hobby the at the end of the day everything is pricey; that is why it's a hobby. I just needed a better sense of security knowing that I have invested 15x more in my thank than the unit cost so I needed some insurance for the tank. The Alkatronic is my insurance policy.
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