My Honest Opinion About The Alkatronic

Bluedore

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A solenoid is meant to constantly go on and off. So there should be no concern with that. Infact you could argue that when the solenoid stays on for a stretch you are infact causing more damage to it.
After you get your PH probe setup, let the residual CO2 in the reactor escape, then make sure that that solenoid shuts off below certain PH.
Ah, learned something new about solenoid. And will definitely try once apex is setup. Thanks.
 

Biff0rz

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Who here has purchased a unit in 2021 and is using android? Is the Alktronic still a pain in the butt to set up with Android?
Is, and always will be. It's gotten a little better but I surmise the issue is with their IoT network being slow. When you register a unit it takes a while for it to be connected to your app for the first time. Once that occurs, something that's called provisioning, the Android app interacts with the unit as fast as any other device. I ended us using my kids iPad to set it up in '20 but the same issues show up on their support group all the time.
 

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Hi all. My alkatronic hose replacement should have happened a month or so ago based on the replacement schedule given by the manufacturer. The recent calibration is still relatively close to older calibrations so I’m thinking the tubing is still ok. I am curious as to what others are doing as far as replacement of tubing. Are you following manufacturer recommendations or doing something different? Anyone had tubing failures?
 

Biff0rz

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Hi all. My alkatronic hose replacement should have happened a month or so ago based on the replacement schedule given by the manufacturer. The recent calibration is still relatively close to older calibrations so I’m thinking the tubing is still ok. I am curious as to what others are doing as far as replacement of tubing. Are you following manufacturer recommendations or doing something different? Anyone had tubing failures?
I replace as recommended, they can leak otherwise and that'd be bad.
 

dwest

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I replace as recommended, they can leak otherwise and that'd be bad.
That makes the most sense. Thank you. Did you get the tubing from the manufacturer or did you try a diy route?
 

Hydrored

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Over all I would NOT recommend the Alkatronic or the Dosetronic to anybody.

Waiting for Coralvue to respond for a return. My unit was sent with a bad Ph probe that I had to replace to even use the unit as after the first test it failed every time.

The unit is the loudest item on the tank by far and haven’t even tried the Dosetronic yet with all of its connection issues.


I guess I will be sticking with the apex products
 

gobble

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My Alkatronic has been rock solid for 2 years.

Read the trident reviews before you jump. Many of them are terrible. Like most things Apex, it’s China made plastic crap that doesn’t work well for long. Their controller is the only thing that seems well made and reliable.
 

Dennis Cartier

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My Alkatronic has been rock solid for 2 years.

Read the trident reviews before you jump. Many of them are terrible. Like most things Apex, it’s China made plastic crap that doesn’t work well for long. Their controller is the only thing that seems well made and reliable.
Ditto. I love my Alkatronic. They could use better Apps (they really suck on Android), but overall I think it is a great addition to a tank.

Dennis
 

paul01609

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I got the mastertronic first and was so impressed I got the alkatronic,defo a little loud but wouldn’t part with it,miles better than ghl director glad to see the back of it
 

dwest

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Happy alkatronic user for about a year. It is somewhat loud but mine is in the basement. It’s a huge help when traveling.

I do have a question for those of you out there. My alkatronic pH always runs a couple tenths below my Apex measured pH. Both probes are calibrated. I always attributed the offset to the fact that alkatronic uses pH of 4 and 7 calibration fluids and Apex uses 7 and 10. But curious if others see this as well.
 

Hydrored

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My Alkatronic has been rock solid for 2 years.

Read the trident reviews before you jump. Many of them are terrible. Like most things Apex, it’s China made plastic crap that doesn’t work well for long. Their controller is the only thing that seems well made and reliable.

I was replacing the the Trident with the Alkatronic. The alkatronic is made in China also and the plastic seems of the same quality. They put a GC inspection sticker on it when the PH probe was clearly defective and the letter D was placed upside down.

I don’t agree the quality is any better than the Trident, seems the same to me and is much louder.

8C02D7AF-1C22-4E4C-9938-BD427518B2AD.jpeg
 
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mitch91175

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Over all I would NOT recommend the Alkatronic or the Dosetronic to anybody.

Waiting for Coralvue to respond for a return. My unit was sent with a bad Ph probe that I had to replace to even use the unit as after the first test it failed every time.

The unit is the loudest item on the tank by far and haven’t even tried the Dosetronic yet with all of its connection issues.


I guess I will be sticking with the apex products

Hey @Hydrored. I no longer have my units since I am getting out of the hobby, but I'll say this about both the Trident and the Alkatronic (I have had both). I choose the Alkatronic with its nuances versus the Trident anyday of the week. The Trident build quality just wasn't that great. The Alkatronic just is a sturdier unit overall.

Trident reagent cost (yeah it does calcium and magnesium) is just too much. While I was running my system calcium and magnesium was not something that concerned me very much. dKH on the other hand was key and with the amount of test you can run using the Alkatronic versus the Trident, the Alkatronic makes the Trident look like a Pinto and it being a Ferrari. You can literally test dKH every hour for over a year and spend just $30 and get accurate enough results to keep your coral happy. With the Trident that same period and frequency of test will cost you enough where you could upgrade every component of your aquarium.

It sucks that you had the pH probe issue and connectivity issues. The connectivity issues is something that they need to resolve and the noise they have addressed to an extent but still needs work. Once you get beyond those issues, if you keep the unit you'll be happy that you did.
 

Hydrored

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Hey @Hydrored. I no longer have my units since I am getting out of the hobby, but I'll say this about both the Trident and the Alkatronic (I have had both). I choose the Alkatronic with its nuances versus the Trident anyday of the week. The Trident build quality just wasn't that great. The Alkatronic just is a sturdier unit overall.

Trident reagent cost (yeah it does calcium and magnesium) is just too much. While I was running my system calcium and magnesium was not something that concerned me very much. dKH on the other hand was key and with the amount of test you can run using the Alkatronic versus the Trident, the Alkatronic makes the Trident look like a Pinto and it being a Ferrari. You can literally test dKH every hour for over a year and spend just $30 and get accurate enough results to keep your coral happy. With the Trident that same period and frequency of test will cost you enough where you could upgrade every component of your aquarium.

It sucks that you had the pH probe issue and connectivity issues. The connectivity issues is something that they need to resolve and the noise they have addressed to an extent but still needs work. Once you get beyond those issues, if you keep the unit you'll be happy that you did.

Thanks for the feedback @mitch91175

The big issue is our tank is in our living room outside of our master bedroom, it's so loud that it makes my wife up.

I will trade form and function over cost, so reagent cost or unit cost is the lowest priority to me. I have upgraded equipment over the past year to make the tank silent-

I replaced 5 G5 XR30's and went to Stratons so no fan noise, Replaced 2 COR20's with 2 Royal Exclusiv return pumps, and replaced my INT skimmer with a Royal Exclusiv skimmer, removed all gyres for MP60's. I can say you can not hear the tank in my house, now I have the Alkatronic that I can hear in another room.

Unfortunately, I just don't believe this unit will fit my demands and I find the quality to be just as poor as the Trident, louder than the Trident, with lower reagent cost.

So I guess my hunt continues for a quality product.
 
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mitch91175

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Thanks for the feedback @mitch91175

The big issue is our tank is in our living room outside of our master bedroom, it's so loud that it makes my wife up.

I will trade form and function over cost, so reagent cost or unit cost is the lowest priority to me. I have upgraded equipment over the past year to make the tank silent-

I replaced 5 G5 XR30's and went to Stratons so no fan noise, Replaced 2 COR20's with 2 Royal Exclusiv return pumps, and replaced my INT skimmer with a Royal Exclusiv skimmer, removed all gyres for MP60's. I can say you can not hear the tank in my house, now I have the Alkatronic that I can hear in another room.

Unfortunately, I just don't believe this unit will fit my demands and I find the quality to be just as poor as the Trident, louder than the Trident, with lower reagent cost.

So I guess my hunt continues for a quality product.


What version of the unit do you have? Is it a V3 or whatever is the latest one they have? Does it have the quiet kit? Have you tried to loosen the screws on the pump to fine tune the vibration that occurs?

If you have the quiet kit and it's still loud, that means that the screws are too tight and need to be loosened.
 

Hydrored

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What version of the unit do you have? Is it a V3 or whatever is the latest one they have? Does it have the quiet kit? Have you tried to loosen the screws on the pump to fine tune the vibration that occurs?

If you have the quiet kit and it's still loud, that means that the screws are too tight and need to be loosened.

Unit is version 3 and is a week old, I can try loosening them.
 

120reefkeeper

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Over all I would NOT recommend the Alkatronic or the Dosetronic to anybody.

Waiting for Coralvue to respond for a return. My unit was sent with a bad Ph probe that I had to replace to even use the unit as after the first test it failed every time.

The unit is the loudest item on the tank by far and haven’t even tried the Dosetronic yet with all of its connection issues.


I guess I will be sticking with the apex products
Sell it to me !! LOL
 

Hydrored

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@mitch91175

Question- Still using the Alkatronic along with the Trident. One thing I can’t figure out is the test are bang on from the alkatronic (7.82) and Hanna (7.8) and Trident is always .30 lower. Anyways the PH is always showing much lower than it actually is but it tests alk perfect, I checked the probe calibration and it was .04 off but that is nothing. I re did the calibration and I’m not surprised nothing really changed since it was barely off anyways.

I have 2 PH probes on the apex and just calibrated them both- probe 1 measures 8.24, probe 2 8.25, Alkatronic 7.98 for the tank

Not sure why the large ph gap but the alkalinity is testing accurate and so is the probe in calibration fluid. I’m not sure it’s worth chasing but was wondering if anyone else sees the same?
 
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