Reefbot arrived!!!!!! Initial thoughts

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Jonathan Iu

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Kinda disappointed now. Initial euphoria has given way to frustration. Calcium is way off at 290ppm vs my Hanna at 395. Tried 3 tests all came back at 290ppm. Last week I had 390ppm from the bot but I was told to tighten the bulkheads and I am getting 290ppm all the time. I mixed the calcium reagents B and C correctly. Also the bot takes 1hr 30m to give me a results where the Hanna takes me 5 mins.

The bot is no use to me if I am worrying if its accurate or spending time playing with to find accuracy, Id rather use the Hanna test,

I move my rating now down to 5/10. This is still a beta product and you may spend a lot of time figuring how to make it work for you.
 
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Jonathan Iu

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OK so I spoke to the chemist and she said the Red Sea Calcium Reagents B and C only have a shelf life of one week since they have to be premixed and put in the vial???? They are working on it to make sure it last longer. I guess thats why its still in BETA. SO DONT USE THE Red Sea CALCIUM PRO test. She said use the API test which I will buy tomorrow.
 

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Thanks for the review, Im looking at ordering one. I would love to see a more thorough guide on the reagents since this is where most of the issues will be.
 
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Jonathan Iu

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Thanks for the review, Im looking at ordering one. I would love to see a more thorough guide on the reagents since this is where most of the issues will be.
Only for Red Sea Pro Calcium...others are ok.
 
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Jonathan Iu

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Ok so i remixed fresh reagents B and C from Red Sea Calcium Pro Test and now put them in tubes 7 (Reagent A) and tube 8 (B and C mixed). I had them in tubes 2 and 3 which I now have Red Sea Phosphate which provides accurate result of 0. I noticed that no liquid had been drawn from Reagent A tube so I replaced it with the spare. The original reason why my Red Sea Calcium test was giving inaccurate results was that B and C reagents mixed only had a shelf life of one week.

Now the Red Sea Calcium Test gives me an ACCURATE reading of 400ppm crosschecked with the Hanna at 403ppm.

This has now restored my faith in the REEFBOT and I bump my original score back up to 8/10.


Lets see how long the mixed reagents B an C last because the chemist said only a week....

I have also ordered API calcium test kits from fleabay so will be comparing them also.
 
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Jonathan Iu

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Ok so the RED SEA CALCIUM PRO test, has a problem. Having successfully tested for 440ppm this morning, I tested again 12 hours later and get 290ppm when my Hanna says 440ppm. I just remixed fresh reagents yesterday. Reefkinetics said the mixed agents only had a shelf life of a week but this has only been a day. Im going to give up on this test and wait for the API Calcium test to arrive.
 

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Ok so the RED SEA CALCIUM PRO test, has a problem. Having successfully tested for 440ppm this morning, I tested again 12 hours later and get 290ppm when my Hanna says 440ppm. I just remixed fresh reagents yesterday. Reefkinetics said the mixed agents only had a shelf life of a week but this has only been a day. Im going to give up on this test and wait for the API Calcium test to arrive.
The API Ca kit is very good and very cost effective, and only two vials. Good idea sticking with it for a while.
 
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Jonathan Iu

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The API Ca kit is very good and very cost effective, and only two vials. Good idea sticking with it for a while.
Ok. The Red Sea Calcium Pro test is bugged...but thats why i guess its in beta...the mixed reagents stay stable only for a few hours.

I bought the Red Sea Foundation Pro kit thats which comes with the Calcium test .
 
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Jonathan Iu

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Aarrghhh!! So Red Sea Calcium test still gives me a reading of 290 when Hanna is 451 and Red Sea manual test is 448.
Support wasn’t too helpful . Keep asking me if I mixed the reagents correctly ! Yes i did!! As per your instructions . Then asking me to calibrate the test. I didn’t know you had to calibrate ? .
Guess I’m on my own. Going use fresh reagents B and C when I get home later.

Still waiting on the API Calcium test kits to come.

Also the Mag reading came in at 20 and 40 today when yesterday was 1200. Salifert manual test gave me 1280. Beginning think Red Sea kits are bugged. Ordered Giesemann Mag test.

Also going to double check the Red Sea KH test with Salifert bot test and Hanna KH manual.

One positive Red Sea Phosphate test is consistent at 0ppm accord manual Hanna tests.
 
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Jonathan Iu

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Not a good day for the reefbot. Ca, Mg tests way off at 290 and 40 respectively vs manual Red Sea Test of 450 and 1300. Even DkH was 5.4 vs Hanna of 10.5....Have no clue what could be wrong. Nothing has changed from previous correct readings. Reagents still in the tubes. Waiting for other test kits to arrive to continue testing.....

So far for me only the Red Sea Phosphate and the API Nitrate tests are consistent and accurate...

Not giving up the Reefbot yet...will report when other test kits arrive..
 
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puffy127

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When you are manually testing the RedSea Ca and Mg, are you using the reefbot reagent vials? Have you checked your calibration recently? Are you using 0 TDS RODI?
 
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Jonathan Iu

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No I'm using the Red Sea vials with their test kits. Yes zero TDS RODI. I wasnt aware you had to calibrate. Like I said it was working fine before...
 

puffy127

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Try manual RedSea testing using the reefbot reagent vials. This will help isolate the problem you are having. I think some users in the past may have mixed up the vials.
 

puffy127

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Well you should still use them for manual testing. That way you can try to isolate whether it is a reagent problem or a reefbot problem. I suspect for Ca it is a reagent (mixing or expiration) problem.
 

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Thanks for posting your experiences. Once the technical bugs are worked out, recommendations for test kits are solid, and documentation is more complete, I could see this being a huge improvement in our hobby. For me personally I definitely don’t test as often as I know I should, but if it were scheduled and semi-automated I would.

I would suggest that having to fiddle with it more often than once every 2 weeks or so would be too much though. I imagine topping off reagents, emptying waste, and adding RODI once a month or so and getting back reliable results. This would be valuable and worth the cost and space.
 

jeremykiefer

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I have had my reefbot for about a month as well and I am loving it. I had some issues....Red Sea Cal being one of them, I switched to API and things have been great. Support has been more than phenomenal when I have had issues.

Johnathan, I do recommend one thing. I noticed you said that you didn’t use the manufacturers tubing for the water inlet. They stressed to me the importance of using the manufactures hoses and that the length both played a part in correct testing parameters.
 

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