Seneye pH, ammonia, temp accuracy/reliability?

[trmiv]

So I've been tempted to purchase a Seneye reef for the PAR meter functionality, which it definitely seems worth it for. But honestly I'd probably only use the PAR meter every few months, so it's hard to justify spending $200 on something I'll use infrequently if I can just rent something from BRS when needed for that purpose. But I also need a pH meter, since at the moment I have no way to test pH and I suspect my pH is low in my new house due to it being sealed so well (never worried previously in my old house with good ventilation). Also I'd like an accurate way to crosscheck the temp reading on my Ranco.

So my question for people who have a Seneye, do you find the pH meter, temp and ammonia stuff to work well and accurately? Do you find the Seneye useful outside of the par meter? I unfortunately don't have a Windows computer aside from my work laptop, which is fine for PAR once and awhile, but I'd need to pickup something cheap for that if I plan to use the ph and temp monitoring on a regular basis. So if that stuff works well, then I can more justify the spending to myself.

 

[Gareth elliott]

The temperature probe is accurate, within .5 degrees of my other thermometers.

The initial ph reading i find varies by slide. What i do is take a freshly calibrated ph meter and then offset the ph reading of the seneye and remains accurate for the 30 days.

Always soak the slide for 2 days before installing.

The ammonia reading corresponds with other measurements i take.

 

[User1]

I picked one up months back to use as a PAR/Pur meter. Affordable tool to have and I use it as such. General idea of how my lights are working. I think I picked it up after the BRS video when they compared some different meters. In any case I do not need a higher end product say compared to someone who uses it more, in a lab, or part of the scientific community. Just setting how or why I picked one up.

Having said that I've not picked up a 2nd disk. I used the first one more out of curiosity because like I said I was after the meter. I found it to be reliable and pretty accurate. I did some manual tests of Ammonia and it was fine. Neptune PH was close. I don't have the numbers in front of me but nothing was scary off.

My point in all this is this. If you are buying it for the light meter use the disk and then decide if you want to continue to use it by buying 3 or 6 month packs. I'm going to see if they go on sale next December - seems like a good thing to do. If not then I just tuck it away and use it when I want to measure lights.

 

[trmiv]

Thanks for the feedback. Do the unused slides have a certain shelf life?

 

[User1]

Thanks for the feedback. Do the unused slides have a certain shelf life?

I'm not sure. This is just a guess since I've personally never purchased replacements yet but you can buy them in packs of 3 I believe I saw last time I was on BRS. 3 or 6. In any case they are good for a month when in use before you have to replace them. They are individually wrapped and not open to the air. I would say at least 3 to 6 months if not more. Seneye may have something on their portal to say but I am pretty comfortable in saying they will not go bad if you use buy a box and use otherwise they wouldn't sell them that way.

 

[FreeEnergyReefer]

I just picked one up 2months ago,heres the situation with mine; The temperature is 2.6 degrees farenheit on the low side and my ph was spot on for a month now it tests .5 low, nh3 & 4 are spot on BUT... it depends where you have your seneye reef located. For example in the first chamber of my sump or in my display everything is spot on, if I place it in the return section of my sump or in my refugium ph is .5 low and nh3 &4 skyrocket to .63 . From what I've read and after talking to customer service and other customers it has to be in atleast 8in deep of water and in a decent flow area and you'll be fine. Also after I found a good spot for mine I calibrated it using my hanna testers,theres an adjustment in settings to raise or lower each reading a few points so you can be exact. The PAR meter is spot on just as good as a $2,000 unit. I'm happy I bought 1

 

[bigjgmac]

I believe the pH reads low. I just checked mine. Seneye shows a pH of 7.88, freshly calibrated Apera pH meter shows a pH of 8.06, and Hanna pH checker shows a pH of 8.1. I'm going with the Apera pH meter as the trusted source, but the Hanna checker has the same reading. I'd say the Seneye reads low. I keep adjusting the offset and it keeps drifting, but I think it's OK for measuring ph differences/trending.

 

[Nhjmc]

I recently purchased one I think for $200 it’s worth it. One thing I don’t like is that the ph reading is different than every test kit I e checked with so which one is accurate? Contacted Seneye and told theirs should be unless the slide is defective. Also, I’ve found their customer service dept. very responsive and helpful.