Tech and more tech!

[Alvanck]

Hi All,

New reefer here finally got my lagoon set up, it’s cycling but I know it’s going to be an addiction so time to invest! I was looking for a good tank monitoring system, app based that will show the temp and vital
Measurements for success in this hobby. I saw a ton on Amazon, but a lot of mixed reviews. Curious if anybody uses there (I’m sure there are a lot!) and what you would recommend.

Thanks!

 

[Mebbid]

Hydros and Neptune are the two big names in the game. You can use them simply for monitoring things like temperature, salinity, and ph or expand them to do things like automatic testing of water parameters, water changes, dosing, controlling pumps, or any number of other things. They are roughly close in price.

I am building my hydros system, currently have an X10 with a bunch of monitoring sensors. It works really well and is a family owned company.

A hydros start for ~$350 would let you monitor temperature, water levels, add leak sensors, and control a few outlets and other accessories.

A hydros control x3 for ~250 will let you add a ph probe and has 2 sense ports, so temperature and leak sensor would be my choice there.

Or a hydros launch for ~635 can do pretty much anything you'd need from a controller.

 

[slingfox]

In terms of real time monitoring there are a bunch of temperature monitors out there which work decently. After that the most useful parameter to monitor is alkalinity. Those systems are expensive and are mostly used in more mature systems filled with SPS coral.

You can also monitor other parameters like salinity but that should not vary much if you have an ATO, Ph but that is usually covered by your all monitoring system, or ORP but that is really only needed if you use ozone.

 

[MushroomMan101]

I don’t see kactoily mention often. It is a cheaper monitor(I used to run one) and at at least the version I used was based on the tuya protocol so you could use any Tuya based device with it (power strips, leak detector,…etc) it worked okay but I ultimately went transition to an Apex and would recommend an Apex over the Kactoily based on probe replaceability.

 

[slingfox]

I don’t see kactoily mention often. It is a cheaper monitor(I used to run one) and at at least the version I used was based on the tuya protocol so you could use any Tuya based device with it (power strips, leak detector,…etc) it worked okay but I ultimately went transition to an Apex and would recommend an Apex over the Kactoily based on probe replaceability.

I have a Kactoily. The temperature and Ph tracking is pretty decent. For Ph you have to calibrate every so often but that is the same as any Ph monitor. Salinity and ORP not reliable but I suppose it may work somewhat if you recalibrate constantly.