Waited for the trident, got the alkatronic

[SneakyTortuga]

Keep in mind, this is my personal opinion.

I was waiting on the trident for months. The entirety of the time I was thinking “what about the alkatronic?” After the poorly done Neptune’s trident release I immediately jumped on a alkatronic. The monthly operating price for the trident is high but what really turned me off is how they handled the release. In my opinion it was just poorly done.

Fast forward to yesterday I took the day off to sign for this beauty

Overall impression of the machine.. it is well made. For $900 it better be. Speaking of the price $900 is a steep price tag for just monitoring alkalinity. My train of thought is I’ve always just tested alkalinity. I tested calcium maybe once a month and magnesium even less. I keep my parameters stable with 10% weekly water changes, dosing kalkwasser on a timer, and with a calcium reactor. But what about the $900 alkatronic vs $600 trident... just with the the $300+ in reagent for the trident within the first year the trident running cost would be more than the alkatronic.

I’m not going to sugar coat the set up process was a pain in the butt. It wasn’t difficult. There was just a lot of steps to it and it took quite some time. My advice is to just read the instructions on the app, do not watch the coralvue video. The video skips steps that the app does not. I messed up on mixing the reagent so my initial test was off reading 10.56. The app allows you to use a reference value which immediately put the following tests spot on. Ive been verifying the alkatronic’s test with a salifert alkalinity test. For the first few days I’ll be testing every 2 hours to get a base line on how my alkalinity fluctuates with lights on vs light off.

By no means is the product quieter than my tank. The tank is on a wall in between my living room and kitchen. It’s definitely audible over the other equipment but the tv easily drowns out the alkatronic test.

Overall... i am happy with my purchase. I picked the focustronic alkatronic over the Neptune’s trident not because it is better. I picked the alkatronic because I want to be less invested in Neptune’s apex system. I’m personally disappointed with Neptune’s. They cost basically the same at the end of a year. I work out of town so an alkalinity monitor is a peace of mind I’ve always wanted

 

[DJF]

Yep. What he said..... +1 (except I’m counting on reefbot & a methodical ghl conversion)

 

[SneakyTortuga]

Yep. What he said..... +1 (except I’m counting on reefbot & a methodical ghl conversion)

If it wasn’t the alkatronic it was going to be a reefbot.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

Not knocking your decision, but only stating this since I am a KHG user... don’t discount the fact that the alkatronic uses a pH probe which requires recalibration and I assume annual replacement. I’m on my fourth pH probe on the KHG after the first year, hopefully the alkatronic is better, but I wouldn’t be surprised if CoralVue uses the same pH probes for both. So I am excited for an option which does not rely on the pH probe.

Trident also needs purchase of a DOS to dose alkalinity based on the test results which the KHG includes, does the alkatronic come with a dosing pump to automatically dose alkalinity based on results or do you simply use the result to control an external pump?

 

[Silver14SS]

As long as it's reliable, I think anyone who gets any of the alk monitors will love it.

Good idea testing every 2 hours to get your dosing dialed in. I was surprised how much mine varies throughout the day.

 

[SneakyTortuga]

Not knocking your decision, but only stating this since I am a KHG user... don’t discount the fact that the alkatronic uses a pH probe which requires recalibration and I assume annual replacement. I’m on my fourth pH probe on the KHG after the first year, hopefully the alkatronic is better, but I wouldn’t be surprised if CoralVue uses the same pH probes for both. So I am excited for an option which does not rely on the pH probe.

Trident also needs purchase of a DOS to dose alkalinity based on the test results which the KHG includes, does the alkatronic come with a dosing pump to automatically dose alkalinity based on results or do you simply use the result to control an external pump?

As long as it stays reliable I’ll be happy. The ph probe is definitely a failure point but any system is going to have failure points. The alka does come with a extra pump to dose alk.

I’m not going to knock anyone who got the trident or will be getting. It may just be the next BIG thing in the industry but as of now it’s a new product and no one really knows what they’ve bought into.

Your on your 4th ph probe in a year?! Why so many? How do you like like the KHG?

As long as it's reliable, I think anyone who gets any of the alk monitors will love it.

Good idea testing every 2 hours to get your dosing dialed in. I was surprised how much mine varies throughout the day.

Reliability and consistency is all I’m looking for. I don’t know what my variance is but I’m interested to see if there is a huge fluctuation at certain points

 

[Keepswiming]

Can you access the graph/results remotely, or do you need to be within a certain range of the unit?

 

[road_runner]

+1 to that. I abandoned trident 2 years ago when they announced some of its details. Went khg and never looked back.
What matter is kh, this is worth testing daily. Once you have stable kh, your ca dosing simply follow the alk dosing. Mad I dose like once or twice a year at most..

Also from cost stand point it is not fair to say alktronic cost more. Trident require an apex. In my case I need to upgrade my apex which would have cost me double the cost of alktronic( at that time Neptune did not offer base unit only)
While alktronic is stand alone. In my books stand alone always better.

Hope you like your alktronic. Let us know how it goes, I am looking in to kh director latley for some fun expectations..

 

[road_runner]

As long as it's reliable, I think anyone who gets any of the alk monitors will love it.

Good idea testing every 2 hours to get your dosing dialed in. I was surprised how much mine varies throughout the day.

Btw alk and ph vary with a clear relationship to the coral growth especially during photo period, thats why advanced reactors like dastaco have a photo sensor that dial down the alk during night. They had this long time ago before anyone. Then others started copying them...

You can see that alk consumed the most at high ph and peak photo period.
This is a sample.of my graph. Notice how at high ph alk start dropping which indicate calcification in coral...
Disclaimer I am not a scientist these are observations and some reading here and there. This is nicely documented by randy holms for anyone intersted in more reading..

 

[Silver14SS]

Can you access the graph/results remotely, or do you need to be within a certain range of the unit?

Yes, it has a web portal and a mobile app, results and graph can be accessed through either. I only connect to it with BT for the monthly calibration. I have an older Galaxy phone and the Alkatronic does not like it's BT, I use my wife's iPad whenever I want to connect with BT.

 

[road_runner]

Keep in mind, this is my personal opinion.

I was waiting on the trident for months. The entirety of the time I was thinking “what about the alkatronic?” After the poorly done Neptune’s trident release I immediately jumped on a alkatronic. The monthly operating price for the trident is high but what really turned me off is how they handled the release. In my opinion it was just poorly done.

Fast forward to yesterday I took the day off to sign for this beauty

Overall impression of the machine.. it is well made. For $900 it better be. Speaking of the price $900 is a steep price tag for just monitoring alkalinity. My train of thought is I’ve always just tested alkalinity. I tested calcium maybe once a month and magnesium even less. I keep my parameters stable with 10% weekly water changes, dosing kalkwasser on a timer, and with a calcium reactor. But what about the $900 alkatronic vs $600 trident... just with the the $300+ in reagent for the trident within the first year the trident running cost would be more than the alkatronic.

I’m not going to sugar coat the set up process was a pain in the butt. It wasn’t difficult. There was just a lot of steps to it and it took quite some time. My advice is to just read the instructions on the app, do not watch the coralvue video. The video skips steps that the app does not. I messed up on mixing the reagent so my initial test was off reading 10.56. The app allows you to use a reference value which immediately put the following tests spot on. Ive been verifying the alkatronic’s test with a salifert alkalinity test. For the first few days I’ll be testing every 2 hours to get a base line on how my alkalinity fluctuates with lights on vs light off.

By no means is the product quieter than my tank. The tank is on a wall in between my living room and kitchen. It’s definitely audible over the other equipment but the tv easily drowns out the alkatronic test.

Overall... i am happy with my purchase. I picked the focustronic alkatronic over the Neptune’s trident not because it is better. I picked the alkatronic because I want to be less invested in Neptune’s apex system. I’m personally disappointed with Neptune’s. They cost basically the same at the end of a year. I

 

[Keepswiming]

Yes, it has a web portal and a mobile app, results and graph can be accessed through either. I only connect to it with BT for the monthly calibration. I have an older Galaxy phone and the Alkatronic does not like it's BT, I use my wife's iPad whenever I want to connect with BT.

So you can't access it remotely while you are on vacation?

 

[road_runner]

So you can't access it remotely while you are on vacation?

I do not know about alktronic but khg you can. You can connect it to a controller like apex or you can log it remotely directly.
Same is true with kh director. You can control it and log it remotely

 

[Silver14SS]

So you can't access it remotely while you are on vacation?

Not through Bluetooth, but you can through the web portal and mobile app.

 

[SneakyTortuga]

yes you have the option of bluetooth direct connection when near the tank. if away from the house you can access the alkatronic through a web portal or you can have it connected to you apex accessing it through neptune's app

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

I do not know about alktronic but khg you can. You can connect it to a controller like apex or you can log it remotely directly.
Same is true with kh director. You can control it and log it remotely

KHG would only be available remotely if you set up port forwarding through your router which is fairly complicated for most people. But I have it connected to my apex which is good enough when I am away.

 

[road_runner]

KHG would only be available remotely if you set up port forwarding through your router which is fairly complicated for most people. But I have it connected to my apex which is good enough when I am away.

Correct. It's not that complicated but not straight forward for sure.
Best is to have it with a any controller.

 

[JohannesFFM]

Hey Lobster,
when do you switch the ph probe on your KHD (does the reading get inaccurate)? I am from europe and was looking for a Trident. Since i have a apex classic and would need to buy a new 2016 model but with the old old eu powerbar.. I was fine with that but the reagent cost and the minimum test per day set to four times i feel like owning a printer with expension cartridges. so i will go for a ghl khd + additional ghl doser. i seen videos that they reworked all their app control and made it html5 style. looks not as nice as the apex but better then in 2017.

 

[Reefcowboy]

The Trident is out, sell the Alkatronic and buy the Trident. Yes Neptune shouldnt have made the announcement so early and leave people waiting so long, it ticked off many. The Trident seems to be a beter overall product according to the reviews out there. I saw the Alkatronic work at RAP, it is WAY too loud.

That is, if you are over the reagent spending with the Trident every two months. I know the Alkatronic has a longer lasting, concentrated solution.

I can care less spending on reagents, monitoring all three is big if hou have lots of SPS.

 

[JohannesFFM]

I read they changed the dosing pumps and its quite now. it all depends on your setup. if you dosing triton or ati essentials (i think ati is europe only) you only monitor alk and a standalone khg is much more cheaper then a trident+apex (+dosing pump).