Alkatronics experience

[newfly]

After 3 years, I finally going to pull the trigger to get an automated testing system. Since I already heavily invested in Hydros ecosystem, Alkatronic looks appealing.

Anyone using this machine and can comment on reliability? @SepToob i think you have 1.

Side story: I was doing my usual weekly water test on the kitchen island and the missus suddenly ask how other reefer do this (testing). I mentioned that some have automated testing but since she limits all the equipment in the tank cabinet, I don’t have space to get one. She asked about the cost and my jaw dropped when she says we can get a cabinet next you the tank so I have more space for the automated system. She is not interested in the tank, I suppose her motivation is not having me doing science experiments in the kitchen !

 

[newfly]

The hydros x10 plus IV looks interesting as well, but it’s so new I can’t find any review.

 

[ashburn2k]

@Arvin R has one I believe but not sure if he got it to run yet.

 

[archibaldsharper]

I have an alkatronic and mastertronic with hydros x10 and IV. The alkatronic worked for a bit over a year. Then one of the chips on the main board fried. I may fix it some day. The board is like $500. I did buy the ic off Ali for less than $1 but turned out to be the wrong one.

Anyway the alkatronic was very consistent and reliable. If you mix the reagent correctly and/or test with another method and put in the correction it tested right on. It is noisy and you can't really set the time it runs. You choose number of times a day and it kind of decides when to run in the cloud. If it gets disconnected from Internet it won't run.

From time to time the cloud tools are not available so you can't calibrate it do anything with the alkatronic or mastertronic. It seems to be better now than a year ago. But if you plan to do maintenance on Saturday, chances are the cloud will be down and you won't get back to it until next Saturday, and this not have any tests for the week.

I replaced the alkatronic with the x10 with IV. It has been reliable about 10% of the time. It generates number but they have no relationship to the tested waters alk, pH, or salinity. I would stear well clear of it. If interested I can go through the issues.

I also run the mastertronic alk 3 times a week. It uses the red sea alk reagent and is very reliable. I have been lucky with the mastertronic as most have reported a lot of failures.

Overall I would not buy either the alkatronic or x10 again. I would take a random stab at any other tester.

 

[archibaldsharper]

You can see the ic on the upper left fried. If you are into fixing electronics and want to try the alkatronic you could have mine broken unit.

 

[newfly]

I have an alkatronic and mastertronic with hydros x10 and IV. The alkatronic worked for a bit over a year. Then one of the chips on the main board fried. I may fix it some day. The board is like $500. I did buy the ic off Ali for less than $1 but turned out to be the wrong one.

Anyway the alkatronic was very consistent and reliable. If you mix the reagent correctly and/or test with another method and put in the correction it tested right on. It is noisy and you can't really set the time it runs. You choose number of times a day and it kind of decides when to run in the cloud. If it gets disconnected from Internet it won't run.

From time to time the cloud tools are not available so you can't calibrate it do anything with the alkatronic or mastertronic. It seems to be better now than a year ago. But if you plan to do maintenance on Saturday, chances are the cloud will be down and you won't get back to it until next Saturday, and this not have any tests for the week.

I replaced the alkatronic with the x10 with IV. It has been reliable about 10% of the time. It generates number but they have no relationship to the tested waters alk, pH, or salinity. I would stear well clear of it. If interested I can go through the issues.

I also run the mastertronic alk 3 times a week. It uses the red sea alk reagent and is very reliable. I have been lucky with the mastertronic as most have reported a lot of failures.

Overall I would not buy either the alkatronic or x10 again. I would take a random stab at any other tester.

Thanks. The Alkatronics being consistent and reliable is a good thing. BRS so happen to have it on-sale for $650, so i pull the trigger. Hope mine last more than 1-year.

 

[newfly]

You can see the ic on the upper left fried. If you are into fixing electronics and want to try the alkatronic you could have mine broken unit.

If you;re not using yours, i would love to have it. I do love to thinker with stuff. Where are you located?

 

[archibaldsharper]

Thanks. The Alkatronics being consistent and reliable is a good thing. BRS so happen to have it on-sale for $650, so i pull the trigger. Hope mine last more than 1-year.

Yeah at $650 it's worth a shot. I see most people have better luck with the alkatronic than I did. I probably would have fixed mine but my place is really small and the unit makes to much noise.

 

[derek_SR]

Love my alkatronic. Has been running for nearly 2 years now, no major issues. The app is kind of wonky - feel free to DM if you have trouble. Definitely some quirks but they are mostly related to the software.

It’s incredibly consistent and reliable, and tests accurately also (compared to my Hanna checker). I love being able to track alk consumption super closely. You can manipulate the testing times, though it’s not intuitive. I set mine to go every day at 0600 and 1800. I buy the bulk reagent and mix it up to 2L and it lasts quite a while testing every 12 hours.

 

[newfly]

Love my alkatronic. Has been running for nearly 2 years now, no major issues. The app is kind of wonky - feel free to DM if you have trouble. Definitely some quirks but they are mostly related to the software.

It’s incredibly consistent and reliable, and tests accurately also (compared to my Hanna checker). I love being able to track alk consumption super closely. You can manipulate the testing times, though it’s not intuitive. I set mine to go every day at 0600 and 1800. I buy the bulk reagent and mix it up to 2L and it lasts quite a while testing every 12 hours.

Thanks. Do you recommend getting their doser as well? I have individual kamoer x1 . From what I gather, I don’t think it add much value with their doser. My understanding is you set your current doser to 90% of your consumption and leave the alkatronic to fine tuned the difference.

Am I close ?

 

[newfly]

I have an alkatronic and mastertronic with hydros x10 and IV. The alkatronic worked for a bit over a year. Then one of the chips on the main board fried. I may fix it some day. The board is like $500. I did buy the ic off Ali for less than $1 but turned out to be the wrong one.

Anyway the alkatronic was very consistent and reliable. If you mix the reagent correctly and/or test with another method and put in the correction it tested right on. It is noisy and you can't really set the time it runs. You choose number of times a day and it kind of decides when to run in the cloud. If it gets disconnected from Internet it won't run.

From time to time the cloud tools are not available so you can't calibrate it do anything with the alkatronic or mastertronic. It seems to be better now than a year ago. But if you plan to do maintenance on Saturday, chances are the cloud will be down and you won't get back to it until next Saturday, and this not have any tests for the week.

I replaced the alkatronic with the x10 with IV. It has been reliable about 10% of the time. It generates number but they have no relationship to the tested waters alk, pH, or salinity. I would stear well clear of it. If interested I can go through the issues.

I also run the mastertronic alk 3 times a week. It uses the red sea alk reagent and is very reliable. I have been lucky with the mastertronic as most have reported a lot of failures.

Overall I would not buy either the alkatronic or x10 again. I would take a random stab at any other tester.

Looks like x10+IV is a random number generator? That’s disappointing. I have good experience with Hydros in general.

 

[derek_SR]

Thanks. Do you recommend getting their doser as well? I have individual kamoer x1 . From what I gather, I don’t think it add much value with their doser. My understanding is you set your current doser to 90% of your consumption and leave the alkatronic to fine tuned the difference.

Am I close ?

I do use a Dosetronic, but I don’t have my Alkatronic set up to make automatic alk adjustments - so can’t really speak to that feature.

I was all excited about the idea of that originally but now I just prefer to watch alk move without any dosing intervention, and adjust that manually (and very occasionally) myself.

The Dosetronic is a fine standalone doser FWIW, I like all the heads. I’d probably go a different route if doing it again (I am a big fan of the Versas) but it works fine for me.

 

[newfly]

I thought alkatronic have 1 dose head that can be use for dosing adjustment? Or I have to get dosetronic for automatic adjustment?

 

[derek_SR]

I thought alkatronic have 1 dose head that can be use for dosing adjustment? Or I have to get dosetronic for automatic adjustment?

It does, yes! I haven’t used it.

It can also be configured to pair with the Dosetronic in a similar way that I think has some advantages - though I don’t recall what exactly.

 

[archibaldsharper]

Looks like x10+IV is a random number generator? That’s disappointing. I have good experience with Hydros in general.

I have fully bought into the hydros. And for the most part like it.
3 x8 power strips
3 x4s
2 x2s
X10 + IV
Wave LE
Many wifi strips.

The wifi strips were pretty unreliable but that's due to living in a condo with 100 other networks around. The X10 I have worked with coralvue and their forum. They fix something but there is always a new issue. I basically think the unit I got was an early adapter dud. The dosing pumps stick from time to time. Some day I might try replacing the heads. Keep hoping some update will cure everything.

Having the alkatronic for the year really helped me learn how to dial in my calcium reactor. So the constant kh monitoring isn't as big of a deal now.

 

[newfly]

I have fully bought into the hydros. And for the most part like it.
3 x8 power strips
3 x4s
2 x2s
X10 + IV
Wave LE
Many wifi strips.

The wifi strips were pretty unreliable but that's due to living in a condo with 100 other networks around. The X10 I have worked with coralvue and their forum. They fix something but there is always a new issue. I basically think the unit I got was an early adapter dud. The dosing pumps stick from time to time. Some day I might try replacing the heads. Keep hoping some update will cure everything.

Having the alkatronic for the year really helped me learn how to dial in my calcium reactor. So the constant kh monitoring isn't as big of a deal now.

must have more than 1 tank? I can’t imagine you need so many ports (sense, drive, probe) for a single tank. I just have one of each, x8, x2, xs.

I would like to get one with probe one day. Hey, if you’re looking to sell either the x4 or x10(even with broken pump) , let me know.

 

[archibaldsharper]

Yes I have 2 quarantines and the main system is a couple of aquariums with lots of automation. My hope was to be able to go a couple weeks without monitoring occasionally.

 

[newfly]

@SepToob @archibaldsharper what reagent you use for the alkatronic? Coralvue sell generic alkanity testing solution which supposed to work for alkatronic. It’s almost 40% cheaper.

Just open the box, super disappointed not even a starter reagent is included.

 

[archibaldsharper]

DIY Alkatronic reagent

Thank you for keeping the thread alive. I'm very interested in this topic, I have about 1.5L on concentrated reagent left so it'll be a while before I try DIY. I have that same bag of citric acid for cleaning pumps, works great :P It's been 20 or so years since I had a chemistry class, it's...

www.reef2reef.com

That thread on r2r has some info on diy reagents. I used to use some stuff off Amazon but it weren't to the same price as coralvue. So I have mostly used muriatic acid for the last couple years. A lifetime supply is like 15 bucks. The bottle I got from Ace that claims 31.45% takes 2.3 to 2.5 ml per liter. But I don't think it really matters. Just put in whatever is close. Tube the alarming a few times. Then test with other method and make the correction in alkatronic software. I used hanna as my corrective test. I used the coralvue regular reagent while troubleshooting and don't see any difference when corrected.

 

[newfly]

Yeah I saw that thread . Didn’t really care about diy . Bought the coralvue version 4L concentrate. Should last me a very long time

Thanks.