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New gadget! Seneye

Vhuang168

Vhuang168

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I was doing my research online when I came across someone mentioning this. A monitoring device that will give Ammonia and PH readings + the reef version has a light meter that will give me PAR and Spectrum readings! It wasn't cheap @$199 but I found a deal and got it.

www.seneye.com

I've played around with it a little, not having a tank, I couldn't really put it through its paces but it seems to deliver what it promised.

The parameters it does are Temp, pH, Free Ammonia, PAR, LUX, NH4 (isn't this Ammonia?), Dissolved Oxygen Potential (ORP?). These are on the online dashboard.

The actual program only shows Ammonia, PH and Temp.

The mobile app shows Temp, pH, NH3, NH4, O2, Lux, Par, Kelvin.

I don't know why there is a difference in what is measured but I'll play with it around some more.

Someone did compare the PAR reading against the Apogee and they were very close.

There are a couple of cons.
- requires a consumable. It is like a test strip, you soak it and insert it into the device. Lasts for 30 days then you have to replace. Pack of 6 is around $66 direct from them. I have not looked around to see if online retailers are discounting them.

- requires it to be hooked up. It needs an internet connection to save your readings onto the seneye.me site. So you can either leave it hooked up to a computer or laptop permanently or they sell a USB power device (much like the kind we use for cell phones and tablets). Readings are stored in the device and uploaded once you reconnect it to a laptop. Lastly, they just released a web server (wired and wireless). But it costs as much as the device itself so I wasn't too thrilled about it.

- only has a suction attachment.

There has been mention of adding other parameters like phosphate but nothing yet.

It also looks like there will be a magnetic mount offered soon.

I honestly bought it for the light meter. The NH4 warning is nice but the other parameters will be monitored by my Apex. I guess for someone not wanting to invest in a controller, this is a good tool but you'll end up spending almost as much as an Apex considering you have to buy the webserver (@$179) just so you can have the alerts sent to you vs just a localized alert with the lights blinking (I don't think they make a audio alert).

Still undecided but at this point, I would classify this as more of a gadget though the light meter is a useful tool.
 
I would be interested in Mindstream monitor if it was ever to make it to the market....

Even though I don't give it much hope being released it is an interesting concept.....lol
 
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That looks promising. I like the par meter feature. Does it function like a dedicated par meter with the same level of accuracy and capabilities?

Im not liking the price tag of the consumable test strips though.

Pack of 6 for 66$

So if you want this device running year-round thats ~140$ every year to monitor these parameters.

For people with controllers they already monitor pH and Temp. What is LUX? I think the idea is to be able to control other devices to react to undesirable changes in these parameters. Maybe send you a text message if you detect worrying levels of ammonia when youre out of town?

This group/technology looks promising and I hope to see more from them in the future.
 
Here is a post where someone compared readings from the Apogee to the Seneye. Its pretty close.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2485573&highlight=seneye

But there are also reports of people with pH values that fluctuate or contradict their probe readings. It is pretty easy to contaminate the slide, you are not supposed to touch the surface for eg.

If you have it hooked up to the internet, I believe you will get alerts if your readings go too high or too low to a range that you set.
 
Some issues with the Seneye, much of what it detects is not terribly useful for a reef tank. While a PAR meter is certainly nice (and a damn good price at that point), I'm curious how accurate those spectral readings are, looking at their webpage the curves just look too smooth to make me think accurate. Ammonia is a bit useless once your system is up and cycled, although it could be interesting to see what really happens when you cycle a tank. pH is another one of those "eh" type of things. pH monitors aren't that expensive, and if you're paying an extra $66 every 6 months just to get those things... well that's a pretty damn big con IMO.

The Mindstream blows my mind, but I'm very skeptical if they can get it work, and more to the point... make it work a reasonably affordable rate. From what I've read so far they will use a similar disposable item for it, and while there are a lot more useful parameters it reads, how cheap can they make these replacement pieces? Last I checked they're raising capital to do R&D on it, so something tells me this will be a long haul that may or may not work. If it was easy to read all those things (safely) in the aquarium I'm sure some of the bigger players (with their own pockets to do R&D) would have done it already.

That said, I do love gadgets :)
 
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