Alkatronic Users Thread

mitch91175 · Nov 23, 2018

Premium Aquatics
CoralVue

hart24601 · Nov 23, 2018

I must have bad luck then, every time I look they are sold out.

David Cher · Nov 23, 2018

David Cher said:
The bluetooth plug is it to control the feeder pump to the cr or the co2 solenoid ???

?????

BrianReefer · Nov 23, 2018

hart24601 said:
I must have bad luck then, every time I look they are sold out.

Email Luke @premium aquatics, he’ll be able to tell you when they’ll be in and get it shipped out to you. Definitely get one, I promise you will not regret it!!!!

mitch91175 · Nov 24, 2018

See if they will let you buy it at the sale price $809 even though it is out of stock.

hart24601 · Dec 4, 2018

Ended up ordering from coralvue. They had stock updated a few days faster and price went back up when they were in stock.

slojmn · Dec 8, 2018

Super stoked to get the Alkatronic for my Birthday today. My tank is about 4 weeks away from starting the cycle, as you can see the tank is half full of water. I'm waiting for a different overflow box to come in. Wasn't a fan of the first one so had to drain a bit to take box out.

I am not at all sure how to get the Alkotronic all dialed in, running and hooked up to the cloud and all, but I am ready to learn and hoping it keeps my all parameter happy and stable. I am hopeful that some of you might help me out, @BrianReefer and @mitch91175

hart24601 · Dec 8, 2018

I would suggest printing the manual or at least sitting down with it on a computer and going over it a few times. I did that before setting mine up and I think it helped a lot and made the processes smooth with no issues.

BrianReefer · Dec 8, 2018

slojmn said:
Super stoked to get the Alkatronic for my Birthday today. My tank is about 4 weeks away from starting the cycle, as you can see the tank isis on half full of water. I'm waiting for a different overflow box to come in. Wasn't a fan of the first one so had to drain a bit to take box out.

I am not at all sure how to get the Alkotronic all dialed in, running and hooked up to the cloud and all, but I am ready to learn and hoping it keeps my all parameter happy and stable. I am hopeful that some of you might help me out, @BrianReefer and @mitch91175

Don’t be intimidated, it’s super easy

. Most important, make sure you mix the solution correctly. Either by volume or weight, it’s 4 parts RODI to 1 part solution, and it must be EXACT. Then download app, install the tubing, and follow the pump calibration procedure, which is a straight forward process which you’ll repeat every 3 weeks and now takes me about 10 min total. PH calibration easy too. Don’t set it to dose (aka action mode) initially - let it run a few days, monitor readings. Once you know it’s stable, set your range and move it to action mode. Just jump in and set it up. Within an hour you’ll be up and running. Ping me with any questions.

slojmn · Dec 8, 2018

BrianReefer said:
Don’t be intimidated, it’s super easy . Most important, make sure you mix the solution correctly. Either by volume or weight, it’s 4 parts RODI to 1 part solution, and it must be EXACT. Then download app, install the tubing, and follow the pump calibration procedure, which is a straight forward process which you’ll repeat every 3 weeks and now takes me about 10 min total. PH calibration easy too. Don’t set it to dose (aka action mode) initially - let it run a few days, monitor readings. Once you know it’s stable, set your range and move it to action mode. Just jump in and set it up. Within an hour you’ll be up and running. Ping me with any questions.

hart24601 said:
I would suggest printing the manual or at least sitting down with it on a computer and going over it a few times. I did that before setting mine up and I think it helped a lot and made the processes smooth with no issues.

Thanks so much for the quick responses. I will definitely go over the manual more than once!! I have watched a good video of an unboxing and calibrating as well. I have it bookmarked. I have the Apex and Dos unit so I am hoping to integrate the two somehow....I know it can be done.

voooooo · Dec 8, 2018

just wondering i mixed 250ml to 1000 ml rodi. test keeps going below 5.3 so machine states to retest. everything has been calibrated twice. so what am i doing incorrectly? ph probe has also been calibrated. tia

voooooo · Dec 8, 2018

just wondering i mixed 250ml to 1000 ml rodi. test keeps going below 5.3 so machine states to retest. everything has been calibrated twice. so what am i doing incorrectly? ph probe has also been calibrated. tia

BrianReefer · Dec 15, 2018

voooooo said:
just wondering i mixed 250ml to 1000 ml rodi. test keeps going below 5.3 so machine states to retest. everything has been calibrated twice. so what am i doing incorrectly? ph probe has also been calibrated. tia

Why salt do you use? What test kit are you using to compare it to and what measurement is that kit giving you? Did you also run the “test pump accuracy” for the 3 pumps to confirm they’re dispensing the right amounts (50ml, 10ml, etc). You can also run test pump accuracy on the PH probe in 7 or 4 solution. Try all of those and lmk what test kit you’re comparing to.

voooooo · Dec 15, 2018

BrianReefer said:
Why salt do you use? What test kit are you using to compare it to and what measurement is that kit giving you? Did you also run the “test pump accuracy” for the 3 pumps to confirm they’re dispensing the right amounts (50ml, 10ml, etc). You can also run test pump accuracy on the PH probe in 7 or 4 solution. Try all of those and lmk what test kit you’re comparing to.

thanks for the reply. after a third recalibration on the ph probe it started to work properly. it has been running a week now flawlessly. initial setup is a pita, especially the bluetooth, but once it is up it works great.

emvanburen · Dec 17, 2018

BrianReefer said:
Why salt do you use? What test kit are you using to compare it to and what measurement is that kit giving you? Did you also run the “test pump accuracy” for the 3 pumps to confirm they’re dispensing the right amounts (50ml, 10ml, etc). You can also run test pump accuracy on the PH probe in 7 or 4 solution. Try all of those and lmk what test kit you’re comparing to.

So excited. FedEx has mine on the way!

jason412 · Dec 22, 2018

So after 12 hours or so this thing is pretty frustrating. The android app and Bluetooth is painful. I have calibrated 10+ times and it just retests because it is all over the place every test. Gonna keep messing with it in hopes it starts working properly.

mitch91175 · Dec 22, 2018

jason412 said:
So after 12 hours or so this thing is massively more frustrating to use than the KH guardian I have on my big tank. The android app and Bluetooth is painful. I have calibrated 10+ times and it just retests because it is all over the place every test. Gonna keep messing with it in hopes it starts working properly.

If you can, use an iPad to connect to the unit. iOS app is much better than Android. Maybe that'll help out.

jason412 · Dec 22, 2018

Thanks. Don't have any apple devices though haha. I can connect via cloud but biggest issue seems to be pump A calibration. I run it and pumps 53ml into cylinder. I enter the values but it never reduces the amount of water. Always 53-53.5ml. Was thinking maybe it's not properly saving via cloud. Anyone else have this issue?

TMB · Dec 22, 2018

jason412 said:
So after 12 hours or so this thing is massively more frustrating to use than the KH guardian I have on my big tank. The android app and Bluetooth is painful. I have calibrated 10+ times and it just retests because it is all over the place every test. Gonna keep messing with it in hopes it starts working properly.

I’m not exactly sure how to help with what you have going on. Maybe just tackle one issue at a time.
I would stop recalibrating over and over, the worst that will happen is the results will be off from your true ALK.
I agree that the Bluetooth, app, and web interface, are frustrating at first.
The problem comes from the fact that Alkatronic can only communicate with one at a time, not both.
So if you have the app open and connected via Bluetooth, there is no internet connection.

I also think - but not 100% sure - that you can turn off washout mode to help until you get things sorted.
The washout mode, as I understand it, tells Alkatronic to retest if a result comes back that is out of a certain range.

Try that, and run a couple tests, and see if the results become consistent.

HTH

TMB · Dec 22, 2018

The calibration could be the issue from reading your last post. Let me ask you this - does the retest happen because of a very high, or very low result? Like KH over 15 or under 5?