Auto Testers: What's your take? Yay or Nay?

[BrandonS]

I think these are awesome and having that much data really allows you to tweak or lock things in. However they haven't gotten so needed for me yet that I am willing to pay what they are currently go for.

 

[Tankkeepers]

I can probably afford it, I mean technically, but I'm not that serious about this hobby to drop that kind of cash.

I want to here from these people:

I don't think this has been a step forward.​

What kind of curmudgeons do we have here?

Then why exactly are you in this Hobbie

Not having the money but saving for is one thing

But flat out saying your not this into the Hobbie then why even have a tank

 

[Lividfanatica]

I love my Trident and used it to auto-adjust my DOS for a while, but recently have been using it for monitoring only. It is really nice to be able to automatically track trends in consumption as coral grows out.

 

[Tankkeepers]

Love it. It's allowed me to dial in my tank better and problem solve

How accurate is the CA and MG in these in your experience this is the exact system iv been looking at

Do they need dialed in if so how often

Thank you for any help you can provide

 

[WVNed]

I would have one if I thought it’s use to me equaled what they cost.

 

[Little c big D]

It seems to be relatively accurate when compared to my red sea. I had some hiccups early but once I calibrated it

How accurate is the CA and MG in these in your experience this is the exact system iv been looking at

Do they need dialed in if so how often

Thank you for any help you can provide

 

[Dennis Cartier]

I use an Alkatronic and love it. I don't let it dose for me though. I do have it sending the dKH to a custom RPI controller to help modulate my CaRx and kalk dosing though, and it works awesome. Highly recommended.

 

[October Sky]

Then why exactly are you in this Hobbie

Not having the money but saving for is one thing

But flat out saying your not this into the Hobbie then why even have a tank

Easy there.

I have other hobbies and expenses, I have two children and day care costs. I got student loan debt that could buy a Red Sea every month. I'm perfectly happy putting in what I'm putting in, and getting out of it what I'm getting out of it.

 

[Tankkeepers]

It seems to be relatively accurate when compared to my red sea. I had some hiccups early but once I calibrated it

What probs are you using with the controller if I may ask

 

[damsels are not mean]

Seems quite useful to some systems, just not necessary unless you are obsessive about params or have a lot of calcification happening and need constant readouts. And expensive too.

 

[Macdaddynick1]

I think it depends on what you have in your reef tank. If you have a wall-to-wall SPS tank IMO trident (or other alk testers) worth every penny. On multiple occasions, I forgot to restart my calcium reactor pump, and although the ph in the reactor itself did not change, my alk and CA dropped substantially and very fast. One time I ended up killing enough SPS to buy a trident and at least 4 years of reagent supplies. Immediately thereafter I purchased a trident to avoid this issue in the future and it helped me on several occasions already.
An additional benefit of the trident/alktronic is it allows you to monitor the overall health of your tank by showing you the alk consumption chart. A few weeks ago I dosed fluconazole to get rid of byropsis, and my alk went from 7.1 to 9.8, this allowed me to stop dosing alk for a while and probably prevented a few burnt tips. Another observation I've had is that when my alk and CA consumption starts to decline steadily, I immediately test my PO4 and No3 and one or the other usually comes out to be close to 0. So trident essentially gives me a warning sign if my nutrients bottom out.

 

[Quietman]

I appreciate the technology and providing a solution that a lot of people wanted. Personally though, for my tank, I don't see the value for something that takes me 15 min or so once a week. But I'm running low demand softie/lps tank that's very, very stable week to week. And even if I do miss a drop in alk, I add it back up and no harm to anything. If I had money invested into high end, high demand SPS and my mineral consumption rates were very high, I would likely have a very different opinion.

 

[Tankkeepers]

Easy there.

I have other hobbies and expenses, I have two children and day care costs. I got student loan debt that could buy a Red Sea every month. I'm perfectly happy putting in what I'm putting in, and getting out of it what I'm getting out of it.

My bad but it just sounded like way to many other I see that think they can just scate by and not put in any effort and keep these animals alive

If what you do keeps everything healthy and happy then by all means good for you

Iv got rent 2 cars 2 kids student loans credit cards plus I fly rc plane woodwork metal work etc aka other hobbies

but I still find a way so not really an excuse

 

[Little c big D]

What probs are you using with the controller if I may ask

Was just numbers off. Since calibration they are on point. And yes, with a controller

 

[Tankkeepers]

Was just numbers off. Since calibration they are on point. And yes, with a controller

Oh I meant what brand of probs are you using for cal and mg I can't seem to find any I'm probly blind and looking over it somewhere

 

[Little c big D]

Oh I meant what brand of probs are you using for cal and mg I can't seem to find any I'm probly blind and looking over it somewhere

It's a trident. Not probes

 

[Tankkeepers]

It's a trident. Not probes

So the trident hooks up to the controller then ok I guess iv gotta do some more reading I thought it was a probe that hooked up somehow

Lol I'm so confused hehe it's OK tho

Going from old school to auto takes some learning

 

[DaddyFish]

I believe there's still remains a "hole" in water testing that nobody has filled, and IMO it would eliminate half of the potential auto-tester sales. I would love to have a single testing "pad" or multiple reagent system that would provide digital results for all the essential parameters at once. If the liquids could be replaced with treated strips (similar to Exact iDip) and the colors read with a photometer, all at once... Bye-bye vials, syringes, varying test results etc.
That's my pipe dream. I saw something like it coming on market for a while, but then it disappeared?

IMO automating the current hobby-level reagent slurry is not a cost-effective answer. So I continue to resist!

 

[Little c big D]

So the trident hooks up to the controller then ok I guess iv gotta do some more reading I thought it was a probe that hooked up somehow

Lol I'm so confused hehe it's OK tho

Going from old school to auto takes some learning

It takes water, tests it, then disposes of it. 7ml per test I believe. Base testing is alk 4x per day and cal and MG 2x per day

 

[Viva'sReef]

I LOVE my Alkatronic so much I ordered a Mastertronic. It's still sitting in the box though because the thought of the setup is giving me anxiety lol. The Alkatronic also did before I set it up but that ended up being a breeze.