Mastertronic or Alkatronic? Decisions!

[Willbiker]

I cant decided! Mastertronic or alkatronic!

80% of my need to automate testing is for monitoring alkalinity and the alkatronic agent seems to be purchasable in large cost effective quantities.

However the ability to keep check on po4 would really make my reefing life easier!

Has anyone gone for the mastertronic and regretted it switching to an alkatronic?

Anyone owned both? What are your views on these products?

Thanks !

 

[blaxsun]

Neptune!

 

[Willbiker]

Ah the trident water analyser? I don't have apex though maybe I need to go down the apex route. I shall investigate. Thanks!

 

[Ultra Aquatics]

Alkatronic is the way to go, I’ve had mine for 6 years still going strong. It’s more precise than the mastertronic since it is PH based not reagent.

Daily testing of PO4 is really unnecessary IMO. I stopped testing it altogether. Chasing that number causes nothing but trouble.

 

[Willbiker]

Alkatronic is the way to go, I’ve had mine for 6 years still going strong. It’s more precise than the mastertronic since it is PH based not reagent.

Daily testing of PO4 is really unnecessary IMO. I stopped testing it altogether. Chasing that number causes nothing but trouble.

Interesting, I wasn't aware alkatronic was ph based. The trident and apex looks good too, I just like to monitor my nutrients also as I find they can yoyo up and down. How do you get away with not testing po4? Do you have much sps? I find that I think my gfo still has some life left in it then BANG po4 is 0.09 and acros start to go pale. Maybe regular gfo changing notifications using an apex would solve this problem...decisions

 

[Ultra Aquatics]

Interesting, I wasn't aware alkatronic was ph based. The trident and apex looks good too, I just like to monitor my nutrients also as I find they can yoyo up and down. How do you get away with not testing po4? Do you have much sps? I find that I think my gfo still has some life left in it then BANG po4 is 0.09 and acros start to go pale. Maybe regular gfo changing notifications using an apex would solve this problem...decisions

My tank is SPS dominated, 280g. I don’t run gfo or any phosphate reducer. Been keeping sps tanks a long time and any time I have started messing with po4 I either lose color or end up with STN/RTN.

 

[Willbiker]

My tank is SPS dominated, 280g. I don’t run gfo or any phosphate reducer. Been keeping sps tanks a long time and any time I have started messing with po4 I either lose color or end up with STN/RTN.

Oh really? How do you export po4? I would love to not worry about p04 but I have to control it or it will rocket in my system :S I have a fuge which will easily strip nitrate down to 0 if I'm not careful but doesnt seem to absorb much po4. If I didnt run gfo I would be in trouble I think

 

[BanjoBandito]

Mastertronic

 

[Ultra Aquatics]

Mastertronic

Do you have one?

 

[Ultra Aquatics]

Oh really? How do you export po4? I would love to not worry about p04 but I have to control it or it will rocket in my system :S I have a fuge which will easily strip nitrate down to 0 if I'm not careful but doesnt seem to absorb much po4. If I didnt run gfo I would be in trouble I think

I change 40g of water a week and run a skimmer. Pretty decent amount of fish including anthias which I feed 3 times a day.

Why would you be in trouble? Plenty of tanks running elevated po4 and 0 algae issues. You run gfo consistently?

 

[Willbiker]

I change 40g of water a week and run a skimmer. Pretty decent amount of fish including anthias which I feed 3 times a day.

Why would you be in trouble? Plenty of tanks running elevated po4 and 0 algae issues. You run gfo consistently?

The only time I have lost some sps is when phosphate has climbed up to near 0.1 due to taking my eye off the ball. Msybe they died from other causes but it seems to be closely related to phosphate elevations. Yes I run gfo constantly with a slow trickle and it generally lasts 6 weeks before levels start to climb

 

[Ultra Aquatics]

The only time I have lost some sps is when phosphate has climbed up to near 0.1 due to taking my eye off the ball. Msybe they died from other causes but it seems to be closely related to phosphate elevations. Yes I run gfo constantly with a slow trickle and it generally lasts 6 weeks before levels start to climb

Interesting, most people are recommending .1 now. Back when I first started keeping sps about 15 years ago they used to say .00-.02.

 

[Willbiker]

Oh really! Maybe its all in my head just when I think ive nailed my dosing, my tank growth will take off and consumption of elements will rocket. Just 5 days of laziness and everything can fall out of balance...I have found. What was a reliable refugium export for months and months would all of a sudden strip my nitrate down to 0. I think I will go for the mastertronic as I think the nutrient monitoring will be a real benefit to me due to my constantly evolving tank. Thanks for advice

 

[jcolliii]

I was thinking about the Alkatronic, but bought the Mastertronic. It tests ALK, and lots of other things, and the little bit of savings doesn't make sense when you think about limiting yourself to one parameter. For example, I use All-For-Reef to dose one single solution for Ca, Mg, ALK, and traces. Super convenient. But, I have found that on monthly timescales, Ca and Mg do drop a bit. So, I test ALK every other day, and test Ca and Mg once a week. Now I can see when it's time to add an adjustment dose.

 

[DJF]

Mastertronic. I have one and am on the fence about getting another for my second system. It works great and unless you need alk scheduled to test more than 1x a day. you can manually trigger as many tests as you want assuming the MT not already busy. Why not get the device that can test all 5 major parameters; I love this device. It identified low nitrates in my system and helped save some coral. The app is more intuitive than the kh director and the trident and it works with 3rd party test kits- no proprietary crap (yet). It has been very handy to click a button for a phosphate test and get a push notification when the results are ready. No more missing the Hanna display never thought I’d measure phos or nitrates as much as I do but it has been more telling than my alk as of late.

 

[Tankkeepers]

Foes the mastertronic connect to the dosetronic so that if a par is low it will auto dose

 

[Obdoc63]

I have a used Mastertronic and a used Alkatronic if anyone is interested. Bought it last year and have decided to do a FOWLR tank so no need for them
PM if interested

 

[anthonymckay]

Interesting, most people are recommending .1 now. Back when I first started keeping sps about 15 years ago they used to say .00-.02.

I wouldn't say *most* people are recommending 0.1 now. SOME people? sure, but most? Nah. The general recommendation is still around 0.03-0.05 these days. It seems that the Redfield ratio of nitrates to phosphates is proving to be more important than the actual numbers themselves.

 

[tapeworm123]

Oh really? How do you export po4? I would love to not worry about p04 but I have to control it or it will rocket in my system :S I have a fuge which will easily strip nitrate down to 0 if I'm not careful but doesnt seem to absorb much po4. If I didnt run gfo I would be in trouble I think

My fuge with chaeto strips po4 down to zero. I think it is based on the ratio of your tank uptake. I have some sps acro, mainly the tank is zoas and mushrooms.