Reef Kinetics' ReefBot - my experience

doodledreads · Jun 17, 2019

I got my ReefBot as my birthday present last week, thanks to my wife and friends. I set it up yesterday after some procrastination. I wanted to log my experience with it in this thread. I am not much of a writer so, I will try to be brief. I will update the thread whenever I get a chance during work.

road_runner · Jun 17, 2019

Taging along.

doodledreads · Jun 17, 2019

Pretty good packaging as you might have seen on some of the unboxing videos. There is a lot of styrofoam inside the unit to keep the parts stationary. All parts are accounted for. You get a few extra vials, syringes and needles. I think these are generic which is nice.

The video by Carol? from youtube is pretty short and helpful. However, my unit started to shake after plugging in. I wasn't sure if this is supposed to happen. After a couple of times of unplugging and replugging, it kept doing the same. Apparently there was a piece of styrofoam stuck behind the thing that looks like a chain in the back. After cursing my own stupidity, the unit was succesfully started and was connected to the app.

doodledreads · Jun 17, 2019

Now after the first time connecting, the app was showing empty in tank and bot mapping, I had to kill the app and restart it for the Bot to show up in the list. I did a test run for Red sea KH and it took several minutes to complete - I didnot calibrate the unit yet. The result was 8.1, which was pretty close to my manual testing earlier in the day 8.3

drernesto · Jun 19, 2019

welcome to the Reef Kinetics community! if you require any assistance let me know or email [email protected]

Cheers,
Rabih

doodledreads · Jun 19, 2019

Thanks Rabih! We are excited to meet you at MACNA this year!

I have so far added Tropic Marin NO3, Red Sea PO4 to the bot and it has been smoothly running. I will add some pics of the set up sometime this week. My KH results are still 8.1 when tested at 8 PM daily. I guess my lps frags and zoas are not taking in much KH. I have stopped dosing last week to measure the consumption. My No3 is at 20, P04 at .16 as per Reefbot, but I think its more than that as .16 is the upper limit of the test kit. I will be using tropic marin Po4 test kit to measure the exact value.

Now, any thoughts on how to reduce the phosphates and nitrates? I have been dosing NoPox (8 ml, tank is red sea reefer nano), wet skim, and have a ATS which has just started to produce some algae. I also feed heavily, which I am trying to cut down a little. I added Seachem's phosgaurd last week but looks like it has exhausted already.

So far, Reefbot has been amazing and so easy to use. There is always scope for improvements but for the first release, this seem to be well designed and tested. I have not used other products like Trident and KH guardian so I do not have a reference to compare it with.

drernesto · Jul 1, 2019

doodledreads said:
Thanks Rabih! We are excited to meet you at MACNA this year!

I have so far added Tropic Marin NO3, Red Sea PO4 to the bot and it has been smoothly running. I will add some pics of the set up sometime this week. My KH results are still 8.1 when tested at 8 PM daily. I guess my lps frags and zoas are not taking in much KH. I have stopped dosing last week to measure the consumption. My No3 is at 20, P04 at .16 as per Reefbot, but I think its more than that as .16 is the upper limit of the test kit. I will be using tropic marin Po4 test kit to measure the exact value.

Now, any thoughts on how to reduce the phosphates and nitrates? I have been dosing NoPox (8 ml, tank is red sea reefer nano), wet skim, and have a ATS which has just started to produce some algae. I also feed heavily, which I am trying to cut down a little. I added Seachem's phosgaurd last week but looks like it has exhausted already.

So far, Reefbot has been amazing and so easy to use. There is always scope for improvements but for the first release, this seem to be well designed and tested. I have not used other products like Trident and KH guardian so I do not have a reference to compare it with.

Hello, It will be a pleasure to meet you all in MACNA.

As for the kH, LPS will absorb it to build their skeleton but Zoa will not as they don't have any.
For Po4, 0.16 is on the high side and I advise to use any kind of lanthanum chloride at this stage. Make sure that you use it in a 5 or 10 micron filter socks as it will produce some particles that might stick to the fish gills.
You can also use GFO. I like my phosphates at 0.03-0.04. Usually I rely on my refugium to lower my nutrients.

Nitrates can be reduced by water changes or carbon dosing (Bio-pellets, vodka, sugar...) .
Having a refugium is a natural and my preferred way to lower nutrients.

What kind of food do you use? pellets or frozen? If frozen food, I would wash it before adding it to my tank.

Keep me updated and post lot of pictures

Cheers,
R.

doodledreads · Jul 1, 2019

Thanks for the advice. I am realizing now that my phosphates are a bigger problem. I have been running full dose of phosguard and been changing it every four days for a three weeks now, and my Reefbot still shows 0.16. I will definitely try Lanthanum Chloride. I didn't know about it till now. I also have a relatively new ATS, and it started producing some good algae. Nitrates are around 5 over the last three weeks.

doodledreads · Jul 1, 2019

So far, Reefbot has been a breeze to use. There are still some kinks as it wrongly predicts that waster water is full and RODI is empty, but I am actually okay with it being over zealous about these than otherwise when I think about it. I just ordered some Phosphate RX (Lanthanum chloride) and a 5 micron filter bag. I also have a Kamoer F4 pro doser coming in which will make the dosing more accurate.

drernesto · Jul 1, 2019

doodledreads said:
So far, Reefbot has been a breeze to use. There are still some kinks as it wrongly predicts that waster water is full and RODI is empty, but I am actually okay with it being over zealous about these than otherwise when I think about it. I just ordered some Phosphate RX (Lanthanum chloride) and a 5 micron filter bag. I also have a Kamoer F4 pro doser coming in which will make the dosing more accurate.

This was fixed long time ago, if you still have some variation on RODI and waste please email [email protected] to double check it.
Always be careful dosing lanth and go very slowly.