agreed. we didn't need any of the ammonia kits to run your cycle, know when it's done, or manage the full running reefs, not ever.
the only reason to buy a seneye is if you want to contribute cycling proofs to the world using today's best meter to indicate change in stasis
api is probably the worst kit possible to indicate a change in stasis, a true rise or fall rate in ammonia (several unknown variables trip them up hence the 50m false stuck cycle threads)
but seneye is very very very consistent when trimmed and benchmarked on a running reef. you can use it to chart out peaks and troughs in ammonia control within various systems, within quarantine tanks, and not have to guess if it's rising unsafely like we always have to second guess api or red sea or any non digital test kit for ammonia including salifert. if it's non digital, someone is guessing at a color gradient for factors that run in hundredths or thousandths ppms/can't be done
a reef display is never going to do anything with ammonia we can't already predict without a two hundred dollar meter
however, nobody is going to move forward in advancing updated cycling science rules until it's done with a calibrated seneye or some hq lab gear they may have access too/ such as a hach meter or whatever the best digital readout kit is
seneye is tops for hobbyists that's for sure. they're not junk, they're just terribly redundant for display tank reefing and merely a luxury, to track out ammonia which we can already track out withone. seneye can indicate small degrees of rise and fall in nh3 very very well, and it's utility is for establishing cycling proofs among tanks it's not ever really going to help your specific tank after a cycle.
it works like this
to know if a cycled, running normal reef display has an ammonia control issue simply account for all it's fish and snails
if they're all alive, it doesn't have an ammonia issue, and if they're not all alive, remove the dead ones, then the system won't have an ammonia issue. no other cause will make the ammonia rise, and it only comes after death not before it/in a reef display.
in a quarantine and calibrated seneye is very handy because you can intercept ammonia rises before they take a toll
quarantine systems are notoriously low in surface area, that's what makes them subject to ammonia fouling even if the animals are alive.
