Why isn't there more buzz about Reef Bot?

cmw · Mar 3, 2019

SR Reefing said:
Thanks for posing. So, do you think this might happen to everyone because of the material choice , or it's just a bad product that you received? Kind of dangerous.

Without looking at the circuit diagram, it's hard to say if it's likely to happen again. It could be a faulty component in my Reef Bot that caused a voltage spike. The tantalum capacitors can be fine if used correctly but they can also be very bad if they get voltage spikes even a tiny bit over their rating. It's also worth noting that when you're designing a circuit with one the rating is not the maximum continuous voltage i.e if the cap is rated @ 16v you can't run it continuously at 16v (else it goes boom). I know some engineers who have made this mistake when designing circuit boards with tantalum caps. Lets hope Reef Kinetics didn't!

CuseReefer · Mar 3, 2019

cmw said:
Without looking at the circuit diagram, it's hard to say if it's likely to happen again. It could be a faulty component in my Reef Bot that caused a voltage spike. The tantalum capacitors can be fine if used correctly but they can also be very bad if they get voltage spikes even a tiny bit over their rating. It's also worth noting that when you're designing a circuit with one the rating is not the maximum continuous voltage i.e if the cap is rated @ 16v you can't run it continuously at 16v (else it goes boom). I know some engineers who have made this mistake when designing circuit boards with tantalum caps. Lets hope Reef Kinetics didn't!

The red boards actually look like COTS driver boards. Wonder if the base card is the same.

SR Reefing · Mar 3, 2019

cmw said:
Without looking at the circuit diagram, it's hard to say if it's likely to happen again. It could be a faulty component in my Reef Bot that caused a voltage spike. The tantalum capacitors can be fine if used correctly but they can also be very bad if they get voltage spikes even a tiny bit over their rating. It's also worth noting that when you're designing a circuit with one the rating is not the maximum continuous voltage i.e if the cap is rated @ 16v you can't run it continuously at 16v (else it goes boom). I know some engineers who have made this mistake when designing circuit boards with tantalum caps. Lets hope Reef Kinetics didn't!

Thank you for replying. Hum....I guess is hard to say at this point. I still haven't set my up, maybe wait for another few weeks to see who else have the same problem.

cmw · Mar 4, 2019

ReefKinetics responded straight away and is shipping a new unit out for me. They confirmed they suspect it was a faulty component. Hopefully the next one fares better.

drernesto · Mar 6, 2019

rushbattle said:
API NO3 is fine if you run 5-10-20ppm NO3. Any lower than 5ppm and it reads 0ppm. There is a big difference between 4ppm and absolute zero NO3!

Phosphate is the same. If you run above 0.25ppm then it's fine. I don't, and it reads 0. Worthless for less than 0.25ppm PO4. I am right around 0.18ppm PO4 per Hanna ULR, which again is a far cry from 0ppm!

it's better to use Geissmann phosphate test kit for lower readings.

drernesto · Mar 6, 2019

SR Reefing said:
Thanks for posing. So, do you think this might happen to everyone because of the material choice , or it's just a bad product that you received? Kind of dangerous.

Hello,
No this will not happen to everybody, all units are QCed extensively and this is a very rare case. We already shipped a new device and a replacement PCB board for the old one. Our device is CE certified and this will not cause a fire. let us know once you got your new device and new PCB board to help you replace the old one.

Thank you for your support.

drernesto · Mar 6, 2019

cmw said:
Without looking at the circuit diagram, it's hard to say if it's likely to happen again. It could be a faulty component in my Reef Bot that caused a voltage spike. The tantalum capacitors can be fine if used correctly but they can also be very bad if they get voltage spikes even a tiny bit over their rating. It's also worth noting that when you're designing a circuit with one the rating is not the maximum continuous voltage i.e if the cap is rated @ 16v you can't run it continuously at 16v (else it goes boom). I know some engineers who have made this mistake when designing circuit boards with tantalum caps. Lets hope Reef Kinetics didn't!

Of course we didn't make this mistake

, it was just a malfunction from the capacitors manufacturer.

cmw · Mar 9, 2019

So they shipped out a new unit very quickly. I tried Red Sea mag, salifert alk, api phosphates & nitrates. The results were :

Phosphates: 0 (actual 0.15)
Nitrates: 5 (actual 15)
Alk: 0.6 dKH (actual 8.4)
Mag: 240ppm (actual 1340ppm)

Now the API tests could just be off because they aren’t great tests but I feel like the Alk and mag tests should of been correct. I’m curious how other people’s tests have gone?

drernesto · Mar 9, 2019

cmw said:
So they shipped out a new unit very quickly. I tried Red Sea mag, salifert alk, api phosphates & nitrates. The results were :

Phosphates: 0 (actual 0.15)
Nitrates: 5 (actual 15)
Alk: 0.6 dKH (actual 8.4)
Mag: 240ppm (actual 1340ppm)

Now the API tests could just be off because they aren’t great tests but I feel like the Alk and mag tests should of been correct. I’m curious how other people’s tests have gone?

Please calibrate you’re device. The ReefBot is not calibrated.
Please use the 1 meter tubes for tank and RO.

drernesto · Mar 9, 2019

cmw said:
So they shipped out a new unit very quickly. I tried Red Sea mag, salifert alk, api phosphates & nitrates. The results were :

Phosphates: 0 (actual 0.15)
Nitrates: 5 (actual 15)
Alk: 0.6 dKH (actual 8.4)
Mag: 240ppm (actual 1340ppm)

Now the API tests could just be off because they aren’t great tests but I feel like the Alk and mag tests should of been correct. I’m curious how other people’s tests have gone?

You can check other people tests on ReefBot owners page on Facebook

drernesto said:
Please calibrate you’re device. The ReefBot is not calibrated.
Please use the 1 meter tubes for tank and RO.

check this video to help you with the installation

Smarkow · Mar 9, 2019

I think that these automatic tests are a luxury rather than a necessity, thus maybe reefers are being more price conscious (600 vs 800) and focusing on plug and play convenience. In regards to convenience, Trident seems to be genuinely plug and play, whereas reefbot strikes me as more involved. Cannot discount APEX diehards (myself included) wanting things to go with their controller. The only thing I've been willing to buy in the past year that is not APEX compatible has been my Kessil AP700s, which are set and forget in and of themselves. With work schedule, my tank HAS to be maintenance flexible, so I prioritize plug and play and accessibility from anywhere (via fusion).

All of that being said, I'm still considering reefbot because an automated phosphate test (for lanthanum chloride dosing) does appeal to my maintenance flexibility goal.

Now if I am wrong and reefbot tests can go into the APEX automatically, I will probably change my tune.

puffy127 · Mar 9, 2019

I got really low alk tests with Salifert too and the problem is not enough reagent to run a test with just 1 test kit. You need more than 1 salifert alk test kit for the reefbot.

cmw · Mar 9, 2019

Yep that is the issue. I got some new tests and will try again later tonight. Support did say they are working on a 10ml vial which would fix this.

puffy127 · Mar 9, 2019

Not sure about your mag issues though.

cmw · Mar 9, 2019

Same issue

not enough reagent

Hak · Mar 15, 2019

So whats the verdict?

DJF · Mar 20, 2019

Getting mine monday and will post my honest review at the end of 1wk of use. I went with reefbot over trident for a couple reasons: 1) you choose what you want to measure. instead of “the big 3” it’s “your big 4”. 2) with trident you need to run a minimum of 4 tests a day. I don’t need to monitor my alk that closely & 1 test per week (or day) is fine and could prove to be cheaper than trident’s testing regents in the long run. (Not sure if there’s a minimum x per day test requirement for the reefbot)

Rick Strauss · Mar 20, 2019

DJF said:
Getting mine monday and will post my honest review at the end of 1wk of use. I went with reefbot over trident for a couple reasons: 1) you choose what you want to measure. instead of “the big 3” it’s “your big 4”. 2) with trident you need to run a minimum of 4 tests a day. I don’t need to monitor my alk that closely & 1 test per week (or day) is fine and could prove to be cheaper than trident’s testing regents in the long run. (Not sure if there’s a minimum x per day test requirement for the reefbot)

You can test as many or little as you want. You don’t have to test any in a day if you wish