Mastertronic In-depth Review
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- Опубликовано: 28 сен 2024
- I got my hands on one of the coolest bits of new reefing tech around, the MASTERTRONIC!
This crazy device automates the testing of some super critical parameters in your reef - Alkalinity, Calcium, Magnesium, Nitrate, Phosphate and water clarity!
This device was loaned to me by a customer for a totally unbiassed review, so tune in to see what I think of the incredible Mastertronic by Focustronic.
This was the best and most thorough walk thru of the Mastertronic that I’ve seen. Everyone else didn’t do all you did and why I value your opinion. Thanks. Sam
Much appreciated!!
i know I am kinda randomly asking but do anyone know of a good site to watch new series online?
@Leandro Gatlin Try flixzone. You can find it by googling =)
@Cade Tate definitely, have been using Flixzone for since april myself :)
@Cade Tate Thank you, I signed up and it seems like they got a lot of movies there :D I really appreciate it !!
Great video, I'm actually planning a dream build & thinking of doing an Australian biotope (Sps dominated) & was thinking about adding a Mastertronic, Dosetronic and Alkatronic although going by your video an Alkatronic would probably not be required so you just saved me a chunk of change 😀 Smart speaker communication would be awesome too for the ultimate in lazy reefing... "OK Google, tell Mastertronic to test KH!!!"
Should be possible, they have APIs I believe. I’ve managed to do that with KHG, “hey Siri, test alk”
Looks good. I don't mind the time it takes as it's not me doing the test and you wouldn't test every hour anyway. I'd set it up to test DKH 4 times a day and the rest weekly, or twice a week. The 2 deal breakers for me are the scheduling and price at the moment. I'm with you on this. If it came down to around $1500AUD I'd be all over it. I'm sure they will fix the schedule issues qauickly.
Yeah I’m confident the software issues will be resolved - the price tag is the hard part right now 😅
Great video and in depth review of a fascinating device (Very much appreciate the No-sponsored-no-obligation-truly-independent perspective)
Right at the end of the video you answered the question I had through the entire video. Automatic testing is awesome (I cannot adequately explain how much I despise trying to use colour change test kits), but automatic testing that then controls automatic dosing - that - to my mind at least - is revolutionary...
I'm with you on the price point. Cant justify at $2.5k, but if they managed to make it $1.5k I'd be a customer in a flash...
Yes you’re right - dosing based off auto testing is a game changer. Hopefully the price point will drop sooner rather than later!
Appreciate the call on the no sponsored video, it’s a tough game this RUclips review business - but my integrity means everything to me :)
Great Vid Sam - looks a sweet bit of kit for sure though price tag could be a game changer for most
Totally agree mate, if they halved that price I reckon most would add this to their tank
A very thorough and unbiased review Sam. It does give you multiple tests when you want to schedule them. Personally I’d like to have one to run it along with my Trident which doesn’t test for N03/PO4
Don’t know when it’s going to be available in the U.S.
I believe it is available now (or very soon at least)
Still.think I'd rather a second trident just programmed for those parameters....seems like it'd be an easier adaption for apex....not sure those tests are worth the automation though long term since it's a rare test for me to do nitrate or phosphates tests etc
@@Sammy31Dee I don't think trident is capable of anything other than alk, cal and mag?
@@ParkersReef that is true as I have two of them, one for my main display and one for my frag tank.
@@ParkersReef no not yet but seems like it could very easily adapt to it....Lil update and bam...
Very nice run through, I had one and it broke down very quick, a lot of hassle to keep it running and specially keeping it accurate.
Ah no good. I ended up buying one a while later and it’s still running strong
Great review. Best I have seen so far 👍
Thank you!
I really do enjoy your longer videos - more in depth and very detail.
For a lazy tester like me, that robot is worth the money since time is money and I can use that time for other things instead of testing.
Great video like always.
Cheers mate, glad you enjoyed it 👍🏻
Do you like the reefbot lab or the Mastertronic?
they're both great and both really scarily similar to each other...
A very informative and good vid again
Thanks for watching!
Great Review! I'd love to have one but not willing to shell out the money. I'll stick with my Alkatronic and manually test the rest.
Yeah I hear you, I’m in about the same boat 😅
Would an auto teaster be a waste of time if you have your system set up as a constant drip auto water system sence there will be a constant flow of fresh real sea water...in theory nothing should fluxuate dramatically or deteriorate compared to more stagnant traditinal set ups.
unfortunately you need a pretty large continuous water change system to keep up.
Спасибо Вам за столь шикарный обзор.
Спасибо за просмотр
Mastertronic or reef master spa?
Yeah solid question and one I cannot really answer just yet (for two reasons):
We don't know the reagent pricing for the Kamoer yet (or the device pricing really) and the mastertronic essentials is about to drop soon which promises to be a solid improvement
sam are you going to buy one?
yep I have one now :)
Thank you for the very thorough video. This is a great device but the cost makes it way out of range. There are so many things that I would upgrade before I would get this even though it is extremely useful.
Totally understandable!
Hey I just one of these today but after I connect it onto my wifi I cannot find it in the app under connected devices.
perhaps give it a restart?
@@ParkersReef I did that, apparently there is something wrong with the sd card. I looked up and a guy on R2R had the same problem, something about the software on it is out of date or something. He went to the focustronic facebook page and Eric walked him though how to flash new software onto the sd card. Right now I have turned the device on and off, repeatedly entered my ssid and password but no matter what I do I still cannot find it under the "Device List" tab. Everytime I click on the "Device List" tab it gives me a blank page. I watched your video and I did not see that you ran into this problem. Hopefully someone at focustronic will be able to get back to me.
This is how Skynet started! 😆
Hahaha absolutely!!
Sam, how many KH tests can be done before you need to top off the vial? Around 10 or something?
A fair bit more than that, the vial will hold a full bottle of reagent and it gets 80-90% of it out. So I’d say about 35-40 tests?
@@ParkersReef Got the Mastertronic today. Did some tests and the results seem okay, except alkalinity. More than 2 points lower than Hanna (doublechecked with a manual Salifert test, the Hanna is right).
Do you have an idea what's causing this?
Oh, magnesium also wáy off. Phosphates/nitrates/calcium looks okay , alk and mag wáy off.
@@ParkersReef Nevermind, did a re-calibration and it's fine now! 🙂
@@Harolddespui ah glad to hear mate!
Hey mate, do you happen to know if these issues are ironed out now?
I haven't had access to a unit since the video, but which issues in particular? My experience with the Mastertronic was really very good?
@@ParkersReef I am thinking of completely automating the tank. It's very hard to keep up with all the water testing and other stuff with family, kids, dogs, etc. I want to get it to the point where all I have to do is cleaning the glass and I reckon it is doable. I was referring to the issues that you mentioned towards the end of the video. This unit is not cheap so I would not buy it unless they have all the little bugs ironed out. I got a neptune apex and a trident on the way so between that and the mastertronic I reckon all water testing would be well covered. At least I hope so
Good blog Sam but in reality testing Nitrate and Phosphate one a week is the most you need to do it as your looking for trends and as for the big three Alk and Calc once a day and mag once a month would do it as again any test you do too frequently causes rectification that then leads to more fluctuations and more changes of the pendulum. I have a Trident and always keep stock as it’s always iffy about availability it tests Alk 4 times daily minimum and the other two twice and all I use is the 12:00 results to check for trends and the others are just nice to have to see cause and effect of doing something in my common sump tanks.👍
I beg to differ on the phosphate and nitrate testing. It is super interesting to see these parameters consumed after feeding the tank, really helps us learn more than what was possible before. People used to say the same about alkalinity before these automated testers gave us some insight. I feel like you may be justifying the trident there more than anything :p
With this device, if you only wanted to test them each once a day - you can. Or if you only want to test one value at midday each day, you can!
But in all honesty, the trident is amazing, the mastertronic is amazing and they both have limitations to work with :)
@@ParkersReef I’m not justifying the Trident Sam as I’m waiting for my master tropic to be delivered - what I’m on about is it’s a bit anal and also potentially disastrous reacting to multiple daily swings in a reef tank as like you said you see the changes after feeding etc but it is totally unnecessary information as it happens all the time and is nothing to worry about - in my opinion all you need to do is monitor the big five trends at the same time of day and as Alk and calc consumption are linked you monitor them daily Mag does not swing so bi-weekly or monthly is enough and I think if you monitor phosphate and nitrate more than weekly you will cause yourself more problems than you will solve by overreacting trying to fix a problem that is not there. 🤔
I can't agree phosphate can change very quick daily,all 4 time a day why? If you dosing a good two or one part it barley move ,one times per week is more than enough
I’m amazed aquarists put up with multiple siloed apps. Home automation moved on from that a fair while ago.
All sensor type devices like this should output xml/ json so IoT platforms like homeassistant can provide a dashboard of all sensors. All control devices should have the 0-10v or an api for control.
Generic IoT platforms are way more powerful (and free) for automation and control than apex style, hobby specific solutions.
Appreciate if you could comment on integration options in future reviews. Love your channel. Thanks
I totally agree! That being said, I didn’t explore if this has an API that you can utilise to do just that
Ok finished the video. How is the sound? Is it loud? Quiet? If it were in a closet say next to your bed, would you hear it?
It makes a little noise, nothing over the top. You don’t hear it in a cabinet
What install width does this unit require including space for all protruding cables, hoses etc?
This unit itself is 30x25x26, you’d want to allow an extra 4-5cm+ on each side for the hoses to be safe
The price is incredibly high..
Wonderful review.
Thanks for watching!
Hey there! Loved this video man and being unbias! Have to have you on my live stream sometime!
You bet would love to!
@@ParkersReef how do I reach out to you?
I think you’ve got me on Facebook now, was just tagged on your page :)
Tossing up between the Trident or this one, really appreciate the review. Have you had any experience with the trident and thoughts on this vs the trident? Love the more flexible scheduling, lack of bespoke reagents and inclusion of nutrient levels. Not a fan of the price tag 😂
I haven’t played with the trident, from memory that needs the apex to work which is a huge turn off for me
@@ParkersReef I hear that. "Ecosystem" approaches are certainly not my cup of tea either. I've heard more consistently positive feedback about the quality and reliability of the Focustronic range in comparison to the Trident anyhow.
Yeah they both have their haters and fan boys! If the trident was stand alone (which I’m fairly sure it is not?) that would be an interesting option. But the reagent supply has me very very cautious...
@@ParkersReef It is not - it requires an Apex. It also is very restrictive in its programming - minimum testing schedule is 4x/day kH, 2x/day Calc & Mag. I, for one, don't need 14 mag tests a week... waste of reagent in my opinion.
When is it being released to the general public?
I believe it is now :)
My problem with this machine is ALL of those “test kits” it uses to test are fairly inaccurate, I just tested the accuracy of all my test kits with validation solution and salifert calcium was -70 ppm off salifert magnesium was -30 ppm off and my Hanna checker alkalinity was +.71 off, so wouldn’t this be only as accurate as the test kit it’s using? Also you say you don’t need to calibrate it then 10 seconds later say you have to calibrate the syringe and pumps, and watching the video all the way through it sounds like you are biased towards its competitor and so I do not believe this to be 100% honest review, I do like that it has a RO water line I wish other people would have done this
This machines claims greater accuracy than what the test kits state as it can be considerably more accurate than we can be by hand. Both by movements and measurements of the syringe and by detecting the colour changes. This is something that varies with human testing greatly.
That being said, yes, of course it is limited by the accuracy of the test kits used and at the end of the day - they are a hobby grade test kit that has some variance in manufacturing. The only device that could potentially improve on that at this stage is the GHL ION Director, but we still need to see how that performs in the wild
Thanks fore a great review, when they add iodine and maybe protassium, to the measurement I am in! I have the ghl profilux 4 with the kh director on an were planing on buying the ion director, not anymore...
I’m keen to compare with the ion director when it comes out, but will see what is possible when the time comes :)
@@ParkersReef it is out since months??
Still waiting here in australia, not far off though I believe
Curious as to your thoughts ie value for money of this verse say the Lemotte? Manual/ auto test I mean ok you have to load the Le motte manually but everything else is auto an its what 8 parameters at once plus not just only able to be easily used for multiple tanks verse just one? But I know you have to use their reagents/ discs. Look sure conveniance is a big bonus with this as well as being able to auto test is a huge bonus just interested to hear your thoughts having reviewed both?
Totally different use cases in my option. One is portable and quick and easy to test any water supply.
One is huge, plumbed into your tank, takes a full day to get 8 tests - but it can log them, can connect to an additional doser to control them.
Different use cases, but you wouldn’t buy both.
I did some research and honestly thing the reefbot maybe a better unit. It seems reefbot also tests ph and a number more tests. The only drawback is it would have been nice to have maybe another 2 or 3 extra vials for my liking, but its not a deal breaker. Also reefbot has a wider variety of acceptable brands for reagent testing.
there is certainly a lot to like about the reefbot over the Mastertronic, but likewise, a lot to like about the Mastertronic over the reefbot... Tough decision!
Reefbot has only 8 vials, with some tests using 3 of them you can only measure 3 parameters without switching vials.
A big pro of the Reefbot however is the vial size. 60ml (optional) vials vs 20ml. Especially for KH measuring 20ml is not much and on top of that the needle goes not fully in, so only 10ml effective...
Oh and the availability of the Reefbot V2 is zero.
Size a con? No no! It's the perfect stand for my nano tank. 🙂
Hahaha yes fair enough 😅
problem is: all reagents must be liquid.
So don't hold your breath for other test kit support. I.e. Salifert, AF Ca uses powder component.
Correct. But you’d be surprised what tests can be liquid only
Amazing review! Agree with many that this is the most in-depth one so far
Thanks so much for taking the time to watch and comment :)
I think this is the best review so far also. Surly has to be worth Parker keeping the unit for a longer term review 😏
@@joshbrown370 haha wouldn't say no! Unfortunately it was collected today to head back to it's original owner :)
I think they should post you a new one 😎👍
Great video, however, the biggest con is the price and I think it will be the same for almost everyone. Manufacturers need to come with a more affordable unit for the masses and for now it’s only targeting people that can afford which is 10% population. Much love from California 👍👍👍
Yeah it was too expensive for me, but half of my reefing mates thought it was well priced - so who knows 😅
Usually these things come down in price over time as competitors come out.
Very similar to the Reefbot, how many vials does it hold? Reefbot has 8 vials and thats only a grand.
This holds 12. Does seem very similar to reefbot, but perhaps more refined
@@ParkersReef ah nice, reefbot is like 2 short of what most people would need. Would be nice like you said if it was say in the 1500 price range. As you could buy 2 reefbots and test about 8 different parameters and still be in for less money than one Mastertronic. Most people really would just want the auto testing features as making tweaks to dosing is not hard to do manually.
Yeah this has capability to auto dose or control lights or other things based off it’s results though, but I hear you. I do feel it is overpriced
@@ParkersReef Yeah I think it shouldn't be more than say $1800. The alkatronic and trident are also overpriced. I reckon the KH guardian is a decent buy right now along with the reefbot.
You forgot to mention that you can only test alkalinity 1 time per day which is complete BS from the company. It forces you to buy the alkatronic if you want more than 1 test result each day. You would think that for that price you would have the ability to test more times.
While this seems like a great product, a big con for me is the price. $1300 US, makes this a really hard sell, it makes a certain other testing device that only does calcium, alkalinity and magnesium seem like a bargain (even though you need a specific controller for it). And it's not like you buy this and then never have to buy test kits again, in fact you'll probably buy more test kits because you'll end up testing more often. Plus looking inside that thing, I see a lot of plastic parts, I see dosing heads that look like the Kamoer X1 dosing pump (which isn't an expensive dosing pump, or head), I'd hate to think I'm paying most for R&D on this thing.
Yeah I totally understand where you are coming from. I do think it is about double the price it needs to be to sell :/
@@ParkersReef Yeah I think at half the cost I'd be more in love with it, especially when it doesn't use proprietary reagents for testing (at least THEIR proprietary formula). There's another similar one "Reefbot" that also has you use off the shelf reagents, it comes in at $900 US, still really pricey and you are definitely limited by how many slots you can put reagents in, which I think is 8 slots, which won't give you Ca,Alk, Mag, nitrate and phophate.
Yep, I’ll be reviewing one of those soon :)
Doesn't test PH or temp or salinity....what the hell
lots of other, cheaper devices that can do those parameters. This is designed for the parameters you cannot test easily
So this is simply a reefbot with a better casing for a lot more money and the ability to add dosetronic for automatic dosing for even more money? Separate discussion.. should people really be relying on technology to adjust dosing automatically and what happens if it fails? Not talking about immediately we get it but say in a year when "we" have become complacent about it.
Yes spot on. As for should we rely on it, no. Should we allow it to assist us, absolutely yes!!!
idk automatic testing without correcting sounds like a pretty useless device to me, if youre abroad you can only watch your demise instead of being able to do something bout it
You can add dosetronic to it though... plus what’s to say you cannot connect to your doser to make adjustments? Gotta think big picture!!
Are you still happy with this piece of kit?
yeah the mastertronic is really a fantastic piece of equipment, very pleased.
Hello Parker Reef, could you do another video of the Mastertronic? Now that we are some years further 😃
Yeah I can review the unit again soon :)
Is that the only colour it comes?
it is yes
Have you had the issue with the redsea alk test kit coming with a reagent A and B but the app only allows for a reagent A
I keep getting a alk reading of 6.08, but the Hannah is coming back at 9.7, everything else reads fine it's just the alk which I'm assuming is due to the reagent B
I haven’t tried the alk test actually, but I’d run it past the Focustronic support group on Facebook
Appreciate the quick response mate! I'll have a look into that
No trouble!! I find the group to be incredibly helpful, they’ll sort any issues you’re having out asap
Great review but made.me happier I went with the trident recently....didn't even know this thing existed....seen the alkatronic though
Glad you are happy with your Trident :)
The trident is better for sure
@@truereefkeeping6022 Trident is ok, I wouldn't say it is a perfect solution just yet though
@@ParkersReef I completely agree it can definitely be improved upon in many ways like adding a RO line to rinse the vial inside and also being able to test more parameters like the mastertronic can.
Not sure there is room to expand the trident though, would be a separate machine
And now I’m leaning towards the ion Director, there are rumours that PO4 is coming.
I’m keen to try one too 😅
As always great video, thanks
Thank you 🙏🏻
@@ParkersReef I started my 20 gallon Nano about a week and a half ago. All the parameters with my salt were spot on. Added fritz 900 turbo start and the specified ammonia from fritz fishless fuel. After a week my parameters are crazy.
PH= 7.36
Nh3= 0.001 ppm
Nh4= 82.28 it was in the 90’s, contacted Fritz and they advised to do a water change. It went down to high 60’s. Someone else advised me to add fish food to feed the bacteria and wait.
O2=8.3
Don’t know what I did wrong or how to fix it. Any advice?
Afraid I’ve not had experience with that product, but I would be churning through some water changes for sure
Been sitting back for a while to see how this unit does, I’m going to wait a bit longer.
Not sure what these lads are talking about, sounds like a scam 😅😂
But Jestronix - that’s a fair call mate, see how they are received by the public for a few months first 👍🏻
A great and very detailed video :) I had the reefbot for a year and sold it as I found it very inaccurate and clunky, it always felt like an unfinished product. I've had the Alkatronic for just under a year and found it to be a solid bit of kit. Biggest downside has been the connectivity to the App and to wifi, sooo frustrating, some days it just gives up and I lose patience with it. I'm getting the feeling the Mastertronic is using the same bluetooth/wifi setup which is a shame. Their Facebook help is good but they do tend to go silent when they don't have anymore advice.
I'll be giving this a year to bed in and see what people think of it. cheers!
It is certainly still being refined no doubt about that, thankfully the issues I experienced I think are mostly fixable
Ok - because I thought it was a rebadged Reefbot when I saw this - good to know. If I can get my hands on one I am going to get the Xepta otherwise I will get the KH Director - I really only need to Alk as I only test other things once a month or if I think something is a miss.
Also I dose a mix of Kalk and All For Reef so I only need one dosing head so it makes the KHDirector good value for me - although the Xepta is much cheaper - with some issues but comes with 3 free dosing heads.
with a long source water line, arent your really getting water tested thats been in the tube for a period of time depending on the number of tests you do? If you only test once a week, that water in the tube could be a week old and not part of the circulated water in the tank?
That’s why they have set water line lengths and purge that water out first :)
@@ParkersReef ok so they remove the water in the line for each test then use new water to the vial?
@@ReRe-yl6dq correct. It "purges". Brings water in, rinses the vial, pumps that out, then brings in a new water sample
Hey mate great video, did you check your normal testing method to the unit at the same time at all ?
Yes great question! I should have clarified this but totally forgot.
Yes, I did, this device was spot on. Actually highlighted to me that my mag was low despite my normal kit saying it was good. Cross checked another kit and it matched what the mastertronic was saying :)
@@ParkersReef thanks for the reply . I thought you would have :) will have one of these on my shopping list for my dream tank build .
Just FYI, based upon your SSID and the WiFi network names around you, I can find exactly where you live. Google has a database of WiFi networks from their street view vans you can use to triangulate without GPS. That’s why your iPhone always asks you to turn on WiFi for greater GPS accuracy.
Awesome, see you soon 😅😂
@@ParkersReef I did the flight from Chicago to Sydney once. It’s gonna be a long while before I do that again.
Hahaha yeah that’s a long flight!
Nice info. Sounds like it's better than the reefbot in a few ways but worse than in others. But otherwise very similar design. Wish the reefbot had 12 vial spots though although there is the Pro.
Thanks for watching and leaving a comment. I will be reviewing a reefbot very soon, so can compare then :)
@@ParkersReef v2 is out now so if you can get that over the v1 would be better for you.
I’ve got a loan of one from a reefer, not sure which version it is yet
Awesome unbiased review mate. Does it have any sensor to tell you when your reagents are running low so you can stock up before they actually run out?
It certainly does let you know your reagent volume and even sends push notifications when they should be refilled!