Seneye Reef review

Recently I bought seneye home during Aquarama 2013 for S$149 (US$120). It come with free upgrade to seneye reef which actually the one that I really want. I wanted a PAR (Photosyntecthically Active Radiation) meter that senye reef able to measure. The other feature such as thermometer, pH meter, NH3/NH4 meter, dissolve O2 meter, are good to have but I don't really need it. The ability to connect to database server and able to view from anywhere using mobile phone is great but again I don't really need it. Basically I bought it because of the PAR meter.

Seneye website says it is ideal for planted tanks but to be honest it is not really. For example, the pH can only measure 6.4 to 7 but in planted tank especially if you are using ADA aquasoil, the soil will normally maintain pH of around 6 to 6.2. They do plan to release new slider which is suppose to be able to measure lower pH. Nevertheless it is the cheapest PAR meter available in the marked today, compare it to Apogee MQ-200 which cost US$349 + US$80 delivery charge.

The differences between all 3 seneye model

It is ingenious design, the whole sensor is basically a light/color sensor and thermometer. pH and Ammonia was measured using small plastic piece called seneye+ slider. On the slider, there are two square pad in which my guess will change color depending on pH and ammonia level then the light sensor read the color. That mean the same device can be use to measure many different water parameter, just need different slider.

seneye+ slider

According to the seneye website, the PAR function should be use only to measure against light reading taken from other seneye device or seneye PAR organism table (plants or corals). According to seneye normal PAR device are aimed for use in greenhouse where they are more interested in red spectrum. Seneye PAR meter on the other hand is more sensitive at light below 450nm. I'm kind of disappointed, because its means I cannot compare my data with other hobbyist around the world who are using other brand PAR meter. Furthermore the plants list (seneye PAR organism table) is very limited, just fraction of the freshwater plant species that I can get from my LFS. I do wish the come up which software patch for the measurement. It should not be that difficult, my guess it is just gain coefficient.

Using seneye PAR meter I'm able to find out why I cannot grow red plan on my 2ft where I have no problem in my 3ft. My 3ft PAR measured on water surface is around 200 uE m2sec where as my 2ft is only 150 uE m2sec. I need to match up my 3ft if I want to grow red plant in my 2ft tank.

Below are 3 days worth measurement on one of my tank. The NH4 dip was because I turn off the filter, interestingly pH is also increase during the filter off at the same time as NH4 dip. There defenetly connection between to but I do not know why. I need some googling to find out. Amonia level stable at 0.005 ppm.  Temperature stable at around 28.5C. Dissolve O2 stable at 7.7ppm although I'm expecting it deep during night and go up during photosynthesis.

Final word, it is a great product with affordable price. Although a bit disappointed due to its PAR response curve different that other PAR meter but it is sufficient if I just want to compare between my own or friend tank.

P.S. all pictures are from seneye website except for the 3 days masurement