Let me start with who I am. I am on my second tank. first was a 10 gal nano whose parameters changed every time I opened a window. I started with the best of intentions but it was too steep a hill for me to climb. That tank lasted almost 4 years before I gave up and stepped away. I then slowly pieced together over the years a 60 gal cube with a DIY 40 gal breeder sump. That tank has been up for 2 years this coming January. I am lazy. I set out to measure my water parameters every week but after a couple of weeks its every other week. I started out with a once weekly water change I now change every 14-18 days. I scraped the tank walls religiously every day for about 6 months now its 2 or three times a week. I think everyone should see the pattern I run by now 
My goal with dosing is to provide a more stable environment between my every other week water changes. I also wanted less of a swing when I do make the water changes The added stability should help over all coral growth. I am not a science guy so dosing has always scared me. Because of my laziness I will eventually buy a full Neptune or Neptune like system that monitors it all via an app and that I can adjust on the fly based off real time data in my tank. Unfortunately, in a marriage, there are compromises. The finance committee has not agreed to the expenditure for a Trident level of laziness so I needed an alternative that the finance committee would support.
What I found is the Sentia Dose.
(If you are here for the year later update just skip to the bottom)
Review
I bought my mine from Premier Aquatics in Marietta. A few of the sales kids there use these on their personal tanks and they were great about getting me set up with these since I could not currently afford the Neptune level stuff. The price for the Brain/Primary unit if you shop around is around $150 and each add on pump is around $100. You can add an unlimited amount of pumps after you purchase a Brain. Premier will price match reputable dealers and is a sponsor of ARC. This brought getting started dosing to under 300 dollars with an unlimited growth potential. It also gave me a product that did most of what the Neptune would do.
Setting up the hardware was intuitive and did not require a lot of reading. I am old so reading the mouse print in the instructions for calibration was not an option. I found the manual on line easily. Those instructions read well and were followable. They were not perfect, but far above the average translated stuff that is some times provided. It took me about 3 tries of wasted chemical to figure out the calibration. I am pretty sure its right, but I am not 100% positive. I will most likely try to recalibrate it at about 90 days and see if its changed at all. Snapping on the rings to color code them was a breeze and a welcome addition. You can also label them in the app by ring color so it is hard to confuse what pump is dosing what. I mounted them with the screws provided. I skipped the 2 sided tape option (which is supplied if you prefer that). That is a lot of money to stick in a confined space near salt water with a piece of tape IMO. They slide on and off really easy but are snug enough to be secure.
I used the Seachem products to get started and the bar code thing was super convenient. The app allows you to scan the barcode if it is a Seachem or Aqua Vitro product and it will auto fill most everything and reccomend a dosing set up based on your water volume. It auto filled most of the app and did all the math and science stuff for me. I went with the dose schedule the app provided. That is not required for those of you who are old hats at this. You can manually enter or over ride almost any parameter. I have not found one I could not manually change. The only thing I messed with is I had them dose on different days instead of the same day that the app gave me. It then recommended I wait a week and check the levels and adjust as needed. I will confess, I measured a bit more than that but waited till the end of the week to input my data. I could not figure how how to input the final manual reading I took. This lead to a visit to Premier and the sales kid. He showed me the screen I missed and walked me through how to do pump1. He then let me do the input and adjustment for pump2 on my own. After watching him this was not very complicated. Before I left the store I was dosing on the next weeks schedule. In my situation the change was very small. I have not had to really mess with it much since and the volume in the containers is slowly going down as expected so it appears to be doing its job. My water testing is within acceptable rages so I dont think there is much to complain about.
What came in the box was everything you needed except the screw driver
For those that monitor power and versions here is the Back of pumps
This is how they connect horizontally, the connection is similar for vertical. All of the pumps have 4 removable sides so that any pump can go any direction your only concern would be how the tubing gets to and exits the pump.
This is the pumps with the color coded rings on them. You can see the 2 panels I had to remove to fit these together.
This is the supplied mounting bracket. They also came with two sided tape if that is your thing. I went with the screws. My stand walls are 3/4 inch ply wood so they didnt push through
Pumps calibrated and installed
Pro
The SD has a fairly intuitive app so I can adjust dosing on the fly.
The app monitors the level of chemical left in a bottle and will alert you when the bottle is at a preset level that you determine.
You can color code each dosing pump with one of seven different colored provided rings. You can then match that color in the app so you know which doser you are adjusting.
You can set reminders to test.
You can adjust how fast it doses via the app
The app logs Dosing and graphs it out
If you dose with Seachem or Aqua Vitro brand products you can scan the barcode with the app and it will preload most of what you need to do and suggest dosing routines based on the make up of those products and the water volume you provide
They can be set up in a chain horizontally or vertically and once you have the brain unit you can attach as many as you need horizontally or vertically.
If you want X to be your parameter and when you test it is at Y. You can input Y into the app and it will suggest a routine to get to X over time. (As a Newb this was what sold me.)
Cons.
Everything is done through the app. If you loose a connection you have lost your ability to adjust until you can reconnect. Manually adjusting the pump does not appear possible.
I am not sure I got the calibration correct. That process was not super straight forward.
There is no real time monitoring. You must test and input results into the app if you want to change something
Where you input the water tests was not intuitive, I had to go back to the store and ask the guy who uses these pumps to help me the first time.
There is not a ton of info out there on these.
Per Aqua Vitro these can only be bought at a brick and mortar store. If you look hard enough you can find them on line but buyer beware.
Summary
I am happy with the purchase a month in. I feel that my parameters are now stable enough that I introduced my first star fish to the tank. Things in the tank look slightly more healthy. I have some things I am still concerned about as everyone does, but I do not feel those things are dosing related. The set up was easy, There was a small learning curve that was easily overcame with the app and I feel I am getting what I paid for. It does not do what the Trident does but it comes darn close. I do feel that this is a very good alternative to an APEX system or a good step into the dosing world even if APEX will never be something you see. This option is customizable enough for the expert but automated enough for the first timers.
Almost a year later
I am still happy. I have since bought an APEX with the Trident. These DO NOT merge with the APEX Fusion app I did not expect them to either. The only combability that you have is you can plug the brain into the APEX power Bar. However, The current rate for a Neptune DOS is $329.95. I am far under that with these dosing pumps that have close to identical features as the much more expensive DOS. The only thing I loose by not spending more is I have to switch apps. What I am enjoying is when Sentia sends me a reminder to test my water I go to Fusion get the number switch back to the Sentia app enter the number and follow the prompts to make the change. Since all of this is on my wi-fi I can do this whenever or where ever I get the notification, provided I am connected to wi-fi. There were times I put a testing reminder off for a few days when I did not have the trident testing for me. The test numbers being readily available helped me eliminate waiting to get home or forgetting to run the tests. This means the adjustments, if any, are made as soon as I am notified. Over all, I think I saved money going this route and I don't have all my eggs in one basket with Neptune. I am considering adding two more of these to the chain for daily water changes The secondary(non Brain) pumps are easily available for about $105.00 each. That is a more than 100 dollar savings over the Neptune system. I can use the level and leak sensors that came with the A3 Apex purchase to add in for saftey and I should be set for less than the cost of the DOS.
My goal with dosing is to provide a more stable environment between my every other week water changes. I also wanted less of a swing when I do make the water changes The added stability should help over all coral growth. I am not a science guy so dosing has always scared me. Because of my laziness I will eventually buy a full Neptune or Neptune like system that monitors it all via an app and that I can adjust on the fly based off real time data in my tank. Unfortunately, in a marriage, there are compromises. The finance committee has not agreed to the expenditure for a Trident level of laziness so I needed an alternative that the finance committee would support.
What I found is the Sentia Dose.
(If you are here for the year later update just skip to the bottom)
Review
I bought my mine from Premier Aquatics in Marietta. A few of the sales kids there use these on their personal tanks and they were great about getting me set up with these since I could not currently afford the Neptune level stuff. The price for the Brain/Primary unit if you shop around is around $150 and each add on pump is around $100. You can add an unlimited amount of pumps after you purchase a Brain. Premier will price match reputable dealers and is a sponsor of ARC. This brought getting started dosing to under 300 dollars with an unlimited growth potential. It also gave me a product that did most of what the Neptune would do.
Setting up the hardware was intuitive and did not require a lot of reading. I am old so reading the mouse print in the instructions for calibration was not an option. I found the manual on line easily. Those instructions read well and were followable. They were not perfect, but far above the average translated stuff that is some times provided. It took me about 3 tries of wasted chemical to figure out the calibration. I am pretty sure its right, but I am not 100% positive. I will most likely try to recalibrate it at about 90 days and see if its changed at all. Snapping on the rings to color code them was a breeze and a welcome addition. You can also label them in the app by ring color so it is hard to confuse what pump is dosing what. I mounted them with the screws provided. I skipped the 2 sided tape option (which is supplied if you prefer that). That is a lot of money to stick in a confined space near salt water with a piece of tape IMO. They slide on and off really easy but are snug enough to be secure.
I used the Seachem products to get started and the bar code thing was super convenient. The app allows you to scan the barcode if it is a Seachem or Aqua Vitro product and it will auto fill most everything and reccomend a dosing set up based on your water volume. It auto filled most of the app and did all the math and science stuff for me. I went with the dose schedule the app provided. That is not required for those of you who are old hats at this. You can manually enter or over ride almost any parameter. I have not found one I could not manually change. The only thing I messed with is I had them dose on different days instead of the same day that the app gave me. It then recommended I wait a week and check the levels and adjust as needed. I will confess, I measured a bit more than that but waited till the end of the week to input my data. I could not figure how how to input the final manual reading I took. This lead to a visit to Premier and the sales kid. He showed me the screen I missed and walked me through how to do pump1. He then let me do the input and adjustment for pump2 on my own. After watching him this was not very complicated. Before I left the store I was dosing on the next weeks schedule. In my situation the change was very small. I have not had to really mess with it much since and the volume in the containers is slowly going down as expected so it appears to be doing its job. My water testing is within acceptable rages so I dont think there is much to complain about.
What came in the box was everything you needed except the screw driver
For those that monitor power and versions here is the Back of pumps
This is how they connect horizontally, the connection is similar for vertical. All of the pumps have 4 removable sides so that any pump can go any direction your only concern would be how the tubing gets to and exits the pump.
This is the pumps with the color coded rings on them. You can see the 2 panels I had to remove to fit these together.
This is the supplied mounting bracket. They also came with two sided tape if that is your thing. I went with the screws. My stand walls are 3/4 inch ply wood so they didnt push through
Pumps calibrated and installed
Pro
The SD has a fairly intuitive app so I can adjust dosing on the fly.
The app monitors the level of chemical left in a bottle and will alert you when the bottle is at a preset level that you determine.
You can color code each dosing pump with one of seven different colored provided rings. You can then match that color in the app so you know which doser you are adjusting.
You can set reminders to test.
You can adjust how fast it doses via the app
The app logs Dosing and graphs it out
If you dose with Seachem or Aqua Vitro brand products you can scan the barcode with the app and it will preload most of what you need to do and suggest dosing routines based on the make up of those products and the water volume you provide
They can be set up in a chain horizontally or vertically and once you have the brain unit you can attach as many as you need horizontally or vertically.
If you want X to be your parameter and when you test it is at Y. You can input Y into the app and it will suggest a routine to get to X over time. (As a Newb this was what sold me.)
Cons.
Everything is done through the app. If you loose a connection you have lost your ability to adjust until you can reconnect. Manually adjusting the pump does not appear possible.
I am not sure I got the calibration correct. That process was not super straight forward.
There is no real time monitoring. You must test and input results into the app if you want to change something
Where you input the water tests was not intuitive, I had to go back to the store and ask the guy who uses these pumps to help me the first time.
There is not a ton of info out there on these.
Per Aqua Vitro these can only be bought at a brick and mortar store. If you look hard enough you can find them on line but buyer beware.
Summary
I am happy with the purchase a month in. I feel that my parameters are now stable enough that I introduced my first star fish to the tank. Things in the tank look slightly more healthy. I have some things I am still concerned about as everyone does, but I do not feel those things are dosing related. The set up was easy, There was a small learning curve that was easily overcame with the app and I feel I am getting what I paid for. It does not do what the Trident does but it comes darn close. I do feel that this is a very good alternative to an APEX system or a good step into the dosing world even if APEX will never be something you see. This option is customizable enough for the expert but automated enough for the first timers.
Almost a year later
I am still happy. I have since bought an APEX with the Trident. These DO NOT merge with the APEX Fusion app I did not expect them to either. The only combability that you have is you can plug the brain into the APEX power Bar. However, The current rate for a Neptune DOS is $329.95. I am far under that with these dosing pumps that have close to identical features as the much more expensive DOS. The only thing I loose by not spending more is I have to switch apps. What I am enjoying is when Sentia sends me a reminder to test my water I go to Fusion get the number switch back to the Sentia app enter the number and follow the prompts to make the change. Since all of this is on my wi-fi I can do this whenever or where ever I get the notification, provided I am connected to wi-fi. There were times I put a testing reminder off for a few days when I did not have the trident testing for me. The test numbers being readily available helped me eliminate waiting to get home or forgetting to run the tests. This means the adjustments, if any, are made as soon as I am notified. Over all, I think I saved money going this route and I don't have all my eggs in one basket with Neptune. I am considering adding two more of these to the chain for daily water changes The secondary(non Brain) pumps are easily available for about $105.00 each. That is a more than 100 dollar savings over the Neptune system. I can use the level and leak sensors that came with the A3 Apex purchase to add in for saftey and I should be set for less than the cost of the DOS.
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