Keep a reef, not a spreadsheet.

No. Hand tests, photo logging, ICP imports, the dose calculator, alerts, supplies and the Sensei Score all work without one. If you run a CoralVue HYDROS, connect it with a key from the HYDROS app and its readings arrive on their own. Neptune Apex needs a Printed Reef display or hub, coming soon.

Not in the way most apps mean it. You don't need to ask it anything. TankSensei is your tank's record and early-warning system, and most of it runs on fixed rules: the OK, HIGH and LOW labels, the Sensei Score, target ranges, alerts, livestock fit checks and dose amounts. AI does specific jobs behind the scenes: reading test photos and your first tank photo, identifying livestock, comparing tank photos, filling in a product's details from its name or label, reading order emails you forward, answering questions you ask about your tank, and writing your tank summary, per-species advice and a second opinion on doses.

Triton (PDF or CSV), ATI Labfish (PDF, CSV or share link), Oceamo (PDF or CSV), Modern Reef (PDF), Tropic Marin (CSV) and Reef Labs (Excel). You see every value before import and choose which become readings. 26 elements are checked against a reef range, and the rest against your lab's printed target when the report has one. PDF uploads keep the original file with the test. Using another lab? Tell us in Feedback and we'll look at adding it.

It needs a Printed Reef display or hub: TankSensei can't connect to an Apex on its own, and the displays aren't on sale yet. The View 7 works with any Apex; the Trident display needs an Apex with a Trident. The display sits on the same network as your Apex, signs in to it with the Apex's local username and password, and reads its probes, including Trident results. There's no Apex Fusion login and no port forwarding. The Printed Reef hub, also coming, does the same job: it collects data from the reef controllers on your home network and sends it to TankSensei. Join the display list to hear when it's ready.

Create a Read only key in the HYDROS app, then paste it in Account, Connect HYDROS, and pick the tank it belongs to if you have more than one. No CoralVue password is shared. Temperature, pH, salinity and alkalinity are recorded, and a live tile on Home shows your probes. Calcium, magnesium and HYDROS manual inputs aren't read. TankSensei only reads: it never changes a setting on your controller. The step-by-step guide has screenshots. If you connected earlier with your CoralVue email and password, that keeps working for now.

Yes. When a reading leaves its range you get a push (once you allow notifications) that names the problem and, for the main parameters, what to do. When it is far out of range, or when push cannot reach you, an email comes too. The push repeats about every 6 hours until it's back in range. Non-urgent alerts wait until 8am. If a connected probe source goes quiet for 72 hours, you hear about that too. And if you want it, a 9am email sums up what's off, what's heading out of range and what's running low.

The Sensei Score (0 to 100) is your tank's health: each parameter checked against your tank's targets. After 14 days of readings, a separate Stability rating shows how steady things have been. A short written summary, refreshed every couple of days, explains what's going on and what to do next.

Yes. On Home, open a parameter card, tap Quick add, and photograph a Hanna Checker display, a strip against its color card, or your refractometer eyepiece. You confirm or adjust the value before it saves. Quick add also converts for you: S.G. to ppt, °C to °F, Hanna alkalinity ppm to dKH, and Hanna phosphorus ppb to phosphate.

Your tank data is stored on our servers. It's never sold or used for ads, and we don't use third-party analytics or ad pixels. We do record how the app is used (which screens and features, tied to your account) and crash reports, so we can fix and improve it. When TankSensei uses AI for any of the jobs listed under "Is TankSensei an AI app?", the relevant data goes to Anthropic's API with a hashed user id, not your email. The full list is in our Privacy Policy. You can export any tank to Excel, or delete your account (unlink any Printed Reef display first).

Saltwater (SPS-dominant, mixed reef, soft and LPS, FOWLR) and freshwater (high-tech planted, low-tech planted, community, African cichlid, shrimp). Each type has its own parameter targets, scoring and cycling tolerances. You can also rename, hide or add custom parameters per tank. The livestock catalog is saltwater only for now.

TankSensei installs from your browser on iPhone, Android and desktop, and works like an app. On iPhone, open tanksensei.com/app in Safari, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen. Push notifications work from the installed app. Native store apps are on the roadmap.

Nothing. TankSensei is free, with no subscription. It's built and paid for by Printed Reef, the team that makes it. AI features like photo reading have a daily fair-use limit. Printed Reef displays will be sold separately.