The Corrente Digital Flow meter is a new cutting edge reef aquarium from Perfect Reef Systems. Flow meters, analog or digital are all but absent in the world of aquariums save for some crude flow ‘indicators’ sometimes built into certain pumps or filters. However we didn’t even know we needed, or wanted something like the Corrente digital flow meter until the opportunity presented itself.
Perfect Reef Systems better known as PRS has brought us such reef aquarium novelties as a self-shaking Auto ZR zeovit reactor, but the Corrente digital flow meter is decidedly more useful, affordable and practical in a wide range of applications. The Corrente digital flow meter system consists of an inline flow sensor which sends a signal by wire to a remote digital display which also conveniently measures temperature, while also logging maximum and minimum in the last 24 hours.
The inline flow sensors come in four sizes ranging from a 1/2″ in diameter good for up to 1,800 lph (475gph) up to 1.25″ in diameter and measuring upwards of 7,200 lph (1,900 gph). The inline flow sensor is useless on its own and requires the use of the Corrente digital display which we believe can only receive and the display the output from a single flow sensor at a time.
The moment we saw the Corrente our mind went rushing to imagine all the myriad of ways that flow meters could help us better fine tune our marine aquariums in a dizzying array of ways. We could totally stand to know a more precise flow rate to our media reactors, going through the tank, and especially the protein skimmer.
But whatever the application you better be sure that you really want to know the flowrate because the Corrente flow meter system is not an impusle purchase. For example a one inch flow sensor will set you back ¥13,980 (~$116) that doesn’t include true union valves and doesn’t include the meter itself. A complete kit offered for sale from B-Box Aquarium costs about ¥29, 640 (~$247) for the half inch version and up to ¥43,340 (~$361) for the full kit for reading out the flow from a one inch pipe.
What would be a real boon to this concept of digitally metering water flow is if the flow rate could be reported to an aquarium monitor, either to make adjustments of a pump’s output while away from the aquarium, or better yet to catch dips in water flow that could be indicative of pump blockage or a imminent problem. We could see ourselves investing in a single Corrente flow meter and although the price is not too terribly expensive, it would be a much better buy if this kind of smarts was able to integrate into our existing aquarium computers. [PRS]
