Alerts and thresholds
An alert is raised when a reading leaves the range you set for it. You set the ranges, and you control which alerts reach your phone.
Open the Alert Center from the shortcut row at the bottom of the dashboard.
The Alert Center
Two tabs:
- Active: alerts currently raised, with a count badge
- Rules: the thresholds and rate-of-change rules that produce them
Each active alert shows the parameter and tank, the reading that triggered it, a plain explanation, a severity chip, the kind of rule that fired (Threshold or Rate of Change), and the time it fired.
Two actions on each:
- View rule: opens the rule that raised it, so you can adjust the range
- Explain this alert: asks the Assistant to interpret it against your tank's history
Setting a range
Parameters Cora can grade have a target range, and defaults come from your tank type and age when you set the tank up, usually a reasonable place to start. A parameter with no usable range is not graded at all: it stays neutral grey rather than being guessed at.
To change one: long-press its widget on the dashboard, which opens that parameter's thresholds directly. A plain tap opens the parameter view instead; the two gestures go to different places, and the long-press is the shortcut worth remembering.
If the parameter has no rule yet, the fields start on Cora's default, and a note under them says so. Change any value to set your own.
To see them all together, use Alerts in the row of buttons under the dashboard.
You can set:
- A range: a low and a high, for things like alkalinity or temperature
- A ceiling: a high only, for things where low is fine, like nitrate or phosphate
- A floor: a low only
What triggers an alert
An alert fires when a reading crosses a threshold. Cora checks each reading as it arrives, so a single reading outside your range is enough to raise one.
Once an alert is up it will not keep re-notifying you about the same thing; there is a cooldown before it can fire again. And it clears itself the moment a reading comes back inside the range; there is nothing to acknowledge.
You can also set a rate-of-change rule, which watches how fast a parameter moves rather than where it currently sits. That is the one to use for things where the speed of a change matters more than the number.
Where alerts appear
- The bell, top right of every screen, holds your history. The number is how many you have not read.
- Push notifications reach your phone when you allow them.
- The widget turns amber or red on the dashboard.
- Cora Max shows the same alerts on the big screen.
When equipment needs attention
Some alerts are about equipment rather than a reading. When a device such as a Trident or a Jecod™ pump reports a fault, Cora sends a notification that names the tank and the device, for example "Display tank: Return pump needs attention", and says what is wrong, such as a jammed rotor. When the fault clears, a second one follows: "Display tank: Return pump is OK again". Both come under Equipment Faults in Settings → Notifications.
A Maxspect™ gyre (beta) can raise the same alert when a Cora Max on its network finds both heads set to 0%, or gets no answer from the gyre twice in a row. Treat this as a warning, not a safeguard: the Cora Max checks from time to time rather than continuously, and only while it is running and can reach the gyre.
Choosing what reaches you
Settings → Notifications. You can control:
- Which of the notification categories may push
Reef Buddy has no switch of its own: it sends a briefing when there is something worth acting on and stays quiet when there is not.
Clearing an alert
An alert clears when the reading comes back into range. There is nothing to dismiss; it is a statement about the tank, not a task.
If a reading is wrong rather than the tank being wrong (a probe that needs calibrating, say), fix the source. Widening a threshold to silence a bad probe hides the next real problem too.
Disabling alerts for a parameter
Open the rule in the Rules tab of the Alert Center and turn its enable switch off. The rule and its range are kept, so you can switch it back on without rebuilding it.
Written for Cora Max 0.28.60 and Cora Mobile 0.5.70. Last checked 2026-09-17.
Still stuck? Email cora@coraiq.tech and we'll help.