Monitoring only. Always.
Reef Trak reads from Home Assistant and can never switch anything on or off. There is no control code to misfire: turning equipment off from the cloud is not something this bridge is able to do, by design. Only the devices you pick leave your house, outbound over HTTPS. No open ports, and your Home Assistant stays private.
This is a beta
We are testing the bridge with a small group. Expect rough edges: data flow can pause while we fix things, and screens will keep improving. Nothing the bridge does can affect your equipment, your tank, or your Home Assistant setup. Found something odd? Tell us at support@reeftrak.com.
Install in about five minutes
Want every detail first? Read the full setup guide: how the bridge works, what it does and does not do, and the limits of this first beta.
You need Home Assistant 2025.6 or newer, and the Reef Trak app with Premium. The Home Assistant connection is a Reef Trak Premium feature.
Home Assistant installs vary, so go by what your own Settings screen shows, not by what hardware you own.
If Settings has an Apps section (called Add-ons on older versions): first click your username at the very bottom of the left sidebar and turn on Advanced Mode. Then open Settings > Apps, press the Store button, install Terminal & SSH, and start it. Terminal appears in the sidebar.
If Settings has no Apps section (Settings > About says
Home Assistant Container): there is no app store, and that is
normal. Open a shell on the container from the machine that runs it,
then use the same command. Examples: TrueNAS: Apps > Home Assistant >
Shell. unRAID: Docker tab > container > Console. Synology: Container
Manager > container > Terminal. Plain Docker:
docker exec -it homeassistant bash.
Already have SSH access? That works too, on any install type.
curl -sSL https://reeftrak.com/homeassistant/install | sh
It finds your config folder and puts the integration where it belongs, on any platform: Raspberry Pi, NAS, Docker, anything running Home Assistant.
Settings > System > Restart.
Open your tank, tap the house icon, then Pair through Reef Trak cloud. A six-character code appears.
In Home Assistant: Settings > Devices & Services > Add Integration > Reef Trak. Enter the code, then pick which devices belong to your tank.
Readings arrive within seconds. Charts draw themselves in as history builds.
Prefer to install by hand?
Download the zip
and unzip it into the folder that holds your configuration.yaml: it adds a
custom_components/reeftrak folder. The Samba share or
File editor apps both work. Then continue from step 3.
Questions people ask
What data leaves my house?
Only the devices you pick during setup, and only their readings: state, value, unit, and a small set of display details like fan speed or brightness. Never your camera feeds, never room names, never your full device list, never your Home Assistant login.
Can Reef Trak turn my equipment on or off?
No. The bridge has no control path at all. If you want to switch something, use the vendor's app or Home Assistant itself.
Do I need to open a port or set up a VPN?
No. Your Home Assistant pushes readings out over HTTPS, the same direction your browser talks to any website. Nothing from the internet can reach in.
How do I disconnect?
Either side works: remove the integration in Home Assistant, or in the Reef Trak app open the Home Assistant menu and choose Connected bridges > Revoke access. Revoking cuts data flow immediately.
How do I update the integration?
During the beta, run the install command again: it replaces the integration with the newest version. Then restart Home Assistant. Your pairing and device choices survive updates.
Which Home Assistant versions work?
Home Assistant 2025.6 or newer, on any install type: Home Assistant OS (including Yellow and Green), a Raspberry Pi, Docker, unRAID, a NAS, anything. The bridge is the same code everywhere.