GHL ion director - GHL kh director or Apex Trident or Mastronic - alkatronic

[tech_reefer]

hello I was wondering what people recommend more the GHL ion director with the GHL Kh director or Apex Trident or Mastronic - Alkatronic together?

Which one is more accurate and how has your experience with the devices above been? My goal is to automate the testing and set up a dosing strategy? Thanks all!! Currently struggling to keep KH stable.

 

[IKD]

hello I was wondering what people recommend more the GHL ion director with the GHL Kh director or Apex Trident or Mastronic - Alkatronic together?

Which one is more accurate and how has your experience with the devices above been? My goal is to automate the testing and set up a dosing strategy? Thanks all!! Currently struggling to keep KH stable.

The ION Director just started shipping out preorders, so there’s very little user base yet. There are a few reviews from beta testers that came out in the last few weeks you can find on here.
Anticipate a bit of a wait if you didn’t pre-order. Last post I saw was several months to work through those pre-orders

 

[tastyfish]

I have the KH Director, which other than a few blips, keeps the alkalinity within a 0.12-0.2dkh range. The blips are due to bubbles getting in the sample line, which I’ve resolved with a tube holder.

The Alkatronic and Mastertronic are both excellent from reefing friends who have them. The advantage of the KHD, Alkatronic and Mastertronic is that you can run them standalone, with or without a controller and you can use 0.1m (0.1N) HCl as reagent for the KHD and Alkatronic, which is available in bulk, very cheaply and means waste water can be returned to the aquarium. Especially useful if you are performing lots of tests and don’t want to mess with salinity. The Trident is also quite good and the logical choice if you already have an Apex and don’t want a relatively high upfront cost, however ongoing costs are quite high and there often seem to be reagent shortages reported. Waste water must also go to waste, not back into the tank, however sample size is small.

‘The jury is out on the IonD As it ships to the first paying customers. I love the concept far better than the other solutions out there, but let’s see how it goes. But I love the fact it will test Ca, Mg, NO3, K & Na, calibrates itself before every test and can return the water back to the tank. Probe life is a question mark however.

If you are looking to go beyond KH, Ca and Mg, the Mastertronic is the way to go, although not yet available in the US.

 

[Bj’s Reef]

I’m going to follow this discussion to see how it goes. I don’t have one of the testers mentioned above. However I’m taking a close look at the Alkatronic.

 

[scottsweet]

To add here...I have had the KHDirector and switched to the Alkatronic/Dosetronic. The Alkatronic measures and it controls the dosing of the Dosetronic. It is intelligent to dose in case it measures a low dKH. It will stop dosing if it is high. The Dosetronic is easy to program for multipart dosing as well.

The dosing programming for the GHL dosing pumps with multipart is goofy and doesn't do what I want to minimize the peaks and valleys...which is why I stopped using it. The KH Director is not very good at controlling the dosing like the Alk/Dosetronic.

The Mastertronic is like the ReefBot more or less. It uses test kits to measure parameters. It uses a robot and syringe to put in the reagents as required. The thing is...each test takes 30-40 minutes each and you have to stay on top of refilling the reagent bottles with the respective kit solutions.

The ION Director uses inexpensive calibration fluids and all of the tests are done at one time. However it is totally unproven as they are just coming out. Time will tell.

The Trident requires the Apex. It also tests Ca, Alk, Mg ...using reagents, whether you like it or not. The Alkatronic/Dosetronic, KH Director or ION Director do not require a controller.

Personally, I just don't want to put all my testing/dosing dependent on one single device. There is a guy who just posted on FB that he lost all his SPSs (beautiful tank) because the DOS accidentally stayed on...controlled by the Apex...and killed everything. I like that I have different systems for different parts of testing/dosing...

 

[Bj’s Reef]

I like your review of the different testers. I’m leaning strongly towards the Alkatronic.

 

[Breadman03]

I like your review of the different testers. I’m leaning strongly towards the Alkatronic.

I've been trying to get one, but kept missing them even with in-stock alerts. I got a KHD. The hardware seems great, but the UI feels clunky and takes forever to connect. I'm considering snagging an Alkatronic anyway and selling whichever comes up second.

 

[tastyfish]

To add here...I have had the KHDirector and switched to the Alkatronic/Dosetronic. The Alkatronic measures and it controls the dosing of the Dosetronic. It is intelligent to dose in case it measures a low dKH. It will stop dosing if it is high. The Dosetronic is easy to program for multipart dosing as well.

The dosing programming for the GHL dosing pumps with multipart is goofy and doesn't do what I want to minimize the peaks and valleys...which is why I stopped using it. The KH Director is not very good at controlling the dosing like the Alk/Dosetronic.

The Mastertronic is like the ReefBot more or less. It uses test kits to measure parameters. It uses a robot and syringe to put in the reagents as required. The thing is...each test takes 30-40 minutes each and you have to stay on top of refilling the reagent bottles with the respective kit solutions.

The ION Director uses inexpensive calibration fluids and all of the tests are done at one time. However it is totally unproven as they are just coming out. Time will tell.

The Trident requires the Apex. It also tests Ca, Alk, Mg ...using reagents, whether you like it or not. The Alkatronic/Dosetronic, KH Director or ION Director do not require a controller.

Personally, I just don't want to put all my testing/dosing dependent on one single device. There is a guy who just posted on FB that he lost all his SPSs (beautiful tank) because the DOS accidentally stayed on...controlled by the Apex...and killed everything. I like that I have different systems for different parts of testing/dosing...

The Alkatronic is a great bit of kit, but under normal circumstances on the KHD, I get a 0.12-0.2dkh variance. Which is awesome.

I do have a few instances where I get a bubble and therefore spike, but you can set the KHD to stop control and/or alarm should the reading go under or above thresholds.

The KHD is super customisable and I think that’s it’s strength, but also it’s Achilles heal. I use it to adjust all of my dosing solutions and there are lots of different ways to do this, so requires some work and experimentation to dial it in.

The Alkatronic is more plug and play, BUT I decided not to buy based on Bluetooth and connectivity issues I was seeing in other users and shops who were selling it.

Both do a great job IMHO and have strengths and weaknesses.

I was chatting to a guy this week who had a problem with his Trident. It happens. Turns out he was on his FOURTH replacement unit! . I think I dodged a bullet there.

 

[ChicagoReef]

I was a Trident early adopter. Took some learning, but I love the unit. For my dosing, I wish it measured Nitrate. The unit has been very reliable. I cleaned out the monitoring tube after about a year and the unit has continued to work without a hitch. I use it to control my dosing without any issues. My other tank has had an Alkatronic for about 9 months. I love the low cost of testing on the Alkatronic. Limitations on tube sizing and the dependence on me mixing the perfect solution for accuracy along with the larger waste size are factors that have swayed me towards the Trident. I was returning the waste of the Alkatronic to the tank, but that caused issues when I was out of town and it tested and re-testing every few hours vs twice a day and impacted my tank parameters. The Trident software is much better. The Alkatronic bluetooth is very unreliable and not very responsive. Options are much more limited. I do prefer having a daily table of tests on the Alkatronic vs the chart on the Trident. Dosing is very safe as it has limited on how much it will dose even if the readings are off. I am looking to put an Ion Director on another tank, so I can't wait to compare.

 

[Spiderwoman]

I'm switching to the Focustronic trio; they're arriving tomorrow. I'm on my 2nd Trident (Neptune Systems sent me a new one when the old went to service), and ready to toss this unit out the door.

 

[scottsweet]

I'm switching to the Focustronic trio; they're arriving tomorrow. I'm on my 2nd Trident (Neptune Systems sent me a new one when the old went to service), and ready to toss this unit out the door.

Good luck on this...but I have to say...I am not liking all the gotchas on the v1 of the MT. The kinds of things/comments that the MT is showing online is just not right..bushings, syringes, pumps, needles, s/w, etc. It is a V1 and will improve - but it seems too much for people having to rely on it.

 

[sark]

Good luck on this...but I have to say...I am not liking all the gotchas on the v1 of the MT. The kinds of things/comments that the MT is showing online is just not right..bushings, syringes, pumps, needles, s/w, etc. It is a V1 and will improve - but it seems too much for people having to rely on it.

Where are you reading the posts for Mastertronic?

 

[scottsweet]

Where are you reading the posts for Mastertronic?

Focustronic has their own FB page. People ask for assistance on that page.

 

[sark]

Focustronic has their own FB page. People ask for assistance on that page.

I appreciate you giving me the info. I got my Mastertronic Sunday but haven't had the chance to open it

 

[fcmatt]

Why do I get the feeling it is only a matter of time before calcium reactors get more popular again with someone making them more advanced and fool proof....