GHL ION Director real world feedback

[Damage12]

Planning a 400g build and although I’ve never been a fan of the GHL Profilux, it’s been growing on me as well as the ION Director. I don’t see a lot of real world information about the ION Director so I’m asking here for anything good or bad from actual users (i.e. Accuracy, how often need to replace sensors and reagents, etc.)

Also, if anyone wants to comment on the KH Director, that would be great too.

Thank you in advance for any info.

 

[Kazumi]

I have a KH director. It seems to test accurately as long as you calibrate the probe and doser heads every few months. I think until fairly recent my tank didn't use much KH, so the auto dosing part didn't seem to work very well. I have added a bunch of new corals, so the usage is higher and it is keeping the reading much more stable these days.

 

[Damage12]

I have a KH director. It seems to test accurately as long as you calibrate the probe and doser heads every few months. I think until fairly recent my tank didn't use much KH, so the auto dosing part didn't seem to work very well. I have added a bunch of new corals, so the usage is higher and it is keeping the reading much more stable these days.

Thank you for the information. Much appreciated.

 

[Pod_01]

Using KH Director for 3 years, all good so far. Need to clean and calibrate the probe but overall works well.

I used it to maintain Alk and that worked well, but now I make adjustments manually. No particular reason for the change really.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

I've lost track, did they ever solve the issues with the ion director?

 

[BeanAnimal]

Even if fully solved, I can’t wrap my head around the consumables cost. I love my KH director though.

 

[IKD]

Can you even buy the ION Director? I haven’t seen it for sale so I assumed it wasn’t in the market.

 

[Damage12]

Using KH Director for 3 years, all good so far. Need to clean and calibrate the probe but overall works well.

I used it to maintain Alk and that worked well, but now I make adjustments manually. No particular reason for the change really.

Great to know, thank you.

 

[Damage12]

Even if fully solved, I can’t wrap my head around the consumables cost. I love my KH director though.

Thanks, if the ION Director works reasonably accurately don’t I mind shelling out the money for consumables. Are you referring to the actual sensor having to be replaced often? If so, how often were these going bad? I don’t seen too much information about it online.

 

[Damage12]

Can you even buy the ION Director? I haven’t seen it for sale so I assumed it wasn’t in the market.

It appears so on the GHL website, but I could be wrong.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

It appears so on the GHL website, but I could be wrong.

I followed from the beginning and even pre-ordered the ion director. I believe it was over 2 years before I canceled my order and subsequently my place in line.

As it was reported, early testers were having issues with accuracy and the fault was something within the sensor. How it was manufactured, or faulty components, or false claims by the manufacturer, it was never made clear. What was evident was that they (GHL) fell victim like most companies trying to be the 1st to roll out product before they had a chance to truly test and understand what they were dealing with. A gamble for sure that I think is common place in our hobby.

Something that needs to be put into perspective is the ion director was announced in 2019, reports of vaperware started to leak, and then reports of sensor issues shortly after in 2020. GHL made a few vague announcements and videos riddle with ambiguity. Suggesting that the manufacturer of the main sensor components couldn't meet their demands so they purchased equipment to make sensors in-house.

After that didn’t bear any fruit is about the time I tuned out.

Keeping in mind this was on the heels of the failure of the Mindsream product. If you're unfamiliar you should definitely read up on that product, the promises made were going to revolutionize testing. People (me included) started to get the feeling Ion Director was a similar product.

I think people have moved on, realizing that this particular product will never truly come to fruition like we all hoped. If they ever do perfect it, I think it will be a case of too little, too late.

 

[BeanAnimal]

I just don't see people talking about it anywhere. That said, there could be thousands of units in the wild and many very happy users. I don't have experience with the product, so can't speak to the accuracy. As I said, I do mostly like my other GHL products, with few exceptions. I think they are very well made and almost universally better quality than any of the competitors. I am not a fan of the actual dashboard, but the underlying hardware and flexibility is unparalleled.

As for the ION-D

What it came down to for me was operating cost and subsidized unit cost over a given period (say even 5 years) coming out to best case per test cost that offers me personally no value proposition.

When I moved away from best case to real world expectations that are bound to happen with regard to consumables:
- failed tests due to poor calibration
- failed tests due to a failed probe
- failed tests due to other random issues
- wasted testing solutions due to accidents (spills, contamination, etc.)
- wasted testing solutions due to unexpected need for calibration or failed calibration
- premature probe failure (even replaced under warranty) causing waste.
etc.


The numbers just don't make sense for my use case even of they may make sense for other people.

My thoughts here are not isolated to the ION-D though.

In fact, after my ReefBot lab experience, I am not sure that any automated testing outside of kH makes sense for me personally, as much as I like the idea of Nitrate and Phosphate testing automation. I made it decades without, and therefore have to ask myself what I gain.

 

[Dave-T]

I've been using the GHL ecosystem for almost 4 years. The hardware overall works well. I have had many issues with the poor design of the software. I could elaborate on that, but you're not asking about that. I do have a KH Director, and it's been excellent. I test my alk 6 times a day, and it's allowed me to keep my dkh dialed in. I dose alk with a kalk stirrer (designed by Sisterlimonpot above!), and a calcium reactor.

I've also been running an ION Director for about a year and a half. I can't honestly say I'd recommend it. The concept is great and I'd love it if it worked. As Beananimal said - the consumables cost is insane, between the reference solutions and the sensors. You said you weren't too bothered by that, and it didn't bother me that much either. But the frequent sensor replacement really is an issue. The sensor warrantee is for 3 months, and I'm not sure I've ever had one last even that long. I keep getting them replaced on warrantee. Maybe you wouldn't mind that either, but it's a bit of a hassle having to replace and recalibrate the sensor. And what may be a deal breaker for you is that you can't even buy a replacement ahead of time - they have a shelf life. And GHL shipping is slow, and sometimes GHL USA (I'm assuming you're in the US) doesn't have them in stock. So it can be a week or two (or more) before you get a replacement sensor and you're dead in the water until then.

The biggest issue is that the accuracy is hit or miss. They have a calibration solution (they call it their "Multi Reference Solution"), and after installing a sensor you can get reasonably accurate results against the calibration solution. And the ION Director will continually monitor its "sensor health" as it does tests, so it's intended such that you know when it's bad. But in my experience you can get inaccurate results long before the unit detects that the sensor is failing. I once had a 3 week old sensor go bad (confirmed by GHL), right when I was in a period of doing daily magnesium doses to bring my mag up. The ION Director was not registering any rise in my mag levels, so I continued dosing until my mag got much much higher than I intended, before I realized that I couldn't trust the ION Director and tested through alternate means.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

I've been using the GHL ecosystem for almost 4 years. The hardware overall works well. I have had many issues with the poor design of the software. I could elaborate on that, but you're not asking about that. I do have a KH Director, and it's been excellent. I test my alk 6 times a day, and it's allowed me to keep my dkh dialed in. I dose alk with a kalk stirrer (designed by Sisterlimonpot above!), and a calcium reactor.

I've also been running an ION Director for about a year and a half. I can't honestly say I'd recommend it. The concept is great and I'd love it if it worked. As Beananimal said - the consumables cost is insane, between the reference solutions and the sensors. You said you weren't too bothered by that, and it didn't bother me that much either. But the frequent sensor replacement really is an issue. The sensor warrantee is for 3 months, and I'm not sure I've ever had one last even that long. I keep getting them replaced on warrantee. Maybe you wouldn't mind that either, but it's a bit of a hassle having to replace and recalibrate the sensor. And what may be a deal breaker for you is that you can't even buy a replacement ahead of time - they have a shelf life. And GHL shipping is slow, and sometimes GHL USA (I'm assuming you're in the US) doesn't have them in stock. So it can be a week or two (or more) before you get a replacement sensor and you're dead in the water until then.

The biggest issue is that the accuracy is hit or miss. They have a calibration solution (they call it their "Multi Reference Solution"), and after installing a sensor you can get reasonably accurate results against the calibration solution. And the ION Director will continually monitor its "sensor health" as it does tests, so it's intended such that you know when it's bad. But in my experience you can get inaccurate results long before the unit detects that the sensor is failing. I once had a 3 week old sensor go bad (confirmed by GHL), right when I was in a period of doing daily magnesium doses to bring my mag up. The ION Director was not registering any rise in my mag levels, so I continued dosing until my mag got much much higher than I intended, before I realized that I couldn't trust the ION Director and tested through alternate means.

Well, hello there stranger!

I was unaware that you had an Ion Director. That seems like a fair account based on your experience.

 

[Dave-T]

On the topic of automated testing - I also have a Reef Factory auto tester that I use to test phosphate. In my experience, it's excellent. The results are dead on accurate whenever I compare them to other tests (Hanna Phosphorous ULR, ICP, ...). And the reagents last a very long time. Easy to replace. The unit was not cheap (I think $600), but the reagent prices are reasonable. Unfortunately, Reef Factory went chapter 11. Hopefully they are able to start up again. In the meantime, you can still buy reagents.

 

[Damage12]

I followed from the beginning and even pre-ordered the ion director. I believe it was over 2 years before I canceled my order and subsequently my place in line.

As it was reported, early testers were having issues with accuracy and the fault was something within the sensor. How it was manufactured, or faulty components, or false claims by the manufacturer, it was never made clear. What was evident was that they (GHL) fell victim like most companies trying to be the 1st to roll out product before they had a chance to truly test and understand what they were dealing with. A gamble for sure that I think is common place in our hobby.

Something that needs to be put into perspective is the ion director was announced in 2019, reports of vaperware started to leak, and then reports of sensor issues shortly after in 2020. GHL made a few vague announcements and videos riddle with ambiguity. Suggesting that the manufacturer of the main sensor components couldn't meet their demands so they purchased equipment to make sensors in-house.

After that didn’t bear any fruit is about the time I tuned out.

Keeping in mind this was on the heels of the failure of the Mindsream product. If you're unfamiliar you should definitely read up on that product, the promises made were going to revolutionize testing. People (me included) started to get the feeling Ion Director was a similar product.

I think people have moved on, realizing that this particular product will never truly come to fruition like we all hoped. If they ever do perfect it, I think it will be a case of too little, too late.

Thank you for your thorough remarks. That helps as I was not up to speed on this back around 2020.

 

[Damage12]

I just don't see people talking about it anywhere. That said, there could be thousands of units in the wild and many very happy users. I don't have experience with the product, so can't speak to the accuracy. As I said, I do mostly like my other GHL products, with few exceptions. I think they are very well made and almost universally better quality than any of the competitors. I am not a fan of the actual dashboard, but the underlying hardware and flexibility is unparalleled.

As for the ION-D

What it came down to for me was operating cost and subsidized unit cost over a given period (say even 5 years) coming out to best case per test cost that offers me personally no value proposition.

When I moved away from best case to real world expectations that are bound to happen with regard to consumables:
- failed tests due to poor calibration
- failed tests due to a failed probe
- failed tests due to other random issues
- wasted testing solutions due to accidents (spills, contamination, etc.)
- wasted testing solutions due to unexpected need for calibration or failed calibration
- premature probe failure (even replaced under warranty) causing waste.
etc.


The numbers just don't make sense for my use case even of they may make sense for other people.

My thoughts here are not isolated to the ION-D though.

In fact, after my ReefBot lab experience, I am not sure that any automated testing outside of kH makes sense for me personally, as much as I like the idea of Nitrate and Phosphate testing automation. I made it decades without, and therefore have to ask myself what I gain.

I hear you. I don’t necessarily want to run down a rabbit hole if the product will not produce reasonably accurate results. If it does produce accurate results, I don’t worry about cost generally.

 

[Damage12]

I've been using the GHL ecosystem for almost 4 years. The hardware overall works well. I have had many issues with the poor design of the software. I could elaborate on that, but you're not asking about that. I do have a KH Director, and it's been excellent. I test my alk 6 times a day, and it's allowed me to keep my dkh dialed in. I dose alk with a kalk stirrer (designed by Sisterlimonpot above!), and a calcium reactor.

I've also been running an ION Director for about a year and a half. I can't honestly say I'd recommend it. The concept is great and I'd love it if it worked. As Beananimal said - the consumables cost is insane, between the reference solutions and the sensors. You said you weren't too bothered by that, and it didn't bother me that much either. But the frequent sensor replacement really is an issue. The sensor warrantee is for 3 months, and I'm not sure I've ever had one last even that long. I keep getting them replaced on warrantee. Maybe you wouldn't mind that either, but it's a bit of a hassle having to replace and recalibrate the sensor. And what may be a deal breaker for you is that you can't even buy a replacement ahead of time - they have a shelf life. And GHL shipping is slow, and sometimes GHL USA (I'm assuming you're in the US) doesn't have them in stock. So it can be a week or two (or more) before you get a replacement sensor and you're dead in the water until then.

The biggest issue is that the accuracy is hit or miss. They have a calibration solution (they call it their "Multi Reference Solution"), and after installing a sensor you can get reasonably accurate results against the calibration solution. And the ION Director will continually monitor its "sensor health" as it does tests, so it's intended such that you know when it's bad. But in my experience you can get inaccurate results long before the unit detects that the sensor is failing. I once had a 3 week old sensor go bad (confirmed by GHL), right when I was in a period of doing daily magnesium doses to bring my mag up. The ION Director was not registering any rise in my mag levels, so I continued dosing until my mag got much much higher than I intended, before I realized that I couldn't trust the ION Director and tested through alternate means.

Yeah, that’s what I was afraid of, not producing accurate results. Warranty issues, supply chain or just shipping delays can make a unit worthless. Sounds like the KH Director is the way to go. I was hoping there was a better unit to test the other main elements, but it does not appear to be so. Thank you.

 

[areefer01]

I followed from the beginning and even pre-ordered the ion director. I believe it was over 2 years before I canceled my order and subsequently my place in line.

As it was reported, early testers were having issues with accuracy and the fault was something within the sensor. How it was manufactured, or faulty components, or false claims by the manufacturer, it was never made clear. What was evident was that they (GHL) fell victim like most companies trying to be the 1st to roll out product before they had a chance to truly test and understand what they were dealing with. A gamble for sure that I think is common place in our hobby.

Something that needs to be put into perspective is the ion director was announced in 2019, reports of vaperware started to leak, and then reports of sensor issues shortly after in 2020. GHL made a few vague announcements and videos riddle with ambiguity. Suggesting that the manufacturer of the main sensor components couldn't meet their demands so they purchased equipment to make sensors in-house.

After that didn’t bear any fruit is about the time I tuned out.

Keeping in mind this was on the heels of the failure of the Mindsream product. If you're unfamiliar you should definitely read up on that product, the promises made were going to revolutionize testing. People (me included) started to get the feeling Ion Director was a similar product.

I think people have moved on, realizing that this particular product will never truly come to fruition like we all hoped. If they ever do perfect it, I think it will be a case of too little, too late.

There may be a bit of social media control of posts regarding the product. Bots are pretty good at searching forums but when one does a search not many results come back on the product. One or two things are possible. Content management or not that many in use.

My opinion is that it is both. I know of one hobbyist on another forum who has one. They purchased it from a fellow hobbyist.

 

[luxon1985]

Hola: En los cuatro meses que llevo con UAO, ya he reemplazado dos sondas Ion Director, y creo que hoy será la tercera. Tengo muchos equipos GHL y de RM; todo lo demás parece funcionar muy bien, pero el Ion Director, por desgracia, es pésimo. Ojalá funcionara sin problemas, pero es un dolor de cabeza constante. Espero de verdad que puedan arreglarlo, porque creo que están usando publicidad engañosa. Tienen el manual de instalación equivocado según la versión que tengas. Son un desastre con todo esto.