KH Director & Alkatronic Users - How Are You Managing Calcium?

[Joeg]

I've been wavering between adding a Trident to my existing Apex or going the Alkatronic or KH director route but my purchase paralysis continues.

For those of you that are using the Alkatronic or KH director I'm wondering how you are measuring and maintaining CA levels. Do you still dose 2 or 3 part at levels just under the target that is set on the Alkatronic or KH Director and let those devices top up alk as needed and then manually adjust CA periodically?

 

[Reefinmike]

I've been wavering between adding a Trident to my existing Apex or going the Alkatronic or KH director route but my purchase paralysis continues.

For those of you that are using the Alkatronic or KH director I'm wondering how you are measuring and maintaining CA levels. Do you still dose 2 or 3 part at levels just under the target that is set on the Alkatronic or KH Director and let those devices top up alk as needed and then manually adjust CA periodically?

I love my apex and have ~6k in gear on my system. The trident is a great system and I recommend it to all my friends/service accounts however I'd never dose based on it's calcium readings. If you have some common sense about you and know how to measure/use a digital scale- the alkatronic is a clear winner. A pH indicated acid titration test is THE way to measure alkalinity. 0.1N(0.05M) sulfuric acid is an exact replacement for concentrated alkatronic reagent. 4L is $39 on amazon and will last 18 months at 4 tests a day. In a pinch, you could use hardware store $10/gal muriatic acid.

I've generally never had a problem maintaining calcium but now that my pH is high and stable, the system is drawing 4.5dkh/day... about 30ppm calcium. I perfected https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/i...-and-dos-for-stable-alkalinity-and-ph.784144/ . Keeping up with manual changes to calcium dosing has been a bit difficult with this demand. My next project is to automate "chasing" my alk dose with an equal calcium dose. I think it's possible using osc triggers, profiles and brakes. On the other hand, It's probably easier to just overshoot calcium dosing and keep a brake/boost VO on the dashboard to adjust with weekly testing.

 

[Joeg]

@Reefinmike thanks for the reply. Just started reading through your other thread and finding it really interesting.

 

[Reefinmike]

@Reefinmike thanks for the reply. Just started reading through your other thread and finding it really interesting.

Thanks! This RHF article was inspiration for the experiment https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/alkalinity-stability-ph-stability-are-they-even-different.711768/ . Focustronic is about to release another update for the alkatronic software which allows scheduled tests along with utilizing the spare doser for other purposes . I'm 100% SOLD on the alkatronic being the best alk tester. unfortunately their dosetronic and promised future control leave a lot to be desired IMO. The apex system, dos pumps and alkatronic are a dream combo if you can properly integrate them.

 

[t5Nitro]

Thanks! This RHF article was inspiration for the experiment https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/alkalinity-stability-ph-stability-are-they-even-different.711768/ . Focustronic is about to release another update for the alkatronic software which allows scheduled tests along with utilizing the spare doser for other purposes . I'm 100% SOLD on the alkatronic being the best alk tester. unfortunately their dosetronic and promised future control leave a lot to be desired IMO. The apex system, dos pumps and alkatronic are a dream combo if you can properly integrate them.

I'm looking into various automated alk testers for my new tank. Is alkatronic a reasonable tool to use as a sole device for alk testing purposes if im dosing all for reef, a one part solution by TM? Not that alkatronic will communicate with my GHL doser, but I'm looking for something to automate testing and I can either wifi or remotely log into my ghl doser and change the dose as needed.

If alkatronic can communicate with apex system and dos pumps i can see where that would be really cool although a pricey way to automate alk testing and dosing.