I have submitted a support ticket, data logging does not work anymore, it was fine and then I went to check and the record was blank and after purging several times and rebooting it is still the same. I can only see the last test which shows on the main screen.
KH Guardian: Automatic Alkalinity Controller- My Experiences
- Thread starter Rick.45cal
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I disconnected the power for 30 sec and reconnected the unit rebooted and now the log shows all test until it stopped saving at 8:30 last night. I did a quick 'GET DKH" and the record saved. I wonder if power fluctuations are an issue I have the unit plugged into an Apex EB8 unit so I could turn it off if it went wild dosing. I am going to run power to a regular outlet and put a surge suppressor on the power supply.
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So rick what have u noticed in trends of dkh uptake?
Say ur reef was using 2.4 dkh a day a normal thin to do was every hour u would dose .1 dkh to replenish the missing alk before the guardian of alkalinity.
Since u have the guardian u have said that during the night ur dkh was not being consumed so when was most of the alk being consumed? I guess that's my question
Say ur reef was using 2.4 dkh a day a normal thin to do was every hour u would dose .1 dkh to replenish the missing alk before the guardian of alkalinity.
Since u have the guardian u have said that during the night ur dkh was not being consumed so when was most of the alk being consumed? I guess that's my question
James Kanouff
Active Member
What an awesome new product. As a fairly experienced reefer, I see the need for this equipment in our hobby. Atm many of us have found ways to do great with out one. Many more have not. If this makes growing/ keeping SPS corals more successful then the hobby in general will benefit tremendously. It honestly bothers me when I trade some delicate ACRO frag to a guy who I know just is not as determined "husbandry wise" to succeed as me. I pretty much know I grew it out to go in his trash. The less of that in this hobby the better. If understanding ALK as it relates to a hobby size reef tank is the result of a 1000$+ unit that just entered the reef hobby scene, then surely other great things are to follow. At some point you have to get onboard and with the crowd of successfully reefers, or except your failures for your stubborn ways. How many successful reefers are still running a wooden air stone skimmer or bio ball trickle filters ??? Its still possible to succeed this way, but honestly its old inferior technology. Maybe this leads to more successful reefers! I sure hope so for the sake of the hobby. One great thing I learned from this tread already is the lack of trustworthyness in my Hanna dkh tester. ALK has cause me many a head aches over the years and cost me many a coral frags. I'm saving my money for one of these as we speak and following along so I know what to expect. Thanks for sharing everyone.
550 BB sps reef, ca reactor with carbon doser n harris regulator set up. 5' tall life reef skimmer, life reef sump system. MH, T5 and led lighting. vinegar in my kalk, new sulfur denitrator set up in the works. Res sea "blue bucket" salt. ATM 8.7 DHK, 440, 1350, 10 n03, 0 po4
550 BB sps reef, ca reactor with carbon doser n harris regulator set up. 5' tall life reef skimmer, life reef sump system. MH, T5 and led lighting. vinegar in my kalk, new sulfur denitrator set up in the works. Res sea "blue bucket" salt. ATM 8.7 DHK, 440, 1350, 10 n03, 0 po4
Acorral
Active Member
I think this first version as the proof of concept.
The value here is kh monitoring.
Based on that KH i would expect tl be able to trigger or control other things... like more than 1 doser or set a given constant flowrate for a CaRX effluent...
Along with something like the apex DOS it would be very easy for it tonincrease or decrease by 1 unit the constant flow on the pump so it fine tunes the effluent of your calcium reactor.
I guees it is a matter of time we get there...
The value here is kh monitoring.
Based on that KH i would expect tl be able to trigger or control other things... like more than 1 doser or set a given constant flowrate for a CaRX effluent...
Along with something like the apex DOS it would be very easy for it tonincrease or decrease by 1 unit the constant flow on the pump so it fine tunes the effluent of your calcium reactor.
I guees it is a matter of time we get there...
OP
OP
Rick.45cal
2500 Club Member
I'm still trying to determine the trends (I may need to increase the testing frequency to really nail down trends), I've got several variables that I am juggling at the moment. I just raised the dKH of my AWC reservoir so it is now 7.5dKH. yesterday I was falling short in the daytime and and the KHG had to keep up. So I added some to my daytime dosing, I've backed off of my night time dosing but my dKH still increased a bit over the night. I was higher than I wanted to be this morning (7.7 dKH). So I shut down dosing Balling solutions for the afternoon. We'll see where the dKH comes down to over the day. I may actually be making more work for myself by trying to adjust to consumption. (I'm keeping close track of my adjustments so I can decided if I need to take another tactic). I may just go back to 24 hour dosing and let it run and see what trends it comes up with.
I think I've made too many adjustments at this point and need to back off and let it do it's thing for a bit. (This is a learning experience for me).
Like I said theory and practice are two different beasts.
Most of the alkalinity uptake happens during daylight hours. (So it seems)
OP
OP
Rick.45cal
2500 Club Member
I don't believe it ceases, consumption definitely slows. Once I get the tank into a relatively stable position I will increase the testing frequency and I can shut down dosing during lights out and see what that tells us.
samparker
Well-Known Member
I haven't seen a specific rhyme or reason yet, one night I appeared to have little consumption, but the next night I had more than during the day. I need more data...... But I have to give my KHG back to it's owner this week 
Is there any chance they might sell just an alkalinity monitor? For those using Apex to dose it would show us exactly which of our doses need to be increased/decreased for round the clock stability. I would love to have that option especially if was cheaper than the unit that also auto corrects the alkalinity.
Carlos@CoralVue
Active Member
Keep us posted but if may have been an isolated glitch.
OP
OP
Rick.45cal
2500 Club Member
I haven't seen a specific rhyme or reason yet, one night I appeared to have little consumption, but the next night I had more than during the day. I need more data...... But I have to give my KHG back to it's owner this week
Major bummer! I don't know if I would want to go without one now!
OP
OP
Rick.45cal
2500 Club Member
OP
OP
Rick.45cal
2500 Club Member
According to the directions the testing water can be safely returned to the tank. I have been saving mine in a waste container, where I can measure it and replace it with fresh saltwater. My tank is 160 gallons with continuous automatic water changes. The amount it uses in the grand scheme of things isn't alot on my system. It would be more significant on a small volume of water. I'm not brave enough (yet) to return the water to my tank.
Carlos@CoralVue
Active Member
Since this is a thread is about our experience with the KHG, I thought I would add mine and what I have learned over the last few months of running it. Now, by no means I am telling you how to run the KHG. You can run it as you see fit. I respect everybody’s decision making and I hope that that you can extend the same courtesy back.
Before the KHG, I used to keep my Alk (in the form of Soda Ash) and Calcium using 2-part. I had pretty good luck keeping it somewhat stable at 8dKH and 450 Calcium. I was testing dKH on a daily basis and it would swing 1dKH every few days.
I was using Aquaforest program and dosing Soda Ash and Calcium solutions at the same rate.
During the first month of using the KHG, I thought I needed to make sure that the KHG was not only monitoring but also dosing Sodium Bicarbonate. I thought that in order to use the KHG to full capacity, it HAD to monitor and dose at the same time. I adjusted my balling setup to under supplement by a little bit. I adjusted so the balling setup would keep my dKH around 7.5 and then having the KHG dose on a regular basis to maintain my dKH at 8.
As the days went by, I found myself constantly making 3 solutions to keep up. Soda Ash and Calcium Solution for balling and then Sodium Bicarbonate for the KHG.
Then started thinking, why am I killing myself constantly making three solutions. Why do I have to dose both Soda Ash and Sodium Bicarbonate. So I started looking at the data and noticed that my KHG kept testing my tank at 7.8-7.9 dKH so just a little short of the target level of 8. As it tested low dKH, it kept adding Sodium Bicarbonate to the tank to bring the dKH up to 8. My tank would consume it and then the dKH would test low again. I decided to up my Soda Ash AND Calcium Solution dosing enough to bring my dKH up by 0.1dKH. A day later, I noticed that my KHG was testing Alk at 8.0 – 8.1 and it did not have to dose any Sodium Bicarbonate. So technically, the KHG had helped me get my balling setup tuned perfectly!
A week or so later, as my coralline algae and corals grew, I noticed that my KHG was once again testing at 7.9 constantly. I then upped my Soda Ash AND Calcium by enough to raise my dKH by 0.1 and my KHG tested again 8 dKH. So I again had my balling setup perfectly tuned for my system and the KHG is just keeping an eye on my dKH and letting me know when I have to do adjustments. The added bonus is that when my tank consumes more than what I am dosing, the KHG comes to my rescue and adds Sodium Bicarbonate to ensure that my tank is always at 8 dKH and stable.
Trying to have my balling setup AND KHG dose just did not work for me. I really did not want to have three things dosing at the same time so by me realizing that the KHG DOES NOT have to monitor and dose to help my tank, it made my life easier.
Ever since I made that adjustment and use the KHG to keep me notified of my tank’s consumption, my tank has been incredibly stable with only .1dKH swings and my corals are showing it! Also, the adjustment allows me to add equal amounts of Soda Ash and Calcium Solution which is needed when using the Aquaforest program.
Full disclosure, I work for CoralVue and I have been testing the KHG for many months so my comments above are just my experience.
For those people that are asking about Calcium Reactors, you could think of the KHG as a means to help you tune the Calcium Reactor. If you look at your KHG data, you can then assess if your reactor needs to be dialed. If the KHG shows that your dKH is low, then adjust your Calcium reactor and then keep an eye on the KHG data to see if your adjustment helped. You now have constant real data that can make tuning the Calcium Reactor much easier.
Before the KHG, I used to keep my Alk (in the form of Soda Ash) and Calcium using 2-part. I had pretty good luck keeping it somewhat stable at 8dKH and 450 Calcium. I was testing dKH on a daily basis and it would swing 1dKH every few days.
I was using Aquaforest program and dosing Soda Ash and Calcium solutions at the same rate.
During the first month of using the KHG, I thought I needed to make sure that the KHG was not only monitoring but also dosing Sodium Bicarbonate. I thought that in order to use the KHG to full capacity, it HAD to monitor and dose at the same time. I adjusted my balling setup to under supplement by a little bit. I adjusted so the balling setup would keep my dKH around 7.5 and then having the KHG dose on a regular basis to maintain my dKH at 8.
As the days went by, I found myself constantly making 3 solutions to keep up. Soda Ash and Calcium Solution for balling and then Sodium Bicarbonate for the KHG.
Then started thinking, why am I killing myself constantly making three solutions. Why do I have to dose both Soda Ash and Sodium Bicarbonate. So I started looking at the data and noticed that my KHG kept testing my tank at 7.8-7.9 dKH so just a little short of the target level of 8. As it tested low dKH, it kept adding Sodium Bicarbonate to the tank to bring the dKH up to 8. My tank would consume it and then the dKH would test low again. I decided to up my Soda Ash AND Calcium Solution dosing enough to bring my dKH up by 0.1dKH. A day later, I noticed that my KHG was testing Alk at 8.0 – 8.1 and it did not have to dose any Sodium Bicarbonate. So technically, the KHG had helped me get my balling setup tuned perfectly!
A week or so later, as my coralline algae and corals grew, I noticed that my KHG was once again testing at 7.9 constantly. I then upped my Soda Ash AND Calcium by enough to raise my dKH by 0.1 and my KHG tested again 8 dKH. So I again had my balling setup perfectly tuned for my system and the KHG is just keeping an eye on my dKH and letting me know when I have to do adjustments. The added bonus is that when my tank consumes more than what I am dosing, the KHG comes to my rescue and adds Sodium Bicarbonate to ensure that my tank is always at 8 dKH and stable.
Trying to have my balling setup AND KHG dose just did not work for me. I really did not want to have three things dosing at the same time so by me realizing that the KHG DOES NOT have to monitor and dose to help my tank, it made my life easier.
Ever since I made that adjustment and use the KHG to keep me notified of my tank’s consumption, my tank has been incredibly stable with only .1dKH swings and my corals are showing it! Also, the adjustment allows me to add equal amounts of Soda Ash and Calcium Solution which is needed when using the Aquaforest program.
Full disclosure, I work for CoralVue and I have been testing the KHG for many months so my comments above are just my experience.
For those people that are asking about Calcium Reactors, you could think of the KHG as a means to help you tune the Calcium Reactor. If you look at your KHG data, you can then assess if your reactor needs to be dialed. If the KHG shows that your dKH is low, then adjust your Calcium reactor and then keep an eye on the KHG data to see if your adjustment helped. You now have constant real data that can make tuning the Calcium Reactor much easier.
Last edited:
iiluisii
2500 Club Member
Do you mean Calcium Chloride ?
Carlos@CoralVue
Active Member
Yes sorry. Watching Law & Order and one of the shows kept mentioning Calcium Hydroxide.
OP
OP
Rick.45cal
2500 Club Member
Thank you Carlos, your experiences help significantly. I've quickly come to the conclusion that I was making more work for myself trying to adjust for consumption and today I readjusted my schedule to consistent constant 24 hour dosing from my balling setup. (You're post just reinforced my decision to revert back to what I was doing before. Thank you for that). I've got my alkalinity up now so now I can try and get it back in balance. By changing my dosing scheme to try and eliminate a little bump I've created more anomalies.
Lesson learned! I'm still WAY ahead of where I was before with low alkalinity and test kits lying too me
Lesson learned!
I'm still WAY ahead of where I was before with low alkalinity and test kits lying too meSimilar threads
