KH Keeper Plus vs Alkatronic

n2585722 · Nov 19, 2022

i am leaning towards one of these. I have used their dosing pumps and I am very happy with them. https://www.coralvue.com/kamoer-kh-carer

Shooter6 · Nov 19, 2022

n2585722 said:
i am leaning towards one of these. I have used their dosing pumps and I am very happy with them. https://www.coralvue.com/kamoer-kh-carer

Wow that's the first I've heard of this option!

Do you have any info on the reagents ect?
I've used kamoer dosing pumps for years and have had good experiences. I will say my most recent, the x1 pro T runs off thier wifi app. It was a bit of a pain to get the app working ( to recognize the device) but once I did its worked great. Need to remember your pass word as it automatically logs you out of the app after a while.

Oldreefer44 · Nov 19, 2022

In the past have used:
Trident, Guardian, GHL. By far the Alkatronic is the best for several reasons. Well made, inexpensive reagent that can go back in the tank. Program is simple and practically plug and play. Most of all has been very accurate over the 6 months I have used it. Consider it one of the best pieces of equipment I have owned in my 40 years in the hobby.

n2585722 · Nov 19, 2022

Shooter6 said:
Wow that's the first I've heard of this option!

Do you have any info on the reagents ect?
I've used kamoer dosing pumps for years and have had good experiences. I will say my most recent, the x1 pro T runs off thier wifi app. It was a bit of a pain to get the app working ( to recognize the device) but once I did its worked great. Need to remember your pass word as it automatically logs you out of the app after a while.

I will find out when I get one on the reagents. I think it is the same app for it as the dosing pumps. It is new here is a video of Carlos explaining some things about it at MACNA .

Shooter6 · Nov 19, 2022

n2585722 said:
I will find out when I get one on the reagents. I think it is the same app for it as the dosing pumps. It is new here is a video of Carlos explaining some things about it at MACNA .

Yes it's the same app. I've seen the doser on the app but didn't know they actually made one.

Shooter6 · Nov 19, 2022

Oldreefer44 said:
In the past have used:
Trident, Guardian, GHL. By far the Alkatronic is the best for several reasons. Well made, inexpensive reagent that can go back in the tank. Program is simple and practically plug and play. Most of all has been very accurate over the 6 months I have used it. Consider it one of the best pieces of equipment I have owned in my 40 years in the hobby.

Personally I feel the best tester to come to market so far was the mindstream. I maintain hope another company will buy the rights and release a new version!

Oldreefer44 · Nov 19, 2022

Shooter6 said:
Personally I feel the best tester to come to market so far was the mindstream. I maintain hope another company will buy the rights and release a new version!

I was one of the very first owners of the Mindstream. Yes, had it worked, it would have been great but it was largely inaccurate and due to lack of funding, was introduced before it was ready.

Shooter6 · Nov 19, 2022

Oldreefer44 said:
I was one of the very first owners of the Mindstream. Yes, had it worked, it would have been great but it was largely inaccurate and due to lack of funding, was introduced before it was ready.

I never seen an inaccuracy that was any further off then the Trident or others have had. Biggest issue I saw was the disk that needed to be bought monthly. That was not a big deal either. When you combined all the tested parameters to what Individual test kit cost that it would require to accomplish the same results.

Sorry if this doesn't read the easiest. I have a 5yr old talking my ear off while trying to type this.

n2585722 · Nov 26, 2022

I got a KH Carer and have it setup and calibrated. So far I really like it. The first test showed a pH of 8.0 and a alkalinity reading of 8.4. I check the Hydros controller and it showed 8.06 for pH. I ran an alkalinity test with my Hanna checker and it had a reading of 8.4 also. On that test there was nothing from the previous test to dump back into the tank. The second test shower a pH of 7.5 and a alkalinity reading of 8.0. I think I had the waste line from the tester and the saltwater intake too close to each other in the sump. So I moved the intake line to a chamber upstream. It will be noon before it repeats again. I will see then. It will also add buffering to the tank if the alkalinity is below a set point you can set. I think I am really going to like this thing. It takes 30 minutes to complete the test. It came with a small bottle of the reagent that you mix with 980ml of RO water to make 1000ml of reagent. It used 29.3ml for the two test.

Shooter6 · Nov 26, 2022

n2585722 said:
I got a KH Carer and have it setup and calibrated. So far I really like it. The first test showed a pH of 8.0 and a alkalinity reading of 8.4. I check the Hydros controller and it showed 8.06 for pH. I ran an alkalinity test with my Hanna checker and it had a reading of 8.4 also. On that test there was nothing from the previous test to dump back into the tank. The second test shower a pH of 7.5 and a alkalinity reading of 8.0. I think I had the waste line from the tester and the saltwater intake too close to each other in the sump. So I moved the intake line to a chamber upstream. It will be noon before it repeats again. I will see then. It will also add buffering to the tank if the alkalinity is below a set point you can set. I think I am really going to like this thing. It takes 30 minutes to complete the test. It came with a small bottle of the reagent that you mix with 980ml of RO water to make 1000ml of reagent. It used 29.3ml for the two test.

Hopefully this doesn't sound negative.

I would not trust 1 over the other when comparing the 3 test.

None of the test options available to the hobbyists has been shown to be lab grade. Instead it's best to keep running the 3 test and log each. Then compare the 3 graphs to see if the trend the same pattern.

Once you know they do. You can use 1 or 2 of them as checks if you need to check the results of the main one.

n2585722 · Nov 27, 2022

Shooter6 said:
Hopefully this doesn't sound negative.

I would not trust 1 over the other when comparing the 3 test.

None of the test options available to the hobbyists has been shown to be lab grade. Instead it's best to keep running the 3 test and log each. Then compare the 3 graphs to see if the trend the same pattern.

Once you know they do. You can use 1 or 2 of them as checks if you need to check the results of the main one.

Most hobbyist would not by lab grade. It is too expensive and most things we test has a lot range where it is ok in most cases. So if you shoot for middle ground it will be ok if it is off a small percentage. I know we used to spend $800 for a temp sensor for our acid baths. That was just a sensor and there were 4 of those on a single bath. One for each heating element. We do not need to be as accurate with things as hobbyist. I did need to recalibrate things today but I kind of expected that. It is normal for pH probes to change some the first 2-3 days of use. I will keep an eye on it for a few days. I set it up to auto teat at 6am, noon and 6pm for a couple of days at least. When I am home I can check it against my Hanna. after recalibrating they were close again.