Would you invest a grand for a KH Guardian?

[Jeremy@CoralVue]

For CoralVue, Christmas really did come early this year! We have the pleasure of getting hands on with the very first automatic alkalinity controller by the brilliant minds of Dr. Bridge. The KH Guardian is without a doubt one of the most innovative, exciting and ultimate game changing aquarium product of this century.

I really could not believe it, here sits an all-in-one device that automatically monitors and manages alkalinity values throughout the day. Such an instrument is often considered "the holy grail" and can dramatically simplify and improve the way we manage our KH parameters. I admit it, I was overly excited. We are literally talking about managing KH values with precise control! The dream soon came to an end when Carlos took it home with him for testing.


Here are some of the unboxing photos:

 

[tj w]

I definitely would invest a grand for one..if the return was favorable of course.[emoji6]

 

[Jeremy@CoralVue]

Here is a photo of the KH Guardian on display in Hong Ma Aquarium shop Taiwan for maintaining SPS tank.
As you can see it is a fairly compact, easy install and simple operation. Shown here with a acrylic cover to shield the unit from water damage and easy sump mounting.

 

[Jeremy@CoralVue]

The KHG requires a direct ethernet connection to your network to work out of the box. The alternate solution, if your tank does not have network cable long enough or just not practical you can simply purchase a mini pocket router for less than 20USD as seen below.

 

[Klaw2474]

Any plans to integrate with Apex?

 

[Carlos@CoralVue]

If Neptune is open to working with us, we are more than happy to our best to make it happen.

 

[-Logzor]

If Neptune is open to working with us, we are more than happy to our best to make it happen.

Carlos this looks awesome! While hooking it up to Apex would be neat, I honestly prefer stand alone solutions in most cases. For example I like my dosing pumps on their own system system, fewer failure points. With the Apex, if the "head" gets cut off all the systems fail. I prefer the "hydra" approach. While I love my Apex, if it does fail, then most of my critical life systems keep running.

 

[deaclauderdale]

What will the continued regent replacement cost be?

 

[tripdad]

Is the ethernet connection just for remote monitoring or is it for actual operation? As far as price goes, maybe. With the cost associated with lost sps corals seems like a no brainer at first. Once I get my emotions in check I would like to see a lower price point and here's why. With the reagent costs(is there a reagent), and possible controller purchase the real cost could be much higher. A stand alone at say $700.00 would be a home run in my book. At a $1000.00 plus add-ons I may have to think real hard.

 

[Jeremy@CoralVue]

What will the continued regent replacement cost be?

We still don't have all the details in pricing but it is a concentrated formula reagent that you mix with RO/DI water. So I would image it being fairly affordable.

 

[Tom Blevins]

Following, Yes I would, I look at it like this,if I had a Homewrecker and had an issue where my
KH dropped to a point and lost my 1/2" coral it's almost paid for itself

 

[eg8r210]

I know a LOT of people were complaining about the price of the Mindstream and it did a ton more than just Alk testing. I can't imagine too many people being excited about a grand for just Alk testing.

 

[tripdad]

This is not "just Alk testing", it is a true maintenance tool that doses the tank after testing first , continuously.

 

[eg8r210]

This is not "just Alk testing", it is a true maintenance tool that doses the tank after testing first , continuously.

Most people who are "interested" have already invested in a doser or CaRx and test once a week, maybe daily. The test takes 20 seconds to do and you are already dosing. For me, $1k extra to do the same thing is excessive. What's next, $1k for Calcium, $1k for phosphates, etc. Where would it end? Mindstream offers MUCH more for around the same money or a little less and is missing a doser which most people already have.

 

[eg8r210]

Just for clarification, this thread seems like it is testing the waters on price so that is the only thing I am commenting on. As far as what it does, I think this is AWESOME!!! I love the direction the industry is headed with products like this. I also like that it takes up MUCH less room than the Alk tester that was demo'd at MACNA which Neptune is testing.

 

[tripdad]

I did not mean to sound attackful, was just too brief, sorry. This is a true "Halo" device in most SPS keeper's minds as rock solid stability takes a lot of work to achieve on a continuous basis and this device is simple plug and play, more or less according to the beta testers. Anyone who has ever watched a tank full of acro's decline because of a doser failure and being a day or two late with testing get's the worth of this or similar equipment. This would mean only looking a data read-out daily and maybe a verification test once a week. That means more time for family, friends or even acro' shopping! But I do get it, that's a lot of money for the mainstream reefer.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Most people who are "interested" have already invested in a doser or CaRx and test once a week, maybe daily. The test takes 20 seconds to do and you are already dosing. For me, $1k extra to do the same thing is excessive. What's next, $1k for Calcium, $1k for phosphates, etc. Where would it end? Mindstream offers MUCH more for around the same money or a little less and is missing a doser which most people already have.

This is pretty much my thought as well. If all this deals with is Alk, $1K is going to be out of bounds. This is especially true since there are multiple companies already working on monitors that will do Alk + other stuff. Even with the dosing apparatus, most of us who would be interested in buying this already have a CaRx or dosing equipment and usually a controller. I think half of $1K would draw interest, but going much above that is going to cause most of us to lose interest IMHO.

 

[tcarter1936]

I love it, as far as price I personally can't afford it.
However if I could I would buy one In a heartbeat but the way I like to do it with new products is wait until It's got time and reviews backing it up.
Still I'm ecstatic about the revealing of these devices.
Keep up the good work

 

[hawkinsrgk]

I have been following the Facebook page for KH Guardian and think this is absolutely awesome. I am not sure I would spend a grand for it though. Honestly I am not sure this would fit my needs

The amount of Alk that I dose is used to determine how much calcium and magnesium gets dosed. So if I dose 150ml of alk I would also dose 150ml of a calcium magnesium mix

I think a lot of people dose calcium based on alk consumption

 

[eg8r210]

I have been following the Facebook page for KH Guardian and think this is absolutely awesome. I am not sure I would spend a grand for it though. Honestly I am not sure this would fit my needs

The amount of Alk that I dose is used to determine how much calcium and magnesium gets dosed. So if I dose 150ml of alk I would also dose 150ml of a calcium magnesium mix

I think a lot of people dose calcium based on alk consumption

Well with this system you would definitely want to pay close attention to the meanderings of the dosage amount so that you can keep up with your other dosing needs.