Experience with GHL KH Director -- SOS

esther · Mar 15, 2020

JKenny said:
Just a thought...

GHL computes the milliliters volume of their intake tube based on a 4mm internal diameter tube. You tell it the length of your tube and it converts that to a "ML" volume - and then advise you to just add 7ml to your total calculation to allow for the GHL filter volume.
Perhaps, if the RC filter is larger/smaller than 4mm internally then the "sample tube ml" amount would need to be adjusted?

I'm gonna try calibrating with actual fluid in the tube tomorrow (too dang tired from working all of this today), but I'm using all of the stuff that GHL provided, so it should be correct.

JKenny · Mar 15, 2020

Following up on what AquaPhilNJ shared, I did end up doing the "calibration" step on the Reagent pump a total of 4x in the same measuring cylinder and then just dividing by 4 to get a more exact measurement.

AZMSGT · Mar 16, 2020

JKenny said:
Just a thought...

GHL computes the milliliters volume of their intake tube based on a 4mm internal diameter tube. You tell it the length of your tube and it converts that to a "ML" volume - and then advise you to just add 7ml to your total calculation to allow for the GHL filter volume.
Perhaps, if the RC filter is larger/smaller than 4mm internally then the "sample tube ml" amount would need to be adjusted?

Don't get your head wrapped around the axle on the RC Airplane Filter. They can't be bought anymore. It's not meant to be used for this, use the GHL filter. Just use the GHL filter as I described earlier.

The entire reason for the measuring of lines and all that is so the Doser adds those numbers to the amount needed to fill the test compartment. It has to draw in the amount of water for the test and for the line. Don't over think this process.

esther · Mar 16, 2020

So, the two tests that ran over night were at 6.1 dKH and 6.2 dKH. Just measured the actual liquid in the test sample line and it was 34mL vs. 38mL using the instructions GHL gave. Just ran a test with the new measurement and got 6.2dKH. Line placement in pump shown in picture below (third chamber of sump, right before return).

I'm going to recalibrate probes again and see if that may be the issue. :mad:

esther · Mar 16, 2020

Before calibrating the pH probe, I let it sit in the 4.0 and 7.0 pH solution for a while (each) and it showed 3.9 in the 4 solution and 6.9 in the 7 solution. Then I went through the recalibration process again. ADC1 @ pH4 was 50928 and ADC2 @ pH7 was at 28539. Ran another test and it came out at 6.3 dKH. I seriously don't know what to do next. Any tips?

@Vinny@GHLUSA @Matthias Gross

JKenny · Mar 16, 2020

Esther, not certain how much help this might be, but,
My numbers are not too far off of yours. I'm at 48,081 & 27,293. I would think the variance is within reason...

Other advise I could offer is that I ran the calibration of the pumps a few times and this last time I doubled up on the intake and output calibrations and did the Reagent calibration 4x and then divided the results to get a more correct measurement.

Only other thing I can think of is my last effort had the filter on the intake so that it was held in a vertical position. When it was only partially vertical, or even horizontal, I did notice that it would put more air into the tube many seconds after the pump started pulling.

Very frustrating... Good luck...

Oldreefer44 · Mar 16, 2020

I went through the same issues to the point where they had me send mine back for them to fix. Once it was back it worked for about a day then the doser quit. Way too cumbersome vs. Trident I am using now.

lmm1967 · Mar 16, 2020

are you positive you don't have air getting in any lines? What is your sample volume?

esther · Mar 16, 2020

lmm1967 said:
are you positive you don't have air getting in any lines? What is your sample volume?

Yup. Sat here and watched the sample water go in. No air bubbles the last time I ran test.

lmm1967 · Mar 16, 2020

esther said:
Yup. Sat here and watched the sample water go in. No air bubbles the last time I ran test.

I would be more worried about the reagent line.

And - what is your sample size? the larger that is the more accurate the tests (might) be

esther · Mar 16, 2020

lmm1967 said:
I would be more worried about the reagent line.

And - what is your sample size? the larger that is the more accurate the tests (might) be

80ml. Should I try 100? That’s something I haven’t tried yet. I vented the internal reagent tube and I don’t think I see any bubbles. Anything I should try to make sure that there aren’t any in that line?

esther · Mar 16, 2020

OLDREEFER44 said:
I went through the same issues to the point where they had me send mine back for them to fix. Once it was back it worked for about a day then the doser quit. Way too cumbersome vs. Trident I am using now.

Did you just send back your KH Director to be fixed? Not the dosers? Just curious.

esther · Mar 16, 2020

lmm1967 said:
I would be more worried about the reagent line.

And - what is your sample size? the larger that is the more accurate the tests (might) be

You're not going to believe this, but I upped the sample size to 100ml. The dKH registered at 9.4. I'm now going to run the following tests to see what I get:

95mL sample size
90 mL sample size
85ml sample size

All of the other tests I was running with an 80mL sample size. Any ideas why it would be so off at 80mL?

esther · Mar 16, 2020

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

Honestly, if it weren't for your suggestions (@AZMSGT, @JKenny @AquaPhilNJ), I would have thrown my KH Director into the ocean.

I made the following changes and we're back in business!!

Put the filter at the end of the sample line in my sump. Shook it to death so all the air bubbles came out.
Sealed the line connection on the water filter with a small zip tie.
I ended up calibrating the pump speeds 4X and took the average and used that for the measurement.
I moved the water sample intake to a different part of the sump and shortened the line.
Instead of measuring the sample water tube with a ruler, I filled it with water and then measured the exact ml of water that came out. Definitely a different measurement than measuring the length of line with a ruler.
Switched to a sample size of 100mL instead of 80mL.

Michael Gray · Mar 16, 2020

I'll have to check this list once I get my warranty replacement pH probe. Should be here any day. Like Wednesday. Since it was going out Thursday I believe of last week. But mine was pretty dialed at 7.5dkh. But of course I'll have to test test and prob recalibrate all my pumps. Especially since the new firmware update. Gotta confirm everything.

JKenny · Mar 17, 2020

esther, I can appreciate your frustration and I'm very happy it has now worked out.

Onward and upward!

Xclusive Reef · Apr 15, 2020

OLDREEFER44 said:
I went through the same issues to the point where they had me send mine back for them to fix. Once it was back it worked for about a day then the doser quit. Way too cumbersome vs. Trident I am using now.

do you need to send the GHL to get calibrated like you need with the Trident?

Xclusive Reef · Apr 15, 2020

Debating on getting GHL but can someone tell me what are the costs associated with GHL kh Director? other than the price of the unit, do you need to replace the probe often and how much do you spend on reagents on average?