ION Director - measuring Ca + Mg

[road_runner]

One thing that gives me more confidence in this project is GHL's probe maker. I have no idea who makes their probes, but the current probes they have for the profilux and kh director are excellent! I get that ion selective probes is a whole different ball game, but it can't hurt that the probes they currently offer are extremely accurate and last for a very long time! I know that GHL understands this is the key to make this ion director a success. If they hadn't already had some promising results for the past couple years, we wouldn't be talking about it here yet.

Pretty excited to see this develop! I know there's at least one other company that recently popped up using the same technology. Who knows if or when that will develop? My confidence lies in the company itself, not the technology. GHL has been around a long time and isn't going to leave us waiting for years and years. Nor are they going to dissapear if issues arise!

Agreed and it's so important. Crazy how many peopl will tell you they gave up on the salinity and ph probs in their apex.. srsly.

 

[Potatohead]

Phosphate for me is more important than nitrate. However with that said if the product launched with phosphate to come later, I would still buy it. Of course, phosphate better actually come later... At reasonable cost...

The fact it works with an SA 2.1 is awesome. I don’t have a Profilux and I’m hesitant to get a controller but my 2.1 is an awesome piece of equipment. This is why GHL rocks, not only great quality but the modularity of the entire system is excellent. Not forcing guys like me to buy a Profilux to get the Ion Director is fantastic, because in that case I would probably skip it.

 

[JoshH]

This is why GHL rocks, not only great quality but the modularity of the entire system is excellent. Not forcing guys like me to buy a Profilux to get the Ion Director is fantastic.

I agree 100% Having a SA Doser work in place of a full controller is genius and another HUGE reason why I'm such a fan of GHL.

 

[Brew12]

Hi,

haven't written here for a longer time for a good reason, I justed wanted to see how my experiments go.
It seems that Nitrate works, but Phosphate seems a problem since the concentrations are usually very low in our marine water tanks. In general it is possible to measure, but these small values give not a sufficient accuracy.
What do you think - is Nitrate enough or is Phosphate a must-have? Maybe we start with the rest and add Phosphate later when we are OK with the results.

Furthermore I am working on getting the costs down, especially the recurring costs.

Please excuse the recent silence, just don't want to announce uncertain things.

Even when I don't comment everything: Please continue to discuss here, your thoughts and concerns are very appreciated and welcome, this helps me to develop the right product, I read all posts here.

Personally, I would be thrilled if the PO4 test was little more than a "go-no go" test that verified the value between 0.02 and 0.08 (give or take). I don't care if it is 0.03 or 0.06 considering that is outside the accuracy of most test anyway.

 

[Billldg]

Honest question, why couldn't we have all these test along with Alk in one controller and not 2?

 

[Torx]

Honest question, why couldn't we have all these test along with Alk in one controller and not 2?

There is no probe that tests for alk, only via reaction from reagent. The controller would be just as big to combine them into one with all the pumps and such. It also give you the freedom of choosing what you want instead of forced.

 

[WWIII]

The method to measure alkalinity in the kh director is an acid reduces the ph of the sample down to roughly 4.5. The amount of acid added calculates the alkalinity. There is no ion selective probe that I'm aware of that can measure alkalinity. So we would need a whole seperate section of the ion director that runs the ph reduction test. If you've seen inside the kh director, there's not a ton of empty space. I guess you could put them all in the same box, but it would be pretty large and expensive.

 

[road_runner]

The method to measure alkalinity in the kh director is an acid reduces the ph of the sample down to roughly 4.5. The amount of acid added calculates the alkalinity. There is no ion selective probe that I'm aware of that can measure alkalinity. So we would need a whole seperate section of the ion director that runs the ph reduction test. If you've seen inside the kh director, there's not a ton of empty space. I guess you could put them all in the same box, but it would be pretty large and expensive.

That's the same method as the khg. I believe this was developed by randy holms if am not mistaken.

 

[chikanot]

Personally I would like Ion to have all 4 (Ca, Mg, NO3, PO4) during the release. Neither DHL nor custom release are cost/troublesome friendly to far east.
Thus far GHL support is a top notch plus all the parts could be bought separately (unlike Ecotech). Long may it continue.

 

[Matthias Gross]

One thing that gives me more confidence in this project is GHL's probe maker. I have no idea who makes their probes, but the current probes they have for the profilux and kh director are excellent! I get that ion selective probes is a whole different ball game, but it can't hurt that the probes they currently offer are extremely accurate and last for a very long time! I know that GHL understands this is the key to make this ion director a success. If they hadn't already had some promising results for the past couple years, we wouldn't be talking about it here yet.

Pretty excited to see this develop! I know there's at least one other company that recently popped up using the same technology. Who knows if or when that will develop? My confidence lies in the company itself, not the technology. GHL has been around a long time and isn't going to leave us waiting for years and years. Nor are they going to dissapear if issues arise!

Thanks for the positive feedback about our probes. Yes, we have always used the best probes I could find, I did a lot of tests and research. All probes are made in Germany, from the same 2 companies for 20 years now. All pH and ORP probes are double junction probes, we never had the cheaper single junction version.
I wrote something about this in our FAQ here:
https://www.aquariumcomputer.com/support/faqs/#1544275617719-e411fbea-c9e7
(just enter "double" in the search field to find that article quicker)

The probes for the ION Director are a completely different technology, that's why I have to do here a lot of testing until we can offer the ION Director with confidence. The accuracy, but also the life span and the (recurring) costs are here the key factors.

 

[Lasse]

We assume one technology – but we do not know which will be used in this equipment. With experiences of measurements with old school ion selective electrodes – I will say – this need an another approach for measurements in the hobby compared with old school ion selective probes.

I write this before I saw Matthias post above. The post confirm my thoughts.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Lasse]

Thanks for the positive feedback about our probes. Yes, we have always used the best probes I could find, I did a lot of tests and research. All probes are made in Germany, from the same 2 companies for 20 years now. All pH and ORP probes are double junction probes, we never had the cheaper single junction version.
I wrote something about this in our FAQ here:
https://www.aquariumcomputer.com/support/faqs/#1544275617719-e411fbea-c9e7

Your right in this. I have hard tested your pH electrodes in very hard environment (outside the hobby) - they are outstanding. When electrodes with cost more than the double of yours fail after 1/2 a year - your just keep on working.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[siggy]

I just revived my ICP results Iodine is zero and tin is off the charts. I looked at several reefers results here and see that 3 out of 5 have low iodine as well.....Does anyone have a test for tin? not suggesting for this but just asking.

 

[road_runner]

I just revived my ICP results Iodine is zero and tin is off the charts. I looked at several reefers results here and see that 3 out of 5 have low iodine as well.....Does anyone have a test for tin? not suggesting for this but just asking.

I almost always have zero I in my monthly Triton ICP. Unless if I get water sample like day of my I dosing its alwayes zero.
I think it have something to do with how quick I bound in the water column wor something like that. Randy holms have explained to me once
So I do not stress about the icp results. I do my dosing and kind observe my blue sps. Usually iodine impact blue. When my echinata blue tips fade I take as iodine is low so I increase a bit more....
Careful do not overdose iodin....

 

[Vinny@GHLUSA Verified Sponsor]

Just want to say thank you to everyone who has contributed so far to this thread and our Ion Director poll. All of this great information will really help us in fine-tuning the product you deserve.

Once we have some more news to share, we'll let you all know!

Let's keep the discussion going.

 

[JoshH]

Just want to say thank you to everyone who has contributed so far to this thread and our Ion Director poll. All of this great information will really help us in fine-tuning the product you deserve.

Once we have some more news to share, we'll let you all know!

Let's keep the discussion going.

Come on @Vinny@GHLUSA You know you wanna make a QT Copper tester/controller

 

[Brew12]

Come on @Vinny@GHLUSA You know you wanna make a QT Copper tester/controller

I think you forget that GHL is a European company and the use of copper is much lower in Europe than it is here. There would be very little demand in it's home market.

 

[Brew12]

Let's keep the discussion going.

I agree. We can start by discussing how you plan on posting new information for us here at least weekly!

 

[JoshH]

I think you forget that GHL is a European company and the use of copper is much lower in Europe than it is here. There would be very little demand in it's home market.

Oh I'm not forgetting any thing I think the demand here in North America would compensate more than enough for the lack of demand in Europe. But just my thoughts

 

[Brew12]

Oh I'm not forgetting any thing I think the demand here in North America would compensate more than enough for the lack of demand in Europe. But just my thoughts

It would likely be limited to just the US since copper fish meds have also been banned in Canada (although I'm sure they can still get copper sulfate). With so many people who do treat for copper complaining about the cost of a Hanna checker I can't see many paying 10 times that for an automatic tester.