KH Guardian: Automatic Alkalinity Controller- My Experiences

[eltonw]

The result is a slight drop in what its reading for KH. Still substantially higher than the other two tests I ran. It showed 10.7 dkh this time, while my hanna checker says 9.1 and my red sea titration says 8.7. Log below - also noticed it did not error this time.

09/12 08:47:50 W.119 %0 AK. 0.00 KH :10.70

Drop out Hanna and Red sea and try to use Salifert. It is more stable.
And please refer the manual figure 6 in page 4 you can see the exact place that plastic probe needs to settle.
By the way each probe has tolerance itself so you need to use ADJ KH function in system set up to make the value you need.

 

[maxwell]

Hi
I have been running the KH guardian for several months and its been great ,the only thing I would say is to have the length of the dosing KH and reagent tubes as short as possible and if after setting it up and your getting the error messages switch it off and check all the tubing it may need a few goes at degasing to run water to the system.
Bill

 

[maxwell]

Hi
In the last week I cleaned out the dastaco reactor and topped up the media so I have had to start fine tuning the KH level its set point is 8.0KH and the dastaco is running under that level so dosing can take place .I am now fine tuning the dastaco to give me a level of 8.0KH to minimise the dosing levels of the Guardian if that makes sense,heres the readings it will take a couple of weeks to get it within and average of 0.1 as that's what its been running at
Bill

 

[BoomCorals]

Drop out Hanna and Red sea and try to use Salifert. It is more stable.
And please refer the manual figure 6 in page 4 you can see the exact place that plastic probe needs to settle.
By the way each probe has tolerance itself so you need to use ADJ KH function in system set up to make the value you need.

Thanks for this. The manual I have is outdated and doesn't have figure 6! I am happy to report that your fix did the trick. Thank you so much!!!

 

[BoomCorals]

Drop out Hanna and Red sea and try to use Salifert. It is more stable.
And please refer the manual figure 6 in page 4 you can see the exact place that plastic probe needs to settle.
By the way each probe has tolerance itself so you need to use ADJ KH function in system set up to make the value you need.

Ok I have to ask, where did you get this manual from with this figure 6 image? When I am on coralvue's website there is no manual at all for the KH Monitor. So I had downloaded the manual for the KH Guardian instead to at least get me going. The manual in the KH Guardian only has the figure 5 image, which is why my PH probe was set incorrectly. Where is the manual for the KH monitor, or at the least, the updated one that has figure 6?

If you go here and then click the downloads tab there is no manual:
http://www.coralvue.com/kh-guardian-alkalinity-monitor

 

[eltonw]

Ok I have to ask, where did you get this manual from with this figure 6 image? When I am on coralvue's website there is no manual at all for the KH Monitor. So I had downloaded the manual for the KH Guardian instead to at least get me going. The manual in the KH Guardian only has the figure 5 image, which is why my PH probe was set incorrectly. Where is the manual for the KH monitor, or at the least, the updated one that has figure 6?

If you go here and then click the downloads tab there is no manual:
http://www.coralvue.com/kh-guardian-alkalinity-monitor

All of this info upgrade on our official web site.
www.khguardian.com
And I also informed Coralvue to upgrade their side yesterday, so you may see it on their web.

 

[eltonw]

Hi
In the last week I cleaned out the dastaco reactor and topped up the media so I have had to start fine tuning the KH level its set point is 8.0KH and the dastaco is running under that level so dosing can take place .I am now fine tuning the dastaco to give me a level of 8.0KH to minimise the dosing levels of the Guardian if that makes sense,heres the readings it will take a couple of weeks to get it within and average of 0.1 as that's what its been running at
Bill

We have many KHG users use calcium reactor to supply the KH material to tank. The situation like you said we believe it is from the reactor efficacy still not goes to top that is why AK value always stay at 50 ( your MLQ set at 50). So i have to suggestions for you.
1. Wait some days until your rector efficacy goes to top.
2. Enlarge MLQ. you may put around 100.

 

[maxwell]

Elton
Many thanks , my post was to confirm my satisfaction with the guardian as it highlighted the issues with the reactor which I believe I have resolved and I am in the process of fine tuning the set up(I am aware it will take several weeks to level out ) .I previously had the same issues with the reactor and lost several large colonies and that was the reason in purchasing the Guardian which in this incident I was immediately seeing the data and resolved the issue without any loses thus paying for itself .
Bill

 

[Mike810]

I figured I'd do this as a separate post. My KHG is officially on the fritz/blink. It's unplugged and I have a ticket open with Coralvue.

Here is basically what I said:
So everything was humming along nicely and then I started to get SW<ERR. The reaction chamber is purging properly and I can manually fill the chamber and have it purge out. The White water level sensor seems to be sliding back and forth without issues. What I can't get it to do is take water in. When I try the SW Tube Degas the doser sorta clicks once and then stops. Nothing I can do seems to get water to go into the reaction chamber or get the pump to run continuously.

09/09 03:07:54 W.0 KS=57D L%1 S%0 SW<_ERR KH :7.86
09/09 07:11:08 W.0 KS=0D L%0 S%0 SW<_ERR KH :0.00
09/09 11:14:23 W.0 KS=0D L%0 S%0 SW<_ERR KH :0.00
09/09 15:17:38 W.0 KS=0D L%0 S%0 SW<_ERR KH :0.00
09/09 15:39:50 Test KH doser
09/09 15:48:42 Test KH doser
09/09 15:53:49 RESET !
09/09 15:57:16 W.0 KS=0D L%0 S%0 SW<_ERR KH :0.00
09/09 16:01:52 RESET !
09/09 16:02:21 W.0 KS=0D L%0 S%0 SW<_ERR KH :0.00
09/09 16:05:34 RESET !

I had the issue, initially I would get SW>ERR for several weeks. Then just a couple weeks ago, I got the SW<ERR and like you, could not pull in water and the doser would make a slight turn and stop. I just got my KHG back from coralvue Tuesday morning and it's running okay now so I hope this doesn't happen again. The KHG was only in use for about a month or so.

 

[Mike810]

Please check your ph probe on monitor settled in correct position?

How do you know if we got the lab grade or other probe? I assume the lab grade is glass and the other probe is plastic per the updated manual?

 

[eltonw]

How do you know if we got the lab grade or other probe? I assume the lab grade is glass and the other probe is plastic per the updated manual?

We only provide Lab grade glass probe for Control version and plastic one for Monitor version. So we put both info on our web for user aware.

In fact if you use other brand probe then KHG will no give you correct testing value. due the different brand has different size so it will impact on the sample water qty in reaction chamber.

 

[Jonty]

What is the life of the PH probe used in the Pro version and what should the calibration interval be?
How would we know that the probe is no longer working well enough to provide accurate results?

 

[agent462]

Elton
Many thanks , my post was to confirm my satisfaction with the guardian as it highlighted the issues with the reactor which I believe I have resolved and I am in the process of fine tuning the set up(I am aware it will take several weeks to level out ) .I previously had the same issues with the reactor and lost several large colonies and that was the reason in purchasing the Guardian which in this incident I was immediately seeing the data and resolved the issue without any loses thus paying for itself .
Bill

This is an excerpt from a different thread but I just went through something similar, highlighting why a KH device is awesome:

A great example of why my KHG is awesome or any of these devices in reality. The other day I tore down my calcium reactor to clean, change media, fix a leaky connector, etc. It usually takes a few days to a week to get the calcium reactor dialed back in after a full tear down. The KHG has kept the alkalinity in check by dosing almost every time it checks. Usually it only doses a tiny bit once per day. It's been dosing the max amount I allow it every time it checks. The alkalinity is mostly staying stable in the range I want. The only thing I could do different but I won't is allow it to dose more alkalinity solution so it's not doing max.

 

[eltonw]

What is the life of the PH probe used in the Pro version and what should the calibration interval be?
How would we know that the probe is no longer working well enough to provide accurate results?

Good question!!
When we start selling KHG we always told buyer "please buy one extra probe and exchange it every 3-4 moths and calibrate them every 6 months. It will keep your probe stay an active situation and make it with longer life."

From our test lab experience, when you see the value jump with a large different like 6.7 jump to 7.8 or 8.6 that is to say you have to change it.
Normally lab grade probe we will suggest change it about 1 or 1.5 years and plastic MUST to change it after 1 year.

However currently the longest GLASS LAB grade probe we use 4 years and it still runs every well.

 

[eltonw]

This is an excerpt from a different thread but I just went through something similar, highlighting why a KH device is awesome:

A great example of why my KHG is awesome or any of these devices in reality. The other day I tore down my calcium reactor to clean, change media, fix a leaky connector, etc. It usually takes a few days to a week to get the calcium reactor dialed back in after a full tear down. The KHG has kept the alkalinity in check by dosing almost every time it checks. Usually it only doses a tiny bit once per day. It's been dosing the max amount I allow it every time it checks. The alkalinity is mostly staying stable in the range I want. The only thing I could do different but I won't is allow it to dose more alkalinity solution so it's not doing max.

Great experience!!!

 

[agent462]

As I posted before, my unit started acting up. My unit will be heading back to Coralvue for service. Wang Zheng Yi did a great job giving me additional things to try and I appreciate it.

He also sent me their youtube page which has some good video resources:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTbOgCxnrSYHPRu0P6bDudA

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

From our test lab experience, when you see the value jump with a large different like 6.7 jump to 7.8 or 8.6 that is to say you have to change it.
Normally lab grade probe we will suggest change it about 1 or 1.5 years and plastic MUST to change it after 1 year.

However currently the longest GLASS LAB grade probe we use 4 years and it still runs every well.

That may be your experience with some particular probes you selected, but I have had plastic body electrodes in my sump for years without problems with it, and would not assume that all plastic body electrodes are lower quality than glass types. Many very high quality epoxy body electrodes exist and some cost many hundreds of dollars each.

I can't see how the body material determines probe life, since, IME, it is never the body that fails.

 

[Jonty]

Coralvue does not sell the probe can we just use any lab grade probe ? This does add considerably to the cost of operation . I do not understand some of your response do we change probes every 3-4 months or every 18 months?

 

[BoomCorals]

Where can we buy replacement probes, since we MUST use the one specifically for the KHG?

 

[deaclauderdale]

Here is my completed solution made by a fellow reefer morpheas for mounting my Guardian.

The Guardian sets perfectly in the bracket that has all the proper cutouts for the hoses, PH connector etc.

The piece on the left is what I had crafted in response to a question Jonty posed about securing my reaction chamber. It's an adjustable paddle the sets against the chamber. All parts are 3D printed.