KH Guardian: Automatic Alkalinity Controller- My Experiences

[TheEngineer]

yeah and as mentioned above, not really any neat ways to mount or stand the unit either. Plus the "chamber" that holds the tank water and reagent falls off waaaaaaaaay too easily

oh and $1000? $1269USD!

Oh that's even worse. Ugh!

 

[Jonty]

yeah and as mentioned above, not really any neat ways to mount or stand the unit either. Plus the "chamber" that holds the tank water and reagent falls off waaaaaaaaay too easily

oh and $1000? $1269USD!

I do not see that on my unit do you have some links where people have had this problem?

 

[samparker]

No link, just personal experience.

 

[samparker]

plus the fact that it comes shipped with tape to hold it on

 

[Angel53]

I do not want to sound like a skeptic but it seems that this product was rolled out prematurely. At $1,269 you think that many of these concerns should have been addressed. Just my 2 cents.

 

[justingraham]

I do not want to sound like a skeptic but it seems that this product was rolled out prematurely. At $1,269 you think that many of these concerns should have been addressed. Just my 2 cents.

I agree my two cents as well that's four cents total we're almost to the 1269 for the unit

 

[Robthorn]

I do not want to sound like a skeptic but it seems that this product was rolled out prematurely. At $1,269 you think that many of these concerns should have been addressed. Just my 2 cents.

All products are rolled out prematurely. Even when being tested for many years. Lol

 

[samparker]

I still stand by my point that if it does what it says it will on the box, it's worth the money. Is it a little rough around the edges? Yes. Will they get cheaper as competition comes out - likely. Still - let's not forget what a huge milestone this is for reef keeping!

 

[Angel53]

That may be so but not with a product that can be catastrophic to our tanks.

 

[samparker]

all the more reason why you are not meant to leave the entire alk supplementing up to the KHG.

 

[Jonty]

Great service fromCoralvue, new unit coming to me today

 

[Mike220]

Following to see it

 

[Rick.45cal]

Awesome news @Jonty glad they are taking care of you.

I didn't get as much time as I wanted to work on it today, but I have the LAN set up, electrical is ran, I made reservoirs (ran all over town looking for rigid airline tubing) and finished up running all the hoses. Tomorrow I will calibrate the probes and then go through the setup process.

 

[samparker]

I haven't connected up the alk solution to dose yet, just want to ensure it is testing accurately. I have it on my frag tank for ease of setup and access

 

[Rick.45cal]

I haven't connected up the alk solution to dose yet, just want to ensure it is testing accurately. I have it on my frag tank for ease of setup and access

Sam, I'm going to test mine by letting it test my alkalinity then I will change the set point to make it dose various amounts. ( like .1 dKH, then try and make it dose what I have the maximum set at, and then above the maximum). Each time I will make it dose sodium bicarbonate into a graduated cylinder so that I can check and see if it is making reasonable dosages, also testing to see that it won't' exceed the maximum quantity that I enter.

Hopefully it will (both work) and prove itself too me. In the meantime, my alk has been slowly creeping up, so I am backing off my additions to get it to start creeping down. Once it drops below where I want it initially (7.5 dKH) then I will turn it loose on my tank.

I appologize for anyone who is antsy with me for not getting this thing running yet, but I am trying to be very dilligent and not overlook anything in the installation. I'm also doing my best to try and make sure it isn't going to crash my tank when I do get it going.

 

[itwired]

One more strange thing, periodically the unit will lose its DHCP assignment and show 0.0.0.0 and you are unable to communicate with the KH Guardian, at this point powering off the unit and reboot is your only option. This has happened a dozen times in the two hours I had the unit turned on.

give it a static Ip make life a little easier for you and if you want to setup remote access

 

[NCreefguy]

I appologize for anyone who is antsy with me for not getting this thing running yet

<-------- Raises hand


Take your time. Getting in a hurry might cause you to miss something.

 

[Jonty]

I have a few comments for next version.
1. There should be a toggle for monitor or dose mode.
2. The unit screams for a proper mounting solution.
3. Software should be made to accommodate any ALK solution and be able to monitor effect of dosing and recalibrate dose amount accordingly.
4. Data should be stored in cloud for easy monitoring.
5. BNC output for integration with a controller
6. built in WiFi

 

[Rick.45cal]

@samparker @Jonty can you guys offer me some advice on how to get it to pull saltwater into the unit. I can't seem to get it too move any water in the SW in tube.

 

[Rick.45cal]

Ok, so I've gotten it to draw reagent into the controller, but it won't draw the sodium bicarbonate solution or saltwater into the unit. I also can't test the purge pump because once again, it won't draw water into the unit.