nicholas2010e
Active Member
you should make a video about how to make one. Or you should sell them as a cheaper alternative to what’s on the market
DIY Alkalinity Monitor
- Thread starter Borat
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Anthony Scholfield
Valuable Member
My question is what kind of cost to build one? Is it actually cheaper to build your own? Whats the time put in? Difficulty rating?
How does this compare to say the alkatronic which sells for about $900 buck a roos?!
This is very cool and awesome job!
How does this compare to say the alkatronic which sells for about $900 buck a roos?!
This is very cool and awesome job!
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Borat
Valuable Member
I have made a lot of DIY devices for my tank, in fact almost everything (other than return pump and powerheads) is DIY'd:
- Powerhead controller
- 100w light bar (similar to Orphek Atlantik, dimmable, active cooling etc)
- ATS
- Refugium light
- Leak detector
- Calcium reactor and controller with 2 PH probe
- Peristaltic pump
- Alkalinity monitor
Some people DIY for money savings reasons, I rather do it out of curiocity - I prefer craftwork over beer lifting/TV staring. I also like to customise my devices to my liking, rather than accept the functionality provided by the manufacturer.
Obviously I do think how much money went into the project and how much it would have cost me to buy one.
Money-wise DIY versus buy typically have 2 types of monetary savings:
- immediate savings, such as the initial build cost vs purchase price
- long term savings, such as being able to repair your device for a buck or two instead of buying a new one (not all commercially made devices have spare parts available) and not being tied to standard reagents.
Of the 4 big projects that I completed this year:
- ATS cost me £100 to build, versus probably £300-£400 commercial alternative, great money savings!
- light bar cost me about £300 to build, this is only a touch cheaper than buying the closest 100w light (Reefled 90), no money savings here!
- calcium reactor with 2 PH probes, controller and peristaltic pump cost me about £300 to build, if I were to buy a commercially available alternative (with this level of sophistication) that would have been double that amount at least, great money savings here!
- Alkalinity monitor cost me about £300 to build versus about £750 cost of a KH Keeper Plus, good money savings!
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Borat
Valuable Member
DIY Calcium reactor, DIY Peristaltic pump and DIY magnetic Stirrer
DIY light bar (100w, 1m long)
DIY controller (top of the picture) - 2 PH probes (CarX), 2 temp probes, Leak probe, 12v Solenoid switch for CarX, 2x 240v outlets for heaters and 2x 240v outlets for pumps.
DIY ATS
DIY light bar (100w, 1m long)
DIY controller (top of the picture) - 2 PH probes (CarX), 2 temp probes, Leak probe, 12v Solenoid switch for CarX, 2x 240v outlets for heaters and 2x 240v outlets for pumps.
DIY ATS
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Borat
Valuable Member
The difficulty ratings of this device is "not for the faint-hearted", i.e. quite difficult.
Conceptually there is nothing difficult - every Alkathing is a set of 3 stepper motors, 3 dosing heads, reaction chamber and PH Probe. The challenge is due to large number of various electronics and moving parts that need to work together. My greatest challenge was to make the device such that it can be (easily) COMPLETELY disassembled, i.e. you can replace every single small part of it, I think I have achieved it 100%.
As compared to other Alkothings - it's essentially the same device.. KH keeper, alkotronic etc. When I was building it, I wasn't aware that KH Keeper Plus was a follow-on version that was smaller than original KH Keeper, but I sized this to be the same size as the original KH Keeper.
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Borat
Valuable Member
Having the device itself - is absolutely great. I know they are an expensive piece of equipment - but having not to worry about measuring your alk is absolutely great. Once a day I open the electrics cabinet and look into the monitor - checking the last 4 readings..
Therefore whilst I am of the opinion that paying 900 bucks for this is over the top, this is still worth it!
Therefore whilst I am of the opinion that paying 900 bucks for this is over the top, this is still worth it!
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Borat
Valuable Member
For those that aspire to become true Kazakistan-style engineers - please follow my DIY peristaltic pump thread.. Once you understood how to make the peristaltic pump - you will be able to build the alkalinity monitor!
axlzys
Community Member
hello borat
I found that we are doing the same thing.
i made one kh tester by arduino,but that was not good. So i made aonther one by a rasoberry pi with html. Exactly i was finished the main work just yesterday.
i use 2 DC moto with water level switch,and one Geared motor for acid. Photoelectric counting switch to cpunt how many drops of acid was added.
the case made by Acrylic,and the titration chambe made by 3D printing.
it's has been running for half day,Looks good so far.
I found that we are doing the same thing.
i made one kh tester by arduino,but that was not good. So i made aonther one by a rasoberry pi with html. Exactly i was finished the main work just yesterday.
i use 2 DC moto with water level switch,and one Geared motor for acid. Photoelectric counting switch to cpunt how many drops of acid was added.
the case made by Acrylic,and the titration chambe made by 3D printing.
it's has been running for half day,Looks good so far.
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Borat
Valuable Member
Looks very nice! What kind of PH probe are you using? I don't think super-accurate PH probe is needed for Alk monitor - it just needs to be within +/- 0.1 PH accuracy, however looking at the colour of PH probe it looks to me like one of the cheaper ones. You may want to replace it with a slightly more expensive one - this will provide calibration stability!hello borat
I found that we are doing the same thing.
i came from china.and i made one kh tester by arduino,but that was not good. So i made aonther one by a rasoberry pi with html. Exactly i was finished the main work just yesterday.
i use 2 DC moto with water level switch,and one Geared motor for acid. Photoelectric counting switch to cpunt how many drops of acid was added.
the case made by Acrylic,and the titration chambe made by 3D printing.
it's has been running for half day,Looks good so far.
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Borat
Valuable Member
Understood, this kit has an improved PH board with built-in voltage regulator but I think it still has a cheap PH probe. Cheap does not always mean bad - but keep an eye on it and if it drifts - you know where to look!
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Borat
Valuable Member
In my DIY setup I am utilising 4 PH boards from DF robot - all boards are v1.2... however I do not use these blue probes - all 4 probes that came with the PH boards are sitting in the cupboard idle.
Why 4 board? I use 1 in Alk monitor and 3 more in my aquarium controller: 2 are controlling CaRx (primary and seconardy media chamber) and 1 more is for tank water monitoring..
Why 4 board? I use 1 in Alk monitor and 3 more in my aquarium controller: 2 are controlling CaRx (primary and seconardy media chamber) and 1 more is for tank water monitoring..
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Borat
Valuable Member
I don't buy super-expensive probes, just slightly better that super-cheap are OK. Only for Alk monitor I am using a more expensive (still not what I would class as "overly expernsive" ) ExTech probe (£40).
axlzys
Community Member
r
dfrobot is a chinese company,i can buy v2 kit very easy with taobao,
good night Borat
i have now CaRx my tank is small,only 60x50,so maybe i need change both two PH probe.
dfrobot is a chinese company,i can buy v2 kit very easy with taobao,
good night Borat
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Borat
Valuable Member
Good night!
i want alkalinity monitor, but ha i cannot afford alkalinity monitor!
this stuff excites me, soon the hobby is going to be so sweet!!!! like i say 10years it will be very tech driven i love it please smart people keep going !!!!
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Borat
Valuable Member
..so all of you are very excited about having this piece of equipment (whether DIY's or, most likely, purchased).
Now let's consider the running cost of owning this piece of equipment. DIY version probably means your running cost are half of those commercially made, however still it's not that cheap:
- you probably need to replace the PH probe every 24 months, I use quality inexpensive probe that's £40 = $54. For commercially made devices it's definitely more expensive (double the cost)
- you will need reagents, each test at 10 DKH and 100ml reaction chamber will require 3.6ml of 0.1N hydrochloric acid. I run 7 tests a day (at 3 hour intervals), that's 25ml/day or 9L of acid a year. Here in the UK I can buy 5L of 0.1N hydrochloric acid for £31 (delivery is extra cost!), that's $!43, so a year's worth of reagest will set you back almost $100.
- you will need PH calibration solutions, no need to calibrate frequently, probably once a year would do - small thing a few US&A bucks..
- once every 2 years you would want to replace santoprene tubing, that's probably another $10
- you would probably want to amortise the cost of your equipment over, say 5 year period. Assuming you bought it for $700 - that's $140 a year cost (quarter as much if you DIY'd it instead - it will last longer than 5 year and is cheaper to build).
So overall the annual cost of running an alk monitor is about $250 a year. Still worth in my opinion (seiously - I can adjust my AlkX in real time ensuring no stress on corals).
Now let's consider the running cost of owning this piece of equipment. DIY version probably means your running cost are half of those commercially made, however still it's not that cheap:
- you probably need to replace the PH probe every 24 months, I use quality inexpensive probe that's £40 = $54. For commercially made devices it's definitely more expensive (double the cost)
- you will need reagents, each test at 10 DKH and 100ml reaction chamber will require 3.6ml of 0.1N hydrochloric acid. I run 7 tests a day (at 3 hour intervals), that's 25ml/day or 9L of acid a year. Here in the UK I can buy 5L of 0.1N hydrochloric acid for £31 (delivery is extra cost!), that's $!43, so a year's worth of reagest will set you back almost $100.
- you will need PH calibration solutions, no need to calibrate frequently, probably once a year would do - small thing a few US&A bucks..
- once every 2 years you would want to replace santoprene tubing, that's probably another $10
- you would probably want to amortise the cost of your equipment over, say 5 year period. Assuming you bought it for $700 - that's $140 a year cost (quarter as much if you DIY'd it instead - it will last longer than 5 year and is cheaper to build).
So overall the annual cost of running an alk monitor is about $250 a year. Still worth in my opinion (seiously - I can adjust my AlkX in real time ensuring no stress on corals).
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