Would you invest a grand for a KH Guardian?

[Lionfish Lair]

What can I do without the internet? I can see the last measurement taken... what else?

 

[tj w]

So basically this would automate alk testing and dosing in one machine? I too don't like the fact that it has to be hooked up to the internet to operate. There are way too many variables involved to make sure there aren't any mis doses and wrong calculations. Why is the cost going to be 1k? Would there be any fail safes with this?

 

[JaimeAdams]

I see allot of people lining up to buy this device or other similar products. I would certainly add it to my wish list, but for a grand I would need to save for a long time. If I had the money to buy 15K worth of corals then yeah I would drop a grand on it.

 

[furam28]

Carlos this looks awesome! While hooking it up to Apex would be neat, I honestly prefer stand alone solutions in most cases. For example I like my dosing pumps on their own system system, fewer failure points. With the Apex, if the "head" gets cut off all the systems fail. I prefer the "hydra" approach. While I love my Apex, if it does fail, then most of my critical life systems keep running.

I'm in complete agreement with you. I have been trying to create as much redundancy as possible to make every critical piece of equipment fail-safe. My ATO is standalone, but I have 2 float switches hooked to Apex and a separate ATO pump in case my main ATO fails. Right now I am trying to figure out how to do my return pump. I want to keep it hooked to EB8 so I can control it. What do you think I can I do for redundancy? Add a 2nd return pump that is standalone and runs at a lower gpm?

 

[Jeremy@CoralVue]

What can I do without the internet? I can see the last measurement taken... what else?

That is correct. It will just display the last test if not hooked up to your home network. You only require the internet if you want to access the KHG remotely.

This is what you will see and be able to access without a home network

 

[Jeremy@CoralVue]

So basically this would automate alk testing and dosing in one machine? I too don't like the fact that it has to be hooked up to the internet to operate. There are way too many variables involved to make sure there aren't any mis doses and wrong calculations. Why is the cost going to be 1k? Would there be any fail safes with this?

It does not require the internet if you do not want to see your reading remotely. You however do need a network to long into it with.

 

[furam28]

So on the KHG website, it says accuracy is +/- 0.33 dKH. So that means, a reading of 7 dKH could be anywhere between 6.67 or 7.33. Maybe some of the bigger SPS gurus here can chime in, but isn't that too big of a swing to account for, especially with continuous monitoring and automatic dosing.

 

[Armydogracing]

Just The fact that this product not only will test several times a day will also dode as need it
Automatically will do the proper dose and the level will be 100% consistent and no human error testing, or dosing, that 90% of the mistakes are by user error

So Im sure you have to manually input total water volume ect so the human error factor is not 100% gone.

Imo it sounds nice but far to expensive for one element tester. I would much rather have a probe or some form of tester that connected to my controller. I already have dosing pumps ect that are controlled by my controller no need for another doser

 

[gcarroll]

So on the KHG website, it says accuracy is +/- 0.33 dKH. So that means, a reading of 7 dKH could be anywhere between 6.67 or 7.33. Maybe some of the bigger SPS gurus here can chime in, but isn't that too big of a swing to account for, especially with continuous monitoring and automatic dosing.

The swing is not a problem. Just set it at 7.3 if you want 7.0 to be your low point. Personally i think that is a dangerously low point to run your alk at as it is too close to the danger zone.

 

[gcarroll]

It does not require the internet if you do not want to see your reading remotely. You however do need a network to long into it with.

So to be clear, it will monitor and dose without internet connectivity? It just needs connectivity to log the data?

I just want to make sure that if the cloud goes down or the company goes under, it is not a $1000 paperweight like the Mindstream.

 

[JasReef]

Jeremy to add to that thought it's also matter of perspective, how much do we have invested in SPS corals in our reef? For a lot of us that number is high and the cost of this could be justifiable.

This is the wrong line of thought I think. It is like saying we should pay $1000 for a heater because the temp keeps our corals alive. Most of us have a lot invested in our tanks but that is too much money for something we can test by hand. Once again, I want this but not at that price.

 

[-Logzor]

This is the wrong line of thought I think. It is like saying we should pay $1000 for a heater because the temp keeps our corals alive. Most of us have a lot invested in our tanks but that is too much money for something we can test by hand. Once again, I want this but not at that price.

Sort of and I do understand where you're coming from. Everyone has heaters and we also pay to have water in the aquarium to keep the corals alive. Corals need to be in water so that is obvious. We have great ways to control and monitor heat. It's very easy and most controls can alert us to failed heating systems. Luckily these monitors and failsafes are relatively affordable and we take that for granted now. My old aquacontroller would kill the heater if my temperature went above 80.

Alkalinity can easily swing without a way to notice unless you're testing every day. So for instance one time my dosing pump got gummed up and didn't run for a couple days. As a result my alkalinity dropped at least two points. A machine like this could have notified me immediately when something went wrong. In that like of thinking this machine is the only failsafe other that testing everyday which most people don't or can't do.

 

[Aquariums Australia]

Having invested over $35K into my dream tank in 2009 in my first endeavours to keep a SPS Tank with Stability, I've been waiting for technology and products like this to solve my time poor / busy lifestyle / 3x kids situation and keep my wife happy - for me I would happily pay double this as I'm unable to place a value on accurate testing, let alone dosing - thats a pure BONUS!!

IMO - Reef keeping requires 1 of 2 major demands - Time or Money. Time is something I simply don't have.

On another note, many of us can drop several hundred dollars into coral purchases on a whim or that must have pc. My car insurance costs more then this..

My Aqua-Medic AT-Control system in 2009 cost 7xtimes this.

Sure a lot of items are a lot more expensive in Australia - a Blue Carpet Nem is around $2-3K, let alone Ricordia's - not that these require stable Alk - just keeping the reef costs honest.

A Ca, Mg system can't come soon enough - I'd gladly pull out the credit card and buy them all to be able to come home and enjoy my tank and share it with family and friends alleviating to concept of Reef Keeping is hard!!

School fee's of Reef Keeping - dang, I've personally lost over 50K over the 20x years (god knows that figure is MUCH higher) - When do we get the Finding Nemo Laser Beam telling me all parameters are OK!!

This isn't the Holy Grail, and there is plenty more products to come in the future - I might be dead by then.

I prefer to look at my tank and ponder the meaning of life then stare at my iPhone that costs just as much, or rip out my hair when time demands require tank attention yet I have to get the kids to sport's practise - or my Ducati is calling for twisties!!

For me personally, this is a "Shut Up and Take My Money" item.

 

[jcdeng]

I think its a good idea to incorporate Cal into this system. I dose equal amount of alk and cal in my tank and how hard is it to just set it up to dose another item that is in equal amounts of the alk anyways? The KH monitor detects alk dropped, decides it needs to dose 5ml of alk, and then 10 min later dose same amount of another liquid (cal) into the tank??

 

[Armydogracing]

Having invested over $35K into my dream tank in 2009 in my first endeavours to keep a SPS Tank with Stability, I've been waiting for technology and products like this to solve my time poor / busy lifestyle / 3x kids situation and keep my wife happy - for me I would happily pay double this as I'm unable to place a value on accurate testing, let alone dosing - thats a pure BONUS!!

IMO - Reef keeping requires 1 of 2 major demands - Time or Money. Time is something I simply don't have.

On another note, many of us can drop several hundred dollars into coral purchases on a whim or that must have pc. My car insurance costs more then this..

My Aqua-Medic AT-Control system in 2009 cost 7xtimes this.

Sure a lot of items are a lot more expensive in Australia - a Blue Carpet Nem is around $2-3K, let alone Ricordia's - not that these require stable Alk - just keeping the reef costs honest.

A Ca, Mg system can't come soon enough - I'd gladly pull out the credit card and buy them all to be able to come home and enjoy my tank and share it with family and friends alleviating to concept of Reef Keeping is hard!!

School fee's of Reef Keeping - damm, I've personally lost over 50K over the 20x years (god knows that figure is MUCH higher) - When do we get the Finding Nemo Laser Beam telling me all parameters are OK!!

This isn't the Holy Grail, and there is plenty more products to come in the future - I might be dead by then.

I prefer to look at my tank and ponder the meaning of life then stare at my iPhone that costs just as much, or rip out my hair when time demands require tank attention yet I have to get the kids to sport's practise - or my Ducati is calling for twisties!!

For me personally, this is a "Shut Up and Take My Money" item.

I can definitely agree with this and idk why I didnt think of it that way. I drop hundreds of dollars for corals all the time so this piece of equipment could easily be purchased

 

[Carlos@CoralVue]

Once the unit is setup and running, you can disconnect the ethernet cable form the side of it and it will continue to work. It will monitor and dose according to the information you entered in its local memory. You will be able to see the latest test results and the historical test result are still stored in it's internal memory. You will not be able to access the unit to make changes or see historical data.

So the unit will continue to operate even if it is not connected to the internet.

So to be clear, it will monitor and dose without internet connectivity? It just needs connectivity to log the data?

I just want to make sure that if the cloud goes down or the company goes under, it is not a $1000 paperweight like the Mindstream.

 

[eg8r210]

I agree completely. I lost every acan, 90% of my challice and SPS with value of over $15000. If I know a device like the KHG would have prevented the loss I would would not hesitate to pony up the $. I know for sure that I will not feel safe putting too much more money into the system till I have a Guardian.

Were you manually dosing when you left for MACNA and lost all your coral? Or did you have a doser set up?

 

[eg8r210]

Sort of and I do understand where you're coming from. Everyone has heaters and we also pay to have water in the aquarium to keep the corals alive. Corals need to be in water so that is obvious. We have great ways to control and monitor heat. It's very easy and most controls can alert us to failed heating systems. Luckily these monitors and failsafes are relatively affordable and we take that for granted now. My old aquacontroller would kill the heater if my temperature went above 80.

Alkalinity can easily swing without a way to notice unless you're testing every day. So for instance one time my dosing pump got gummed up and didn't run for a couple days. As a result my alkalinity dropped at least two points. A machine like this could have notified me immediately when something went wrong. In that like of thinking this machine is the only failsafe other that testing everyday which most people don't or can't do.

I missed the part where it will notify you. Was that mentioned? How would it work if you chose to not keep it connected to the network?

 

[Jonty]

I would purchase, love playing around with new kit and this is a great thing to monitor. So many companies have promised and not delivered let's give the one company that has some business. If it is available now please PM me so I can get an order going.

 

[Jonty]

I do want it in the cool clear box for mounting as well