Home TECH SECTION How to measure KH automatically: Kh Keeper Plus Review

How to measure KH automatically: Kh Keeper Plus Review

lunedì 9 Maggio, 2022

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We finally have in our hands the newKH Keeper Plus di Reef Factory, the continuous monitoring system by KH for marine aquariums, that we tested thoroughly.

This article is also available in: italiano

KH Keeper is a KH meter, extremely compact, that doesn’t require any other device to work. Reef Factory has an accuracy of 0,01 dkH. We actually don’t require these decimals, but we really like this very high resolution.

For us mere mortals who go crazy to read a tritrimetric test, not knowing if there’s a color change… it’s a great step forward.

You can go to the minimum of one reading per day to a maximum of 12. The nice thing is that the value of a reading was too different from the previous one, KH Keeper would do immediately another test to be sure of the reding, which prevents us from being alarmed before time.

We set it for two readings per day, one at midday and the other at midnight. We wanted to see if there was a difference between night and day, but there wasn’t.

How to measure KH automatically with KH Keeper Plus by Reef Factory: unboxing, calibrations, set and comments in our video

The video, as usual, is in italian, but you can turn the subs on. Enjoy!

The device

KH keeper plus is a really compact device, that houses three dosing pumps, a Becker and a pH probe. Moreover, it also includes a client wifi that needs an Internet connection to work.

Come misurare il KH in moto automatico: Recensione Kh Keeper Plus

In the package there are also two calibration solutions for pH 4 and pH 7, the liquid for the measurements and a precision scale for the calibration of the system. The first thing to do once you extract the device is to assembling it and plug it in. Now you can link to the wifi address provided by the device and through the browser go to www.khkeeper.io. Then you only have to fill fields and calibrate it.

The calibration of the KH keeper Plus

We can’t hide it: the calibration is long and boring, and you have to repeat it at least once a month.

As you can see from the screen of the app you have to complete three passages. First you have to calibrate the pH probe with the two solutions at pH 4 and pH 7. Then you have to test the accuracy of the dosing heads. There are three heads in dotation, but we want to test the one that fills the becket and that one that doses 5 ml of reagent in the becket.

Once this calibration is done you’ll have the becket with the reagent that you diluted with osmosis water. I used two bottles of still water, but you can use something less voluminous. You have to find another container for the drain. I used even in this case a two-liter bottle. But if you have a drain nearby you can flush everything directly. The two liter-bottle lasts about 10-15 days with two measurements per day, you find your own balance and remember to empty it once in a while.

The device has two buttonholes on the back to fasten it at the cabinet of the aquarium. For this review, we put it on the osmosis tank, but soon we’re going to fasten it on the back of the cabinet.

KH keeper Plus has a series of led lights inside, very scenic. We set it so that if the KH reading is between a range of values we chose the device lights up green, if it isn’t inside the range it lights up red. If the device is making the measurement lights up blue, as you can see in the followin pictures.

KH Keeper is directly set by an app on our smartphone, or through the Reef Factory‘s website. Once done a measurement you can see the values in the app or you can be warned by by notifications. Very convenient and efficient.

Finally, you can see the graph with the KH trend through time.

Here above there’s the trend of the KH since when I inserted KH keeper Plus in my system. When you see the trend getting higher is because I dosed a buffer to raise my KH level, which was too low.

We stil haven’t done an ICP to compare the values measured by KH keeper plus. But knowing our aquarium and having Elos kit tests we can say that the accuracy of these to methods is the same.

And the costs of KH Keeper Plus?

KH keeper Plus is sold at 795 euro. As you have read with KH keeper Plus you can do up until 12 readings per day. If you want to intervene on the aquarium dosing some products you have to purchase KH keeper Pro, or use the Keeper Plus with the Dosing Pump of Reef Factory. We still have the dosing pumps, we only have to set them and then we will report you how works the complete system.

The reagent is sold in packages of 1 and 2,5 liters. For a measurement you need roughly from 5 to 15 ml depending on the KH value of the aquarium. So, more or less, with one liter you can do 1250 tests, which means that if you do one test per day it would last 4 four years!

The system works with the KH between 5 and 15, I think that using more it would be a waste.

Conclusions

What can we add? We really loved KH keeper Plus. During the month of test it proved itself to be accurate, it always warned us via email, smartphone and on the watch when the KH was over the range we set. At first it was between 7 and 8.

It sure simplifies the managing of our reef aquarium, because basing on the daily value we can adjust the calcium reactor, the balling system or the dosing of other products without the fear of exaggeration. Or, even better, we can manage automatically the balling system or probably the calcium reactor.

Moreover, being able to read the KH is particularly important when we’re not at home, maybe on holiday or out for work.

Well, it has a price. And not so low. 795 euro aren’t a joke. But in an aquarium of hard corals it isn’t that much, especially when it brings many semplifications to our system, not to mention the safety. And those who benefits are our corals.