The GHL Stand Alone Doser Reviewed
Maintaining your saltwater tank’s parameters can be done in a number of ways. And since I’m a fan of dosing pumps, I wanted to have a look at a stand alone doser that is rumored to have a great reputation.
Special thanks to Dr. Mike Meek of 38th Street Dental for his guest appearance.
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Great vid! I need one of these, but i need the $ first. Haha great reviews here.Btw
Price just come down the popular SA3 now only $399.00
For $399.00 get an Apex controller and you get much more than a dosing pump. You can hook up a few aqualifter pumps to the Apex and viola!
You don’t get the ml dosing measurements but you should be able to easily convert ml to seconds on the aqualifter.
I am not saying that the doser is a bad product but for $399.00, I feel that the Apex is a better buy.
I dont quite understand this comment, this is a review for a doser I thought? Apex dont make a doser and if you bought an apex to control a doser you then still have to go and buy a different doser that would not give you ML control.
So how is an Apex a better buy when they dont make a doser or have the ability to fine control a doser, leaving you to buy a third party unit with limited timed events only.
My comment simply states that for ~400.00 an Apex is a doser as well as many other things which makes it a better buy.
I stated that you can relate ml to runtime on an Apex controlled aqualifter. If you need pinpoint exact (to the ml) dosing then I suppose a ~400.00 doser is better than the Apex for dosing but on most tanks, dosing by the second vs dosing by the ml is just fine.
This makes the ~400.00 Apex a better value than a ~400.00 dosing pump.
If you bought a ~400.00 controller like the Apex and then you bought a ~400.00 doser then you are not utilizing your controller to its full potential or you have VERY sensitive tank like a 5 gallon nano.
As the distributors i thought it an idea to give some more insight here as we are not actually talking about the stand alone doser that has been reviewed but the slave unit.
Lets seperate this –
Stand alone – the SA doser is for those that either dont want a controller OR they already have a different brand of controller and want highly reliable and functional dosing, the are multiple other controller brand users using the GHL SA doser for this exact purpose. It coes down to qulaity and functionality.
The down side of third party dosers hooked up to other types of controllers is not just the ML issue but also the amount of power sockets required to run it, and having non modular devices taking up a lot of room. As power sockets are a premium around tanks you are likely going to need to invest in another power strip just for your third party dosers as they work off times events from the controller switching on and off power sockets.
So to get 3 dosings from the air pump/water pump mentioned here “could” cost
$45 for the 3 seperate pumps
controller kit providing same as GHL Plus II kit = $505
extra powwr strip = $149
serial cable for software (this is free with GHL) = $17.99
Software = last check this was $75
Total = $791
After all this you still cant dose in ML and dealing with a third party air/water pump to dose critical elements
Slave doser – the GHL slave doser comes into its own and is controlled by the GHL ProfiLux. The beauty here is that the unit is all in one box as with the SA unit and slave runs off a data cable into the back of the GHL ProfiLux controller, so no requirement for extra power sockets, mulitple slave units can be daisy chained off of one single input port on the profilux.
The Plus II pack “with” slave doser currently runs at $799 when purchased as a pack. Giving you a dedicated doser with ML dosing and a product specifically designed for dosing.
I know these things can turn into a dog fight especially when controllers are in the review, so I will bow out unless a direct question is asked about the reviewed product, but hope this gives some insight.
All the best
Aqua Digital
I am not going to enter into a dog fight either and I will make no further comments as I have made my initial point.
If you have no controller and you are looking to start dosing (kalk, 2 part, etc) then you get more functions for your money by getting an Apex and a few aqualifter pumps and dosing based on time in seconds and/or on specific days.
If you already have a controller and you need more control over the dosing levels (by ml) then a standalone doser is great.
This is my opinion only and is meant for readers that do not have a controller yet and are thinking about dosing.
I have no interest in arguing this any further.
Alright, alright, they both seem like great products and good buys.
In the Netherlands the Profilux (GHL) is the main used aquarium computer. I don’t even know if the Apex is available in Europe. This would mean you would save some money because you’ll be using the profilux unit to control it.
I would love to see mark do a roundup of the tank controllers out there. (Profilux, IKS, apex etc).
Aqua Digital, your costs for the Neptune system are off.
The software for the APEX is free and has been for the past couple of years. Neptune moved away from desktop software with the Apex. It doesn’t come with a serial cord, it doesn’t need one. The Neptune Apex system also comes with a power bar.
I thought this was a review about a GHL Stand alone doser? NOT an Apex controller.
These are comments about the GLH post. Comments can be anything related to the subject. Nobody is trying to review the Apex here. I only said that for ~400.00, I think the Apex is a better buy because it can dose as well as do many other things. I see no problem with those that argue the point that the Apex cant do ml level dosing and that is a valid point but I do have a problem with the comment police griping that the comment was not exclusively about the GLH. I commented on the Apex in how it relates to the GLH as most bang for the buck. That is a valid comment. It’s Mark’s site, let him do the comment policing.
GHL*
While I don’t want to get into the debate running above I do want to pitch in about a few key things relating to this doser that are somewhat unique.
For one, the built in calibration options are truly a blessing if you have to use this doser as a precision doser (such as when dosing nutrient solutions, amino acids, or anything else in minute amounts). I have installed a number of these for people in a variety of locations that often require rather unusual runs of tubing or doser placement. Despite all this I can calibrate the doser to its true number of ml/minute and provide extremely precise dosing.
Secondly, this is a very easy doser to use. Not every reefer is extremely technical when it comes to electronics, so having a precision instrument that can be simplified to an automatic dosing schedule can be of real benefit. I know many people who struggle with more technical things but still run these dosers to handle their Ca/Alk/Mg/Sr dosing, and do so with little to no help at all.
Thirdly, these are really expandable. Slaving a second dosing unit off of a single 4 pump unit really expands the setup considerably. I have only seen a few installs in my city like this, but was impressive regardless.
The price is right for what it offers, just keep in mind the audience this product is intended for.
My 2 cent. I would not trust Apex with dosing, Apex is having too many issues for my comfort level.
You can only use certain outlets, only the relay control ones.
Anything else the load is too small and the pump will never shut off.
GHL is super reliable, and the only complain you ever hear is that cost too much.
But with recent price cuts, is a super deal is now more competitive with Apex, but with much more reliable product.
I can never understand why people take chances with their tanks, when the it cost so much and the time to get to there.
Lmao i love your videos. I’m very impressed with the amount of videos you’ve been making! <3 it
Comparing this GHL doser to any controller is futile to say the least. It never surprises me to see someone jump into the middle of anything GHL related and start spouting off “My Apex can do that… My Apex would do that if I “wanted” it to….” If you’re not a fan of the GHL doser that’s fine and most of us would respect that decision but to take the time to drag a review down like this just puts a bad light on Apex and the many followers of Apex. Re: Apex – For someone who has had both controllers I can say that my only regret with going ProfiLux is that I waited so long to do it. Once I found a buyer for my Neptune I was good to go with a ProfiLux and never looked back.
GHL products are second to none in quality and their customer service is even better. This is another outstanding example of GHL’s commitment to quality, workmanship, and interface simplicity.
Hopefully the rest of the comments in this EXCELLENT review can stay on track and not get swayed by those who insist on starting the “Apex vs ProfiLux” debates. They are such a bore and serve no purpose what so ever. No controller is perfect for everyone and just because it’s the ideal controller for my tank and circumstances doesn’t make it the ideal controller for someone else.
Now in regards to a stand-alone doser the GHL is in a league of it’s own. Ease of use, reliability, and very high quality construction make this unit almost a “Bargain” when all factors are considered. Thanks to some very “Creative” packages and price cuts GHL is making their top of the line products fall much more inline with much less capable components. Once again GHL has stepped up and is helping to provide reefers with a product to help simplify and automate their aquarium tasks leaving more time and less worry so we can concentrate on the bigger things in life.
Excellent review and thanks for sharing it and the video with us all Mark 🙂
Allen in NC
it would be nice to see some reviews for different tank personalities.
I’m doing research fir a future tank and it would be neat to see some good products for a tank dabbler that is making the jump to a reef system.
If it is covered in the beginner guild I’ll just have to wait for it to be re released.
Thanks great videos
Thanks for putting in about international plugs. Makes a massive to me in the uk.
If you look at the standalone product, it’s very competative, more so now than before. The economic disaster of the region is having an iffluance on the price.
Let’s not get into a controller debate…
I guess this product is better for dosing precisely. controllers can never measure ml. using apex with this is like u dont need any other thing ever. il be buyin both in a few months as i dont get this in my country india.
I don’t like how mark talks down calcium reactors. My calcium reactor is much more simple than he describes. They may be slightly difficult to initially setup. However once they are running you don’t need to mess with it for months. Changing out media and setting up for the second time was a breeze. Not only does a calcium reactor give you kh, Ca, and mag, it also gives you trace elements and puts everything out in the correct ratios between each other, which is very important. Everything comes down to one drip, not 3-4 different variable that you could easily be getting wrong.
The problem with a calcium reactor is that you have zero control of the amount of what it doses, where as with Balling (3 part) you have full control of each individual element.
In a Calcium reactor if it doses too much of ALK then by decreasing the output you will be in fact decrease everything else. there is no way of getting any balance. You are also reliant on the media used natural composite.
one drip does not provide a balanced level of minerals for your system, that the biggest draw back.
The other one is many calcium reactor users also have to run a Kalk stirrer as Ca reactors are more ALK producers so you still have to add Ca somehow. The n what about MG?
If it works for you then great and of course Ca reactors have been around for years, but so many are now turning to the importance of fine balancing.
calcium reactors also have bigger chances of failing. In one video Mark also says that Kalk (in topup water) increases Calcium, alk and ph so all u need to dose is just mag and u can also use this doser for dosing coral food if u have too many corals. the third 1 u can use for dosing cal or alk incase either of two is geting used up quicker from the kalk.
If you read these comments long enough eventually you come to a voice of reason and common sense. Thanks AllenN
@ everybody (: I had fun reading all the comments lol, wow, there’s some buzzing going on here (: hehe.Â
@ Mark (: Fun review dude! I have seduced these before with my curiosity (: Certainly a very functional unit…bad ass too! I like it! But, maybe this ? is for Aqua Digital, Inc. How often do you need to replace the rollers on these? At basically $60 bucks a pop that feels a little annoying on my equip maintenance budget. Tube feeding pumps are good for 24 hrs, but some of that is based upon best case practice, in reality these pumps could pump longer, however, efficiency will be lost exponentially at a certain point as the peristaltic tubing becomes worn. For example, if you pump 14mls/day would you be at 1/3 – 1/2 the life of the roller in 100 days? Thanks for any comment on this. My preliminary search couldn’t answer this for me. Haha! This review became debate central (: hehe, got love it (:
@ Aqua Digital, Inc…see above comment please, would appreciate any comment you might have about this (:
@ Steve…you are right that an Apex is a wise purchase…in addition to a dosing setup for supplementing. Â (: I would like to add one thing for you and folks who choose a non-precision dosing scheme. (I too own a Apex), consider using a timer inline between the Apex outlet and the dosing pump. This will act as a secondary defense in case of a outlet failure with the Apex (if it can happen it will). I have had Apex outlet failures and Eugene at Neptune was very accommodating and expedient fixing the issue with my unit. If I’m not mistaken I do believe Mark has recommended this same secondary backup plan using a timer device in case of a power stuck on failure (the timer will power down the device).Â
@ Liz…valid point (: using a crapper aqua lifter (no offense Steve) would frighten me dosing these important elements too ( I want to dose as slowly as possible while maintaining params vs. burst boluses of fluids: I do appreciate everyone’s opinions when reading these comments. It’s all debatable and very opinionated…and that’s ok (:
@ Gareth…dude! That’s awesome. I think the level of control with this review is awesome and a huge selling point for this unit!! My ATO dosing pump in my setup is capable of setting 1-7 gallons rate/day and I love that my Kalk top off won’t be horrendous in a power stuck on failure (:
Sweet review Mark!! I just thoroughly enjoy your thought out reviews on products for all of us to stay up with the competitive driving force of best practices for this hobby! Thanks man!
Haha! I wonder if you’re even gonna get to see my question with all the chatter! LOL!
B-
You never have to replace the rollers, in 7 years we have never had one case of a roller needing replacing. What we do recommend is that the pump is serviced (cleaned out) with a dry wipe and remove any build up on the rollers with alcohol every 3 months, and replace the peri tubing every 6 months. After both times perform a recalibration process. The peri tubes run at $10 a piece but there is a large discount for buying a set of 3 or 4. it is also standard peri tubing so you cna also source your own.
In regards to motors, providing the above regime is followed you should see many years of life out of them, the wear comes with drag, so as long as the pump is kept in good order then the motor (which is German) will last the time.
Other maintenance – As with all GHL products they are self servicing and repairing, no need to ever send in to us or GHL, so if you have an accident and flood the unit and you need new PCB’s we will supply them at our exact landed cost, we do not add mark up to repair parts.
Hope that helps and glad you liked the review.
@ Aqua Digital…Right freaking on! That’s brilliant, thanks for the response!! I’m totally siked out to see a nice multi-modular unit like this for a few bills. If I ever need dead nuts accurate dosing your on my wanted list for sure. I love the tight control you offer with small bolus dosing intervals and I’m very happy to here that the peristaltic wear is minimal. (: thank you so much!
Respectfully,
B-
Bubble Magus T01 Dosing Pump has same functions as ghl
Well not entirely for example you can not buy a 2 pump version and update it to a 3 pump or a 3 pump to a 4 pump. 2 year warranty verses 1 year. There are other points also but that would be another dog fight LOL.
The biggest thing we hear from all buyers is the reasurance of quality and longevity as well as upgradeability. its the old argument German Vs Chinese OEM (BM dont make the doser). I am not saying its a bad product but when it comes down to dosing what could be dangerous elements if overdosed, I would rather put a few extra $$$ into a product that has proven pedigree long term over nearly 7 years now.
There is only between $75 and $100 between the units now in price.
Yeah a revue on the DHL line might be cool. All though my Apex has already been shipped , it looks like DHL is far superior.
Err umm …, GHL
I’m just getting into saltwater aquariums again, and things have really change.
Love your Fri. emails and am learning a great deal.
Keep up the good videos 🙂
Dang! I thought I was near the end of big item purchases, great, thanks a lot you guys! Lol gotta love high tech gadgetry. “Yep yep, that’s my precisely calibrated high precesion GHL Stand Alone Bad boy swigging juicy juices of precious electrolytes dialed to perfection one mil at a time. Now, put that in your pipe and smoke it!” Sure smokes the others quite well (:
B-
well I am going to get a controller because it has a lot of really nice program to it. and I like the fact that you can control every third on your aquarium with it. and it is a good piece of equitment. and can be used for a lot of uses as mark has said. Vs lighting and heat and cooling AND OTHER ISSUES AS WELL. and doeseing as well and anything in the hobbie as well is expensive does’not matter weather it is salt or fresh. it is important to take as best care of the tank as you can.
Per the Apex “outlet stuck on” issue that has been referenced. This is only with the TRIAC outlets because they have a hard time detecting the low loads of dosing pumps ( under 5w ). The simple solution is to put something else on the outlet along with the dosing pump to bring the load up a bit. A surge protector is a perfect example. Others use a light.
Another great review – and great looking product. I am just trying to think of what I could use this for in a fresh water setup, lol.
Hi Brian,
Well there are many options especially if you had the slave doser with the profilux controlling it, you then could have two containers one with ph up and the other with ph down, set the controllers pH input to a nominal value you wish the tanks ph to be maintained at and let a slave two pump doser do the rest. Or there is plant nutrient feeding using the stand alone version as in this review 😉
@ Steve… (: Thanks for that friendly reminder regarding the Triac outlets. I referred to this issue earlier in my posting above because my issue was actually related to a different problem regarding my EB8. Eugene at Neptune did some thorough troubleshooting with me during our phone meeting together and long story short found the issue and made a small adjustment to my Apex’s frequency while remoted into my controller. It was a unique isolated problem that had various affects to the working order of my EB8; not turning on and not turning off my outlets. It has been fine ever since.
“If it can happen it will” (: No one is safe from this ironic well known quote, hehe, after that encounter with my EB8, I recommend a safety plan or backup plan for everyone setting up their tank in the event they’re struck with a similar problem (: There are many ways to dose out tanks needs and I embrace them all, even the Aqua Lifter (:
Steve, thanks again for the reminder. I will still use an electronic timer in between my EB8 and dosing pump because I experienced Murphy’s Law just earlier this year when I got my Apex up and running. I was very shocked my unique experience could have had more severe outcomes, but on the other side of that, my issue luckily only involved my skimmer and a light channel that were plugged into the affected outlets. I have a unique ATO setup, and the outlet this was on wasn’t affected by the frequency issue…thankfully. Had I had a dosing pump on one of those outlets…mmm…I wouldn’t be a happy camper with the result of that (: So, with that I’m prepared for the next weird situation cause I learned it can happen to me and I want that added security (: I’m aware about the low power devices and the outlets you’ve mentioned but it’s good you pointed that out for others. The Apex is a great controller (:
I really enjoyed this review of the Stand Alone GHL and I like it’s sexy slow dosing features and multiple interval bolus options that can be setup with it. So, for everyone else coming in: what do you think about it? (:
Thanks Steve, and thanks again Mark! I enjoy reviewing variety in our hobby with your work you do and others who do the same. Keep up the great work. I believe everyone’s opinions and experiences bring together nice information to help others make decisions regarding options we have available to needs and wants…we all have those in common.
Respectfully,
B- (:
run that tubing under hot water those fittings pop out in seconds and you save your teeth! 🙂
Liked the dentist part lol wish mine did home visits too lol
Mark i just wanted to know when y do you gonna sell your guide again i really need it let me know as soon as you can please !!(the stop tank confusion) thanks mark luv your shows
I have one and it kicks ass!!!! This is one of the best buy for my system!!!
just wandering if you are still testing the radion leds and how they are doing. and can you mention my name for being awesome
@ Willie… Do you have the stand alone? I just got two BRS dosers, but I like the level of control here; it’s like my ATO setup. Steady and slow.
Haha Mark! I’m trying to convince myself to get one (:
@ Brian – Go ahead and resell them while they are brand new and upgrade to the GHL Stand Alone. You wont regret it.
Any reason why you prefer a dosing pump over a calcium reactor?
How does that tank controller compare to an APEX?
There is no comparison in the controllers GHL is very high end and trusted for its reliability, just look up some of the comments on forums about people that switched from other brands to GHL
A calcium reactor can not control independantly your ca mg and ALK where as using 3 part dosing thru a GHL dosing pump you can.
calcium and kalk reactors suck big time. my friend got a kalk reactor problem and had lost almost 6000$ worth corals and fishes. now he is dosing via ghl and its much much safer.
I just got this doser a few weeks ago, and am very happy with it. I run a 20gallon reef tank, and use it to top off RO water, plus dose Alk and Cal (b-ionic 2-part). My mag levels are always high, so no need to dose with the salt mix I’m using. The unit isn’t very loud, but audible, especially at night. Not really bugging me so far (my tank is in the same room as I sleep in), but I’m thinking of building some sort of sound box for it.
Only thing on my wishlist would be the ability to dose up to 48 times/day in order to have smaller topoff amounts per run. Programming is super easy, and I’m a big fan of the modular approach, the upgradeability, etc. of the profilux system. Once the $$ is in, I’ll very likely invest in the controller.