Anybody have any ideas?
I want to control and check the following
PH
temp
salinity (maybe)
feeding cycle
lights
fans(future)
top off
other vitals if possible
Anybody have an idea/personal experience with these controllers? Would you recommend any others?
You can build your own! 
A few questions.
PH control or monitor? How do you want to control?
Salinity control or monitor? How do you want to control?
What do you mean by feeding cycle? Like a button that stops the powerheads for awhile to allow you to feed?
Lights, do you want just basic on at 10am off at 8 pm or something more?
What other vitals would you want to measure? ORP?
Another option is the reek keeper series of controllers, I think the site is www.digitalaquatics.com
I don’t have any personal experience with any of them, but I’m designing my own.
I’ve done a ton of reading on not only the Aquacontrolloers but the ReefKeepers as well. Quite honestly I don’t think they’re any HUGE differences between any of them. I decided to go with the RK2 as it was what i could find the best deal on used.
The RK2 has been discontinued, but is still available on RC and a few other boards used. If you have an extra $500 lying around I’d go with the Reef Keepr Elite myself. More control, SMS messages if anything goes wrong, connects to your PC for data tracking etc.
The new ReefKeepr Lite is an expandable model that starts around $150 and can go up to $500 depending on what you want to control.
Salinity seems to be the piece that makes all of the controllers expensive. My RK2 doesn’t have it but it does montior temp and will not only shut the heaters off, but will also shut the lights off if the tank gets too hot. I have it measuring PH but if I had a reactor it could coontrol it as well. All RK come with the “Feed” button that you can program to shut all powerheads / pumps etc off for a designated period of time.
I like that the RKs come with a “soft start” feature that allows you to control any PH as a wavemakers with minimum clicking at start up. This waas the main contriuting factor in my decision to go with the RK2.
All other features are available on the Aqua Controllers.
[quote=“rawdawg05, post:1, topic:1564”]
Anybody have any ideas?
I want to control and check the following
PH TEST KIT $5.99
temp THERMOMETER $1.99
salinity (maybe) HYDROMETER $20
feeding cycle FLEXIBLE BY HAND $0
lights TIMERS $6 (see glenn)
fans(future) SHOULD RUN WITH LIGHTS
top off SEE GLENN
other vitals if possiblekeep em comin, i can go all day
Anybody have an idea/personal experience with these controllers? Would you recommend any others?[/quote]
:TWOCENTS
[quote=“fishguy9, post:4, topic:1564”]
[quote=“rawdawg05, post:1, topic:1564”]
Anybody have any ideas?
I want to control and check the following
PH TEST KIT $5.99
temp THERMOMETER $1.99
salinity (maybe) HYDROMETER $20
feeding cycle FLEXIBLE BY HAND $0
lights TIMERS $6 (see glenn)
fans(future) SHOULD RUN WITH LIGHTS
top off SEE GLENN
other vitals if possiblekeep em comin, i can go all day
Anybody have an idea/personal experience with these controllers? Would you recommend any others?[/quote]
:TWOCENTS[/quote]
PH TEST KIT $5.99 -EXTREMELY unreliable - subject to users interpretation of the color chart, which can and will be afftected by the color temperature of the light bulbs in the room.
temp THERMOMETER $1.99 - Also unreliable -and what happens when the temp jumps to 86? Is your $1.99 thermomenter going to shut off your lights, turn on your chiller?
salinity (maybe) HYDROMETER $20 - Hydrometers have never been known for their accuracy as it stands and at the very least should be swapped out for a Refractometer.
feeding cycle FLEXIBLE BY HAND $0 - I think he wants the ability to shut off pumps for a pre-set amount of time to give the fish and coral a chance to eat.
lights TIMERS $6 (see glenn) - Analog timers also fail with regularity - they also will not allow the lights to automatically shut off in case of a problem (such as previously mentioned temperature issues)
fans(future) SHOULD RUN WITH LIGHTS - No need to have a fan blowing across a sump unless the temp is climbing
top off SEE GLENN - See Shawn
other vitals if possiblekeep em comin, i can go all day - Please don’t
[quote=“IanH, post:2, topic:1564”]
You can build your own! A few questions.
PH control or monitor? How do you want to control?In the future I would love to run a reactor and have that be controlled by the controller of choice
Salinity control or monitor? How do you want to control?This will be more of a test. I have a refract but like above I want something down the line to see if I am still at my target salinty
What do you mean by feeding cycle? Like a button that stops the powerheads for awhile to allow you to feed?Like craig said when I feed the tank something that will lessen the flow
Lights, do you want just basic on at 10am off at 8 pm or something more?Right now its basic but in the next 6 months I plan on building a hood.
What other vitals would you want to measure? ORP?That is a good question. I think I put that in there just to see what else they can do.
Another option is the reek keeper series of controllers, I think the site is www.digitalaquatics.com
I don’t have any personal experience with any of them, but I’m designing my own.[/quote]
The rk sounds nice. I had forgotten all about them. I just need to find the best deal available.
I would love to build my own but too much electricity to be messing with for me.
[quote=“Cdangel0, post:5, topic:1564”]
[quote=“fishguy9, post:4, topic:1564”]
[quote=“rawdawg05, post:1, topic:1564”]
Anybody have any ideas?
I want to control and check the following
PH TEST KIT $5.99
temp THERMOMETER $1.99
salinity (maybe) HYDROMETER $20
feeding cycle FLEXIBLE BY HAND $0
lights TIMERS $6 (see glenn)
fans(future) SHOULD RUN WITH LIGHTS
top off SEE GLENN
other vitals if possiblekeep em comin, i can go all day
Anybody have an idea/personal experience with these controllers? Would you recommend any others?[/quote]
:TWOCENTS[/quote]
PH TEST KIT $5.99 -EXTREMELY unreliable - subject to users interpretation of the color chart, which can and will be afftected by the color temperature of the light bulbs in the room.
temp THERMOMETER $1.99 - Also unreliable -and what happens when the temp jumps to 86? Is your $1.99 thermomenter going to shut off your lights, turn on your chiller?
salinity (maybe) HYDROMETER $20 - Hydrometers have never been known for their accuracy as it stands and at the very least should be swapped out for a Refractometer.
feeding cycle FLEXIBLE BY HAND $0 - I think he wants the ability to shut off pumps for a pre-set amount of time to give the fish and coral a chance to eat.
lights TIMERS $6 (see glenn) - Analog timers also fail with regularity - they also will not allow the lights to automatically shut off in case of a problem (such as previously mentioned temperature issues)
fans(future) SHOULD RUN WITH LIGHTS - No need to have a fan blowing across a sump unless the temp is climbing
top off SEE GLENN - See Shawn
other vitals if possiblekeep em comin, i can go all day - Please don’t[/quote]
relying one one thing to control EVERYTHING in your reef tank, so that if IT fails EVERYTHING fails at the same time… priceless GolfC
Troll
oooops
[quote=“fishguy9, post:8, topic:1564”]
[quote=“Cdangel0, post:5, topic:1564”]
[quote=“fishguy9, post:4, topic:1564”]
[quote=“rawdawg05, post:1, topic:1564”]
Anybody have any ideas?
I want to control and check the following
PH TEST KIT $5.99
temp THERMOMETER $1.99
salinity (maybe) HYDROMETER $20
feeding cycle FLEXIBLE BY HAND $0
lights TIMERS $6 (see glenn)
fans(future) SHOULD RUN WITH LIGHTS
top off SEE GLENN
other vitals if possiblekeep em comin, i can go all day
Anybody have an idea/personal experience with these controllers? Would you recommend any others?[/quote]
:TWOCENTS[/quote]
PH TEST KIT $5.99 -EXTREMELY unreliable - subject to users interpretation of the color chart, which can and will be afftected by the color temperature of the light bulbs in the room.
temp THERMOMETER $1.99 - Also unreliable -and what happens when the temp jumps to 86? Is your $1.99 thermomenter going to shut off your lights, turn on your chiller?
salinity (maybe) HYDROMETER $20 - Hydrometers have never been known for their accuracy as it stands and at the very least should be swapped out for a Refractometer.
feeding cycle FLEXIBLE BY HAND $0 - I think he wants the ability to shut off pumps for a pre-set amount of time to give the fish and coral a chance to eat.
lights TIMERS $6 (see glenn) - Analog timers also fail with regularity - they also will not allow the lights to automatically shut off in case of a problem (such as previously mentioned temperature issues)
fans(future) SHOULD RUN WITH LIGHTS - No need to have a fan blowing across a sump unless the temp is climbing
top off SEE GLENN - See Shawn
other vitals if possiblekeep em comin, i can go all day - Please don’t[/quote]
relying one one thing to control EVERYTHING in your reef tank, so that if IT fails EVERYTHING fails at the same time… priceless GolfC[/quote]
You can do what you said and come up cheaper, but some people would rather have the full time monitoring and control that is available now adays, neither solution is the ‘right’ one, depends on your wants and needs.
If your controller ‘failed’ nothing more in your tank would ‘fail’ anymore so than if you hadn’t gotten a controller. Most of the the parameters are monitored not controlled, you would simply be loosing your full time monitoring. Electronics don’t fail as frequently as people may think. What is your idea of ‘failing’ fishguy?
I agree with Ian.
Oh guys do these have the capabiltity to monitor Mag and Nitrates? I couldn’t find out from the descriptions on web.
I looked at the RK and the Elite looks so much cooler. I guess that is why it costs more too. LOL
I recently bought the Reefkeeper Elite and it does not monitor Mag or Nitrates. It comes with probes to monitor temp and Ph and you can add an optional probe to monitor ORP. That’s it in the way of monitoring for now. However, from what I’ve observed, Digital Aquatics is committed to continual improvements so more monitoring functions could become available down the road.
Hey John won’t the Elite also control moon lights in accordance with the lunar cycle? (assuming of course you get the Digital Aquatics moon lights)
[quote=“Cdangel0, post:13, topic:1564”]
Hey John won’t the Elite also control moon lights in accordance with the lunar cycle? (assuming of course you get the Digital Aquatics moon lights)[/quote]
Yes, it will. Variable moonlight intensity based on the lunar cycle.