Controller Chaos - Help me choose a controller

[MaineRain]

Ive been searching for info on various controllers. Neptune, Apex, Aquantronica, Profilux and the list goes on and on. Ive read so many posts on controllers my mind is spinning.

I've never bought a controller before, and am a bit perplexed at the amount of options out there so I need some help.

Heres what I want to be able to do from my controller -

Monitor tank conditions from a network interface or phone app
-Temperature controller (Heater / Chiller on/off)
-Ph Monitor
-Calcium Monitor
-Controll simple dosing pumps (2 or 3)
-Salinity
-Sump Level
-Send alerts if needed

Im not entirely concerned about light timing.

This will be going on a system that is about 550 gallons.


So, Help me out. What should I be looking for. If someone wants to take the time to make me a "to get list" or a " you should think about this list" I would be forever greatful.

My budget for a complete control system with probes,etc is +/- $850

Thanks kindly everyone!

 

[gojk]

If salinity is a must, the DA controllers are out. They have been promising for about 3 years now and it still isn't available so I wouldn't ever count on it.

I don't think any of them have a calcium monitor.

I have the DA Reefkeeper lite and Neptune and both work as designed. The Neptune has a bit more of a learning curve to program, but once you understand how to do it, it is easy and a little more customizable.

 

[danil]

If money isn't priority (and I must say with 550g it shouldn't be) go with full Apex (not jr) with extra 4socket power bar or two. Don't get extra 8socket one (it has only two relay based sockets). You need relay based sockets to safely run your low power devices such as dosing pumps, check valves and high power devices like a chiller. Both extremes can only be run on relay sockets reliably.
Bad news for you - there is NO Calcium Monitor in existence. There are device(s) to check Calcium but they are all have to be calibrated every use and not so reliable.
Just use good quality test.

 

[doggydoc]

imo after having all three ...I will choose Profilux. Expensive, BUT DAMN YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.
At teh beginning its not very easy to program, understand, but once you get the hang of it...you can do all that and then some.
No calcium probe by any of them

 

[dartier]

Reef Angel (www.reefangel.com) has everything you listed except for the Calcium as others have noted.

Not the easiest thing to grasp for a non-programmer, but has the most expansion capability of all the common ones.

Once you master the programming on the RA, the sky is the limit on what can be accomplished. Just be prepared to do some learning.

Dennis

 

[sunilp]

I've had the profilux and sold it for a neptune apex. I am selling the apex and buying another profilux tomorrow. I purchased the ultimate pack with all the goodies. There is no other controller I have come across that can do everything the profilux can do. The interface is a bit clumsy but better than learing lines of code required for the apex.

 

[Dave & Monica]

I have the full Apex, and there is quite the community here on RC. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=368

You can also host your site for free, http://www.reeftronics.net/d-m/apex-status (this is my site)
There are a lot of iPhone and Andriod apps
....and the product line keeps expanding (we all wish there was a CA probe...)

In my opinion, you can't go wrong with either the Neptune Apex, Reef Keeper, or Profilux. I can tell you that I went without a controller for 5 yrs, and can't believe how much it's made the me stress less, and make the reef more stable. Good luck.

 

[octopus737]

Apex. Love mine.

 

[Landsailor]

It's all about support and reliability when you have a piece of hardware controlling your thousands of dollars' worth of life.

I had an issue well past business hours and sent an email after not being able to find the answer in the Neptune forum on RC or the Unofficial New Users Guide (which is now "official", btw). Paul logged into my controller, found the problem, and fixed it before we got back from dinner.

As stated previously, get the full Apex system with an additional Energy Bar 4 for your dosing pumps and you'll be very happy with your decision.

The EB 4 has four relay controlled outlets. The EB8 has six TRIAC controlled outlets and two relays.

The TRIAC outlets are good for high current devices like pumps since they will start the device right at the beginning of the 120V waveform so it's easier on them. However, they need more current than small loads like Aqualifters and dosing pumps can provide to operate reliably.

You should also look into controlling your lights with it, too. Assuming you have a heat generating light source like halides, it can shut them off if your chiller fails and the tank gets too hot. Plus, you can set them to not instantly restart after a power failure so the lamps have time to cool before attempting a lamp life destroying, hot re-strike.

Obviously, the other systems could do all of that, too, but I don't have experience with them.

 

[Osteoclast]

I use Apex. Once you get it tied into your home computer it is relatively straightforward. I had my computer service man hard connect the Apex and once that was done it was easy. I purchased additional energy bar units and have them set up in my fish room and my basement pump/chiller room. 2EB8s for sump electronics (heaters, GFO, carbon, skimmer, and pumps) 1EB8 for vortech pumps, bat backups, dosers, 2EB8s for lighting, and one in the basement for the main pump, backup pump, chiller, and backup chiller. I use AI lighting so opted for the VDM module. I have 4 Vortechs controlled by the WXM module. I control mine off an I pad at the present time. I agree that the technical service is excellent. If you read and study the manual and review the RC site you can get up to speed quickly. I like the fine control with the lighting and Vortechs particularly. Good luck with your choice.

 

[tidewater]

I have a reefkeeper and love it!

 

[dan-in-gr]

Simply buy the Profilux for reliability and the highest quality in the industry, if you check the sponsor forums, you will find about zero issues with Profilux, whereas the others have problems.

I sold my Apex and will be ordering the Profilux 3 very soon. Good stuff runs more, but it can do so many things and never fail. They also will be coming out with a new firmware to let you use Apple stuff.

A real positive for Neptune is superior support.

 

[kenith]

I've owned reefkeeper and apex. What features are you looking for in the controller?

The reefkeeper was easier to setup, but very limited.

Apex was more difficult to program, but the learning curve is fairly easy to overcome. As I advanced in this field, I still haven't used half of the features the apex is capable of. The breakout box for ATO and the vortech controller is amazing. Customer service is top notch. I had a cable come loose recently and Neptune connected to my unit remotely to source the issue and within 10 min, they were able to resolve the issue. HTH

 

[garydan]

I don't know about the other controllers, but here's a couple of the things i've run into my reefkeeper elite:

The bus cable system that interconnects the modules is touchy (read the DA support forums for evidence). For example, run a bus cable near a metal halide ballast, and it triggers bus errors in the system. Get a few too many bus errors, and stuff gets flakey, random alarms, system shutdowns. It took me a week of fiddling with bus cable placement to find a layout where the ballasts wouldn't trigger bus errors. It'd seem to me that using a shielded wire would have prevented the problem entirely, but the DA bus cables are not shielded. I still don't have any real confidence in the system because of the bus issues. I'm still seeing 1-3 phantom bus errors a day, not correlated to anything that i can identify. Who knows, maybe my wife will run the microwave some day and cause the tank to shut down.

The temperature reading sometimes fluxuates, I'm assuming due to the digital to analog conversion from the temperature probe. 79.9, 80, 79.9, 80, back and forth. My heater went out, and it alarmed as expected. But, every time the temperature fluxuated up and down .1 degrees, the alarm would clear and then retrigger. Two emails a second (since the temperature reading fluxuates across the alarm threshold about once a second). I was spammed a hundred emails in a couple minutes when my heater went out. I would like to set it up to text me when it alarms, but i'd rather not have my phone get spammed with texts. It's impossible to tell it to alarm at 70, but don't reset the alarm until the temparature goes above 70.2, which i think is a major oversight.

I don't hate my RKE, it's made my life a ton easier, but i do wonder if the other options out there have the bus issues or alarm issues RKE does. I'm guessing they have their own quirks though.