Controller Comparison

[thysrof]

Came across this in the Equipment forum. I know most of you use neptune's Aquacontroller. Does anyone use any of the others.

I'm leaning towards buying a controller and was thinking AC III.

http://aquariumcontrollers.com/files/controllers.html

 

[clayspst]

i use the RK2. works great

 

[thysrof]

Clay,

Why did you choose the RK2?

 

[clayspst]

it does everything i need it to do.

 

[corndogg]

When I was shopping for a controller, I originally was gonna get the AC jr. But you get so much more for the extra money. Plus the peace of mind you get from having built in web access while at work or vacation. You can program it to email you any time a parameter exceeds predefined thresholds. Also, any neptune can control your tunze powerheads with much more flexibility than the 7095 multicontroller.

The downside to the lower controllers like the AC jr is that they can't control many devices. I could easily fill 12 slots. Or if you upgrade to a bigger tank later you won't need a new controller.

I will mention though...if I was in the market for a controller right now, I'd probably wait until this was out. http://www.digitalaquatics.com/m_product_info.php?part_number=30-0011-001

Great price and a lot of new features. Of course with anything new, you are also the guinea pig.

 

[thysrof]

I can't believe this guy paid over $2K for this one. It must do water changes for that price.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1364673

 

[gdm42001]

I will mention though...if I was in the market for a controller right now, I'd probably wait until this was out. http://www.digitalaquatics.com/m_pr...ber=30-0011-001

I have the ReefKeeper II, and am very happy with it, so this one should be fantastic IMHO
Their customer service is great too

 

[northbay-reefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12396886#post12396886 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by corndogg
When I was shopping for a controller, I originally was gonna get the AC jr. But you get so much more for the extra money. Plus the peace of mind you get from having built in web access while at work or vacation. You can program it to email you any time a parameter exceeds predefined thresholds. Also, any neptune can control your tunze powerheads with much more flexibility than the 7095 multicontroller.

The downside to the lower controllers like the AC jr is that they can't control many devices. I could easily fill 12 slots. Or if you upgrade to a bigger tank later you won't need a new controller.

I will mention though...if I was in the market for a controller right now, I'd probably wait until this was out. http://www.digitalaquatics.com/m_product_info.php?part_number=30-0011-001

Great price and a lot of new features. Of course with anything new, you are also the guinea pig.

Jason, does the reefkeeper have a tunze controller option ?

 

[thysrof]

Just read thru a thread on the RKE and they haven't announced what pumps will be controllable with the unit.

 

[corndogg]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12398296#post12398296 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by thysrof
Just read thru a thread on the RKE and they haven't announced what pumps will be controllable with the unit.

Yeah, they're being pretty tight lipped about some features. It's supposed to have some new exclusive features that they don't want the competition knowing about. So they haven't exactly released what capabilities it will have for sure. Since all the other "affordable " controllers are older technology for the most part, it might make since to wait a while to see what happens if you are in the market and don't need a controller immediately.

 

[thysrof]

I think that's a good idea. I've lived so far without one and it sounds like the RKE is coming out pretty soon.

 

[TikiDan]

Are any of these controllers Mac friendly?

 

[thysrof]

Dan,

I belive I read that the RKE is. You can look on the link of the review of all the controllers and find out which ones are

 

[northbay-reefer]

Cool, I just happen to have some cash stashed away for the new RKE I've been thinking about what to buy to treat myself.

 

[corndogg]

what do you mean by mac friendly? the controllers that are web accessible can use any web browser. Do you mean as far as add on software?

The way I see it is... I want my controller to be a complete standalone of my computer when it comes to function. I do use the cpu to access the controller to make changes but the controller doesn't rely on the pc for anything.
Plus, if there is a power failure, my small ups can keep my ACIII alive for days. If I needed to run my pc, it could only last 10 or so minutes.

 

[TikiDan]

All I run are MAC, Even my phone

I just want to make sure you don't need a certain OS to control and update and what not.

 

[corndogg]

only need windows for aquanotes addon software. I believe that the firmware update utility is windows only but you could use my pc if you ever needed to update your controller firmware. It only took about 5 minutes to do when I upgraded f/w for the aquasurf.