Controllers.......

[waverz]

Im toying with the idea of getting a controller for my tank because i am going to be adding a calcium reactor soon. Ive been looking at the Aquacontroller Jr. but it doesnt have the ethernet port which i think is the coolest thing ever. The aquacontroller III is abit out of my price range but man that thing looks super nerdy!!!

Then theres the reefkeepers, dont know much about them but from what i can tell they dont look as much fun....

 

[Coralfreak]

I dont know much about the Reefkeepers either, they do have a cooler looking display, but beyond that from what I can tell they have no distinct advantage over the AC Jr, which by the way has had the price lowered on it again, its now $225 with a DC8, thats a good price.

I can tell you that neither one of them compares to the AC3. If your intent is to monitor a calcium reactor, keep in mind the others only have 1 pH probe, so its either the reactor or your tank, or I guess you could move it back and forth. Other option is to get a seperate pH controller, in which case the AC3 becomes a bit less pricey. The AC3 has the built in ablility to use 2 pH probes, which is what I am doing. You also have to ability to add more probes with the PX 1000, I plan on adding on of these soon to be able to connect an ORP probe. The temp probe that comes with it will be used on my water change container to make the temps match almost exactly. Beyond that, their a many other expansion options on the AC3 the others just dont have.

Allen

 

[Double-J]

ACIII is nice, able to monitor multiple tanks, access it via internet. Curt keeps coming out with new break out boxes, expansion modules in December he is coming out with dimmable moonlights for it. It seems all the upgrades are ACIII oriented. I did have an ACjr. and it works very well also, you can also hook it up to your computer via serial cable, The major downside of it is you can't have multiple probes.

 

[waverz]

Looks like i better get my butt out on the corner....and start selling lemonade.

 

[slovan]

Another controller to consider without breaking the bank is the Premium Aquatics Lighthouse controller. It doesn't have all the features that the ACIII has but if you're looking to control one tank, it does a good job. You can monitor and control parameters over the internet now so that's a cool feature. Before you could just view it.

 

[waverz]

Slovan, thatnks for the heads up on that. That looks alot more affordable for sure!