Which controller do you have in your tank?

[saintperez]

Thinking about getting a controller after Christmas. Curious to see what the majority of you guys use.

Any insight as to why would be great because I know very little about controllers other than they make your life easier or give you a heart attack.

Thanks
Santiago

 

[mrx66699]

It all comes down to what features you want, if your an aps kind of guy with a cell phone. You wont go wrong with the Reef Keeper Elite (Net). It has more features than you could imagine and when you add this with the net features IMO I truly don't think you will find more bang for your buck.

 

[WhoDey64]

The RK Lite will be able to use the NET module with the next firmware update

 

[clayspst]

RK2 here

 

[RobbsReef85]

I use the reefkeeper 2 - which isnt on the list....

 

[AquamanE]

I all depends on your budget and reason for use.

Ac Jr. here. Simple and easy to use. Ill prob upgrade in future but for now meets needs.

Can be setup wirelessly with a few upgrades. Some others have dropped in price with wireless already available.

 

[dominga]

Ac Jr.

 

[saintperez]

Do you any of you guys with Calcium reactor control your PH Control in the reactor with an Aquarium controller or do you have it setup with it's own controller? ANy pros or cons in using an Aquarium controller for this purpose?

 

[DeepReefExotics]

I use the Aquatronica and i love all the add ons and featuresthat the unit has. It currently has the most options with the Apex in second place.

I have it with dosing pump, leak sensor, ethernet (texts me if anything bad happens and sends a daily update aswell can also log into system from my cell and check up on and turn things on and off), salinity monitor, PH, Redox, water level, and temp and it controls absolutly everything in the tank and has programs to shut off turn off things depending on what the water params are. I really love the aquatronica but it was $$$$$ and probably about 2x all the other controllers listed.

If you wanted to save some $$$ and didnt care about add ons like the SMS module, doser or leak sensors then i would go with the Apex but if you had the money to blow then the AQ offers the most features but at a high premium much like everything else in the hobby (like getting a reef octopus over a bubble king).

If all you wanted was a light/timer controller with a ph monitor then i would go with one of the reefkeeper computers.

 

[DeepReefExotics]

And about the CA the AQ used to control my CA reactor ph and the amount of water going in using the doser while also monitoring my in tank ph so i had to ability to make a program to turn on/off the CA water flow/CO2 if the tank ph got out of wack which is an added safety net.

I dont use it for that anymore since i started using kalk and 2 part to keep up ( its just to easy and cheap to maintain it with the dosing pump add on and the cheap 2 part pricing on BRS).

 

[saintperez]

What I find interesting is that none of the controllers seem to allow for Calcium, Alk, Nitrate probes. I see on MarineDepot.com that they sell individual monitors for these so why didn't the controllers build this in???

 

[gasman059]

What I find interesting is that none of the controllers seem to allow for Calcium, Alk, Nitrate probes. I see on MarineDepot.com that they sell individual monitors for these so why didn't the controllers build this in???

Saint there's no availability for continuous monitoring- the continuous monitoring are not effective due to their constant calibration.

As far as controller- mine is an Aquatronica , and yes it monitors and controls my calcium reactor.

 

[mitchwelt]

i upgraded from a reefkeeper2 to and reefkeeper elite
i am very happy with it now and it controls everything you will ever get and more..
and they are adding more modules all the time...
it is also very easy to setup

 

[coralfragger101]

(snip)

If all you wanted was a light/timer controller with a ph monitor then i would go with one of the reefkeeper computers.

Now that's not fair. This isn't right at all.

The RK Elite can be programmed to do just about anything you can imagine and if it can't at the moment - they are working on it.

 

[saintperez]

Wow, I'm surprised about the Aquacontroller being in the lead. I remembered a great site that Eric (Reefwreak) told me about, http://aquariumcontrollers.com

He has a good spreadsheet that allows you to compare features. It's a bit outdated because it doesn't have the latest models etc. Aquatronica by far appeared to be the leader in expansion options.

 

[gasman059]

Santiago the popularity of systems is directly proportional with pricing also.

I prefer a close system, and want absolutely no part of an Open platform such as every other controller out there. Meaning if the firmware crashes the tank dies with every other controller.

 

[Greg 45]

Profilux PII waiting on upgrade to PIII

 

[Rogger Castells]

Santiago the popularity of systems is directly proportional with pricing also.

I prefer a close system, and want absolutely no part of an Open platform such as every other controller out there. Meaning if the firmware crashes the tank dies with every other controller.

This is one of the reasons that made me decide on the aquatronica unit, if the controller was to fail all your programing is still stored in each of the power bars, so you are not up in the air if it ever broke until you can get a new unit, the tank and all it's functions will continue to work normally.
Having said that each one of the power bars is $239 ouch! But the way I see it you either pay now or later when you have to run to homedepot to buy 10 timers extension cords and so on until you can repair your unit.
The other advantage to the aquatronica is that no monitoring probes gets connected to the unit so againg if It was to break your ph probe will still continue to read and controler your calcium reactor, your orp continues to control your ozone.........and so on, you get my point.
I think that it is important to mention that back 2 years ago when I bought my unit the American counter part were not producing units with all the options that I see they have now, therefore my only option was the aquatronica, I think that if I was making this decision now I will probably choose the Neptune apex controler, as it is made here in America and parts should be easier to find and hopefully cheaper.

 

[elisa20]

I love my apex!!!

 

[coralfragger101]

OK - I don't get it. The aquatronica has the programming in the power bars so they can continue if the controller goes out.

But what happens if a power bar goes out?

Seems to me to be six of one and half a dozen of the other.