Monitoring system and heater control?

[wade]

First, a note: I have never used a controller on my tanks. It seems like almost everything is becoming controllable now (I'm not sold on the idea personally, but willing to try some of them). Lights/cycle, pumps, water motion pumps/powerheads, heat/cool, sensors (pH, cond, temp), water level/topoff... can one system handle most of that? I've used many DIY systems for topoff and heat/cooling control, but they were always independent of one another. At one point, I had 2x aquacontroller 3's (probably in a box someplace, but they might be dead) but I only used them for monitoring pH and T real time.

 

What I am looking for, and having a time finding info on, is what controllers will allow you to control the on/off state of a heater and fan that has good longevity and isn't a major headache to program?

 

I may be able to set up a wireless system, but cannot run wire to where the tank is located, so monitoring system either needs to be local or I'll have to set it up wirelessly.

 

Additionally, what heaters are folks using? I've always used glass Jager's (great heaters), but was wondering if a titanium heater is worthwhile (no breakage, tho they get hotter so higher chance of overheating failure).

 

 

I do have an old LiterMeter 3 although I haven't tested it in ages to see if it works. Can that be tied to a controller for topoff?

 

Sorry if this has been posted elsewhere, my time to dig through old posts is a bit limited. Feel free to link me.

[Sharkey18]

Apex. Expensive but good. It's very powerful but to honest all I use it for is temp and pH monitoring. Can also turn pumps on and off.

 

I find it a bit intimidating which is why I use so few functions but for those few things it works great and if I can use it anyone can use it.

[Big Country]

I use the older ACIII on my tank. Control the lights to turn them on/off and also emergency off if the tank gets too warm in the summer, control a fan to blow across the tank if the water gets too warm, control two heaters I have a Eheim/Jagr glass heater and a Finnex titanium heater in my sump, control a CO2 solenoid for my calcium reactor, have feed cycle set up to turn off my skimmer and return when feeding to keep the food out of the sump. Not sure if the ACIII will control pumps since I use the Tunze multicontroller to control mine. The Apex is the way to go if you don't already have a controller but my older ACIII works for me and many others around here.

[Origami]

You're going to hear pretty much from members on the following: Neptune Systems AC-III or Apex (newer); Reefkeeper Elite, or Reef Angel (built on an open platform). Neptune products are probably used by more of us here in this forum than the others, but there are certainly proponents of the others. I've owned both the AC-III and the Apex. The Apex has some features that the AC-III didn't have, but the biggest difference is probably that the programming interface (from the web) is somewhat easier because you treat each outlet separately. "Advanced" programming, similar to that in the older AC-III, is a possibility on the Apex, too. I don't recommend programming it from the unit's keypad interface unless you know what you're doing and looking for. I can't comment on either the Reefkeeper or the Reef Angel, but other users will certainly chime in, mostly with justification for why to make the same selection they did. I won't go that far. I like my Apex and, in general, really enjoy having a controller on the tank to both monitor and control the various systems, and to alert me when things begin to stray outside normal operating parameters.

 

In the past, I've hardwired both to my routers. I've helped another reefer here set his up wirelessly. I've also used network powerline adapters to connect an AC-III to a home router without running network cabling. This is a decent option and doesn't require much technical setup effort at all.

[Tracy G]

If you use apple airport extream I used an airport express as a range extender and wired it to the extender. Not the cheapest way but was super easy. Works great

[wade]

Ppphht Apple. :p

 

I'm looking into options still. Do some of these controllers let you vary powerhead/pump flow (where they are variable) with say Vortechs?

[Chad]

Vortechs will (I think always, but I might be wrong, I have an apex) require another part, for apex, that's the "WXM."

 

Though tunze can be controlled by the apex if you have the interfacing wire (rj45 to din).