Probes/Controllers ?

[scuba_steveo]

What type of Probes & Controllers do you use? What do they monitor and what brand is best for the money? I am just curious as to what I may need to get.

[wkopplin]

Neptune Systems Aquacontroller - Temp, pH and ORP monitors / controllers. Does everything but feed the fish. I bet you could even get it to do that. Uses X-10 controllers for everything and does a nice job. Acts as a wavemaker, light controller, temp controller, will turn on and off CO2 in a CA reactor, will shut down the closed loop during feeding, whatever you want it to do. I even use it to turn lights on and off while I am not home. Hooks into the computer and displays nice graphs as well as inhabitant logs, etc.

[scuba_steveo]

wow
I have a very stupid question: what are ORP monitors?
what about salinity?

[wkopplin]

I just use a refractometer for the salinity, it does a nice job. ORP is a measurement of the Oxidization Reduction Potential of your water. It is not terribly useful. The only real use I have found for it is that when it begins to move, it usually gives a little heads up to watch for a pH shift or to look for a dead fish. RK magazine has had an article or two about ORP and they have stated that it is not a useful number as a pure reading, but the changes in ORP are more important, whether ORP increases or decreases can be a leading indicator of your water getting out of balance. I will see if I can find the article.

[scuba_steveo]

dont look too hard blake, but if you find it let me know
so which one do I get, the AquaController II or the Pro? The Pro is much more pricy but if it is worth it.....
Also, how many control mudules will I need
I am thinking 3 for the lights (2-MH & 1 VHO), 1 Temp, 1 PH, 1 - fans
I have decided to go with the Tunze for wavemaking so I do not need one for that

[wkopplin]

I just have the Aquacontroller II, it is fine. Just get the stuff that comes with it, you can buy the extra X-10's on eBay for much less that they sell them at the fish sites. You only need one control module, which the Aquacontroller comes with. The X-10 appliance modules are pretty cheap on eBay (about 1/2 of what the aquacontroller retailers sell them for).

[wkopplin]

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-12/rhf/feature/index.htm

here is the article on ORP

[StephenA]

Neptune Systems Aquacontroller - Temp, pH and ORP monitors / controllers. Does everything but feed the fish.


How long have you had it? Do you really like it and when are you giving demonstrations!

[scuba_steveo]

do you have the software for the computer?
does anyone?

[DeletedAccount]

He is giving demos when the meeting is at his house in August!

[wkopplin]

I do have the software. I will give all the demos you want at the Aug. mtg. I have been using it since November and it is great. I really do like the thing. It works flawlessly. One feature that is really great is the logging of data. If you go out of town and come back to a mess, you can pull up the logs and see when it happened as usually, temp or pH would have been affected by whatever the problem was. It can also be set up so you can check in over the internet and see if a problem is developing and call a trusty MAAST friend to check it out. I would not do a tank without it.

[scuba_steveo]

What about the OCTOPUS 3000 by Aquadyne?

[wkopplin]

I looked at the Octopus and the Neptune seemed to have more features. As long as it is hooked to a computer, the Neptune is the thing to use. If it is not hooked to a compter, then the Octopus has an easier display to read. The both do the same basic features.

[StephenA]

Does it have to be hooked to a PC 24/7 to work or can you program it and disconnect it?

[wkopplin]

You can program it and disconnect it. It will run on its own. If you want the continuous data logs, you need to keep it hooked up. It can download the data logs whenever it gets reconnected. It does not have to be hooked to a computer all the time in order to work.

[z28pwr]

I wish it could support an 802.11 B or G card, that way you could forward the packets to another system without a wire running across.

PS: Blake, I have your bulbs.

[StephenA]

I can't belive no one supports that yet. I tried X10 on my tank a year ago. It didn't work well. The X10 People said I'd have to buy all kinds of equipment to fix it. Now this was from my pc to the X10 devices. I would imagine that this would work because they are on the same power strip.

[wkopplin]

The wired connection is a bit of a problem. I wish I could figure out how to hook it into a wireless hub, but so far, I have not figured out how to do it as it uses a serial cable.

Jose, I will give you a call on the lights. Thanks for getting those for me.