Aquacontroller

[alexwolf]

I just got my Aquacontroller. I am a little dissapointed. Maybe I am not using it to its potential, but it seems difficult. The probes are tough to mount, and the PH almost seems wrong. It jumps from 7.8 inthe morning to 8.2 in the evening. I also dont see how my temp can go from 78 to 85 in this weather. i have my probes in one of the baffles of my sump. it said to make sure they have adequate flow. Also, on the screen, is displays Temp PH then there is a lower case w. Any idea what this is? Maybe it would be easier and cooler with the software, but I cant afford the $150 they want. I am frustrated!!!!!! I almost feel like I wasted $400 :(

[GaryP]

Alex,

OK, lets break this into two issues, pH and temp.

The swing in pH over the course of a day is not unusual. It has a lot to do with the biological activity of the algaes in your system. CO2 is produced by algae at night and causes the pH to drop. O2 is produced by them during the day and causes the pH to go up. What kind of light cycle do you have your lights on in your fuge? One way to even out the pH swing is run your fuge lights at night. Also, what is your alkalinity? Remember that buffer helps prevent swings in pH. It tries to keep your pH at an equilibrium. If your alkalinity is low, it will allow for larger swings.

OK Temp. What is the single largest source of heat in your system? Your MHs right? When they are on during the day they are pumping heat into your water. As I recall you don't have any cooling fans on your hood. Has that changed? If you are running 400 watt MHs that creates a trememdous amount of heat in your system, especially if you do not have enough cooling to help dissipate that heat.

One problem I run into a lot, as far as temp is concerned at this time of year, is that I am not running my AC as much. That means that the humidity inside the house goes up. An aquarium dissipates heat primarily by evaporation. If the humidity is high, as it has been this week, evaporation goes down and even though the air temp may be cooler, the water temp. actually goes up.

I think reversing the light cycle on your fuge lights and adding some additional cooling fans would be some easy fixs to the swings you are experiencing. I don't think the pH swing is that big of a problem. I would suggest trying to get the max. temp down to around 82-83.

HTH,
Gary

[rocketeer]

Hey Alex,

Have you tried double checking the temperature with a glass thermometer? That seems like the easiest to check out of the two. Just a thought.

Jack

[Gator]

i second gary, my ph and temp change, we normally dont see it because at 6am in the morning we dont have time to check our ph, and at the end of the day it has peaked, your temp you can always double check with thermomitor and calibrate your ----

[wkopplin]

Did you calibrate the pH probe? Also, make sure the ORP probe and the pH probe are not close together. I have the program and I like it. It was worth the $.

[alexwolf]

I dont have the ORP probe.

[alexwolf]

yeah i guess so. I still dont understand the w on the screen though. I suppose when I get al lthe lights on X-10 it will seem to be a better buy. Maybe when I get the CA reactor, using it as a PH controller will make me feel better. I am going to look for a copy of the software from someone who has it to try it out. Thanks guys!

[alexwolf]

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[alexwolf]

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[scuba_steveo]

I would be very surprised if the probes were not accurate. I also had the same PH swing but I have made the swing less by adding the tunze kalk dispenser to the setup. Now I have a nice balance between calcium reactor and kalk top off. The controller is the coolest thing. I do not do anything anymore. It controls all lights, VHO, MH, moonlights, refugium, and soon T5, all coming on and off at different times. It controls the CO2 on my calcium reactor, the heaters, and the fans.

[alexwolf]

Oh yeah, now I remember!