Reefkeeper, Aqua Controller, etc... What do you have, and what do you use it for?

[neogenix]

Hey,

So I'm hopefully going to take possession of a RKE, and I've got a list of things I want to do with it, so I'm wondering who's doing what? Also, are you using dosing pumps, and if so, which ones? Heeelp

[Europhyllia]

I have a RKL and I use it for lights, heater control, pH, temp, return pump
That's it. I still love it though.
My ATO is a ReefFanatic and it's separate

[txg8gxp]

RKL for lights, pump, skimmer, fans. I will add a SL1 for pH and two BRS dosing pumps.

[neogenix]

So, here's what I'm planning on doing, any input, or anything you guys could think that I missed, let me know!! here goes :

* Temperature Control and Monitoring
*** Use the 2 temp probes to monitor the temp in both the sump and the main, have the sump be allowed to deviate a few degrees (based on a baseline over a few weeks). Alarms on each probe, as well as control of the Heater with a backup heater in the sump. Set of fans above the tank for cooling (so if main is low temp, start heater 1, if temp continues to drop 10 degrees or so, turn on heater 2, if temp is above x, and y's high mark, turn on fans)

* PH Monitoring
*** Monitor, and alert accordingly.

* Salinity Monitoring and Response
*** Use the salinity probe to monitor the salinity level and turn the ATO off if the salinity drops below a certain point

* Wave Maker
*** Use the channels to randomly create flow throughout the tank with Koralia Evolutions.

* ATO
*** Use a dosing pump to input water based on the salinity and the float switches, limited to a certain number of minutes per hour, and have a float switch in the ATO vat to alert should the water level drop below a certain point for an alert.

* RO Water Production
*** Using a float switch pair in the ATO vat, pump water into the vat until the high mark is reached using a solenoid (may just use the spectra pure stuff for this)

* 2 Part Dosing
*** With a pair of dosing pumps, deliver 2 part once a day to the sump (have considered doing a certain volume per hour, so if the need is 11ml for the tank and the dosing pump does 1.1ml / minute, run the pump for 1 minute once an hour for 10 hours, in an attempt to keep the graph more stable... also considered pushing the 2 part to 'drip' trays or containers, with safety overflows ;))

* Automatic Water Changes
*** Using 2 high volume dosing pumps, change out a small section of water per day, during this time turn off the ATO and monitor the salinity and water level, if water level drops stop the change and alert keeping everything disabled. In theory, for example in a 140G tank, I should change out around 14 gallons every 2 weeks, which means 7 gallons a week, and 1 gallon a day... so around mid day when the water temp should be pretty even, push in 1 gallon, and take out 1 gallon. Have float switches in the salt water tank and disable the process / alert when that is triggered

* Light Control
*** Just replace the timers on the lighting and control the moonlight's to have the lighting follow the moon cycle. No major differences here, but just something else i'm going to be doing with it. When at some point control / programming is added to iReef, use that to control the lighting on an as-needed basis. Maybe at some point add the ALC (advanced lighting control) and use it to dim / intensify the LED lighting i'll probably get at some point.

* Automatic Dry Food Feeding (Dainichi)
*** 2 Automatic Feeders which alternate out dainichi red and green to keep fish and such fed, giving a free day or two each week for spot feeding and coral feeding.

* Leak Detection
*** Using a float switch in the main, alert if that triggers, and then add leak detection probes under the sump.

So, comments?

[Big_Pun]

wow your nuts Patrick, so what part do play in your yank besides paying electric bill lol

[neogenix]

Lol, I want to make sure I can go on vacation ... and someone needs to fill the bottles up :P

[ErikH]

Set your lights to turn off at a certain temp. You never know when your chiller will go out, or just in case it gets too hot being that we live in SA. My lights turn off, and wait at least 20 minutes before having the opportunity to turn back on.

[alton]

Like Eric said it is great insurance with lights and fans. My fans turn on at 76 and turn off at 75, two MH turn off if the temp gets to 79, the third at 80 and VHO off at 81. That way if my AC goes out during the day the lights don't cook the tank. And all for $99 for a RKL, Temp Probe and 1 PC4, I have no idea why I waited so long to get one? With a RKE the sky is the limit, I want a MLC next, and another PC4.

[neogenix]

Ah, so the RKE actually has the 15 minute wait built in ;) And, I did actually mean to do that, I just didn't add it to the list good catch guys!! Why the MLC, and not the SL2?

[neogenix]

After thinking about this a bit more, I'm going to be adding a few more bits to this:

* ATO
*** Use a dosing pump to input water based on the salinity and the float switches, limited to a certain number of minutes per hour, and have a float switch in the ATO vat to alert should the water level drop below a certain point for an alert.
*** Using a pair of float switches, one to control the baseline in the SUMP, and the other placed in an open state higher in the sump, and using the SWITCH function shut the pump port down, and close a solenoid if the top level triggers (as it should only trigger when the sump overflows)

I'm also starting to work on ideas for probe holders, and a few other bits and pieces (such as dosing pump mounts, water storage, cabling layouts, float switch mounts, etc...)