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What controller do you use & what do you control
- Thread starter dfm34
- Start date
Silly me I though you could only control 4-8 devices. How do you do this? How many dc8 can you connect? Also is the $100 price dif between apex and rkl worth it?
If I can remember you can connect up to 240 eb8 to the system.
I went withe the apex cause it was somewhat a plug and play. The other feature I like is the webcam which would allow me to see tank when on vaction an able to turn thing on and off from my phone.
Now the $ difference buy the time you add the wireless module. It's about the same price.
I went withe the apex cause it was somewhat a plug and play. The other feature I like is the webcam which would allow me to see tank when on vaction an able to turn thing on and off from my phone.
Now the $ difference buy the time you add the wireless module. It's about the same price.
I don't want to knock the Apex or RKE because those are both popular and excellent controllers. I'm more of a hand's on, customizer type though, so I went with the Reef Angel (RA).
It's open source (Arduino) architecture allows me to customize the control of anything with a plug. The others are plug and play with built in programming (and also allow some customization to be fair) so if you're looking for something that's ready out of the box they may be a better choice. But if you're looking for complete freedom to monitor and control anything and everything, consider the RA.
You can see some of the things I monitor/control from my signature below. That's a "live" feed of data that my controller sends to a .php website portal and the signature pulls data from that portal. (The time stamp is wrong because I probably need to choose my time zone on the portal page, but the data is live, regardless of when I made this post or when you're viewing it.) I could also setup recording of that data to view a chart of it over a specified period of time. I can monitor the status of any piece of equipment via the internet or a phone app (they have it for iPhone and Android devices) and can instantly control (on/off) anything wirelessly... whether I'm at home or away. I can even control the dimming (start/end times, Min/Max intensity %, etc per channel) of my LED lights remotely and on-the-fly. These may be features of the other controllers too, but I know you can do them with the RA and that it's a quality, powerful alternative.
The part I love the most is the monitoring features it has with my Android App. I can view any of the probe readings (3 temps & pH as well as salinity and ORP if I had those), on/off status of the 16 outlets I have controlled (and if I bought more outlet boxes I could view those as well), LED dimming current % for each individual channel (I have 2 fixtures, each with a white and blue channel), and my VorTech pump info (current mode it's in, current speed, and duration of any pulses or pauses, etc.) I can turn on/off any outlet at any time, instantly. I can change the memory settings that the Arduino code uses to control things. For instance, my LED's use multiple memory locations to know how to control the sunrise/sunset light cycle. These would be start time, start %, end%, duration (of the ramping cycle), and end time. So, if my LED's were set to 50% max intensity but I wanted to raise that to 60% after the first week of acclimation... I could simply change the end % of that channel and now the cycle will take them to 60%.
Other cool features: Feeding Mode and Water Change Mode. These are two settings that you can program the controller to either turn on or off a specific set of outlets whenever the controller enters those modes. For feeding mode, it will automatically put your VorTech into "feeding mode" (if you buy the module to control it and if you have a wes model VorTech), and then I set my return pump and skimmer off. When I exit feeding mode, everything goes back to normal except the skimmer is set to a 5 minute delay (which allows my sump to lower to normal level once the return pump runs for a bit) and my VorTech goes into Nutrient Export Mode for 15 minutes, then reverts back to whatever mode was set in memory. For WC mode, I push one button and it turns off my heater, ATO, return pump, skimmer, biopellet reactor, carbon/gfo reactor... and turns on my fuge/sump light. When I exit the mode, everything goes back to like it was before entering the mode. This makes my water changes so much easier!
Anyway, I'd be happy to answer any questions about the RA if you're interested.
It's open source (Arduino) architecture allows me to customize the control of anything with a plug. The others are plug and play with built in programming (and also allow some customization to be fair) so if you're looking for something that's ready out of the box they may be a better choice. But if you're looking for complete freedom to monitor and control anything and everything, consider the RA.
You can see some of the things I monitor/control from my signature below. That's a "live" feed of data that my controller sends to a .php website portal and the signature pulls data from that portal. (The time stamp is wrong because I probably need to choose my time zone on the portal page, but the data is live, regardless of when I made this post or when you're viewing it.) I could also setup recording of that data to view a chart of it over a specified period of time. I can monitor the status of any piece of equipment via the internet or a phone app (they have it for iPhone and Android devices) and can instantly control (on/off) anything wirelessly... whether I'm at home or away. I can even control the dimming (start/end times, Min/Max intensity %, etc per channel) of my LED lights remotely and on-the-fly. These may be features of the other controllers too, but I know you can do them with the RA and that it's a quality, powerful alternative.
The part I love the most is the monitoring features it has with my Android App. I can view any of the probe readings (3 temps & pH as well as salinity and ORP if I had those), on/off status of the 16 outlets I have controlled (and if I bought more outlet boxes I could view those as well), LED dimming current % for each individual channel (I have 2 fixtures, each with a white and blue channel), and my VorTech pump info (current mode it's in, current speed, and duration of any pulses or pauses, etc.) I can turn on/off any outlet at any time, instantly. I can change the memory settings that the Arduino code uses to control things. For instance, my LED's use multiple memory locations to know how to control the sunrise/sunset light cycle. These would be start time, start %, end%, duration (of the ramping cycle), and end time. So, if my LED's were set to 50% max intensity but I wanted to raise that to 60% after the first week of acclimation... I could simply change the end % of that channel and now the cycle will take them to 60%.
Other cool features: Feeding Mode and Water Change Mode. These are two settings that you can program the controller to either turn on or off a specific set of outlets whenever the controller enters those modes. For feeding mode, it will automatically put your VorTech into "feeding mode" (if you buy the module to control it and if you have a wes model VorTech), and then I set my return pump and skimmer off. When I exit feeding mode, everything goes back to normal except the skimmer is set to a 5 minute delay (which allows my sump to lower to normal level once the return pump runs for a bit) and my VorTech goes into Nutrient Export Mode for 15 minutes, then reverts back to whatever mode was set in memory. For WC mode, I push one button and it turns off my heater, ATO, return pump, skimmer, biopellet reactor, carbon/gfo reactor... and turns on my fuge/sump light. When I exit the mode, everything goes back to like it was before entering the mode. This makes my water changes so much easier!
Anyway, I'd be happy to answer any questions about the RA if you're interested.
I am not too tech savvy so the ra open source programing scares me a bit
George,
Do you plan on getting the salinity module for this? (Yes, i'm still haunting the forum)
Ya George get the salinity module and be the guinea pig for us. 
I think that's next on my list to get along with a 3rd relay and the vortech control module and the big screen...
Another happy Reef Angel user here. Right now I'm using it to control my LED's, fuge light, heater, and and ATO. I also have my pumps skimmer, skimmer cleaner and power heads plugged into its relays and monitor my temps and pH with it.
I think that's next on my list to get along with a 3rd relay and the vortech control module and the big screen...
Another happy Reef Angel user here. Right now I'm using it to control my LED's, fuge light, heater, and and ATO. I also have my pumps skimmer, skimmer cleaner and power heads plugged into its relays and monitor my temps and pH with it.
I have one to and the new wizard is very nice. It was not always like that... I need to figure out how to make a custom menu to turn my slimmer off for a couple hours.. Sorry for the off the topic
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
Ya George get the salinity module and be the guinea pig for us.
I think that's next on my list to get along with a 3rd relay and the vortech control module and the big screen...
Another happy Reef Angel user here. Right now I'm using it to control my LED's, fuge light, heater, and and ATO. I also have my pumps skimmer, skimmer cleaner and power heads plugged into its relays and monitor my temps and pH with it.
I have the salinity module it works good but you have to put the probe in a good location where it is not possible to get any air bubbles in it. Once bubbles get in it the salinity goes down. Took awhile to figure that out.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
I have an Apex. Right now it controls:
Lighting:
- a pair of AI sol blues (individual control of W,B,RB)
- 5x DIY 90w Cree fixtures (W,B,WW)
- On/Off frag tank LED
- 50w dimmable refugium light
- moon lights (synced to real cycle)
Pumps:
- 2x wave-making Sicce propeller pumps
- main return pump
- 2x MP10's in the frag tank
- skimmer pump (shuts off if main pump is off or if skimmate container fills up)
- ATO dosing pump
- ejector pump (to empty water change tank)
- RO pump to refill water change tank
- mixing pump
- calcium reactor
Heaters:
- main tank (average temperature changes with the season)
- mixing tank
Valves:
- RO solenoid to control filling the RO tank
- 2" Jaco pool valve to bring mixing tank in and out of the system
- CO2 for calcium reactor
Sensors:
- pressure switch for ATO
- pressure switch for skimmate container
- 2x floats for RO
- 2x floats for water change
- 2x pH (main tank & calcium reactor)
- 2x temperature (main + mixing)
- ORP
- conductivity (in mixing tank, signals system that the mix is complete and the valve should reopen)
Alarms:
- temperature range
- ph range
- conductivity range
- skimmer overflow
- ATO running longer than normal
- power outage (some circuits are on UPS)
- mixing done
I have some more plans, but I think you guys get the idea. You can do it all.
Lighting:
- a pair of AI sol blues (individual control of W,B,RB)
- 5x DIY 90w Cree fixtures (W,B,WW)
- On/Off frag tank LED
- 50w dimmable refugium light
- moon lights (synced to real cycle)
Pumps:
- 2x wave-making Sicce propeller pumps
- main return pump
- 2x MP10's in the frag tank
- skimmer pump (shuts off if main pump is off or if skimmate container fills up)
- ATO dosing pump
- ejector pump (to empty water change tank)
- RO pump to refill water change tank
- mixing pump
- calcium reactor
Heaters:
- main tank (average temperature changes with the season)
- mixing tank
Valves:
- RO solenoid to control filling the RO tank
- 2" Jaco pool valve to bring mixing tank in and out of the system
- CO2 for calcium reactor
Sensors:
- pressure switch for ATO
- pressure switch for skimmate container
- 2x floats for RO
- 2x floats for water change
- 2x pH (main tank & calcium reactor)
- 2x temperature (main + mixing)
- ORP
- conductivity (in mixing tank, signals system that the mix is complete and the valve should reopen)
Alarms:
- temperature range
- ph range
- conductivity range
- skimmer overflow
- ATO running longer than normal
- power outage (some circuits are on UPS)
- mixing done
I have some more plans, but I think you guys get the idea. You can do it all.
Geez. Does it Go online and order fish and coral for you too!!! Hahaha
Awesome setup!!!
Awesome setup!!!