I want to preface this conversation by stating that obviously you can have an awesome tank without any automation but for my new 240 that I'll be starting soon I want to automate a lot more of it than I have on my 55. The only things I have automated now are my light schedule and my trident. I don't have the NP and don't really think I want to get it with a lot of the issues I'm reading about on here. Considering switching to hydros when the maven comes out. If you guys had to rank the most important things to have automated with your tank, what would they be? What would your must haves be? What about nice to have? My first purchase is going to be an ATO.
Automation must haves?
- Thread starter keithw283
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Absolute first on the list for me would be an Inkbird. ATO second. Lighting third. When I get my 203g up and running, these will be my only points of automation I have. When I retire and thus travel, I'll buy into about every piece of automation I can.
GARRIGA
2500 Club Member
Also considering the Hydros. Going to set it up on my test 20g along with dosing and later transfer to my main when ever that gets completed. Wasn't one that felt controllers were warranted but have grown to appreciate the fact I can not only monitor from a far but make adjustments to dosing, shut off ATO, shut off heater and run my Fuge/ATS off pH reading and shut lights off when exceeding a certain value as well as possibly turning them off if nitrates and/or phosphates drop below acceptable, although latter likely not a consideration as I prefer to overfeed and assume all getting fed with Fuge/ATS and biological cleaning up the excess.
Goal is being away for a week or two and anything that would have needed my attention resolve via internet including sharing with another who can stop by and under my supervision execute emergency measures or hire an LFS to solve while I stay away vs cutting vacation short.
Goal is being away for a week or two and anything that would have needed my attention resolve via internet including sharing with another who can stop by and under my supervision execute emergency measures or hire an LFS to solve while I stay away vs cutting vacation short.
keithw283
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does the inkbird bypass the controller in the heater itself? I have always used the finex heaters and have never had an issue. It would be nice to have some redundancy to make sure nothing sticks on or doesn't turn on at all.
Gumbies R Us
Certified Noob
ATO is a must have
n2585722
2500 Club Member
I use my Hydros for main heater control and have the thermostat on my heaters set about 3 degrees above the Hydros. Always have a backup off for heaters. If the heaters do not have a thermostat you can set then use a InkBird or similar controller and then set the Hydros as the backup off. I have a quite large Hydros collective with 15 controllers. If interested in what all I control with it click on My Tank Thread banner on my post to get to my build thread here on R2R. The Hydros information starts on page 6 post # 119. That s when I got my first Hydros controller right after they hit the market. It was a X4 starter kit. I started with Hydros in the garage and slowly added it to the tank also. I had a Archon system before and to begin with pass signals back and forth. One of the first thing the Hydros controlled was ATO even though I did not have any Hydros at the tank. Eventually it controlled all things at my mixing station and RODI unit. I then started adding it to the tank until it now controls everything at the tank, the RODI unit and mixing station.
Scottiemac
Active Member
If you're going to automate then you may as well automate as much as possible.
I monitor the following through Hydros:
The only thing I have to do manually is adjust the salinity (if necessary) and feed. I don't want to automate the feeding for two reasons: 1. It forces monitoring of the tank every day and 2. I create my own frozen food (which led to my NO3 problem but that's another story).
Of course, maintenance is a manual task, as well. Cleaning the skimmer, cleaning the scrubber. Things like that. Plus pump maintenance.
I don't do water changes, but may in the future. That's another thing I can control through the controller, turning off various devices like the ATO during the AWC process.
I monitor the following through Hydros:
- Temperature
- Leaks
- Sump water level
- pH
- Main tests - NO3, PO4, Mg, Ca. I have manual tests if an automated test comes back out of range.
- Alkalinity
- Skimmate collection fluid level
- Salinity
- Heaters. While most good ones have their own controllers, having them controlled by your controller is a necessary backup.
- Return pump control, with dependency on leak sensors.
- ATO with dependency on sump water level.
- Alkalinity dosing, with dependency on Alk testing.
- Kalk reactor pump and stirrer.
- Dosing trace elements.
- Lights for scrubber (or refugium if you're using that, instead).
- 4 wavemakers with varying schedules.
- Carbon reactor (though that's not up and running right now).
- GFO with dependency on PO4 test.
- Biopellets with dependency on NO3 test.
- Ca and Mg dosing, dependencies on their respective tests.
- NoPox dosing, because I let my NO3 get out of control.
The only thing I have to do manually is adjust the salinity (if necessary) and feed. I don't want to automate the feeding for two reasons: 1. It forces monitoring of the tank every day and 2. I create my own frozen food (which led to my NO3 problem but that's another story).
Of course, maintenance is a manual task, as well. Cleaning the skimmer, cleaning the scrubber. Things like that. Plus pump maintenance.
I don't do water changes, but may in the future. That's another thing I can control through the controller, turning off various devices like the ATO during the AWC process.
keithw283
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I have been strongly considering switching over to Hydros and I think it is for sure happening. Think I'm going to once the Maven comes out. What controllers would you recommend? I'm thinking about just starting with the Maven since it has the sense ports and drive ports and expanding from there. Still learning a lot about their controllers.
Search on here about Inkbird failures - This was just back live again yesterday - Think Ranco
Best heater controller. InkBird has let me down for the last time…
My second InkBird controller has failed. One of the probes went haywire. What is an upgraded temp controller? I run two 600w heaters. I would like dual temp probes & some sort of app or website access if it exists. But a quality bulletproof reliable controller is much more important than a few...
www.reef2reef.com
Great system. You can automate the salinity without a probe. calculate the volume of skimate and loss due to salt creep (if any). Use a dosing pump to replenish the loss. I believe @VintageReefer is doing this
n2585722
2500 Club Member
I am sure you will want more sense ports than the 2 on the Maven. I go through the sense ports quite quickly. Unless it is a pH, salinity or ORP probe chances are you will need to connect it to a sense port. I have 12 of them in use just for water level sensors. I have 3 for leak detectors and 5 for temp sensors. I also have a flow meter and a TDS meter that use sense ports. Not all of those were in use at one time but happened over the years, I also converted from another controller over to the Hydros and was able to do it slowly over time. If you are going to want to monitor salinity then you will need a X10 or Launch. The Launch is a good starting point since it has a ph/ORP port, salinity port, 4 sense ports and 4 0-10v inputs. For outputs it has 4 drive ports and 4 AC ports. The AC port on the Launch do not have power monitoring though but it does give you control over 4 AC powered devices. If you need more it is just a matter of getting the controller that has the inputs and outputs you need, a command bus cable and a couple of terminators. You will only need 2 terminators on a collective. You would create a collective with your existing controller if this is the first added controller. The collective would then assume the settings for that controller since it is the first one in the collective. Then you would power down and connect a command bus cable between the two controllers and then add the terminators to the two open command bus ports. Power the collective back up and go through the setup procedure for the new controller. Then when you have that controller accessed check for firmware updates before adding it to the collective. Once the firmware is checked and updated if needed Select the collective and then you select devices from the left menu and click the + sign in lower right of the screen to add a new controller to the collective. That is about it. I currently have a collective with 15 controllers in it.
Scottiemac
Active Member
The Maven is a great place to start because it can operate independently.
Expanding on this, and depending on your needs, you might start with the Hydros Launch. This has four sense ports and four drive ports, along with four standard power outlets.
If you want the option of using Hydros for alkalinity testing, the Control X10 and Hydros iV is the way to go. This comes with four good dosers, one of which is a micro-doser. The iV in conjunction with the X10 is essentially the same as a Focustronic Alkatronic as far as alkalnity testing goes. It even uses the same reagent. Of course, the X10 also provides your standard controller options, minus the power outlets and with two less drive ports. With this setup you'd need an XP8, which provides eight standard power outlets. You'll eventually get an XP8 anyway. I have two of them. Had the Launch been out when I started then I probably would still have gotten one XP8.
VintageReefer
10K Club member
Not me
I do have some automation but a standalone system for alkalinity only. I use KH Guardian, itS 400$ and auto tests my tanks alkalinity every 4 hours, and calculates and auto doses a homemade mix of sodium bicarbonate to maintain the alk level I set
I liked its low price point and that it didn’t require me to jump into a system with $1000+ in gear I need to buy. While alkalinity alone was all I needed, I was sold on the $50 upgrade module to add ph, temp and orp monitoring
