Automation

[fancy_fish101]

I have a sps Nano dom tank with a few others but mainly sps. But need it more automated, as that I am not always home for a week at a time. But I am able to go over when needed. If it is needed.

as far as automation: when power goes out what a good system that turns on when power goes out for return pump and wave pumps?

also, for normal automation for reading levels like calcium, magnesium, alkalinity, phosphate, and nitrate levels. I was thinking hydros system. I feel like hydros is better than apex but then again never had either.

any help or advice will greatly be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[HankstankXXL750 Verified Sponsor]

I run apex and really like the whole package including the trident for Alk, Ca, Mg. I don’t use the integrated program to adjust to maintain the levels, but thinking about it. Things are fairly stable and close to dialed in. If I set it to auto adjust one less thing to worry about. Just have to decide to trust it.

Don’t know anything about the hydros, the apex doesn’t auto test for nitrate and phosphate, but I only test weekly for that, and if your staying fairly stable probably not an issue for being gone a week. However I would love to have it automatically tested. I haven’t seen a system that does it on its own, I think the ones I’ve seen you still have to add reagents but I’m not sure.

I have ice cap battery back ups. But do see that they say v3 doesn’t work with AI nero which I run. However I’m pretty sure it works with my current return pumps, just not as long as running a power head.

 

[fancy_fish101]

I feel hydros is maybe better, as I seen it is new programming. As far as wave pumps I got a cheap off of Amazon rn but about to upgrade to eflux current pumps.

is icecap the only brand of battery?

 

[HankstankXXL750 Verified Sponsor]

No ice cap isn’t the only brand. It is what my lfs had when I bought tank. There are other brands, and even more expensive types of electrical back up.

I can only speak on what I’ve used. That being said, if I’m home when a power outage happens I have a gas powered generator I hook up.

 

[fancy_fish101]

No ice cap isn’t the only brand. It is what my lfs had when I bought tank. There are other brands, and even more expensive types of electrical back up.

I can only speak on what I’ve used. That being said, if I’m home when a power outage happens I have a gas powered generator I hook up.

I just want to be prepared so whenever I’m not home and a power outage happens it all good.
And ok thank you.

 

[o2manyfish]

For power outage you have 2 steps to a Solution - Step 1 is a large UPS for the key parts of the aquarium (Return Pump & Heater). If you have a power head that really disrupts the surface of the aquarium water, then you could use that instead of the return pump for flow and oxygenating the water.

But it's sometimes best to keep the water in the pipes flowing - pending the size of the tank, the size of the sump, and the reliability of the pump turning back on when stopped.

Large UPS can be expensive - But depending on the model they use 6v or 12v batteries. Lots and Lots of Companies have big UPS units that when they start beeping they are failing they replace the units. These units can be found very cheap from your favorite craigslist, ebay, marketplace. You can buy a several thousand dollar UPS for a hundred bucks or so - Open it up, get the model # of the batteries and qty. Replace them for minimal cost and have yourself a jumbo UPS for several hundred dollars rather than several thousand. There are tons of these 'bad' units out there.

Step 2 is if you are going to have a long outage is a generator with an automatic transfer switch that kicks on automatically when the power drops out.

Many people think having a genny in their garage is their salvation - But it only works when you are home. A long day at work. An overnight stay away. A short getaway weekend - That's always when bad things happen, and a genny in the garage is a genny in a garage. If you are serious about protecting the inhabitants you have to look into a whole house generator with an auto transfer switch - That way when you're gone the power going out doesn't need anything done by you for the power to switch over. The switch over in less than 15 secs. And a UPS on key things - like tank, Internet Equipment, aquarium Controller -- Keeps everything up and online.

For automating the testing the Mastertronic does testing of 5 or 6 different tests. You choose the test and make of reagent you like and it does all the auto testing. It's not a simple system, but once you get it up and running it does it's job very well. It's data can be integrated into the Hydros System or is available standalone. Focustronic who makes the Mastertronic also makes the Dosetronic. And those two devices together can test your parameters and allow you to autodose and correct up to 5 parameters very easily.

Dave B