Please double check my plans

[qnguyen]

I appreciate it if you guys can check my GHL item list before I spend a crazy amount of money!

My set-up:

• The main display tank will be on the first floor with my sump located in the basement fish room which is about 15 feet away from the main display.
• The main display tank will only have lights (two Reefi Duo Extremes), two powerheads/wave makers with battery back-ups (undecided on the brand), GHL propeller breeze fan, temperature probe, and heater.
• Basement will house my sump, skimmer, 2-part dosing, AWC/ATO and of course return pump. Everything will be within a 7-foot by 5-foot room.

Here is my part list for the basement fish room:

1. P4 Ultimate Set
2. KH Director and 2.1 SA for dosing 2-part
3. Two optical level sensors for sump (high and low) for AWC/ATO; I am buying Geo sump which comes with a float switch holder
4. Maxi slave for AWC
5. I haven't decided yet on a pump for ATO. But I don't intend to use any GHL float switches in the ATO tank itself. I will just use AquaXP Flood Guardian to avoid flooding my reservoir. And then I will probably use PL and timer to somehow manage the ATO with the sump sensors as failsafe. But to be honest, I am very confident that I understand how this will all work yet.
6. Leak sensor
7. Flow sensor (9000 l.h)
8. PVC Imperial fitting for flow sensor

Here is my part list for the main display:

1. Expansion box
2. Powerbar (to control heater, lights, wave pumps, fan, extra Profilux display)
3. 10 meter PAB cable to connect to P4 in basement
4. Leak sensor
5. Temperature probe (this is my back-up in case my return pump or the primary heater in the sump fails)
6. Propeller Breeze 3 (mounted to display tank)
7. Propeller Control unit
8. Profilux touch display (extra unit so that I don't have to go to my basement and just for the hell of it; what's another $300 when you are spending $3,700!!

Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[qnguyen]

Oops. I didn’t realize that I need a leak interface to use the leak detectors. So add two of those to the bill!

 

[AZMSGT]

Pab cables are just LAN cables, cat5e to be specific. Cat 6 cables work fine as PAB replacements too. Buy local and save. Touch display, not needed, got a cheap android tablet? Much better and you can access anyplace.
Get 2 Y cables For all the sensors.
Guessing you think you need the expansion box for something, but I can’t see why.

I would put the Profilux 4 near the sump and water change stuff in the basement as well as everything else. Just use a tablet to control things From the comfort of your sofa.

@Vinny@GHLUSA please look at this list for this person.

 

[Kyl]

I didn't get the touch display and haven't regretted it at all.

 

[qnguyen]

Touch display, not needed, got a cheap android tablet? Much better and you can access anyplace.

Get 2 Y cables For all the sensors.
Guessing you think you need the expansion box for something, but I can’t see why.

I would put the Profilux 4 near the sump and water change stuff in the basement as well as everything else. Just use a tablet to control things From the comfort of your sofa.

@Vinny@GHLUSA please look at this list for this person.

My sump (and P4) will be in the basement as well. That being the case, don't I need an expansion box to avoid running cables to the P4 in the basement?

Thanks for reminding me about the Y splitters and the advice on the tablet.

 

[AZMSGT]

All the components are daisy chained together. Meaning that you plug one item into the next. Every component has 2 PAB ports. The last item in the chain will have only 1 cable in one PAB port and nothing in the next.

For instance, your P4 is in the basement, you run 1 cable to the tank area, lets assume you have two powerbars near the tank, you would plug that one cable into a powerbar, then from that powerbar you plug another cable into the next Powerbar.
example:
P4>Powerbar1>Powerbar2

Not to confuse you, the Profilux has 2 PAB ports but they work different than the components. It’s two ports are “master“ ports. So in the above example you ran one cable to the upper floor for the tank. You can run a separate cable to dosers and what ever else you have in the basement.
example:
P4>Kh doser>kh director>Ion doser>Ion director>doser

Not to confuse things but you can also plug things in like this:
P4>Kh doser>kh director>Ion doser>Ion director>doser>powerbar1>powerbar2
This would leave one of the 2 ports on your P4 available.

As you can see lots of ways to do this.

The expansion box is really useful if perhaps you want to run more that one tank from the Profilux. This is just one example of a use for the expansion box... there are many more.

 

[qnguyen]

@AZMSGT Ah, I didn't realize that. Thank you so much for explaining it! You saved me more than $600 with the advice on the expansion box, touch display and cat5 cables! Now, let's see where else I can waste that money ...

 

[AZMSGT]

@AZMSGT Ah, I didn't realize that. Thank you so much for explaining it! You saved me more than $600 with the advice on the expansion box, touch display and cat5 cables! Now, let's see where else I can waste that money ...

There is my consultation fee.... LOL... glad I could help. Still, I hope Vinny chimes in too. He’s the USA expert, distributor. He might have other recommendations. Although, GHL might be mad at me since I cut their sales a little. Eek..

Vinny, I’ll make up for the lost sales.. as soon as the Ion comes out

 

[vangvace]

I like having the display unit so I can just tap a function and go; mainly feed modes to be honest. Is it needed? Not really, but it is nice.

Are you planning on 2 temperature sensors or just the one in the display? You might want the BNC extension cable for cleaner runs. You can add the PLM-pH/Temp expansion card as well to monitor tank and sump temps. The card also gives you an additional pH probe slot should you want to run pH, OPR, and an additional pH probe to say... a calcium reactor.

Is the fans going over the sump or the display?

Lastly,you could get the humidity sensor for the fish room if that is a concern for that $600

 

[Vinny@GHLUSA Verified Sponsor]

No hard feelings @AZMSGT
Thank you for helping!

Here's what I would suggest getting:

• P4 Ultimate Set (if you want to use the ProfiLux Touch display)
  • The Touch display comes in handy because you can navigate through screen even if your hands are wet.
• KHD & D2.1 Slave set
  • I recommend going with the slave set and not the SA version because you would already have a master device to control both the KHD and D2.1...that would be the ProfiLux 4.
• 2x Optical sensors (High/Low ATO control)
• 2x Optical sensor brackets (PL-LF-S12, angled)
  • This holds the optical sensor to the assembly rod
• 1x Level sensor assembly rod
  • This holds both optical sensors in-place in your sump
• 2x PL-LY splitter cables
  • The P4 unit gives you 4 level inputs in 2 ports. Since you would want 2 optical sensors, 1 Leak interface and 1 flow sensor, you would need 2 splitter cables to connect all 4 level sensors to the P4.
• Flow sensor 9000 lph
• Flow sensor imperial fittings (1 pack)
• Doser Maxi Slave
• 2x Leak Sensors
• 1x Leak interface
  • Depending on what you plan to do with these Leak Sensors, you may need 1 or 2. Any number of leak sensors that are connected to a single Leak Interface will react as a single unit.
  • If you want to have separate reactions for each Leak sensor, get 2x Leak interfaces.
• Optional: PLM-4Level expansion card
  • If you choose to have a second Leak Interface, that would put you at 5x total Level sensors. Since the P4 comes with 4 inputs, you would need this 4LEVEL expansion card which gives an additional 4 inputs.
• 1x extra Powerbar 6E
  • This would be placed near the display tank for your heater and any other connected devices.
  • FYI: If the ProfiLux is going to be controlling your wave pumps, PropellerBreeze fans and ProfiLux Display...you don't need to have these connected to the powerbar sockets. These can be plugged into any regular outlet.
• 1x PLM-pH/Redox-DigTemp
  • This would be installed inside the P4 controller. It gives you the extra temperature port you want for your display tank.
• 1x Digital temperature probe
  • For the display tank
• 1x BNC 5m extension cable
  • This will allow you to run the temperature probe up from the basement to the display tank.
• 1x Propeller Breeze 3 fan
• 1x Propeller Control
• Optional: Extra ProfiLux Touch Display

The above list will mean running more cables up to your display tank.
If you wanted to clean it up a little, you can add an expansion box and place it under the display tank.
That would eliminate the PLM-4LEVEL and pH/Redox-DigTemp expansion cards and BNC5 extension cable.

 

[qnguyen]

Thanks @Vinny@GHLUSA. Very helpful. I will be placing my order soon.

 

[qnguyen]

Sorry, one more question @Vinny@GHLUSA. I am using an Abyzz return pump. Do I need this interface cable to connect it to the P4? I want to be able to turn-off the Abyzz during feeding time or in case of high sump sensor trigger. TIA

 

[Vinny@GHLUSA Verified Sponsor]

Yes, you will need that Abyzz accessory.

To add to that list from earlier...
If you plan to have a 2 leak interfaces, one at the display and the other in the basement, you will need the VTN5 extension cable. That will allow you to run the 2nd leak interface up to the display tank.