Return pump speed controlled by Hydros

[Animal20]

Is there a way for a Hydros controller to vary the speed of a DC return pump based on an input? For example, if I have a flow meter on my return line and want to vary my pump speed so that it always maintains 750 GPH can I do that? I swear a saw someone mention in a forum somewhere that you could use a liquid level sensor to do this and that would be even better but for the life of me I can't find that information now. Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks!

 

[CWalters]

I'm not sure of the answer, but if you wanted a solid answer by some of the Hydros people you could join the Facebook group. Everyone in there is super responsive and helpful.

 

[Animal20]

I'm not sure of the answer, but if you wanted a solid answer by some of the Hydros people you could join the Facebook group. Everyone in there is super responsive and helpful.

I'll do that, thanks!

 

[CWalters]

I'll do that, thanks!

This is the name of it "OFFICIAL CoralVue HYDROS Community Group"

 

[Redemptioner]

Your wasting your time over there.....

The simple answer is NO, they can't do anything remotely like that, you can't even have it change the speed of the pump based on a button or a mode (i.e turn the return pump down to 30% on feed timer). In fact you also give up being able to vary the speed of the pump (other than low or high speed) once it is setup. You would think you could tap the pump icon and set current speed, that is a big "negative ghostrider", even in auto constant mode set to 80% output the output is not 80% (in the app or the pump output), it will be higher like 87 -93%. The whole thing is a farce for variable control of pumps, especially return pumps. If you talking wave pumps, you can't even change the scheduled throughout the day, it is one schedule all day and you can't vary/change it (so say you want the wavemaker to pulse during the day and switch to random of a night then too bad).

And as hydros doesn't allow outputs, inputs or schedules to be used by multiple setups you can't even create a bunch of "virtual" outputs (for different pump speeds at different times on different schedules) to then work around the "code for you" menu interface that doesn't allow you to code or nest basic if/then logic.

I primarily wanted to have it change the return pump speed on feeding, low power and ideally use the flow meter to maintain a flow between 2 set levels to automatically adjust pump speed up as pumps slowly slow down between cleans (so gate valves don't have to be fiddled with over time). But alas such basic things are not possible making the control of pumps via 0-10v output almost completely useless and not at all fit for purpose for any pumps really.

P.S. Not interested in Jeff or Danny bias response, even though I am sure we will get it anyways

 

[SpyC]

Your wasting your time over there.....

The simple answer is NO, they can't do anything remotely like that, you can't even have it change the speed of the pump based on a button or a mode (i.e turn the return pump down to 30% on feed timer). In fact you also give up being able to vary the speed of the pump (other than low or high speed) once it is setup. You would think you could tap the pump icon and set current speed, that is a big "negative ghostrider", even in auto constant mode set to 80% output the output is not 80% (in the app or the pump output), it will be higher like 87 -93%. The whole thing is a farce for variable control of pumps, especially return pumps. If you talking wave pumps, you can't even change the scheduled throughout the day, it is one schedule all day and you can't vary/change it (so say you want the wavemaker to pulse during the day and switch to random of a night then too bad).

And as hydros doesn't allow outputs, inputs or schedules to be used by multiple setups you can't even create a bunch of "virtual" outputs (for different pump speeds at different times on different schedules) to then work around the "code for you" menu interface that doesn't allow you to code or nest basic if/then logic.

I primarily wanted to have it change the return pump speed on feeding, low power and ideally use the flow meter to maintain a flow between 2 set levels to automatically adjust pump speed up as pumps slowly slow down between cleans (so gate valves don't have to be fiddled with over time). But alas such basic things are not possible making the control of pumps via 0-10v output almost completely useless and not at all fit for purpose for any pumps really.

P.S. Not interested in Jeff or Danny bias response, even though I am sure we will get it anyways

Is this even when using reef octo pumps and powerheads using the wave engine or only the 0-10 for other pumps?

 

[420reefing]

Shoots fired

 

[n2585722]

You cannot slow down or speed up a pump with a 0-10v input the way you want to but you could make schedules and set the schedules to switch from one to the other to change the speed. That is how you would change it to feed mode or low power mode is by switching schedules due to an event. Here is my Feed Mode schedule for my flow pumps. It drops the speed of my MP10's to 6%. I have 8 schedules controlling my flow pumps throughout the day depending on time of day and if there was a feeding. Thirty minutes after a feeding it also runs a nutrient export flow pattern for a while. If i do put it in feed mode manually by a button it will run the feed mode schedule for s preset amount of time unless I press normal to put it back in normal mode.

 

[BAMatter]

Shoots fired

14 months after originally posted. Lol.

 

[JeffB418]

Your wasting your time over there.....

The simple answer is NO, they can't do anything remotely like that, you can't even have it change the speed of the pump based on a button or a mode (i.e turn the return pump down to 30% on feed timer). In fact you also give up being able to vary the speed of the pump (other than low or high speed) once it is setup. You would think you could tap the pump icon and set current speed, that is a big "negative ghostrider", even in auto constant mode set to 80% output the output is not 80% (in the app or the pump output), it will be higher like 87 -93%. The whole thing is a farce for variable control of pumps, especially return pumps. If you talking wave pumps, you can't even change the scheduled throughout the day, it is one schedule all day and you can't vary/change it (so say you want the wavemaker to pulse during the day and switch to random of a night then too bad).

And as hydros doesn't allow outputs, inputs or schedules to be used by multiple setups you can't even create a bunch of "virtual" outputs (for different pump speeds at different times on different schedules) to then work around the "code for you" menu interface that doesn't allow you to code or nest basic if/then logic.

I primarily wanted to have it change the return pump speed on feeding, low power and ideally use the flow meter to maintain a flow between 2 set levels to automatically adjust pump speed up as pumps slowly slow down between cleans (so gate valves don't have to be fiddled with over time). But alas such basic things are not possible making the control of pumps via 0-10v output almost completely useless and not at all fit for purpose for any pumps really.

P.S. Not interested in Jeff or Danny bias response, even though I am sure we will get it anyways

You're right about one thing, you will get my response =)

If you have a pump thats 0-10V controlled for example, you can create an output of type Variable Pump that's tied to a single Hydros 0-10V control output (that's connected to a 0-10V controllable pump). Then under Schedules, you can create multiple concurrent pump schedules that control the same Variable Pump output. If you wanted to, you could use "constant speed" mode for each schedule, setting a different constant pump rate for each. You can then tie each schedule to a different Hydros mode. So for feed mode, you can have a pump run at 50%, or 20% for normal, and so forth. I do this with many flow and return pumps that drop to a slower speed when I enable a low power/battery mode to extend the life of my battery. Or you can set a diff time period for each schedule for each to run, including which day of the week, thus giving you many different flow patterns throughout the day.

You can also control schedules using the "depends on" input and use external control logic. The only issue is that you can only disable a schedule from running using that input, you cant force a schedule to run. So the logic is a little less straight forward (and inverted) if you want to use something like flow rates to control which schedule is running. It is possible, but not intuitive.

Unfortunately tho right now there is no one to one 0-10V input to 0-10V output scaling/control functionality. You can create multiple logic comparison conditions off an input, such as a flow meter, and basically create outputs that turn off or on based on speeds, then cascade that to other controls.

 

[Redemptioner]

Is this even when using reef octo pumps and powerheads using the wave engine or only the 0-10 for other pumps?

don't have those pumps sorry

 

[BAMatter]

Is this even when using reef octo pumps and powerheads using the wave engine or only the 0-10 for other pumps?

With the WaveEngine and direct drive pumps like the OP’s or Gyres you can control speeds based on modes to select, schedules, or using a button box that @JeffB418 makes.