Controller systems

[Pelado]

Has anyone had experience with the aquatronica Aquarium Controller Evolution (ACQ110) system?
I just relocated to Europe and am trying to decide which system to get.
The reefkeeper system requires an x-10 and is too complicated to set up over here.

[Fat Tony]

Aquatronica is nice stuff. I have no personal experience with it, but I have heard nothing but awesome things about it

[Pelado]

Thanks for the reply. I will do some more research... ever heard of the 'IKS Aquastar ?

[ckusnierek]

FWIW the Reefkeepers do use X10 but it is all internal and there is really no setup on the X10 side.

The aquacontrollers can use X10 independantly and can be trickey to get the kinks worked out.

I recently switched to a ReefKeeper Lite V3 and have to say I really do love it!

[Pelado]

Yes, thatīs what I heard from neptunsystems:


With the appropriate AC adapter the Apex system will work in a 220V
environment as a monitoring only device. If you wish control on 220V power
then you must use X10 and you will have to acquire these X10 modules on your
own. You can find a list of International distributors of X-10 products at
www.x10.com. The parts that you will need to get on your own are one control
interface PL7213 or XM10 (220V equivalent of PL513) and a control module
AM12U (220V equivalent of AM466) for everything you want to turn on or off
independently.
Native 220V control of EnergyBars is being developed and will likely be
available in 2010.

I think I might either go with the reefkeeper or aquatronica. Have to read some more reviews. But thanks so much for your input. Much appreciated

[SoK]

what kinda controller would you guys recommend for a 55g tank to keep in check: lighting, ph, heaters/temp, PH's, ?

[Fat Tony]

Originally Posted by SoK

what kinda controller would you guys recommend for a 55g tank to keep in check: lighting, ph, heaters/temp, PH's, ?

That really depends on how much you want to spend.

[SoK]

inexpensive but reliable... are they mutually exclusive?

[Fat Tony]

Again, depends on what you want to spend. The cheapest I have found is the ACJr. It's what I use. You can do everything mentioned, but it only accepts 1 pH probe. You would need to buy the ACJr head unit the DC8 and the pH probe with about a dozen each of the pH calibration solution

[SoK]

well i don't plan and hopefully won't need a cal reactor,so hopefully the ACjr will work for me....