Choosing an aquarium controller or combination of them -- which option would be best for me?

t5Nitro · Sep 7, 2021

Hey everyone, I read this forum probably too much, and there's a lot of information out there on all the various controllers, add-ons, gadgets associated with each brand.

I'm looking at a couple options to up my reef game with an aquarium monitoring system. I'd like any input regarding the following options -- which looks more promising / accurate / reliable etc.

In any of the options, I want basic functions such as reading me the tank temperature, pH and salinity of the tank. If there is a way to display alkalinity as well that would be awesome. Power switches are not overly important? I run my reef on kasa smart strips which work well.

Option 1:
Control system: Hydros Control 4 as the main control device.
- I will have the ability to monitor temperature and pH, but not salinity.
- Alkalinity monitoring: alkatronic or apex trident. Monitor only, not looking for automated dosing. I have a GHL doser that is extremely precise and I'd feel like I was going in a major downgrade direction if I chose an apex dos.
- Wavemaker control: Hydros WaveEngine. Currently gyre, tunze and jebao -- would like to run them off of hydros wave engine. Maybe even the vortech version of it if I can find the extra change for vortechs in the future.

Option 2:
Control system: GHL Profilux 4 (mega set?)
- Includes the ability to monitor temperature, pH, conductivity, ORP/redox (not sure what I'd do with that info?)
- Comes with GHL power strip, again don't need?
- Alkalinity monitoring: alkatronic or KHD? Doubt Apex trident can be integrated into Profilux system?
- Wavemaker control: Hydros wave engine

Option 3:
Control system: Apex
Purely a monitoring device. Trident vs alkatronic for alkalinity checking.
Includes the standard temp/pH/salinity probes
WaveEngine for wavemaker control.

It doesn't matter where you read, there's always a problem(s) with any of the alk checkers. I'm hoping a combination of these brands might integrate well with one another and give me remote access to view vital information of the tank. I can make dosing adjustments remotely from my phone to the GHL doser which is a standalone unit.

Anything else important that I'm missing that should be included in automated aquarium control? Any particular suggestions to move in one direction or another completely?

Thanks!!

sunken3 · Sep 7, 2021

I like the Apex.. I have had hydros pumps with controls and app and never found it very intuitive. I have no experience with GHL. I have several Apex's. I have had some issues over the years (usually connectivity) but the the latest versions seem leaps and bounds better there. (I also have AI lights, maxtor and ecotech pumps, etc.. they all have connectivity issues from time to time). My main tank monitors/controls - temp, pH, conductivity (salinity) , ORP (ozone), alk, calcium, and magnesium. I have found the service with Neptune very good (i have used them for over a decade).

n2585722 · Sep 7, 2021

If you want to just monitor there is this when it becomes available. https://www.coralvue.com/hydros-control-x3-monitor-pack It comes with a temp sensor, pH probe and a point type leak detector. That would fill all the ports, but if you like it and want to expand you can always add another control unit or wave engine to it and form a collective. If you do decide to use it for control sometime down the road you can get one of the WiFi power strips. Some of the ones you already have may even link with the controller, but if you link them to the controller you would have to go through the controller from then on to control them.

PeterC99 · Sep 7, 2021

Trade offs which each system. Don’t sell Apex power bar short. The Apex power bar controls from the probes, which is very helpful for regulating CO2 for Calcium Reactor, ensuring heaters don’t overheat, turning fans off/on to regulate aquarium temps in summer, etc. Everything you‘ve requested above is on my Apex Dashboard below plus much, much more.

Kershaw · Sep 7, 2021

Since you have GHL, why not get the KH director, and profilux?

I have an apex EL, as I don’t care to monitor salinity. I am having a hard time deciding on getting KH director, trident/dos or alktronic.

I’ll be following along to see what you decide.

HM3105 · Sep 7, 2021

I vote hydros, I've used Apex and find hydros setup easier and generally helpful if there's a problem. I set up a new one this weekend and beginning to end it took 30-40 minutes.

Once BRS starts getting their brains into Apex might be a different story though.

t5Nitro · Sep 8, 2021

PeterC99 said:
Trade offs which each system. Don’t sell Apex power bar short. The Apex power bar controls from the probes, which is very helpful for regulating CO2 for Calcium Reactor, ensuring heaters don’t overheat, turning fans off/on to regulate aquarium temps in summer, etc. Everything you‘ve requested above is on my Apex Dashboard below plus much, much more.

Apex has a great user interface. I I imagine hydros the same. GHL not as great from within the app standpoint. Equipment wise, at least externally, the GHL smokes the rest of them. I do like the look of that Apex view you have.

Any problems with the Trident or getting reagents yet? Lot of tridents have been going up for sale or many have failed recently it seems. Not sure the circumstances.

Kershaw said:
Since you have GHL, why not get the KH director, and profilux?

I have an apex EL, as I don’t care to monitor salinity. I am having a hard time deciding on getting KH director, trident/dos or alktronic.

I’ll be following along to see what you decide.

GHL doser is a standalone unit. It doesn't need their fully integrated control equipment. Visually the profilux and GHL equipment is built much better than the competitors. Mechanically I'm not sure the same applies on the inside, if it truly is a better device or not. I can tell you the doser is the best doser I've owned over the years though. KH director, again like trident, has so many fail posts on here it's hard to commit to something like that. I don't want an alk checker to be a headache, I just want accurate measurements based on my Hanna alk checker that I use now. If I test 7-7-7 with hanna, I'd like the automated alk checker to test 7-7-7 ideally over 3 measures. If it tests 8-8-8 over 3 measures, then at least it's still got precision. Who knows which is the accurate test given they are all hobby grade, you know? I think getting results that are precise and at least close to the one you know has been working (hanna) for the tank, then that would be an ideal option.

HM3105 said:
I vote hydros, I've used Apex and find hydros setup easier and generally helpful if there's a problem. I set up a new one this weekend and beginning to end it took 30-40 minutes.

Once BRS starts getting their brains into Apex might be a different story though.

Maybe BRS will have some R&D that can push Apex. Any word on what's happening with that merger or takeover?

t5Nitro · Sep 8, 2021

n2585722 said:
If you want to just monitor there is this when it becomes available. https://www.coralvue.com/hydros-control-x3-monitor-pack It comes with a temp sensor, pH probe and a point type leak detector. That would fill all the ports, but if you like it and want to expand you can always add another control unit or wave engine to it and form a collective. If you do decide to use it for control sometime down the road you can get one of the WiFi power strips. Some of the ones you already have may even link with the controller, but if you link them to the controller you would have to go through the controller from then on to control them.

That's probably all I'd need, although missing a salinity probe. I see the benefit of having the 'if, then' programmability @PeterC99 shows in his apex, like controlling on/off fans if temp reaches a certain degree.

Is there any consensus on who makes great aquarium probes? Are there better options out there for pH, salinity, temp than any of these aquarium controller branded items?

PeterC99 · Sep 8, 2021

t5Nitro said:
Apex has a great user interface. I I imagine hydros the same. GHL not as great from within the app standpoint. Equipment wise, at least externally, the GHL smokes the rest of them. I do like the look of that Apex view you have.

Any problems with the Trident or getting reagents yet? Lot of tridents have been going up for sale or many have failed recently it seems. Not sure the circumstances.

GHL doser is a standalone unit. It doesn't need their fully integrated control equipment. Visually the profilux and GHL equipment is built much better than the competitors. Mechanically I'm not sure the same applies on the inside, if it truly is a better device or not. I can tell you the doser is the best doser I've owned over the years though. KH director, again like trident, has so many fail posts on here it's hard to commit to something like that. I don't want an alk checker to be a headache, I just want accurate measurements based on my Hanna alk checker that I use now. If I test 7-7-7 with hanna, I'd like the automated alk checker to test 7-7-7 ideally over 3 measures. If it tests 8-8-8 over 3 measures, then at least it's still got precision. Who knows which is the accurate test given they are all hobby grade, you know? I think getting results that are precise and at least close to the one you know has been working (hanna) for the tank, then that would be an ideal option.

Maybe BRS will have some R&D that can push Apex. Any word on what's happening with that merger or takeover?

No problems getting Trident or the reagents.

I have not had any issues with mine and know many Reefers using the Trident successfully. Their operation does require some diligence which may be the reason you see some units for sale. But if you are testing Calc/Alk/Mg frequently, then the Trident is a major time saver. Also knowing/dialing in my parameters has really helped me optimize coral growth.

Good luck!

n2585722 · Sep 8, 2021

t5Nitro said:
That's probably all I'd need, although missing a salinity probe. I see the benefit of having the 'if, then' programmability @PeterC99 shows in his apex, like controlling on/off fans if temp reaches a certain degree.

Is there any consensus on who makes great aquarium probes? Are there better options out there for pH, salinity, temp than any of these aquarium controller branded items?

The Hydros comes with a Pinpoint pH probe. They do make good probes at a decent price. The temp probe actually has a digital chip in the tip that senses the temp and a digital signal is returned to the Hydros. The Hydros sense port has a digital and a analog input along with the ground and 5v supply. They are working on a non conductive probe alternative to salinity readings. As far as the if then statements in the coding goes I have not missed it. Below is the setup for my cooling fans. I took 2 screenshots since it was a little too long for one screen. This output uses a generic output type. If I decided to use a different outlet for the fans all I would have to do is change the output device in the setup. You can also have up to 9 inputs used to control a generic output. This one happens to just use the one which is temp. The fans will turn on a 78.3 degrees and turn off at 77.9 degrees since it is set to active when Temp High. The output also depends on the return output. It is off if the return is off. It is also set to send me an alert if it remains on over 6 hours at any one time. The third screenshot is for the temp input. If the temp gets above the high range or below the low range it will send me an alert. There is an offset that can be used to trim the reading to match another temp sensor if you want. The last screenshot is of the input and output parts of the Hex Tank status page. I have 8 status pages setup on my system. You can decide what is displayed on each page. The hex tank page has the input and outputs that are directly for my hex tank. This display is in the dark mode which I like. The ATO output in orange is still running even after the sump sensor is wet. This is because there is a minimum on time set so it will run that long regardless of the sensor. The outputs with the blue outlines are on. The ones that have the gray outline are off. The inputs have the blue outline which means everything is in bounds. If something were out of the limits set the input would be red. The inputs can bee shown as graphs, tiles or text. The outputs can be shown as tiles or text. The setup set on a page will only affect that page and not the rest of the pages. There is more info on a page than shown here but I figured this is what would be most important for the user to see.

n2585722 · Sep 8, 2021

Also the Hydros does currently communicate with the Alkatronic. It is connected as a wifi device via the cloud. The Mastertronic will also communicate with the Hydros the same way when the next firmware update for the Hydros comes out.

t5Nitro · Sep 8, 2021

I test Ca/Alk maybe once a week, more often if I add new coral or dialing in a new system or making adjustments to AFR dosing volumes.

The user interface for the hydros set up you have above looks really great. You've got an extensive lineup of gear in there! I guess maybe it mostly comes down to whether to pair alkatronic with hydros, or trident with a regular apex system. I'm not sure anyone actually needs the mastertronic dosing AFR. I don't need to know the big 3 with dosing AFR, but that could change in the future as I would move into using a calcium reactor.

The profilux system I think can be connected to alkatronic, but the user friendliness of hydros seems very straightforward. Setting up the doser alone was kind of tough, but now it's set and forget.

n2585722 · Sep 8, 2021

I also use AFR for dosing. I use a Intllab doser controlled by the Hydros via a drive port. I have been mixing it half strength to double the dose time. Even at that it only runs for a few seconds each time. I also check parameters once a week.

PeterC99 · Sep 8, 2021

t5Nitro said:
I test Ca/Alk maybe once a week, more often if I add new coral or dialing in a new system or making adjustments to AFR dosing volumes.

The user interface for the hydros set up you have above looks really great. You've got an extensive lineup of gear in there! I guess maybe it mostly comes down to whether to pair alkatronic with hydros, or trident with a regular apex system. I'm not sure anyone actually needs the mastertronic dosing AFR. I don't need to know the big 3 with dosing AFR, but that could change in the future as I would move into using a calcium reactor.

The profilux system I think can be connected to alkatronic, but the user friendliness of hydros seems very straightforward. Setting up the doser alone was kind of tough, but now it's set and forget.

I use TM AFR with my calcium reactor in a high demand mixed reef. The CaRX is great for base levels of Calc/ Alk/Mg but running it to full capacity significantly lowers pH. Use the Trident to monitor AlK and manage dosing of AFR.

Whichever system you choose, the monitoring & dosing capabilities really help optimize parameters!

burningmime · Sep 8, 2021

You're going to get as many opinions as there are people who reply to this topic. My 2 cents: I have an Apex and GHL dosers/Kh Director. The Apex is worthless -- worse than worthless since the 7 amp relays and cheap power supply components are a constant source of anxiety and buyer's remorse.

If I were to do it all again, I'd do a combination of a Kasa smart power strip or 2 as an actual "controller", an Inkbird for heaters, the GHL Kh Director and dosers (but not Profilux), and maybe one of these things for water-on-floor management: https://www.hydrocheckproducts.com/product-page/waterwatcher-leak-detector . If I wanted pH monitoring, there are some wifi pH probes (Hanna HALO on the high end, but there are much cheaper ones), although for that I might try to DIY something.

They Hydros does look pretty decent with its UI, but I don't know how trustowrthy its power strips are, and that's the one thing I don't want failing.

t5Nitro · Sep 22, 2021

No profilux in the above setup?

I'm not sure how to combine various equipment, but I think I'm trying to avoid Apex.

-Looking into Mastertronic for nitrate, phosphate, alk and calcium measurements.
-I have an inkbird controlling heaters now, but I may change to innovative marines heaters -- seems people have better temp stability than with the Eheims I currently use.
-I would like some controller to be able to set a low and high limit for temp controlled fan off/on. If 79F then on, if 77F then off etc.
-Then what else am I missing in the above. Continuous pH and conductivity? The Hanna HALO looks great but looks like it probably is meant as a spot checker rather than a continuous probe in the sump? Hydros won't give me conductivity, although not sure how great the conductivity probes are? If anything it might tip off a trend down or up if something is off though?

n2585722 · Sep 22, 2021

I had a salinity probe with the Archon and every time mine would start to drift down it was not the actual water that was the issue. It was the probe itself. Of course it would usually choose a time whenI could not fo and actually check it. I don't miss it with the Hydros. I still have the Archon but have removed all the probes with exception of a temp sensor and pH. The only thing I have been controlling with it is the lighting. Everything other than that is controlled with the Hydros now.

t5Nitro · Sep 22, 2021

Thats a good point. If the probes aren't too reliable in general the usefulness isn't great. I think ill go that route. Hydros and mastertronic, when it comes in stock.

Shooter6 · Oct 30, 2021

n2585722 said:
I also use AFR for dosing. I use a Intllab doser controlled by the Hydros via a drive port. I have been mixing it half strength to double the dose time. Even at that it only runs for a few seconds each time. I also check parameters once a week.

Hi are you using the white one with the dial adjustable flow knob?