Controller Newb Looking for Advice

[nzafi]

So I am new to this forum, and I am not sure whether I will get yelled at for this post or not. I am not a saltwater keeper, but actually freshwater. You guys are light years ahead of most freshwater folks from an automation standpoint. I am currently running a 600g tank that I want to better monitor and control. I was originally looking at a ApexEL but I think it is overkill for what I need. I am liking what I see with the Hydros Control 2 though. Ultimately, here is my step/what I need:
- Temperature probe that can turn on/off my heaters. I want I have two heaters with thermostats which would be backup to the Control 2. I would just plug into the hydro power strip
- 2 eheim pumps that are running corner filters, and a third pump (reeflo) that is running my 3rd filter - Ultimately, these would just plug into Hyrdos power strip
- 1 air pump - would just plug into power strip
- 1 light - would plug into the power strip. My light has its own controller that I use

Based on the above, I just really need 1 sensor port and then 7 plugs. This would be the Control 2 unit plus 2 hydros power strip. The other item I was thinking of doing was getting the smart plug for my grounding probe. This way if I have stray voltage the smart plug would shut off via GFCI and notify the Control 2 without bringing the whole thing down.

Here are my concerns:
- I read multiple thread about you can't really use the Hydros as your main fail safe for the heaters. I dont get this because it looks like you can set up the specific plugs for thermostat and control the temperature.
- It is not clear if the hydros power strip actually monitors watts used. I want to be able to monitor whether any of my equipment fails/dies. I would also like to know the wattage being used so I can react if something goes haywire.

Aside from the above, I don't need much. I run a daily drip to my tank which go through a filter unit but does not require dosing like saltwater. I would have liked the PH probe, but its irrelevant for my fish ultimately as long as it is stable. I also am not running any powerheads or wave pumps that I need to cycle on time.

Any feedback is really appreciated. There is tons of info on Apex, but looks like Hydros Control 2/4 are still new.

 

[SuncrestReef]

I agree, the HYDROS does look like a great new product, and is more affordable to get started than the Apex. But like you, I'm unable to find detailed information on certain features. I'm sure over time more people will post details about their HYDROS setups and capabilities, but it's disappointing that CoralVue hasn't published technical details. I can't even find a user manual anywhere.

I can tell you definitively that the Apex can monitor watts and/or amps used per outlet on the EB832 EnergyBar. This comes in handy for me to know when it's time to clean my skimmer motor because it will struggle to start up after I feed each day, and the watts exceed my defined threshold so the Apex sends me an alert. I describe how to set this up in my tutorial on Apex Power Monitoring:

Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials, Part 4: Power Monitoring

Part 4 of our series on programming your Neptune Apex: Power Monitoring

www.reef2reef.com

(yes, I'm one source of the "tons of info on Apex"). Here's a link to all of my Apex articles:

Articles by SuncrestReef

www.reef2reef.com

Based on your requirements, the HYDROS items would cost about $265. The Apex-EL is $499. So it boils down to how important the power monitoring feature is to you.

 

[Sleepydoc]

FRESHWATER FISH????!!! Off of our forum!

What do you want to control with the pumps? If you don’t want or need to have everything integrated, it’s possible to have discrete controllers. You can get a Ranco or Inkbird controller for the heaters, a simple digital timer for the lights, etc. that would be a lot cheaper but more limited and doesn’t allow for remote monitoring or control.