Hydros Control 2 , Control 4 and accessories question and answer thread.

n2585722

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The collective between the 2 is still in development. I am waiting for it as well. The wave engine rocks. I have 3.
The wave engine can still power the Control 4 via a buss cable.
 

tbare89

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I'm running both the control 4 and wave engine(love them both) and I'm looking at adding a Klir filter roll to my red sea reefer 450. I'm out of electrical outlets. Anyone have any success yet running the Klir solely off the control 4?
 

zach_discus

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I use the drive ports to power my Intllab dosing pumps. The pump draws 120ma from the port So I can run more that one off of one port. If I remember correctly the port can control up to 1 amp or 1.5 amps for both ports. I would not think the fans would draw that much more than a dosing pump. Check the specs on the fans you want to use and see what the operating current is for them.
What connector did you use? Do you have any pics? Thanks
 

n2585722

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What connector did you use? Do you have any pics? Thanks
I think it was a GX12 2 pin connector at the Control 4 and a DC plug at the pump. I got the connectors from Amazon and made the cables. You will have to soldier the wire to the connectors I used a volt meter with the output on to find out which pin was positive. If I remember correctly the center pin is positive on the pump. I already had the DC connectors but I am thinking of getting some with the cord already attached from Amazon. If I remember correctly they are 5.5mm outer and 2.1mm inner on the plug.


4C994BD1-508A-4F1A-92D8-23E4C782EBD9.jpeg


Right now the cables go to two relays so I can monitor them with graphs on my archon. From the relay it goes to the pump. The second relay is for the auto water change pumps but at this point I do not have the actual pumps connected. Below is the relays the two on the left are controlled by the Control 4 and the ATO pump. The relays are just used to open a switch input on the Archon when the output is on.

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Below is the cords I have made up to connect the AWC pumps up to the relay when I switch them over. Eventually I will ditch the relays and go directly to pumps.

B42323FC-B55D-4F11-8413-ACE91A40832B.jpeg
 

ReefBeta

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How do I config an output to delay start? Like skimmer to delay a minute after feeding, and ATO delay couple minutes after water change.
 

n2585722

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How do I config an output to delay start? Like skimmer to delay a minute after feeding, and ATO delay couple minutes after water change.
There is a minimum off time you can set in the advanced settings.
 

ReefBeta

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There is a minimum off time you can set in the advanced settings.
I see that, but how does it work? For example, if my feed mode is 10 min, and set minimum off time of skimmer to 1 minute, then when the feed mode finished, the skimmer is already off by 10 min, longer than the minimum of 1 min, so it will immediately start.

Just tried it and it's working as I understand. So it don't actually work as delay start.
 
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n2585722

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I see that, but how does it work? For example, if my feed mode is 10 min, and set minimum off time of skimmer to 1 minute, then when the feed mode finished, the skimmer is already off by 10 min, longer than the minimum of 1 min, so it will immediately start.

Just tried it and it's working as I understand. So it don't actually work as delay start.
Set the minimum off to 1 minute more than the feed time you have set.
 

n2585722

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Are you delaying because the return pump is also off? If so you can use the generic output recipe with the skimmer and use more than one input to control it. This will allow you to use a water level sensor in your sump to keep the skimmer off if the water level is above that sensor.
 

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I turn off the skimmer when return is off, so that's when feeding mode, which has a timer, and when water change mode, which do not have a timer. How long it will stay in water change mode depends on what I'm doing, can be 10 mins, or can be an hour if I'm doing some major siphoning. The skimmer should be on 1 minute after it's back to normal mode is on. So I don't think setting minimum off time works.

Even use a generic output, how to set it with delay? I don't see an option there.

Water level sensor could work for skimmer, but requiring an additional sensor is really suboptimal. Also it won't work for ATO. I need the ATO to have 10 minute delay after water change, so that I can restart everything, let the water level in return chamber to stable, then fill it back to the ATO sensor level. I have a standalone ATO btw, it's just a constant on output on hydros.
 

n2585722

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My ATO is a dosing pump run off one of the drive ports on my Control 4. I have a minimum off time set at 40 minutes. It will only run the maximum run time of 3 min and 30 seconds every 40 minutes. I also have a minimum on time set at 1 min and 20 seconds. It will at least run that long reguardless of the water level once it starts to run. If for some reason the ATO run to the max on time it will send an alert that max on time was exceeded. This usually means something is not normal and needs to be checked. For my tank it should never run to max on time to hit the water level sensor unless some event has happened to cause it. Not sure in you case you could use similar settings. These settings would not allow it to flow enough top off to cause an issue when return pump restarts In my tank.

741B48FD-3F35-46CD-BD14-B3CAAAC8DA71.png
 

ReefBeta

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It's nothing about how an ATO work normally. It's only when water change, when it's not exactly sure how much water to add back. So a normal thing to do is add most of the water back, then turn things back on, and see where the water level get in the return chamber, usually lower than the sensor. Then add more water to get it back to the sensor position. But if the ATO function start back on right away when exiting water change mode, then it will start dumping freshwater in before I done back filling with saltwater, and mess up with salinity.
 

n2585722

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If this is something you are doing manually you can alway put the ATO in manual override to off until you are done. Sorry I do not do manual water changes. I have the controller doing auto water changes and both pumps are running at the same time. Both are also dosing pumps used for daily auto water change. But even if I did my ATO would only come on for 3 And 1/2 minutes before it turned off. Since they are set for 60ml a minue that will be about 210ml of added water only. That is not enough to make a significant difference.
 

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I use XP ATO and it will only run for like 10 second or so. But when that timed out it start beeping and it's annoying. I can manually turned it off, but then how's it better than plug it into a dump power outlet.

I asked coralvue support, and apparently, if the output is set to depends on another thing, like have the ATO depends on return, then the min time off will be from when the ATO turned back on (when return on). But without a dependency, the min time off is from when the output is off. It's super non-intuitive, more like a bug than a feature.
 

n2585722

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That is good to know that the depends on holds the minimum off timer until it is active. I am guessing that will work on both the skimmer and ATO output.
 

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I want to thank everyone so far that have been answering questions and helping. I did end up getting the C4 like I thought. Reading through these pages helped me understand what it can and can't do a bit better.

I am sure I will be frequently asking questions during the next few months!
 

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