Hydros for Nano Tank Suggestions

[dsagerman]

I would like to get a controller for by 13.5 nano and looking at the Hydros system. Any recommendations on places to start with ability to expand? Currently looking at AC outlets for return pump, skimmer, ATO, and heater. Would like to monitor temp at minimum. Eventually looking at dosing and using as an ATO and AWC in future. Thanks!

 

[Dread Pirate Dave]

The hydros start would be a good start.

Hydros START Aquarium Controller - Perfect for Beginners

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[JeffB418]

Yep go with the start! Won’t get pH but for a nano, that isn’t required. Can always add it on later with an X3.

With a start you get 4 sense ports. 4 ac ports. And 2 drive ports.

Heater with temp probe will take 1AC/1sense

return pump, skimmer will take 2 AC ports

ATO (hydros kit) will take 1 sense port and 1 drive port.

If you want to add on an AWC later, use the other drive port for a fill pump and the last free AC plug for a drain plug. And then use another sense port for the low fill sensor.

The last free sense port for a leak sensor.

If you want to add dosing you can add on a minnow(2 doses) or blenny (4 doses) as well. Those dosers now can also be used in the ATO or AWC profiles as pumps too.

 

[dsagerman]

Yep go with the start! Won’t get pH but for a nano, that isn’t required. Can always add it on later with an X3.

With a start you get 4 sense ports. 4 ac ports. And 2 drive ports.

Heater with temp probe will take 1AC/1sense

return pump, skimmer will take 2 AC ports

ATO (hydros kit) will take 1 sense port and 1 drive port.

If you want to add on an AWC later, use the other drive port for a fill pump and the last free AC plug for a drain plug. And then use another sense port for the low fill sensor.

The last free sense port for a leak sensor.

If you want to add dosing you can add on a minnow(2 doses) or blenny (4 doses) as well. Those dosers now can also be used in the ATO or AWC profiles as pumps too.

Awesome thank you so much! I got the Hydros Start and got their ATO all setup. If I wanted to add in AWC, would you recommend the Minnow or Blenny? I would essentially need a bucket to discard tank water and then one for fresh saltwater (assuming heated and circulated with a wave maker to keep the salt mixed). Would I need 2 or 4 dosing heads for this setup? I have the Hydros triple water level sensor installed currently for the hydros ATO.

 

[n2585722]

Awesome thank you so much! I got the Hydros Start and got their ATO all setup. If I wanted to add in AWC, would you recommend the Minnow or Blenny? I would essentially need a bucket to discard tank water and then one for fresh saltwater (assuming heated and circulated with a wave maker to keep the salt mixed). Would I need 2 or 4 dosing heads for this setup? I have the Hydros triple water level sensor installed currently for the hydros ATO.

It depends on if you want to also do some dosing. The Minnow only has the 2 pumps and those would need to be used for ATO. If you get a Blenny you would have 2 more dosing pumps and also get 2 more drive ports along with the 4 sense port which the Minnow also has. I do ATO and AWC but it is a 42 gallon tank and my reservoirs are in the garage and I do not heat or circulate water in my fresh saltwater reservoir. I do have them in the mix tank but most of the year the heaters never come on. It has been the first of April since my tank heaters have been on but the cooling fans have been on a lot. I have my AWC split up into 4 times a day so there is not a lot changed at any one time. All three of the pumps are also in the garage and that is 35ft away from the tank. The drain pump also dumps into the kitchen sink drain so it has to go back up in the attic to get to that drain. The other tubing between the tank and the garage is also run through the attic. Also make sure and get a couple of terminators and a command bus cable when adding the second controller so you have everything you need to create a collective. After that to add another controller you just need a command bus cable and the controller you want to add. With a nano you can probably use containers near the tank for the DI reservoir, Fresh saltwater reservoir and a container for the drained saltwater. Make sure and get some low level sensors for the two reservoirs and a full sensor for the drain container. You can setup an output using the fresh saltwater low sensor and the drain container full sensor and set it up so if the drain container is full or the fresh saltwater reservoir is low it stops the AWC using the AWC depends on in the AWC output. you can setup the same for the low level sensor for the DI reservoir and the ATO output part of the AWC.

 

[JeffB418]

Awesome thank you so much! I got the Hydros Start and got their ATO all setup. If I wanted to add in AWC, would you recommend the Minnow or Blenny? I would essentially need a bucket to discard tank water and then one for fresh saltwater (assuming heated and circulated with a wave maker to keep the salt mixed). Would I need 2 or 4 dosing heads for this setup? I have the Hydros triple water level sensor installed currently for the hydros ATO.

For a nano either the minnow or blenny will work. They use the same pumps. For the price you get more features on the blenny including more drive ports. If your budget allows, get the blenny and use the extra pumps in the future for dosing. If you are budget limited, the minnow will do just fine as well. The AWC feature integrates with the AWC profile and uses the same sensor for both. You can add an optional lower sensor if you want for redundancy for AWC as well, which I always recommend redundancies.