Hydros Owners: how happy are you long term?

[polyppal]

The Wave Engine LE can be in a collective with your other Hydros controllers also. The main differences between the LE and the WEv2 is it only has two direct drive ports and only 0-10v inputs. The WEv2 has 4 direct drive ports and 0-10v output ports. It can also control EcoTech MP series pumps if you install the EcoTech RF module. It can also become a wifi master and control the wifi power strips. Unless you need the extra ports I am not sure it would be worth the extra cost. I use the 0-10v outputs to control lighting, but it is in a collective with other Hydros controllers.

Yeah the main advantage would it being in the collective with everything else. And I might be able to score some really good deals on both the gyre head and a slightly used WeLe which would be cheaper than the standalone gyre package. Seems like id just need to add the corresponding connector (and another command bus cord back to existing collective) and Id be in business

Thanks! Man, if you don't work for Coralvue already you should be getting paid or free gear or something. You've been 100x more helpful with hydros than their own support team

 

[n2585722]

Yeah the main advantage would it being in the collective with everything else. And I might be able to score some really good deals on both the gyre head and a slightly used WeLe which would be cheaper than the standalone gyre package. Seems like id just need to add the corresponding connector (and another command bus cord back to existing collective) and Id be in business

Thanks! Man, if you don't work for Coralvue already you should be getting paid or free gear or something. You've been 100x more helpful with hydros than their own support team

I am not a CoralVue employee, but I do beta testing for them. They are adding more people to their team so hopefully it will be easier to communicate with them now. When you connect a wave engine or XP8 to a collective make sure and remove any power pack that connects directly to the command buss ports. The supply used by the wave engine and the XP8 will power the buss and can be used together. It is just the power packs that connect directly to the buss that cannot be connected since they are not isolated.

 

[Joe31415]

yeah I was thinking about getting one of the maxxspect gyres (just the pump without controller) and using a wave engine le as the controller. Seems like a good way to save some money by not paying for the basic included controller that comes in the maxxspect kit

I bought the gyre and wave engine since I assumed that by using the wave engine, connected to the hydros, I could eliminate some power cords since the gyre would get it's power from the WE, which gets it's power from the hydros, right? Wrong. Had all kinds of "Collective Broken" issues until I plugged in the WE.
Another thing, the Grye (Icecap?) and WE came as one unit, as if they were designed to work together. I had a bunch of odd issues when I installed it. IIRC, it ran at full speed regardless of what speed I'd set it at and, again IIRC, it was running really loudly. Upon doing some research, I found out these problems were common and the workaround (and it's how I still have it set) was to go to Outputs and change the pump settings to "Invert Rotation", then in the schedule for the pump, tell it to run in reverse and that's it's placed on the "opposite side". Then it behaved itself.
FWIW, this is an official workaround, instead of dealing with whatever the actual issue is, Coral Vue apparently added "Invert Rotation" to deal with the pump being loud. Also, to make sure nothing makes sense, they also mention that "Invert Rotation" has nothing to do with the pump spinning in reverse. So what the heck does "Invert Rotation" mean.
The Reverse/Opposite side settings, I think, was to a fix to make it stop running at full power all the time.

I while back I asked how I could 'pause' my AWC. With other app-controlled pumps, there's a pause and/or stop button that keeps the pump turned off regardless of what the schedule is telling it to do.
The solution, IIRC, was to set up a fake device and tell the AWC not to run when that device is on. Then, in order to pause the AWC, I could turn that fake device on.
That's a workaround. A proper solution would be to just have a pause button.

So, that brings us to this week. A few days ago I added some meds to the tank that required water changes to be stopped for a few weeks. Remembering I had issues trying to stop the AWC last time without a bunch of extra work, I just went to the home page and changed the drain pump and fill pump from "Auto" to "Off". Seemed straightforward enough. Today, I happened to glance at the sump and noticed it was really, really low.
Turns out that by turning off the AWC drain and fill pumps it apparently disables the entire AWC system, which means, due to odd way this is all programmed, the ATO shut down with it. Why? That makes exactly zero sense.

In an attempt to rectify the situation, I turned the two AWC pumps back to "auto", on the assumption that ATO would kick on and refill the tank. Nope. The fill pump turned on and started added salt water to the tank which was already at a higher than usual salinity.

Oh, and I'm still having the problem where the ATO is randomly filling well beyond the sensor (like a good inch above the top of it. It's not all the time, just once or twice a week I'll notice it.

So, an update to this post. After I had this problem. I changed a few settings. I turned the two pumps back to Auto, as stated, then I went to the schedule and un-checked all the days. That way the AWC was still enabled, it just wasn't scheduled. Nope, my ATO shut off, which I noticed when yesterday when the sump was several inches down.

So now what? I re-checked all the days, and set the End Time for the water change regimen to be 1 second after the start time. I figured letting it run for 1 second isn't going to dilute the meds in the tank by any meaningful amount.
Well, as soon as I uploaded the new settings, the AWC started refilling the tank. So I had to manually shut off that pump and manually turn on the ATO pump.

After it was refilled, I set all the pumps back to auto and forgot about it for a few hours. That is until I caught it doing a regular water change.
Apparently even with an end time of one second after the beginning time, as I entered into the schedule, it was still respecting the Drain Time, set to one hour, in the AWC settings in the Outputs menu.

God, I absolutely hate this device.
It so convoluted. It's so unintuitive. It's actively making my tank conditions worse.

First off, the AWC regimen needs a pause button. There's absolutely no excuse for not having one. Zero. Water changes, for a variety of reasons, often need to be temporarily stopped. After spending all this money on this system, it shouldn't come down to me having to physically run around unplugging things because there's no good way to suspend the AWC.

Secondly, can any one give me even a single good reason why the ATO and AWC have to be so completely intertwined with each other that removing the AWC schedule also removes the ATO's ability to function?

 

[n2585722]

I bought the gyre and wave engine since I assumed that by using the wave engine, connected to the hydros, I could eliminate some power cords since the gyre would get it's power from the WE, which gets it's power from the hydros, right? Wrong. Had all kinds of "Collective Broken" issues until I plugged in the WE.
Another thing, the Grye (Icecap?) and WE came as one unit, as if they were designed to work together. I had a bunch of odd issues when I installed it. IIRC, it ran at full speed regardless of what speed I'd set it at and, again IIRC, it was running really loudly. Upon doing some research, I found out these problems were common and the workaround (and it's how I still have it set) was to go to Outputs and change the pump settings to "Invert Rotation", then in the schedule for the pump, tell it to run in reverse and that's it's placed on the "opposite side". Then it behaved itself.
FWIW, this is an official workaround, instead of dealing with whatever the actual issue is, Coral Vue apparently added "Invert Rotation" to deal with the pump being loud. Also, to make sure nothing makes sense, they also mention that "Invert Rotation" has nothing to do with the pump spinning in reverse. So what the heck does "Invert Rotation" mean.
The Reverse/Opposite side settings, I think, was to a fix to make it stop running at full power all the time.


So, an update to this post. After I had this problem. I changed a few settings. I turned the two pumps back to Auto, as stated, then I went to the schedule and un-checked all the days. That way the AWC was still enabled, it just wasn't scheduled. Nope, my ATO shut off, which I noticed when yesterday when the sump was several inches down.

So now what? I re-checked all the days, and set the End Time for the water change regimen to be 1 second after the start time. I figured letting it run for 1 second isn't going to dilute the meds in the tank by any meaningful amount.
Well, as soon as I uploaded the new settings, the AWC started refilling the tank. So I had to manually shut off that pump and manually turn on the ATO pump.

After it was refilled, I set all the pumps back to auto and forgot about it for a few hours. That is until I caught it doing a regular water change.
Apparently even with an end time of one second after the beginning time, as I entered into the schedule, it was still respecting the Drain Time, set to one hour, in the AWC settings in the Outputs menu.

God, I absolutely hate this device.
It so convoluted. It's so unintuitive. It's actively making my tank conditions worse.

First off, the AWC regimen needs a pause button. There's absolutely no excuse for not having one. Zero. Water changes, for a variety of reasons, often need to be temporarily stopped. After spending all this money on this system, it shouldn't come down to me having to physically run around unplugging things because there's no good way to suspend the AWC.

Secondly, can any one give me even a single good reason why the ATO and AWC have to be so completely intertwined with each other that removing the AWC schedule also removes the ATO's ability to function?

If you use the auto water change you have to use the ATO within the water change since it turns it off once the AWC schedule starts and it will remain off until the fill pump refill to the full sensor. Then the ATO will continue as it has been setup. I do not use the auto water change built into the Hydros since I use a dual head dosing pump for AWC. I do not need the ATO stopped during the water change since it removes the same amount as replenishes at the same time. So I use the independant ATO output type for ATO. That said CoralVue does have a place to submit suggestions for the Hydros. Have you made the suggestion to add a way to halt the AWC without the issues you are having? Here is a link https://forum.coralvuehydros.com/forums/hydros-new-features-equipment-requests.26/ . You do have to be a member to post but if you own a Hydros it is a good idea to be a member.

 

[n2585722]

I bought the gyre and wave engine since I assumed that by using the wave engine, connected to the hydros, I could eliminate some power cords since the gyre would get it's power from the WE, which gets it's power from the hydros, right? Wrong. Had all kinds of "Collective Broken" issues until I plugged in the WE.
Another thing, the Grye (Icecap?) and WE came as one unit, as if they were designed to work together. I had a bunch of odd issues when I installed it. IIRC, it ran at full speed regardless of what speed I'd set it at and, again IIRC, it was running really loudly. Upon doing some research, I found out these problems were common and the workaround (and it's how I still have it set) was to go to Outputs and change the pump settings to "Invert Rotation", then in the schedule for the pump, tell it to run in reverse and that's it's placed on the "opposite side". Then it behaved itself.
FWIW, this is an official workaround, instead of dealing with whatever the actual issue is, Coral Vue apparently added "Invert Rotation" to deal with the pump being loud. Also, to make sure nothing makes sense, they also mention that "Invert Rotation" has nothing to do with the pump spinning in reverse. So what the heck does "Invert Rotation" mean.
The Reverse/Opposite side settings, I think, was to a fix to make it stop running at full power all the time.


So, an update to this post. After I had this problem. I changed a few settings. I turned the two pumps back to Auto, as stated, then I went to the schedule and un-checked all the days. That way the AWC was still enabled, it just wasn't scheduled. Nope, my ATO shut off, which I noticed when yesterday when the sump was several inches down.

So now what? I re-checked all the days, and set the End Time for the water change regimen to be 1 second after the start time. I figured letting it run for 1 second isn't going to dilute the meds in the tank by any meaningful amount.
Well, as soon as I uploaded the new settings, the AWC started refilling the tank. So I had to manually shut off that pump and manually turn on the ATO pump.

After it was refilled, I set all the pumps back to auto and forgot about it for a few hours. That is until I caught it doing a regular water change.
Apparently even with an end time of one second after the beginning time, as I entered into the schedule, it was still respecting the Drain Time, set to one hour, in the AWC settings in the Outputs menu.

God, I absolutely hate this device.
It so convoluted. It's so unintuitive. It's actively making my tank conditions worse.

First off, the AWC regimen needs a pause button. There's absolutely no excuse for not having one. Zero. Water changes, for a variety of reasons, often need to be temporarily stopped. After spending all this money on this system, it shouldn't come down to me having to physically run around unplugging things because there's no good way to suspend the AWC.

Secondly, can any one give me even a single good reason why the ATO and AWC have to be so completely intertwined with each other that removing the AWC schedule also removes the ATO's ability to function?

I gave it some thought you can always keep a standard ATO output type setup with the same settings as your ATO within the auto water change. Just leave it with a none for the output device. If you are going to pause your auto water change just set the ATO output device within the auto water change to none. Then go and change the output device in the standard ATO to the one that was used in the ATO within the AWC. You will just have to remember to change it back when you restart the auto change. I know this is more work and just a temporary work around. You might want to ask on that forum if anyone know of a better way to stop them and still have the ATO run when the auto water change has stopped.

 

[areefer01]

Wave engine LE user here. XF280 & Ice Cap 4k. My only complaint so far is that I've not been able to create a standing wave. Nor have I found a way to do short pulse like .5 seconds like I was able to do previously when the native Gyre controller.

Other than that it is a decent unit that integrates with the Apex via 0-10v. Would love the Hydros to support Neptune's IOtA stack like Kessil and Sicce but that probably isn't in the cards.

 

[Joe31415]

Then the ATO will continue as it has been setup. I do not use the auto water change built into the Hydros since I use a dual head dosing pump for AWC. I do not need the ATO stopped during the water change since it removes the same amount as replenishes at the same time.

That doesn't help the rest of us that bought this system specifically for features like this.

Remember when you said "I am not sure what work arounds you would be talking about"
This is *exactly* what I'm talking about.

I gave it some thought you can always keep a standard ATO output type setup with the same settings as your ATO within the auto water change. Just leave it with a none for the output devide. If you are going to pause your auto water change just set the ATO output device within the auto water change to none. Then go and change the output device in the standard ATO to the one that was used in the ATO within the AWC. You will just have to remember to change it back when you restart the auto change. I know this is more work and just a temporary work around. You might want to ask on that forum if anyone know of a better way to stop them and still have the ATO run when the auto water change has stopped.

Yeah, I'm not doing that. It's less work to just unplug the pumps. Plus, as I recall, the whole reason I even spent the extra time and money to integrate my ATO into the AWC is because they didn't play nice together the other way.
I know this sounds sarcastic but it's really not meant to be, but I have so little confidence in this controller that I truly don't believe it's going to do what I want it to do. There's going to be some seemingly unrelated setting I'll need to change or there's going to be some other reason why it won't function properly because of some quirk in the firmware.

Just to illustrate how little I trust this device, I have to pay more attention to this tank, with a controller, than my other tank without a controller. I'm so sick of having to check to make sure things are running when they should be running and not running when they shouldn't be. I hate how often I have to set a timer on my phone to remind me to get up and check on it and how often I'm glad I did that because I found it doing the wrong thing.

I really want to like this thing, but it's almost certainly going to end up in the garbage at some point or another.

I mean, just re-read what you told me to do in order to pause my AWC for a few days. That's an unacceptable workaround for something that should be so very simple.

Have you made the suggestion to add a way to halt the AWC without the issues you are having? Here is a link https://forum.coralvuehydros.com/forums/hydros-new-features-equipment-requests.26/ . You do have to be a member to post but if you own a Hydros it is a good idea to be a member.

All the information is here if they want to read it. Perhaps you could invite them to this thread. I've put so much effort and so many hours into trying to get some basic functionality out of this thing, I don't have the energy or patience to do it all again on a new message board.

 

[n2585722]

That doesn't help the rest of us that bought this system specifically for features like this.

Remember when you said "I am not sure what work arounds you would be talking about"
This is *exactly* what I'm talking about.

Yeah, I'm not doing that. It's less work to just unplug the pumps. Plus, as I recall, the whole reason I even spent the extra time and money to integrate my ATO into the AWC is because they didn't play nice together the other way.
I know this sounds sarcastic but it's really not meant to be, but I have so little confidence in this controller that I truly don't believe it's going to do what I want it to do. There's going to be some seemingly unrelated setting I'll need to change or there's going to be some other reason why it won't function properly because of some quirk in the firmware.

Just to illustrate how little I trust this device, I have to pay more attention to this tank, with a controller, than my other tank without a controller. I'm so sick of having to check to make sure things are running when they should be running and not running when they shouldn't be. I hate how often I have to set a timer on my phone to remind me to get up and check on it and how often I'm glad I did that because I found it doing the wrong thing.

I really want to like this thing, but it's almost certainly going to end up in the garbage at some point or another.

I mean, just re-read what you told me to do in order to pause my AWC for a few days. That's an unacceptable workaround for something that should be so very simple.



All the information is here if they want to read it. Perhaps you could invite them to this thread. I've put so much effort and so many hours into trying to get some basic functionality out of this thing, I don't have the energy or patience to do it all again on a new message board.

Since I don't use the auto water change feature there may be a way to pause it that I am unaware of. @Connor At CoralVue is there a way to pause auto water chage without affecting the ATO function within it? If not is there a way we can get it on the list of suggestions for this user?

 

[n2585722]

That doesn't help the rest of us that bought this system specifically for features like this.

Remember when you said "I am not sure what work arounds you would be talking about"
This is *exactly* what I'm talking about.

Yeah, I'm not doing that. It's less work to just unplug the pumps. Plus, as I recall, the whole reason I even spent the extra time and money to integrate my ATO into the AWC is because they didn't play nice together the other way.
I know this sounds sarcastic but it's really not meant to be, but I have so little confidence in this controller that I truly don't believe it's going to do what I want it to do. There's going to be some seemingly unrelated setting I'll need to change or there's going to be some other reason why it won't function properly because of some quirk in the firmware.

Just to illustrate how little I trust this device, I have to pay more attention to this tank, with a controller, than my other tank without a controller. I'm so sick of having to check to make sure things are running when they should be running and not running when they shouldn't be. I hate how often I have to set a timer on my phone to remind me to get up and check on it and how often I'm glad I did that because I found it doing the wrong thing.

I really want to like this thing, but it's almost certainly going to end up in the garbage at some point or another.

I mean, just re-read what you told me to do in order to pause my AWC for a few days. That's an unacceptable workaround for something that should be so very simple.



All the information is here if they want to read it. Perhaps you could invite them to this thread. I've put so much effort and so many hours into trying to get some basic functionality out of this thing, I don't have the energy or patience to do it all again on a new message board.

I am going to try some things to see if I can come up with anything. I created a auto water change output and created a schedule. If I did it right it will run at the same time as the one I use. I also created a output to stop the schedule from running if it is on. I want it to run normally for a couple of changes then I will turn on that output to see how it reacts. Mainly I want to see what happens to the ATO in the auto water change. It should be on at the same times as my normal ATO is on.

 

[polyppal]

I bought the gyre and wave engine since I assumed that by using the wave engine, connected to the hydros, I could eliminate some power cords since the gyre would get it's power from the WE, which gets it's power from the hydros, right? Wrong. Had all kinds of "Collective Broken" issues until I plugged in the WE.
Another thing, the Grye (Icecap?) and WE came as one unit, as if they were designed to work together. I had a bunch of odd issues when I installed it. IIRC, it ran at full speed regardless of what speed I'd set it at and, again IIRC, it was running really loudly. Upon doing some research, I found out these problems were common and the workaround (and it's how I still have it set) was to go to Outputs and change the pump settings to "Invert Rotation", then in the schedule for the pump, tell it to run in reverse and that's it's placed on the "opposite side". Then it behaved itself.
FWIW, this is an official workaround, instead of dealing with whatever the actual issue is, Coral Vue apparently added "Invert Rotation" to deal with the pump being loud. Also, to make sure nothing makes sense, they also mention that "Invert Rotation" has nothing to do with the pump spinning in reverse. So what the heck does "Invert Rotation" mean.
The Reverse/Opposite side settings, I think, was to a fix to make it stop running at full power all the time.


So, an update to this post. After I had this problem. I changed a few settings. I turned the two pumps back to Auto, as stated, then I went to the schedule and un-checked all the days. That way the AWC was still enabled, it just wasn't scheduled. Nope, my ATO shut off, which I noticed when yesterday when the sump was several inches down.

So now what? I re-checked all the days, and set the End Time for the water change regimen to be 1 second after the start time. I figured letting it run for 1 second isn't going to dilute the meds in the tank by any meaningful amount.
Well, as soon as I uploaded the new settings, the AWC started refilling the tank. So I had to manually shut off that pump and manually turn on the ATO pump.

After it was refilled, I set all the pumps back to auto and forgot about it for a few hours. That is until I caught it doing a regular water change.
Apparently even with an end time of one second after the beginning time, as I entered into the schedule, it was still respecting the Drain Time, set to one hour, in the AWC settings in the Outputs menu.

God, I absolutely hate this device.
It so convoluted. It's so unintuitive. It's actively making my tank conditions worse.

First off, the AWC regimen needs a pause button. There's absolutely no excuse for not having one. Zero. Water changes, for a variety of reasons, often need to be temporarily stopped. After spending all this money on this system, it shouldn't come down to me having to physically run around unplugging things because there's no good way to suspend the AWC.

Secondly, can any one give me even a single good reason why the ATO and AWC have to be so completely intertwined with each other that removing the AWC schedule also removes the ATO's ability to function?

Oh good to know, my cheap wave engine idea fell though so maybe I’ll just pass on that idea if it doesn’t work great.

I’ve never used the AWC hydros function, though I do have a Kamoer X2SR auto water change system (separate from my hydros collective) that has been great for me since I installed and tuned it. Yeah, trying to balance some water pumps to do a AWC on a hydros sounds like a huge headache…

 

[polyppal]

Wave engine LE user here. XF280 & Ice Cap 4k. My only complaint so far is that I've not been able to create a standing wave. Nor have I found a way to do short pulse like .5 seconds like I was able to do previously when the native Gyre controller.

This is one of my big issues with the hydros system and Coralvue’s design philosophy in general. You make the gyre. You make the advanced aquarium controller. You create a device to integrate these specific devices - BUT they can’t perform the functions of the cheaper device on its own…

It’s the same with the Kamoer x1 they rebranded as a “Hydros Dosing Pump” yet it is inferior to the basic Kamoer X1 using the old Kamoer Bluetooth app…

Seems like an obvious flaw in the companies thinking that you can buy the same fixtures you could get years ago without hydros, however their function will be limited by this new system?!?

had I known their designs philosophy seems to be to simply patch existing products to ‘make it work’ - instead of creating better more intuitive or useful solutions - id have stuck with Neptune.

 

[n2585722]

Oh good to know, my cheap wave engine idea fell though so maybe I’ll just pass on that idea if it doesn’t work great.

I’ve never used the AWC hydros function, though I do have a Kamoer X2SR auto water change system (separate from my hydros collective) that has been great for me since I installed and tuned it. Yeah, trying to balance some water pumps to do a AWC on a hydros sounds like a huge headache…

The reason for the reverse rotation option is that some pumps will run in reverse when others will not. This allows you to switch the direction on the controller to match the pump. If the pump runs backwards just change this setting for that pump. even some pumps of the same brand may not run the same direction with the controller set up the same. Some pumps will run in both directions ok so you can allow it to run in both if you want depending on what mode you select in the schedule. FYI if you get a new stock IceCap pump it will come with a Wave Engine LE. The Wave Engine LE has replaced the original IceCap controller. The Wave Engine LE is a two pump version of the original Wave Engine. I have a Wave Engine v2 that I use to control my two MP10's. I have not used the direct drive ports yet. I am using some of the 0-10v outputs to control some of my lighting channels but it is in a collective with other Hydros controllers.

 

[polyppal]

The reason for the reverse rotation option is that some pumps will run in reverse when others will not. This allows you to switch the direction on the controller to match the pump. If the pump runs backwards just change this setting for that pump. even some pumps of the same brand may not run the same direction with the controller set up the same. Some pumps will run in both directions ok so you can allow it to run in both if you want depending on what mode you select in the schedule. FYI if you get a new stock IceCap pump it will come with a Wave Engine LE. The Wave Engine LE has replaced the original IceCap controller. The Wave Engine LE is a two pump version of the original Wave Engine. I have a Wave Engine v2 that I use to control my two MP10's. I have not used the direct drive ports yet. I am using some of the 0-10v outputs to control some of my lighting channels but it is in a collective with other Hydros controllers.

I mean if I didn’t have such a unique aquascape situation that will pretty much require me to switch to a gyre of some sort, I’d just leave my Tunze turbelle in place and call it a day, but seems like if I’m getting the gyre it would be nice to integrate into the existing collective if I can get the parts separate at nearly the same price as the standard kit…

I was looking at the Maxxspect Jump 2k w/corresponding direct drive connector cord to a WE (either model, whenever I find a cheap one)

 

[n2585722]

This is one of my big issues with the hydros system and Coralvue’s design philosophy in general. You make the gyre. You make the advanced aquarium controller. You create a device to integrate these specific devices - BUT they can’t perform the functions of the cheaper device on its own…

It’s the same with the Kamoer x1 they rebranded as a “Hydros Dosing Pump” yet it is inferior to the basic Kamoer X1 using the old Kamoer Bluetooth app…

Seems like an obvious flaw in the companies thinking that you can buy the same fixtures you could get years ago without hydros, however their function will be limited by this new system?!?

had I known their designs philosophy seems to be to simply patch existing products to ‘make it work’ - instead of creating better more intuitive or useful solutions - id have stuck with Neptune.

I have the Hydros dosing pump and I can control it with the Hydros without any issues. I also use a couple of Intllab pumps also and use the same power cords on either pump. I was using the Intllab before they came out with the Hydros pump. Since the Hydros pumpis a 43ml per minute pump it will not dose very small amount at one time. I have one of my Intllab pumps setup to dispense at a 12ml per minute rate and I use it for dosing All For Reef. The Hydros I use as my ATO pump since it gets the most use. I use a modified Intllab pump for AWC. I changed out the motor for one that will drive two pump heads so it drains and fills at the same time. The dosing on all three of these is completely controlled by the Hydros since they are all simple dosing pumps.

 

[n2585722]

I mean if I didn’t have such a unique aquascape situation that will pretty much require me to switch to a gyre of some sort, I’d just leave my Tunze turbelle in place and call it a day, but seems like if I’m getting the gyre it would be nice to integrate into the existing collective if I can get the parts separate at nearly the same price as the standard kit…

I was looking at the Maxxspect Jump 2k w/corresponding direct drive connector cord to a WE (either model, whenever I find a cheap one)

I have some schedules I use on my Wave Engine to control my MP10's on my build thread on page 8 post# 152 There are 5 schedules that run at different times of the day and two others. One runs during low power if there is a power failure. Of coarse you have to have the Wave Engine on a battery backup for that one. The other is a feed mode that is triggered by the wifi fish feeder and drops the flow rate of the MP10's for a 30 minute period. I believe all the info for doing it is in the post. Here is a link to the build thread here on R2R https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/canopy-and-stand-build-for-42-gallon-hex-tank.317822/page-8 .

 

[polyppal]

I have the Hydros dosing pump and I can control it with the Hydros without any issues. I also use a couple of Intllab pumps also and use the same power cords on either pump. I was using the Intllab before they came out with the Hydros pump. Since the Hydros pumpis a 43ml per minute pump it will not dose very small amount at one time. I have one of my Intllab pumps setup to dispense at a 12ml per minute rate and I use it for dosing All For Reef. The Hydros I use as my ATO pump since it gets the most use. I use a modified Intllab pump for AWC. I changed out the motor for one that will drive two pump heads so it drains and fills at the same time. The dosing on all three of these is completely controlled by the Hydros since they are all simple dosing pumps.

Yeah my point being that the hydros version x1 has a very archaic calibration method - where you take a stab at the pump being 43ml (my ended up being in the 33-35 range), then run a basic time/volume calibration check (which still hasn’t been entirely accurate for me) - whereas the old x1 Bluetooth app has a very easy precise calibration method that takes like 2 minutes. And still my doses are not always precise (can be perfect or a few mls off) while my old x1s were. I use it for Kalk dosing where precision isn’t extreme, but no way id trust a simple on/off and ‘pretty close to x mls’ pump to dose something that could have severe implications on the tank, like LaCl. I mean cmon, that’s old school BRS ‘Drew’s Doser’ technology, and is completely obsolete compared to something like the competitors DOS.

And the basic dosing schedule options in hydros are not nearly as customizable or intuitive as their own older model Kamoer x1. In hydros you get a start and end time, along with how many doses in that window for a total volume. On my X1 I could setup a specific dosage at any specific time of the day I wanted… On hydros X1 you cannot daisychain pumps because they’d have the exact same dosing schedule (which would be useless in 100% of scenarios, even in a small scale AWC setup because two individual pumps would not have the same exact flow rate) and they each need a dedicated drive port off the controller - whereas you can easily daisychain old X1s with independent settings. So yeah, it does work as a basic dosing pump for 60$… or you could buy the same companies years older version of the same pump with more intuitiveness/functionality/precision for 60$ and not hook it up to your new Coralvue hardware. That’s just plain stupid… if it’s a dumbed down x1 the price should reflect that and Coralvue should be forthright about it.

Additionally they use old x1 bodies for these pumps with LEDs that don’t even work because they were to lazy to update that to function or remove it. You gotta admit - selling a brand new product with LED connection light - that will knowingly never function (because they simply wanted to put something out with cheap old X1 parts) would be a pretty lazy move from any company, and makes it pretty clear what the design philosophy is…

 

[n2585722]

Yeah my point being that the hydros version x1 has a very archaic calibration method - where you take a stab at the pump being 43ml (my ended up being in the 33-35 range), then run a basic time/volume calibration check (which still hasn’t been entirely accurate for me) - whereas the old x1 Bluetooth app has a very easy precise calibration method that takes like 2 minutes. And still my doses are not always precise (can be perfect or a few mls off) while my old x1s were. I use it for Kalk dosing where precision isn’t extreme, but no way id trust a simple on/off and ‘pretty close to x mls’ pump to dose something that could have severe implications on the tank, like LaCl. I mean cmon, that’s old school BRS ‘Drew’s Doser’ technology, and is completely obsolete compared to something like the competitors DOS.

And the basic dosing schedule options in hydros are not nearly as customizable or intuitive as their own older model Kamoer x1. In hydros you get a start and end time, along with how many doses in that window for a total volume. On my X1 I could setup a specific dosage at any specific time of the day I wanted… On hydros X1 you cannot daisychain pumps because they’d have the exact same dosing schedule (which would be useless in 100% of scenarios, even in a small scale AWC setup because two individual pumps would not have the same exact flow rate) and they each need a dedicated drive port off the controller - whereas you can easily daisychain old X1s with independent settings. So yeah, it does work as a basic dosing pump for 60$… or you could buy the same companies years older version of the same pump with more intuitiveness/functionality/precision for 60$ and not hook it up to your new Coralvue hardware. That’s just plain stupid… if it’s a dumbed down x1 the price should reflect that and Coralvue should be forthright about it.

Additionally they use old x1 bodies for these pumps with LEDs that don’t even work because they were to lazy to update that to function or remove it. You gotta admit - selling a brand new product with LED connection light - that will knowingly never function (because they simply wanted to put something out with cheap old X1 parts) would be a pretty lazy move from any company, and makes it pretty clear what the design philosophy is…

I have not had an issue using the calibration on the Hydros. I make sure it is already primed. Run the calibration and then measure it on a digital scale on the ml scale. Then I put that value in the Hydros as the flow rate. Like I said it does not have a low enough flow rate for dosing All For Reef. I use the Intllab on a drive port and yes I do use a different drive port for each. I was using them on drive ports before Hydros came out with their own dosing pumps. I got one of the Hydros pumps to try it out after they came out with it. I was using the Intllab pumps with my Archon way before getting the Hydros. The only thing on them is a pot to adjust the motor speed which will adjust the flow rate. You can also use a smaller tubing for a lower flow rate. The Intllab I use for AllFor reef is adjusted to a 12ml flow rate. The Intllab I use for AWC is adjusted to 83ml a minute for the flow rate. The All For Reef pump even has dynamic dosing set on it. Below is a log of the dosing on that pump.

 

[n2585722]

That doesn't help the rest of us that bought this system specifically for features like this.

Remember when you said "I am not sure what work arounds you would be talking about"
This is *exactly* what I'm talking about.

Yeah, I'm not doing that. It's less work to just unplug the pumps. Plus, as I recall, the whole reason I even spent the extra time and money to integrate my ATO into the AWC is because they didn't play nice together the other way.
I know this sounds sarcastic but it's really not meant to be, but I have so little confidence in this controller that I truly don't believe it's going to do what I want it to do. There's going to be some seemingly unrelated setting I'll need to change or there's going to be some other reason why it won't function properly because of some quirk in the firmware.

Just to illustrate how little I trust this device, I have to pay more attention to this tank, with a controller, than my other tank without a controller. I'm so sick of having to check to make sure things are running when they should be running and not running when they shouldn't be. I hate how often I have to set a timer on my phone to remind me to get up and check on it and how often I'm glad I did that because I found it doing the wrong thing.

I really want to like this thing, but it's almost certainly going to end up in the garbage at some point or another.

I mean, just re-read what you told me to do in order to pause my AWC for a few days. That's an unacceptable workaround for something that should be so very simple.



All the information is here if they want to read it. Perhaps you could invite them to this thread. I've put so much effort and so many hours into trying to get some basic functionality out of this thing, I don't have the energy or patience to do it all again on a new message board.

Ok, here is the log of the test AWC and my normal ATO and AWC. It appear to work correctly when not paused. I paused it after the AWC at 8pm and after a ATO run. The AWC and ATO was not running and the full sensor was wet when I paused it. The next AWC is scheduled for 8am. The first one is the test AWC and the second one is AWC. I changed from a dosing schedule back to generic output type so that is why it went from showing a dose amount to just on and off I was able to get rid of an output doing it as a generic. The third one is my normal ATO. It looks like both ATO times are matching with the schedule running. now that ai paused it hopefully the ATO in the test AWC will continue to work.

 

[reefiniteasy]

I don't know what protocol or anything. I know they have been running my halides for over 18 months with zero issue. The Wifi Bars and XP8 from Hydros can't do that.

CV has replaced 3 dead Wifi bars at this point. They power cycle multiple times a day. They completely shut down on me. They tell me not responding multiple times a day so I turned that notification off. I don't put anything critical on them. I have over 40 wifi devices on my router at all times. Nothing else has issues. Only Hydros stuff. Could it be my system? Absolutely and I have tried to work with CV to see what is going on and what they recommend. But I am over it at this point. All Hydros is being sold off and going back to Apex. Haven't had a single issue to date with Apex. And the best part is I can HARDWIRE the brain to my router. I don't know why CV is so dead set on not offering this. It would cost them next to nothing to add an ethernet port and it would solve 99.9% of all connection issues.

Please correct me if I’m wrong, you have an XP8 and 3 relays died, the same day you hooked up the replacement XP8 another relay died and you’ve had 3 WiFi bars replaced?

I just want to make sure I’m not confusing multiple users’ posts.

 

[rtparty]

Please correct me if I’m wrong, you have an XP8 and 3 relays died, the same day you hooked up the replacement XP8 another relay died and you’ve had 3 WiFi bars replaced?

I just want to make sure I’m not confusing multiple users’ posts.

1st XP8 had 2 outlets malfunction within a week of setup. 1 started working again a couple days later after a full power cycle. The 2nd outlet never worked properly again. It was stuck ON at all times. The LED notification light would be blue meaning off but it still had power. Carlos had me send them the XP8 to someone in Florida so they could "put it under the microscope" to see what failed so quickly.

I got the replacement XP8 and day 1 an outlet got stuck ON once again and only came back after a full power cycle. It is currently working again but I switched it from controlling a halide to running my ozone generator.

Yes, I've had 3 wifi bars replaced by CV all for malfunctioning. They completely power cycle randomly and CV can't track any issues with my setup. I'm not exceeding any loads or doing anything crazy. Most of them are just set to ON.

Not sure what's funny about people sharing their experiences