Hydros Owners: how happy are you long term?

[ReefBeta]

It also depends on what you want as not all things one can do is the other capable of at this time. So you need to consider that when deciding. Can the Apex do what is in the screenshot below. That is water levels in my three storage containers in the garage. I put them on this page by themselves so you can see which ones I was referring to. Thr readings are in percentage full for each. I believe the Hydros is more DIY friendly.

Isn't this pressure based level sensor? If you gonna diy, you can do that on any of the existing aquarium controller system. The reef angel controller I used before even have that module for sale directly.

 

[RedReefer]

Lots of good info, thank you everyone! I've been looking at purchasing the XP 4 pro pack.

 

[n2585722]

Isn't this pressure based level sensor? If you gonna diy, you can do that on any of the existing aquarium controller system. The reef angel controller I used before even have that module for sale directly.

Yes, but I am not aware of the Apex having a 0-10v input. I use 3 of the 0-10v inputs on an X4 for these.I am sure you can do that with a Reef Angel since that is almost a DIY system anyway.

 

[FishyFishFish]

As for the power strip, could they not have used something like this? (not necessarily this one as it has been out of stock for ages, and it would need some adjustments to the relays, but presumably nothing that couldn’t be overcome).

About $30 for 4 outlets, vs $280 for the 8 outlets on the XP8.

 

[ReefBeta]

Yes, but I am not aware of the Apex having a 0-10v input. I use 3 of the 0-10v inputs on an X4 for these.I am sure you can do that with a Reef Angel since that is almost a DIY system anyway.

The FFM module can be used to DIY sensor iirc. People diy CO2 sensor on it. I don't look into diy a lot. If I want to get to DIY system, I'll probably start with reef pi.

 

[n2585722]

As for the power strip, could they not have used something like this? (not necessarily this one as it has been out of stock for ages, and it would need some adjustments to the relays, but presumably nothing that couldn’t be overcome).

About $30 for 4 outlets, vs $280 for the 8 outlets on the XP8.

You can drive one of those with the drive ports on the X2 or X4 if you want. I am not positive but you may be able to use the 0-10v outputs also but not sure. It depends on the current needed with the input as to whether it would work or not.

 

[n2585722]

If XP8 was planned like that from the beginning, it's kind of sad. With that, it's the same price as Apex to start with. But it's a lot more expensive to expand for adding more sensories. Sense port is $40 per port per XS. pH port is $120 per X3. Apex is $90 can add a pH and temp port, $110 for 4 flow metering ports. Even EB8 is cheaper per port than XP8 of you can make use of the two 24v port, or at least even without them. Hydros get more expensive very fast if you're expanding on anything except wifi power strip.

Ok I added up the cost of all my controllers and wifi strips the added all my input and output ports and divided that into cost and came out with $26.41 a port. Not sure how that would relate to the other controllers.

 

[n2585722]

As for the power strip, could they not have used something like this? (not necessarily this one as it has been out of stock for ages, and it would need some adjustments to the relays, but presumably nothing that couldn’t be overcome).

About $30 for 4 outlets, vs $280 for the 8 outlets on the XP8.

I forgot to mention one signal controls all those outputs. On version 1 two would be on at the same time and two would be off at the same time. On version 2 One outlet was always on and the other Two would be on at the same time with one other off or vise versa depending on the single control input. So basically it it one usable switched output in our case for $30 with no power monitoring. Eight of those would take up a lot of room compared to either the wifi strips or the XP8.

 

[ReefBeta]

Ok I added up the cost of all my controllers and wifi strips the added all my input and output ports and divided that into cost and came out with $26.41 a port. Not sure how that would relate to the other controllers.

You mean indistinguish output and input, or different types of input? If that's the case, my X4 setup are $18.3 per port, cause I have 5 wifi power bar. If I count each 10v in and out as a port then it gets down to $15.28. Not that it matters because neither case make much sense.

 

[reefiniteasy]

Lots of good info, thank you everyone! I've been looking at purchasing the XP 4 pro pack.

I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. Please take some time to join the forum, check out the Facebook group and the website.

Hydros Forum
https://forum.coralvuehydros.com

Hydros Facebook Group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/hydrosgroup/?ref=share

Hydros Website
https://www.coralvuehydros.com

 

[n2585722]

The X4 has 16 ports. The wifi strip I counted as 5 since there is 5 control outputs. I didn't count each individual usb port since they are controlled together. I only have 4 wifi strips and 7 controllers in my count.I did not count the ports on the controller I am beta testing. The cost only included the cost of the counted controllers and wifi devices. Three of those were starter kits and included some of the cost of pH probes and temp sensors but I don't think that would make a lot of difference.

 

[srobertb]

I love mine! Been using it for over a year. Started with the X4, added the XS. Then when I upgraded my tank I added the Wave Engine. I use it to run 2 Octopulse pumps opposite each other in a sine wave pattern. Now I’ve expanded again to add the XP8.

Why aren’t you running your gyre’s off it? I went through 3 controllers and 2 ICV6’s before I broke down and bought a wave engine. I hate it but it hasn’t died yet. Can you use the ICV6 and the Wave Engine?

 

[reefiniteasy]

Why aren’t you running your gyre’s off it? I went through 3 controllers and 2 ICV6’s before I broke down and bought a wave engine. I hate it but it hasn’t died yet. Can you use the ICV6 and the Wave Engine?

The icv6 is to control my Maxspect Razor X light. I had an IceCap 2k vertically in the back of my tank. I had it run a sine wave for 5 minutes at the top of every hour. I stopped using it because my anemones appeared to be less happy with it. So I added a second OctoPulse. Now that I’m running themnopposite each other I’ve unlocked the “real” power of the Wave Engine. LOL

Why do you hate the WE? Do you need help with anything?

 

[srobertb]

I have a Neptune Apex with Trident, lots of DOS pumps, feeders, and all the stuff for my main tank. It’s hardwired via Ethernet and since doing so it has a 99.9% up time. It’s fast and responsive even from thousands of miles away. The app is always on and always responsive immediately. I have a wall mounted iPad like all the cool kids do and the control is solid, reliable, and doesn’t need refreshing. There is nothing better than wandering Rome, getting an alarm your Alk is high, and lowering your DOS from your phone. There’s nothing worse than being in the same
place and getting a “failed to upload new settings” message.

I also have a 10 gallon SW tank next to a 25g freshwater tank. I’m using a Control2 and ControlXS as a group with 2, 4 plug power supplies, a CO2 solenoid (for the plants), and some other add-one that are escaping me…leak detection? Setting it up was a PITA (you need a terminator which wasn’t mentioned and IIRC means it’s using a token-ring Ethernet connection. Technology that’s older than me).

It’s buggy. So buggy. If I have to reset the app it’s a 10-15 second process- and that’s when it doesn’t crash. Not what you want when something is going wrong.

I’ve lowered the alert level for disconnects because I get 2-3 “power supply x is not connected” followed by a “reconnected” errors daily. I just ignore them now. It’s exactly what you expect from this stuff. Power bar one connects instantly, power bar two takes 8 tries and 2 hours.

I also have these 2 tanks on their own iPad that’s always on right above them. The menu sticks. So if you press “feed” it will do its thing for 10 minutes and go back to regular mode but the screen will be stuck on feed. You have to click a refresh button. So it doesn’t show current status updates, just updates from the last time you touched the screen. Updates can take 20+ seconds.

I have 2 max spect Gyre 350k (whatever they’re called). I went through several controllers and the ICV6 (one died while I was out the door for a 2 week vacation) before I finally bought the Wave Engine. It is not included in the group for the 2 tanks. The app does update in real time to show the pumps ramping up and down. The thing also randomly crashes, disconnects from the internet, and I have to spend hours trying to unbrick it. Nothing changes, I just wake up to “your device has been disconnected for too long” and now I’m in for a fun morning. This has happened less since recent updates.

the programming is…dumb…and not super intuitive. You can’t make standing waves with the XF350’s and the whole system throws off errors below 25% speed (the lowest they will go).

I don’t regret the Hydros system for my smaller tanks. I’m actively trying to find a better flow option to replace the wave engine though.

They’re low maintenance (the tanks) and I don’t care if they’re buggy (the controller) so long as they don’t cause me hours a week in repairs. I do wish the 8 port power bar had been available. For a “main” or “display” tank run far, run fast. These are repurposed Chinese Wi-Fi-enabled devices they’re using. There is no Ethernet port. I’m not trusting a cheap 2.4ghz network for my $20k+ tank and pets

I realize people will say Neptune puts out some crap quality products too (EB832) and I’ve even woken up to a dead EB832. But if Neptune scraped the bottom of the barrel Coralvue went through the barrel, the street, and landed in the sewer.

PS- This morning, around 6 am, all my Coralvue devices demanded I update them immediately. I say “demand” because they started beeping and when I loaded the app I was completely
Locked out of everything until I updated. So bleary eyed, without my first cup of coffee, I crossed my fingers and prayed the updates took. They failed 2 times, crashed the app, then suddenly said they were updated.

 

[srobertb]

The icv6 is to control my Maxspect Razor X light. I had an IceCap 2k vertically in the back of my tank. I had it run a sine wave for 5 minutes at the top of every hour. I stopped using it because my anemones appeared to be less happy with it. So I added a second OctoPulse. Now that I’m running themnopposite each other I’ve unlocked the “real” power of the Wave Engine. LOL

Why do you hate the WE? Do you need help with anything?

I have had it for a while. Honestly I’m just a bitter old man I think.

I have two XF350’s. I went through lots of controllers and power supplies before giving up and getting the wave engine. Coralvue was good with the warranty but after like 3 controllers and 2 ICV6’s I had enough.

The programming at first on the WE was awful. I would wake up and it would be disconnected and I would have to reset it and try and reconnect it. Sometimes it was easy; sometimes it was half a day of frustration. Updating the firmware sometimes work
and sometimes bricks it. This morning I woke up to a “you must update the firmware to use this device” which took repeated times to go through.

The control is limited with the XF350’s. I can only set the sine wave to 2.5 seconds and the minimum pump speed to 25% so no waves. I don’t find the control to be pleasant or intuitive.

I also don’t like the XF350’s so I tend to lump them together. They clog and degrade quickly. The magnetic driveshaft get grooves in them about every 3 months which is $100 a pop to replace both of them. They go from Whiney to quiet then back to whiney. At this point anything less than 27%-30% and the controller says “error.”

My only other option is a few MP60’s or WAV or octopulses (via apex) but I hate how power heads look in a tank.

I use the Control2 and XS (separate from the WE) on my smaller tanks and it’s just fine but it disconnects several times a day, the app doesn’t refresh on an always-on Ipad

 

[ReefBeta]

It's app/firmware update reason again, and again there is trouble. Couple days ago 196 landed. Updated the devices, and apps on both my phone and tablet, all seem fine. Then today the phone app say 197 is available. So I installed. Then I go to the tablet, it said the app need update for the new firmware. But when I get to play store, there is no update ... Both my phone and tablet are android, but somehow the app launch is mismatched. This is so common occurrence that I didn't even bother to update the X3 in my frag system and the tablet on it. But really, how hard is it to make the app backward compatible for like one version back? Backward compatibility for update is like the basic of basic requirement for any competent developer. At my work we need to maintain backward compatibility for at least 4 versions. Yet coralvue don't seem to give a **** about that, putting all the burden on matching version to end user, which is just ridiculous. For years I used on other controllers with apps, have it be reefangel or apex, I have never get to a time where an update break the use of app for any amount of time.

 

[n2585722]

I have had it for a while. Honestly I’m just a bitter old man I think.

I have two XF350’s. I went through lots of controllers and power supplies before giving up and getting the wave engine. Coralvue was good with the warranty but after like 3 controllers and 2 ICV6’s I had enough.

The programming at first on the WE was awful. I would wake up and it would be disconnected and I would have to reset it and try and reconnect it. Sometimes it was easy; sometimes it was half a day of frustration. Updating the firmware sometimes work
and sometimes bricks it. This morning I woke up to a “you must update the firmware to use this device” which took repeated times to go through.

The control is limited with the XF350’s. I can only set the sine wave to 2.5 seconds and the minimum pump speed to 25% so no waves. I don’t find the control to be pleasant or intuitive.

I also don’t like the XF350’s so I tend to lump them together. They clog and degrade quickly. The magnetic driveshaft get grooves in them about every 3 months which is $100 a pop to replace both of them. They go from Whiney to quiet then back to whiney. At this point anything less than 27%-30% and the controller says “error.”

My only other option is a few MP60’s or WAV or octopulses (via apex) but I hate how power heads look in a tank.

I use the Control2 and XS (separate from the WE) on my smaller tanks and it’s just fine but it disconnects several times a day, the app doesn’t refresh on an always-on Ipad

I don't have a WaveEngine so I cannot comment on that. I do have 8 controllers in a collective. As far as the disconnects is it the wifi strips or the controllers. Do you have a mesh network? Do you use the same name on your 5ghz channels as your 2.4ghz channel. If either one is a yes that could be the disconnect issue. I use an iPad with mine but once I am done I close the app. I use the iPad for all my internet surfing and other things so I close apps when I am done. So I have not had any issues with the app. I am not sure if there is a way to turn off auto update for a single app but it sounds like it was loaded on which ever store you device is on and the app required a firmware version above what your devices are on. If you turn off auto update that will keep that from happening. It may be a good idea for them to have a link to the older version of the web app just in case this happens you can still use the web app until you have time to update the firmware. Are you a member on the Hydros forum. If so you might want to suggest that they have this option. If not let me know and I will post it for you.

 

[reefiniteasy]

I have had it for a while. Honestly I’m just a bitter old man I think.

I have two XF350’s. I went through lots of controllers and power supplies before giving up and getting the wave engine. Coralvue was good with the warranty but after like 3 controllers and 2 ICV6’s I had enough.

The programming at first on the WE was awful. I would wake up and it would be disconnected and I would have to reset it and try and reconnect it. Sometimes it was easy; sometimes it was half a day of frustration. Updating the firmware sometimes work
and sometimes bricks it. This morning I woke up to a “you must update the firmware to use this device” which took repeated times to go through.

The control is limited with the XF350’s. I can only set the sine wave to 2.5 seconds and the minimum pump speed to 25% so no waves. I don’t find the control to be pleasant or intuitive.

I also don’t like the XF350’s so I tend to lump them together. They clog and degrade quickly. The magnetic driveshaft get grooves in them about every 3 months which is $100 a pop to replace both of them. They go from Whiney to quiet then back to whiney. At this point anything less than 27%-30% and the controller says “error.”

My only other option is a few MP60’s or WAV or octopulses (via apex) but I hate how power heads look in a tank.

I use the Control2 and XS (separate from the WE) on my smaller tanks and it’s just fine but it disconnects several times a day, the app doesn’t refresh on an always-on Ipad

I’m sorry you’re having troubles. @n2585722 can help with the disconnecting, as he started to above. I can tell you Octopulses on the WE are amazing. I’m so glad I picked up another. People do say the gyre are a lot to clean and maintain but I’ve never experienced that because I didn’t run it continuously. The octopulses can run on the WE if you ever choose to switch.

 

[FishyFishFish]

It's app/firmware update reason again, and again there is trouble. Couple days ago 196 landed. Updated the devices, and apps on both my phone and tablet, all seem fine. Then today the phone app say 197 is available. So I installed. Then I go to the tablet, it said the app need update for the new firmware. But when I get to play store, there is no update ... Both my phone and tablet are android, but somehow the app launch is mismatched. This is so common occurrence that I didn't even bother to update the X3 in my frag system and the tablet on it. But really, how hard is it to make the app backward compatible for like one version back? Backward compatibility for update is like the basic of basic requirement for any competent developer. At my work we need to maintain backward compatibility for at least 4 versions. Yet coralvue don't seem to give a **** about that, putting all the burden on matching version to end user, which is just ridiculous. For years I used on other controllers with apps, have it be reefangel or apex, I have never get to a time where an update break the use of app for any amount of time.

Thanks for confirming this. I updated to 196 2 days ago and it worked but it wasn’t an entirely smooth process.

I’ve just connected remotely from my phone and have had another prompt for a firmware update. I had to go back and check that my last update had been correctly installed (it had).

I’m not going to update while I’m away from home, so I’ll see what happens when I get back.

 

[n2585722]

Thanks for confirming this. I updated to 196 2 days ago and it worked but it wasn’t an entirely smooth process.

I’ve just connected remotely from my phone and have had another prompt for a firmware update. I had to go back and check that my last update had been correctly installed (it had).

I’m not going to update while I’m away from home, so I’ll see what happens when I get back.

The app didn't change as far as I know so you should be ok on 196 until you get home.