Hydros owners - If someone was considering one- What would you tell them?

vetteguy53081 · Sep 11, 2023

As title indicates, Hydros has taken the hobby by storm and its biggest advantage is elimination of some many power bricks and cords with a plug and play format. There is a starter -pack and there is I believe what is called " Wave engine".
I am considering the wave engine for Gyre units and I am sure others who have seen or are contemplating on a hydros unit are also curious.

What can you say about owning the hydros,and the ease of setup?
How has App been working?
What hydros do you have (starter pack or ??)
What do you dislike about owning a Hydros?

thatmanMIKEson · Sep 11, 2023

I've had a hydros set up on two systems for over a year now, it's been working pretty good so far, it was very easy to set up ( I'm not extremely tech savvy, but not a beginner either) it's pretty strait forward for setting up.

I have the wave set up on one tank running two gyre 350's I'm not sure if you get more modes with the controllers from maxspect but I use alternate mode on the hydros, I didn't really get it for that.

I use it for monitoring and the xp8 comes in handy along with temperature control and ph monitoring and the optical and leak sensors are a good feature for safety, I don't use the system to it's full potential so I'm definitely not the one to ask about it, but I'd say I'm on par with most the other older guys/gals

that never used "controllers" for their tanks before. it's an easy way to see what's going on with the tank and some values to read when not in front of the tank, and I like the little bit of control i have, I'm definitely coming around!

I'd recommend it, as long as it continues to work for me, I keep waiting so I can say "ahhh ha I knew it!!!" but so far so good I can't say anything bad....

apb03 · Sep 11, 2023

I had planned to become a Hydros user, however their failure to launch the X10 and Kraken a full year after announcement is giving me pause. Covid is no longer a valid excuse.

If you can't release, how reliable are you?

vetteguy53081 · Sep 11, 2023

thatmanMIKEson said:
I've had a hydros set up on two systems for over a year now, it's been working pretty good so far, it was very easy to set up ( I'm not extremely tech savvy, but not a beginner either) it's pretty strait forward for setting up.

I have the wave set up on one tank running two gyre 350's I'm not sure if you get more modes with the controllers from maxspect but I use alternate mode on the hydros, I didn't really get it for that.

I use it for monitoring and the xp8 comes in handy along with temperature control and ph monitoring and the optical and leak sensors are a good feature for safety, I don't use the system to it's full potential so I'm definitely not the one to ask about it, but I'd say I'm on par with most the other older guys/gals that never used "controllers" for their tanks before. it's an easy way to see what's going on with the tank and some values to read when not in front of the tank, and I like the little bit of control i have, I'm definitely coming around!

I'd recommend it, as long as it continues to work for me, I keep waiting so I can say "ahhh ha I knew it!!!" but so far so good I can't say anything bad....

Thank you and yes this is helpful

The Dude Abides · Sep 11, 2023

I love my Wave Engine. I’m running two gyre 350’s and will be adding to Octo Pulse 4’s shortly. Four pumps run through one power outlet and no power bricks. Very user friendly. My kids wonder how I can turn on a light sometimes. I had no issue setting up my pumps and using the app.

vetteguy53081 · Sep 11, 2023

The Dude Abides said:
I love my Wave Engine. I’m running two gyre 350’s and will be adding to Octo Pulse 4’s shortly. Four pumps run through one power outlet and no power bricks. Very user friendly. My kids wonder how I can turn on a light sometimes. I had no issue setting up my pumps and using the app.

Great info. I too am getting the gyre 350 units which I hear are quiet

The Dude Abides · Sep 11, 2023

My 350’s are very quiet.

jrill · Sep 11, 2023

apb03 said:
I had planned to become a Hydros user, however their failure to launch the X10 and Kraken a full year after announcement is giving me pause. Covid is no longer a valid excuse.

If you can't release, how reliable are you?

Which is exactly why they never issue release dates. They get punishment for talking about products in the pipeline.

mrpontiac80 · Sep 11, 2023

vetteguy53081 said:
Great info. I too am getting the gyre 350 units which I hear are quiet

I Run the 350s and 330s on my tank and they are very quiet.

jrill · Sep 11, 2023

I run Hydros on three different systems. Totally happy with it. Yes there have been problems that always get addressed and fixed but they are relatively new in the controller game. I had Hydros since their release and glad I went with them. New products and additions to the line are released on a regular basis.

thatmanMIKEson · Sep 11, 2023

apb03 said:
I had planned to become a Hydros user, however their failure to launch the X10 and Kraken a full year after announcement is giving me pause. Covid is no longer a valid excuse.

If you can't release, how reliable are you?

I'm kinda glad they didn't hopefully they rethink putting a dosing pump on their unit, I emailed Carlos saying how ridiculous it looks, he unofficially agreed, how much could it cost to make it separate from the controller, imagine all the hydros wires and dosing lines it's a mess and a ugly way to save 100$. the dosing pump should stay a separate unit, this may be the delay

Court_Appointed_Hypeman · Sep 11, 2023

What I would tell someone is to pay careful attention to what features you will want out of it if you are working with limited cash. I would have spent the extra 100 for the larger model with the X8 instead of the sensor model with X8.

I am fine with it, but I spent an extra 100 over that to get the ports I would have had.

But if you have crazy cash to burn I wouldn't sweat it. You would probably get one of the larger models to start with anyway.

I would def recommend getting an X8 off the bat though. The wifi strips are great, but less plug requirements, AND you can monitor your electricity usage and can auto shut off devices that are outside of voltage ranges you set.

apb03 · Sep 11, 2023

jrill said:
Which is exactly why they never issue release dates. They get punishment for talking about products in the pipeline.

It's not my intention to punish, or anything of the sort. I'm quite excited about their products in the pipeline, and it was understandable that they couldn't release due to the chip shortage. That said, it's been a year and about half a year past even their rough estimate when they announced. It's time to communicate a status.

It's important because they are an entrant into an established market and they must build trust. I want to buy their products and I like their approach, but if they are having production issues, we should have our expectations set.

robotrash · Sep 11, 2023

apb03 said:
It's not my intention to punish, or anything of the sort. I'm quite excited about their products in the pipeline, and it was understandable that they couldn't release due to the chip shortage. That said, it's been a year and about half a year past even their rough estimate when they announced. It's time to communicate a status.

It's important because they are an entrant into an established market and they must build trust. I want to buy their products and I like their approach, but if they are having production issues, we should have our expectations set.

Tbf chip shortages are definitely still affecting product lines in all sectors so I'm certainly not surprised. They probably shouldn't have announced so early but going dark isn't uncommon if they don't have anything new to share.

Court_Appointed_Hypeman · Sep 11, 2023

thatmanMIKEson said:
I'm kinda glad they didn't hopefully they rethink putting a dosing pump on their unit, I emailed Carlos saying how ridiculous it looks, he unofficially agreed, how much could it cost to make it separate from the controller, imagine all the hydros wires and dosing lines it's a mess and a ugly way to save 100$. the dosing pump should stay a separate unit, this may be the delay

This would be awesome if it'd the case.

I do think it's a cool idea for the hobyist that doesn't have pumps yet and is intimidated by setting them up, but its clearly a bad idea depending on how pump failhres would be handled. I assume they weren't going to make it super user friendly to swap them out, beyong that I wouldn't be able to use it due to the space I have to work with in my contriller area.

Saltysav96 · Sep 11, 2023

i have the x4 pro pack and the WEV2 running 2 octo pulse 4's, hydros ato and auto feeder. setup was super easy, ive never had an issue with the app. the hydros does everything i need it to do and then some. i plan to add the x10/IV and kraken once released.
i am building a mixing station soon and would like to automate that using hydros as well and start doing AWC.

Spartan76 · Sep 11, 2023

It depends on what you are going to use. I went all in with the controller, wave engine, Klir filter, power strips, autofeeder, sensors for my RO, skimmer, ph, temp, etc. Some things work very well - like the wavemaker, other things not that well- like the Klir filter. The redundancy features are excellent. Programming with a couple of notable exceptions (the autofeeder is terrible) is easy and intuitive. Apex is just too time consuming and non intuitive (unless youre a programmer).
BTW Im a vette guy as well (C7, C8)!

vetteguy53081 · Sep 11, 2023

Spartan76 said:
It depends on what you are going to use. I went all in with the controller, wave engine, Klir filter, power strips, autofeeder, sensors for my RO, skimmer, ph, temp, etc. Some things work very well - like the wavemaker, other things not that well- like the Klir filter. The redundancy features are excellent. Programming with a couple of notable exceptions (the autofeeder is terrible) is easy and intuitive. Apex is just too time consuming and non intuitive (unless youre a programmer).
BTW Im a vette guy as well (C7, C8)!

Im starting with gyre units but will likely expand with other pumps and a few components. I havent looked into expanded capabilities but do plan to. Appreciate the info and great to see another vette person here.

JeffB418 · Sep 11, 2023

apb03 said:
It's not my intention to punish, or anything of the sort. I'm quite excited about their products in the pipeline, and it was understandable that they couldn't release due to the chip shortage. That said, it's been a year and about half a year past even their rough estimate when they announced. It's time to communicate a status.

It's important because they are an entrant into an established market and they must build trust. I want to buy their products and I like their approach, but if they are having production issues, we should have our expectations set.

It’s exactly 1 year from the initial announcement at macna 2022 (sept 9-11). At that time they said that the 3 new products (XD , x10, and kraken) would be out in 2023 starting with the XD first. x10 are coming, I’ve seen videos of them being produced on the circuit board line recently. They have not officially released any dates but that’s gotta be a good sign.