Is anyone here monitoring two separate reef tanks with one Controller ?

[J-West]

I will soon have two separate reef tanks going in my home. I would like to get a controller for each of them, but quite honestly, I just can't afford two controllers right now. I've narrowed my choice down to two controllers: Apex and GHL. But I'm not sure whether or not they are capable of monitoring tank parameters and doing emergency alerts for two separate tanks.

Is anyone else using one controller to monitor two tanks ?

 

[Breadman03]

I am at a very basic level with my Apex. I only monitor temperature with it for my QT, though I have a second pH probe that is for my calcium reactor and control my QT light with it as well. You do with with expansion modules to get the additional data inputs-temp, pH, etc. The cost of each varies a little, but I'd say $100 each plus the probes is a decent ballpark.

Your controller doesn't really "know" it's monitoring two tanks. You just program each outlet to respond in accordance to a desired input. For example, you can have "tank 1 heater" respond to "tank 1 temp" by turning on at 77.4 degrees. "Tank 2 heater" won't do anything based on "tank 1 temp" because you set it up to work off of "tank 2 temp".

I would recommend organizing your dashboard so that it is laid out logically for two tanks. You don't want to have the outlets all jumbled together. Set them up so that you (or a buddy helping you out) can easily see what is what and minimize the chance of mistakes.

I assume GHL has similar capabilities, but have no personal experience.

 

[Jimbo662]

I'm doing two tanks with the Apex. Fusion is set up so that there are 3 columns. I have the components of each tank in their own column. I just had to get a long cable to run from the apex to the EB-8 bar and an additional module based on what equipment you'll be running. Don't pay attention to the temp and ph in the center column. Those probes aren't connected yet.

 

[n2585722]

I would think either of those would work. I don't have any experience with either. I currently use the Archon. I have it controlling one tank at this time, but it is clearly capable of more tha one tank. Some of the controller modules are in the garage. The rest is at the tank. I have 2 power bars and 3 DP1 modules in the garage that is 35ft from the tank. The ATO and water change storage is kept in the garage and pumped to the tank.

 

[reefwiser]

https://www.aquariumcomputer.com/benthocosms-in-kiel/
GHL systems are made to expand as large as needed.

 

[n2585722]

But I'm not sure whether or not they are capable of monitoring tank parameters and doing emergency alerts for two separate tanks.

You may want to check into how easy it is to tell which tank the alarm that has triggered is on on each controller. On the Archon the alarms can be named so you can add the tank to the name. This makes it easy to tell which tank it is.

The is the contents of an Archon alarm sent via email. The Custom body entered can be changed if you want If you have more than one Archon this would come in handy. In this alarm it tell me that on the 42g tank the powe to the ATO and auto water change pumps was turned off. A low level or an overfull level in the sump will cause this to happen. If either of these are tripped something is wrong and needs to be checked.

Archon alarm email body below:

2017/04/23 09:10:53, id:19 - 42g ATO AWC Power Off.
Your alarm has triggered!
Custom body entered

Looking at the Alarms page on the Archon this is what is seen after that alarm. The overfull alarm triggered the event. I have the Archon set to turn off the skimmer in the event of a sump overfull. That in turn triggers the skimmer off alarm that turns off the swabbie if it is running. All the alarms that start with 42g are for my 42 gallon hex tank. The leak AC alarm is a leak detector that s unit my central AC unit for the house and has noting to do with the tank, but it will send me an email if the AC starts to leak water on the floor.

 

[vhuang168]

You can rename probes in Apex easily.

 

[prsnlty]

You can set alarms for any outlet or probe in apex. If power outage you only need one "heartbeat" set as the main head unit will be the thing that goes down 1st. Once that is down it's all down.

I am running 2 systems off one Apex, soon to be my frag tank as well.