Controllers

[patchin]

I bought a ACII from an acquaintance, but am having second thoughts. A new Jr is about the same price with a DC 8. The II I bought has appliance modules. The II have a few more features, that I might not use. The DC 8 is more reliable than the modules. With the modules I could also control lights on a second tank(no big deal I guess).
What do you guys think? Stick with the II or go for the JR? TIA

 

[sfsuphysics]

Depends what you want to do with it. As you mentioned the ACII has more features/options, but if all you're doing is looking at temp, pH and controlling your lights it's kind of a wasted extra.

 

[Raddogz]

It depends on what you're planning on doing with it between now and the future (near).

AcJr. are nice, but they don't have an orp probe or controller which is nice if you decide to add ozone down the road. The x-10's can work quite well if you have no electrical inteference (some older electronic ballasts do not play well with X10 devices).

Stick with the ACII in my opinion

 

[patchin]

Question. Having an older house with ungrounded plugs(but gfci protected at the tank),
will the ACII system with the modules work? It's easier to ask the question than set it up and try it(for now).
I want it to control lights, tank temp in summer, and ph. As of now I've had no way to monitor ph. In the future, Ca reactor?, CO2 for ph?, who knows.

 

[FinalPhaze987]

It might work out better for you having older style wiring. With newer houses the wiring is broken off into sections, meaning if you wanted to controll something 10 feet away, you wouldnt be able to. I would stick with the ACII. It gives you more freedom to expand later on. We just picked up a Jr from an RC member for now to controll our Ca reactor. We plan on upgrading to the ACIII or Pro later on so we can check up on the tank when on vacation. The controller didnt come with a pH probe? Let me know if your looking for one, i have a buddy with a new one i think he might sell.

 

[patchin]

It came with a probe, but at this point I wouldn't have the knowledge or equipment to automate its control.

 

[patchin]

How do you pull out and add a quote to a reply?

 

[Ibn]

I'd go with the AC2 since you already have it. I'm actually running one right now on my system with a bunch of x-10s. I considered the Jr. for awhile, but got the AC2 for a good deal and it also allows you to control more equipment (especially lighting: I have five x-10s controlling 3 freshwater fixtures, one MH and one set of moonlights).

You can set conditional statements in the AC2 program if you want. Before I set up sump w/the reverse lighting cycle, I had issues with pH dropping at night and getting pretty high during the day time. I just added a pump when I noticed that and set it so that if the pH drifts out of a certain range, the pump would turn on (you can do this w/your chiller, heater, etc. also).

You can also mod a WAP to work with an AC2 so that you can check the status of your tank anywhere that you have internet.

 

[patchin]

I was following that until the WAP part. It would be cool to be able to check it remotely, though.

 

[Ibn]

WAP = wireless access point.

You can read more about the mod here.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=799900&perpage=25&pagenumber=1