got ethical husbandry?

Where to start with Hydros

+1 on the X4/XP8 combo. And second the commentary on not using a salinity probe. Who needs to know what salinity is every hour. We could go down the disaster prevention rabbit hole again but the red sea and the hydros ATO should provide enough monitoring if something was to go wrong on the ATO front impacting salinity. And water level sensors could add additional controls.

Can you connect the lights to the 0-10V port? If yes, that will give you additional controllability.
 
MarcosD said:
The Helios heaters have to go plugged into the Helios controller so both heaters are powered by one outlet. I don’t think I’d be able to set one lower than the other. I’m going with these because they have good reviews but also because the heating elements will fit perfects in my sump. I used to use the Eheim jager 200W but those are super long and take up too much space because I can’t keep them horizontal/vertically on the sump wall
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I use them as my backup heaters 2 x 300 watts :). I still prefer the aqualogic to be the primary heater.
 
Definitely looking like the X4/XP8 is the best choice for me. Losing the salinity probe im ok with now. I’d rather spend the extra money for the extra outlets now than need them later. I’m planning to build a control cabinet so space isn’t an issue
 
MarcosD said:
Definitely looking like the X4/XP8 is the best choice for me. Losing the salinity probe im ok with now. I’d rather spend the extra money for the extra outlets now than need them later. I’m planning to build a control cabinet so space isn’t an issue
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The 8 outlets were not enough for me. I am still planning to buy a second XP8 before the summer vacation. The automation possibilities with these outlets are great.
 
ReyDeFarts said:
I'm excited for you! I will definitely be going with the Hydros controllers, when I am able to. Definitely join up their Facebook community group too.
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Thanks Andy! A lot of learning to do but I’m excited too. Already joined the FB group! Going to have a lot of time to read and watch videos when I’m stuck in bed soon lol. @dangalang also offered to talk Hydros but I’m trying to learn the basics first so I don’t bore him with the dumb questions haha
 
I don't like them as much because if you have any sort of WiFi instability, they will retain their last status e.g. on or off. They're fine for things that are always on, but at that point why even have control vs. a dumb power strip? Kenny had an issue where his kalk doser kept going when his WiFi went down. The XP8 at least is hard wired and has a controller brain and will continue to use programmed logic if not connected to the cloud.

Also you can always add on to your collective if you need more of whatever type of input or output.
 
Darkxerox said:
I don't like them as much because if you have any sort of WiFi instability, they will retain their last status e.g. on or off. They're fine for things that are always on, but at that point why even have control vs. a dumb power strip? Kenny had an issue where his kalk doser kept going when his WiFi went down. The XP8 at least is hard wired and has a controller brain and will continue to use programmed logic if not connected to the cloud.

Also you can always add on to your collective if you need more of whatever type of input or output.
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Agreed, I wouldn't put any mission critical stuff on the WiFi outlet.
 
Darkxerox said:
I don't like them as much because if you have any sort of WiFi instability, they will retain their last status e.g. on or off. They're fine for things that are always on, but at that point why even have control vs. a dumb power strip? Kenny had an issue where his kalk doser kept going when his WiFi went down. The XP8 at least is hard wired and has a controller brain and will continue to use programmed logic if not connected to the cloud.

Also you can always add on to your collective if you need more of whatever type of input or output.
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This is more what i was referring too. Via command bus ports add a XP8 to a Launch (or whatever controlller since they have so many options); and/or you could add Wifi outlet.
 
Anyone use these button boxes? They look pretty cool
 

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MarcosD said:
Ohh thanks for the heads up, I’m not sure what my router is but I’ll have a look
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If you have a guest wifi band thats the one I use for 2.4 my cameras that require that band. I don't let anything connect to that band but the cameras so they never get overloaded.
On my router you can choose the band you want to use for the main band, and guest one.
 
Darkxerox said:
Not sure what the point of these is? Definitely not CoralVue made either.
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They have the same use cases as breakout box button/switch modules for Apex. It’s so you can control a few critical functions with physical buttons and switches, without using your phone or internet. Like feed/maintenance modes for example. Correct that they are third party (JB Aquatics).

 
MarcosD said:
Anyone use these button boxes? They look pretty cool
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Trying to find my phone or various tablets to turn stuff on and off is sometimes very annoying, so setting these up properly could be a nice improvement. However, these could be another failure entry point for the tank, which we might want to avoid. Also, it is a bit old school since I have seen folks using Alexa to turn their devices on and off.
 
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