reef controllers?

[Mav]

What is recommended? What do people have? Most expandable? Best bang for the buck?

 

[joeMASC]

I just bought a Reef Angel. $219 and it comes ready out of the box to turn my daylights and actinics on separately, moonlight or Refugium light on when my main lights go off, 2 wave maker controls, heater control with temp monitor, main pump, and auto topoff with two float sensors, Plus PH monitor with included probe. Feeding mode, water change mode built in. Nothing else I saw matched that. You can add several expansion modules, more plugs, RF control of Exotec power heads, dimming and lightning effects for PWM LED, WIFI with iPhone, Android and web portal control.

There is a forum and tons of code you can copy and paste to upload. The owner has emailed me back with answers to questions very quickly.

 

[Craigar]

I have the Neptune apex with all modules it's not the cheapest but its the best in my eyes

 

[Ghosty]

For starters, research: Neptune Apex Jr., ReefKeeper Lite, and ReefAngel.com. I think those are three of the best bang-for-buck, other than piecing together a few different piggyback devices or a DYI controller build which is very technical.

 

[joeMASC]

I should add the Reef Angel can be more complicated than the Apex or ReefKeeper. I just listed the entry level option, but I also added the wifi module for around $100 and it wasn't an instant setup. I'm not a programmer and know nothing about networks, but I got it up and going the first night and it works like a charm on my iPhone and from my Mac. If I want to add a salinity monitor, that would be another add on cost. I figured I could use my refractometer and keep that extra $100 or so in my pocket. I used some extension cords to plug into some of the ports so I have multiple devices running off some plugs (two powerheads per wavemaker plug, my GFO, pump, and skimmer on one plug, etc). For me, it fits just right. I think a good review of the the three mentioned by Ghosty and then seeing what fits your personality and budget would be the way to go.

 

[mortimersnerd]

Im quite happy with my apex lite. It'll do most of what you need at a significant discount from the full apex. The little screen is also a nice feature and allows control of most tank functions.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2

 

[Cake_Boss]

ReefAngel FTW! It can be hard to figure stuff out on your own, but the reef angel forums are a great help. They have nice instructional videos too. IMO, the other best bang for the buck is the ApexJr

 

[Luke.Fraizer]

I was looking at the reefangel and it does not show if you can add more power/relay bars or not. Is that doable?

 

[Ghosty]

I was looking at the reefangel and it does not show if you can add more power/relay bars or not. Is that doable?

Looks like it:

http://reefbuilders.com/2010/12/14/reef-angel-controller-expandability-relay-expansion-module/

The open source Reef Angel aquarium controller is getting some expandability with the release of the Reef Angel Relay Expansion Module. With the module you have the ability to extend the Reef Angel controller beyond the eight sockets you have on the relay box. By adding the relay expansion module, you will eventually be able to add up to eight relay boxes for a whopping 72 controllable outlets. If you recall the Reef Angel aquarium controller is based on the on a popular ATMega328P microcontroller and the Arduino boards open source coding, allowing for virtually any function to be programmed into the system with a little bit of coding knowledge.​

 

[Luke.Fraizer]

With that new expansion it seems like endless possibilities, and hours of code writing! Getting to learn new languages is always fun!

 

[Dbarnes]

Go apex all the way... they seem to be ahead of everyone else on compatibility, yes they are more expensive but far better

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[Cake_Boss]

I was looking at the reefangel and it does not show if you can add more power/relay bars or not. Is that doable?

Yup, don't worry too much about the code, they have a code generator. You just click a few buttons and you're set. They have a ton of code that others already did too. You can check out their forum before you buy or have questions, forum.reefangel.com

 

[Ghosty]

Austin did you ever settle on one? I'm still up in the air on which of the three I'm gonna go for in the 'under $200' range starter sets. The RKL basic is only $120, so that's tempting.

 

[deboy69]

I have the RK Elite with net and I like it. It's nice to be able to check my temp and ph when I'm away and turn things off if I need too

I'm Matt
SE Aurora

 

[Mav]

Best bang for buck I'm going with the reef angel. Comes with ph and temp for lessees than most with just temp. The rkl if I'm thinking right, doesn't come with a display and the display is a120 buck add on and not very expandable.

 

[deboy69]

RKL does come with the head unit (display) it is expandable to i think 8 pc4. Plus when you want to you can trade in the head unit to the elite and they give you a 50 dollar credit

 

[Mav]

Okay maybe I'm thinking the apex light. I found a site that compares all three, I'll see if I can find the comparison

 

[deboy69]

Its a hard decision. The reason I went with the RK Elite was I found it on Cl for 300 brand new with net

 

[deboy69]

I might add customer service was good with Digital Aquatics

 

[Ghosty]

Its a hard decision. The reason I went with the RK Elite was I found it on Cl for 300 brand new with net

Yeah it is, because no one wants to waste $150 just to move platforms later.

Okay maybe I'm thinking the apex light. I found a site that compares all three, I'll see if I can find the comparison

Found this recently, some good info on how to expand the RKL. April 2010 thread from TheReefTank.com forums:

Yes the basic unit can monitor and control temperatures, provide alarms, control pumps and wavemakers, turn on and off lights or anything plugged in to the four PC-4 120v outlets.
Add an SL-1 module and any of the probes and you can monitor and control pH (I use pH to control my calcium reactor) or ORP and also do liquid level control (ATO) with float switches.
Add an SL-2 and you an still do pH but get salinity monitoring and control rather than ORP. The SL-2 also has contacts so can do ATO. Either the SL-1 or -2 can do other contact closures like door switches to turn a light on in your stand when you open the door, or an alarm contact to keep the kids or grandkids out of the stand, flood or wet sensors to sense and overflow or leak or any number of things.
Add an additional PC-4 and you get four more controllable 120v outlets for more pumps, heatrs, fans, lights, whatever.
Add a MLC and you get moonlights with options like lunar cycle so they mimic the moon rising and setting and phases.
Add a net module and you can communicate with a PC.

They are really expandable and they add more modules and program updates all the time.

The upgrade is if you decide 4 modules is not enough for all your equipment, you ship your RKL head unit back to DA but keep all the modules since they will work with the RK Elite too. DA gives you credit towards the Elite and sends a new Elite to you which has even greater expandability and can control something like 16 (?) modules. You don't have to start over from scratch that way.

The Plus model is a bargain if you don't want salinity which I don't worry about as it changes little anyway but it gives you 8 outlets, temperature, pH and all the programming to start with. You have room for one more module and I added a MLC for moonlights myself since comunicating with my PC was not important to me. You an also add an ATO kit or ORP probe to the Plus

.

RKL does come with the head unit (display) it is expandable to i think 8 pc4. Plus when you want to you can trade in the head unit to the elite and they give you a 50 dollar credit

Good to know, I like that tradeup program. I'm avoiding the ReefAngel despite I'm pretty techy and could easily do the coding I'm sure, but who has the TIME nowadays to really customize it, ugh. I am attracted to whichever models are web-capable though. I'm willing to pay a little more to have that Smartphone app (must have Android version though) integrate with the controller!