Aquatronica controller system

[ILLUSN]

Hi, is anyone/ has anyone used an aquatronica controller system?

I'm looking for a monitoring system with PC connectivity so I can datalog each system in my new fish room.

From what i understand i need 1 controller (~$800) 1 power unit (~$550) then an interface for each parameter so I'd need one for PH, one for ORP, (~$150ea) + a probe for each interface(~$200ea)

does each interface only work with 1 probe or can multiple probes be run off a single interface?.

The end goal is to monitor 21 tanks on 3 sumped systems (7 tanks/system), each system will need a probe for pH and ORP (6 probes in total). I would like to keep abs on all the systems in realtime with datalogging and output to a web page that I can monitor remotely.

If anyone can suggest a simpler or cheeper way to do this I'd love to hear it.

[AHC]

Nope. But I love your style mate. Brilliant! :D

[swampy1972]

If anyone can suggest a simpler or cheeper way to do this I'd love to hear it.

Hire a little guy to live in your fishroom to do the dirty work... :lol:

Can't wait to see it set up and running.

[ILLUSN]

got a little guy in traing at the moment unfortunately he's only 1 year old its gonna be another 12-15years atleast before he's ready :)

[AHC]

:lol:

[ILLUSN]

update

with the aussie dollar where it is I've decided to move forward and as a result the first few parts are starting to arrive and take shape.

unfortunately the parts list was bigger then I thought.

1 control unit
4 power bars
4 ph interface +probes
3 orp interface +probes
4 temp/level interface
3 temp probes
4 water level probes
PC connect interface
Ethernet inferace
SMS module

Basicly this thing will monitor pH,ORP,temp, water levels in the sumps, monitor temp ph and water level in my primary water storage drum and top up the remote drums automaticly, control the heaters and pumps so i can remotely shut anything down and provide me with all readouts direct to my iPhone and sms alerts when anything goes pearshaped.

The remote functions wont be up an running fully till mid next year but the automation side should be done by march

[mistakes r crucial]

Are you going to include the dosing pump Jothy?
MAC

[ILLUSN]

thinking about it for HCl i'll be using rainwater filtered through a carbon filter so i shouldn't need a water ager but if i can sustain a constant pH of 6.0-6.5 i wont need to add HCl either.

[mistakes r crucial]

Unreal setup when you've got it all together.
MAC

[Stingray]

The other option is to consider the German made GHL Profilux and IKS versions. I have never had much luck with Italian made products, but have always found the German made stuff to ooze quality.

[ILLUSN]

thanks stingray, was looking at them but they are a little cost prohibitive, also they didnt get back to me about a few questions (depth level sensors work, multiple programs for 1 sensor etc) i'll most likely end up replaceing the aquatronica ph probes with pinpoints as time goes on, was looking at the german made probes for ORP as well.

[Stingray]

Cost prohibitive ? I would have thought they work out cheaper than the Aquatronica brand, per haps I am wrong.

The websites of IKS and GHL include a lot of information about their products. It is also helpful that the German companies are lot more "English friendly' these days.

http://www.iks-aqua.com/html/engl/aquastar.php
IKS also have a hotline (English is ok) for any technical queries that cannot be answered on their website.

http://www.aquariumcomputer.com/index.html (GHL profilux website)
In addition, the GHL UK website is nady for product discriptions
and indicative pricing http://www.ghl-profilux.co.uk/
GHL also have a suppoort forum for any technical queries about their products http://forum.aquariumcomputer.com/forum.php (just sign up and ask your questions in the English section).

As you may have guessed, I am looking to buy one of these aquarium computers in the near future. However, in my case I am looking at pre programmed sunrises and sunsets, cloud simulation, lightning,
moonlighting and moon phases, ph control, temp controlled lighting. I am not actually looking at the water change feature just yet (as I do not run a sump and the required plumbing would be a problem in my current residence ). In your case with all your breeding tanks, this feature will be worth its weight in gold ! Neverthelesee, I would be interested in getting a link to the Aquatronica products you are looking at. Preferably a website with indicaticative pricing as well.

One of the things I am not all that impressed about with all these computers is the basic screens they come with. If I had it my way, I would want a 5 inch screen at 640 x 480 pixel resolution in full colour, so that I can see all my paramters on a screen at once.

One last comment I will make is to be careful about the pinpoint probes and other gear. These are known to be basic quality and the reliability and accuracy of their products is often sub standard. Same goes for Milwaukie products.

[ILLUSN]

Thanks for the heads up mate I'm looking to use the system to maintain the room while I'm not there so it needs to constantly monitor and report to me via SMS or email. The motivation is that my son is 16 months old and I'm sick of not seeing him. basically I want the aquatronica to be set and forget so I can spend less time out there and more time else where( looking to reduce my hours from 40+ to max 1hr a day)
the total cost of the system will be just under $2600.

With full automation of the waterchange systems and all support systems it should do the trick . I take your point on the screen mines going to be hardwired to a pc (Linux based) to make it usable

[Stingray]

$2600 for all that you are after is quite good actually. It will be well worth it for your little one and also for yourself.

You are right about the small screens, I think the motivation is to keep the cost down as they expect all users to hook it them up to a PC for software downloads and setting functions etc. Off course, I will be doing that also, but it would still be nice to walk past the unit at any given time and quickly see all the water parameters on the one screen.

Do you have a website link to all these aquatronic bits and pieces. I have been to the Aquatronic Italy site, but thats about it.

[ILLUSN]

most of my gear is comming from the UK, as the bulk of my jager heaters and eheim pumps are from O/S having the UK plug bars is no big deal they work out $200AU each vs, $400 here for the aussie ones, interfaces also work out to $75ea vs $160 here, probes are the killer the cheepest i can get them for is $112 for the orp, if i use pinpoints for pH then i can get them for $55AU from the US.

its a bitsa system with parts comming in from 4 diffrent UK sites as well as from the US and from ebay so I cant really give you link to any one supplier.

most of my reason for going with the aquatronica is the fact that they could answer my tech questions, at least if they have support i fugure i can work through the bugs

[Stingray]

Ok then, if you were buying these products in Australia, they would probably cost you double that.

With regard to Ph probes, I have been using these for several years. In my experience the German made ones last 3 years + with recalibration every 3 months. The Chinese ones from Ebay etc are not all that bad actually. They cost around $25-$30 delivered and they seam to work ok. They need recalibration every month or so and last around 12 months (maybe 14 months if you're lucky) before they no longer recalibrate. So there is definately the oppotunity to save on your Ph probes by buying from China.

[Bad Inferno]

I have been running a fully automated Discus setup for a number of years. After the intial wow of seeing the measurements of ph orp temps and conductivity the best long term benefits I think is temperature and the actual automating the water changes.

www.rjconway.homeip.net

A couple of things to consider:

1. Make sure the controller is capable of supporting multiple sensors connected to the one controller. A lot of controllers have difficulty as their internal circuits are not isolated from one another. This is a large issue for multiple sensors.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v319/rjconway/2009web.jpg

2. I have run orp for a while now and suggest its of little benefit. You need to clean the probe at least every 3 days and for what real value. With a good orp setup you can tell when you feed, I could tell when I was away when my wife did a feed.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v319/rjconway/cond1d-1.png

3. pH is great however unless you control pH via Co2
is it really worth the money

4. Conductivity is a good measurement however again of little value. It is good to see especially if you dose meds etc as you can then optimize water changes to bring the readings back down again and see the effect.


4. temperature is the most valuable measurement in my opinion both in tank and reservoir. You can then monitor water change amounts via the ability to not change the tank temperature too much, in turn you do not have to always heat your reservoir water.

5. Spend your money on actual automation not monitoring. The ability to provide automatic water changes with good quality valves and float switches is where the money is well spent. Most valves rely on the upstream pressure to close thus in our application with little pressure you end up with "garden" style valves that are used on . Spend money on good quality industrial valves.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v319/rjconway/wc1.jpg

Water change valves and pump for single aquarium setup. I use 24VDC pump and valves so that the system is totally safe for me, my kids and visitors kids, who open and touch everything in sight. Especially if you are not at home.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v319/rjconway/IMG_0025.jpg


It will be a great project, good luck


Cheers

rob

[ILLUSN]

Thanks Rob, LEGAND status confirmed AGAIN :)

Aquatronica uses individual usb modules for each sensor so multiple sensors is no problem.

As my systems run acid (5.8-6.0) with 0 kh stability is dubious at best the ph monitoring is to alert me to pH crashes as they happen, twice i've caught and corected ph drops of 6.0-4.0 within 15 minutes by sheer luck, basicly I want it to detect the drop in pH and add fresh water to regain stability.

ORP is more a novelty just hopeing to use it to check the status of the UV bulb so if orp starts to drop rapidly i'll know a UV has failed.

My biggest worry is temp and water level, as all my sumps are open evaporation is high, when it detects a low level i want it to send me an alert, turn on the top up pump and shut down heaters and pumps till the level is restored.

automation is reasonably simple each system works on a cascade system ie water flows through one tank down to the 2nd down to the 3rd then down to the sump and out via an overflow drain to the garden, an eheim 1260 sends it back up to the top. I have 3 systems like this each system has its own 220L drum with an eheim 1060 (old school) that sends water through a PVC loop and out a dripper valve @ 70L/day (10%).

All the aquatronica has going to do is control pumps (6 in total), heaters (8 in total) lights/ moonlights (6 3 of each) and a few relays(3) and alert me when anything drifts from my presets.

I'm hopeing to use it as a set of eyes in the fish room to look after things when I'm not there.

take your point on 24v system mineas all 240 AV so nice and easy to kill yourself, heres hoping the RCD's dont fail.

[Bad Inferno]

This system will be great and exciting to construct. My curiousity will keep the dialog going :)


1. Do you control pH ? how do you get it down at that point.
I have a planted tank so I run Co2 injection and add KH. If you had 0 KH CO2 may be an easy way to maintain the level automatically (using a controller of course). I use a fire extinguisher (fill up for 12 stubbies) from the local extinguisher service centre and lasts me 6-9 months. Does a great job of stability especially when doing a water change. I have run out at the moment so my trends have the natural Ph swing and up about 7.5 pH usually run at 6.5

2. You can get some good gear at 240VAC not as expensive as 24VDC stuff. If you are using a power board your connections etc should be well and truely safe. I have seen alot of relays and exposed wiring at 240V which scares me for the health and well being of others around me.


3. I cheat on my system to drain the tank. I have just simply tee'd off from my canister return line and run a single tube out the house. The end of the tube has two solenoid valves on it. I open one solenoid and it goes to drain, as its easy for the water to go to drain than abck into the aquarium it simply drains out the tube. Then the other solenoid valve is connected to a pump/reserviour. Automation is simple, Drain for xx minutes, close the drain valve open the fill vlv and fill for xx min or when the float swicth in the aquarium is triggered.

4. I have a small flow meter on the drain line so I know how much is drained out and I have a level tranmitter on the reserviour so I can calculate how much goes back in. I had a lightning strike last year and it killed a couple of sensors outside so I need to re-establish the reserviour level monitoring again. Monitoring the reservour level allows me to make sure I have topoff water available before I start to drain the tank..