Thoughts on controllers

[gar732]

I have a reef tank and can control everything through an app on my phone or the controller interface. It can give me warnings if something is amiss, give me the ability to turns thing on and off remotely or as programed.

I'm not too familiar with controllers for the reptile world but one that I saw was kind of expensive. There are some basic aquarium controllers that aren't too expensive and I was think about trying one on a cham encloser. Just wondering if anyone else has tried it or what everyone's thoughts on controllers are.

 

[qdude46]

Do you have a link to this app for the fish tank because I'm very interested in something like that.

 

[chefboyardee]

If I were to guess Id say a bit unnecessary unless you were away for extended periods of time and wanted a safety net. What kind of controllers were you looking at?

in general the requirements of a reef tank are waaaay higher than that of a cham... really with a cham the only thing you could monitor is lighting, temp, humidity and maybe misting schedule if you had an automatic mister

 

[Cameron B]

I have a reef tank and can control everything through an app on my phone or the controller interface. It can give me warnings if something is amiss, give me the ability to turns thing on and off remotely or as programed.

I'm not too familiar with controllers for the reptile world but one that I saw was kind of expensive. There are some basic aquarium controllers that aren't too expensive and I was think about trying one on a cham encloser. Just wondering if anyone else has tried it or what everyone's thoughts on controllers are.

I have the Digital Aquatics herp controller and I have to say that from a workload standpoint it's very nice and makes life less stressful. I enjoy watching things work, and reliably over standard timers. Not only this, but the notifications are really great when something goes wrong.

I learned of them because at one point they were sponsors here. It doesn't appear that way any longer, and I can't comment on the EcoZone controller, but I have also not heard anything but positive reviews on that one as well.

The features between the two are very, very close, and I don't believe you can really go wrong with either.

Digital Aquatics: http://www.digitalaquatics.com/herpetology/

EcoZone: http://www.ecozonevivarium.com/

 

[techmikef]

This actually brings up another intersting question for me. If you already have a Digital Aquatics Reef Keeper Controller, is it possible to just add modules to monitor your chams environment on the same controller thats monitoring the fish tanks stats?

 

[lisagr07]

We have reef tanks also and had a couple of extra Reef Keepers around. We use them on out Cham cages for lights and listings.. Works great for us!

 

[gar732]

Do you have a link to this app for the fish tank because I'm very interested in something like that.

I have a Neptune apex lite for my reef, the app for that is "aqua controller apex" I'm sure other manufacturers have there own apps, just search for them on iTunes. A buddy of mine actually had a web cam hooked up to his so he can even monitor it visually. Sounds like overkill but when you thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars invested in his case its cheap insurance.

If I were to guess Id say a bit unnecessary unless you were away for extended periods of time and wanted a safety net. What kind of controllers were you looking at?

in general the requirements of a reef tank are waaaay higher than that of a cham... really with a cham the only thing you could monitor is lighting, temp, humidity and maybe misting schedule if you had an automatic mister

A basic reef keeper lite runs about $120 new and I've seen the for about $75 used so that's what I had in mind.

My work schedule gets hectic at times and if the wife were out for something or other it's nice to know everything stays on schedule. Kind of just a back up and to help keep the electrical clutter down.

I have the Digital Aquatics herp controller and I have to say that from a workload standpoint it's very nice and makes life less stressful. I enjoy watching things work, and reliably over standard timers. Not only this, but the notifications are really great when something goes wrong.

I learned of them because at one point they were sponsors here. It doesn't appear that way any longer, and I can't comment on the EcoZone controller, but I have also not heard anything but positive reviews on that one as well.

The features between the two are very, very close, and I don't believe you can really go wrong with either.

Digital Aquatics: http://www.digitalaquatics.com/herpetology/

EcoZone: http://www.ecozonevivarium.com/

I didn't know that digital aquatics has the reptile version available. It's the same thing as the reef keeper just with different probes.

This actually brings up another intersting question for me. If you already have a Digital Aquatics Reef Keeper Controller, is it possible to just add modules to monitor your chams environment on the same controller thats monitoring the fish tanks stats?

Now that you mention it, that is a good question. The controllers are expandable to point that I don't think you can ever use every feature so I don't see why not. The only thing is could you keep the data separate from the other, like tank one and tank two and list all data separately?

We have reef tanks also and had a couple of extra Reef Keepers around. We use them on out Cham cages for lights and listings.. Works great for us!

Awesome, good to know someone else has tried it and it works well.

I don't want to totally automate things to point that I would not have to pay attention to my Cham, just want to keep things consistent. The Cham in my avatar would come to the front of the cage as soon as he saw you come near the cage so that he can have a drink directly from the spray bottle. I wouldn't want to lose that kind of interaction.

 

[Cameron B]

The specific herp modules and firmware are (according to DA tech support) not compatible with the reef keeper head units.