Proud AC Jr Owner

[cdub]

Just got my aquacontroller jr w/DC8 in the mail yesterday. For once I am kinda happy it arrived a week late as they took an additional 5% off the price(gotta love reefgeek and their customer service).

So what are some interesting things everyone has their aquarium controllers doing? Just wondering as I'm only planning on using it to control my lights and heaters for now.

 

[victor626nj]

i want to do the same but dont know how to use it lol i want to controll my lights power heads heater and fans

 

[cameron]

I have but not hooked up the LED moonlight system and the AquaSurf for controlling pumps. I also plan on using mine to control CO2 with the extra pH probe. I have water alarms as well not hooked up. So much to do so little time.

 

[crab0000]

I have one too and love it. Now it is just controlling the basics (lights, heater, fans, etc.), but when I get my 65 set up I will use it as a pH controller for my calcium reactor. I also want to get the moonlights so I will have it running the lunar cycle.

 

[schwaggs]

Welcome to the AC club cdub! I have mine setup to do the following:

Lights on the solar cycle
Actinics
MH turn on sequentially from east to west
MH turn off sequentially from east to west
Refugium lights on reverse photo period
Frag tank lights on shorted reverse photo period
Temp on the temp cycle
Heater
Chiller
Sump and room fans if the chiller can't keep up
Turn off lights sequentially if the temp continues to rise
pH control pH in CA reactor
Turn off CA reactor if tank pH gets too low
Send an alarm if pH in tank or CA reactor gets too low or high
Send an alarm if ORP gets too low
Send an alarm if Temp gets too low or high
Turn off skimmer using feed timer

Future:
Water on floor sensors
Sump level low or high
Tank level low or high
Moon light
Return pump flow sensors
Wave timer in frag tank

 

[cameron]

Return pump flow sensor is a great idea. Do you know of a good flow sensor?

 

[schwaggs]

Cameron;111682 wrote: Return pump flow sensor is a great idea. Do you know of a good flow sensor?

Sure, check out the end of Chris' original post in the "Useful things and where to get them" thread. I have not ordered from them or tried it yet but it looks pretty easy...

 

[cameron]

Thanks!

 

[jgoal55]

Schwaggs;111674 wrote: Welcome to the AC club cdub! I have mine setup to do the following:

Lights on the solar cycle
Actinics
MH turn on sequentially from east to west
MH turn off sequentially from east to west
Refugium lights on reverse photo period
Frag tank lights on shorted reverse photo period
Temp on the temp cycle
Heater
Chiller
Sump and room fans if the chiller can't keep up
Turn off lights sequentially if the temp continues to rise
pH control pH in CA reactor
Turn off CA reactor if tank pH gets too low
Send an alarm if pH in tank or CA reactor gets too low or high
Send an alarm if ORP gets too low
Send an alarm if Temp gets too low or high
Turn off skimmer using feed timer

Future:
Water on floor sensors
Sump level low or high
Tank level low or high
Moon light
Return pump flow sensors
Wave timer in frag tank

All this is an ACjr?

 

[victor626nj]

thanks to jin i now have it controlling what i need
actinics 12 noon to 12 mid.
mh 2 to 10
sump and moon lights reverse cycle from actinics
if my temp gets to 84.5 my lighst turn off
if temp gets to 75 mh turn on
pump 1 and two cycle every 4 hours
have one empty for now but its going to be for kalk reactor if ph hits 8.5 it turns off
heater turns on if temp is lower than 78 and of if 79.5
fan (chiller turns on if temp is 80 and off if 79.5

 

[cameron]

Jgoal55;111815 wrote: All this is an ACjr?

All is possible except dual pH probes I believe. The ACJr is WAY more capable than the RK2 for this type of programming.

 

[victor626nj]

but i thought you needed a ac lll for the orp caus eit doesnt have a outlet for orp

 

[cameron]

Missed the Orp. That would be the other exception.

 

[mojo]

Schwaggs;111720 wrote: Sure, check out the end of Chris' original post in the "Useful things and where to get them" thread. I have not ordered from them or tried it yet but it looks pretty easy...

If either of you guys ends up ordering one, let me know. I never actually got around to ordering one myself, although it's still on my 'future' list as well... my biggest concern is that there's exposed metal somewhere on the inside, although the company emailed me back and said there wasn't...

Another idea I had for this was doing what the large Aquarium facilities do - they monitor the pressure in the pipe. When you have a large pump pumping through a pipe, you can tap the pipe and put a pressure gauge on it. I thought about tapping my return pipe and using a static pressure gage (with soft tubing between. The air inside the tube will compress and the pressure will register on the pressure gauge, which can be read from a controller. Of course, all this is theory...

 

[schwaggs]

Jgoal55;111815 wrote: All this is an ACjr?

Sorry, I use an ACIII. I should have mentioned that... You can program all the same things with an AC Jr. The only limitation with the Jr is the number of probes and the number of switched items.

 

[schwaggs]

mojo;112010 wrote: The air inside the tube will compress and the pressure will register on the pressure gauge, which can be read from a controller. Of course, all this is theory...

I wonder how much back pressure there is on our systems. I guess you could use a real sensitive pressure switch, say a 1/2 PSI or something like that, right?

 

[mojo]

Schwaggs;112056 wrote: I wonder how much back pressure there is on our systems. I guess you could use a real sensitive pressure switch, say a 1/2 PSI or something like that, right?

Well, I know that there's a brand of ATO out there (I can't remember the manuf) that uses that exact principal for ATO. They have a 1-2' rubber tube that comes from the control unit and is mounted into the tank. When the pressure changes, then the pump is switched on or off.

Given this, the question becomes - would it be TOO sensitive, or would you need a different range of pressure sensors for different pumps. Would be interesting.... Possibly the easiest way to test would be to tap with a JACO fitting and use an water pressure gauge (like used on RO units)... hmm..