izib wrote: A few more questions though...
-Would a pinpoint/Milwaukee Ph controller do anything that this unit will not do as far as controlling Ph with a ca reactor?
I would not run this to control a Reactor. First I don't believe the unit can control the solinoid and second you are going to want two PH monitors or rather one monitor and one controller. One for the tank and one for the reactor. Reactors run very acidic and you want to know if any of that leaking into your tank... i.e. your PH in your tank is going down.
izib wrote: will my red sea wave maker do anything that this unit wont do?
The wavemaker on the RK2 is good and will replace the Red Sea.
izib wrote: As for looks, I'm going to try not to be a dork on this one and hide my equipment from view. No laughing when I post pictures in a week with it stuck to the front of my stand!
Some mount it very prominently into the stand. Personally, I use a car window mounting kit that is suctioned to the back of the aquarium. I then swing it out so you can see it when you look on the side of the aquarium. Cheap mounting for about $30 and it looks nice... at least to me. Not as slick as some of the in cabinet designs though.
izib wrote: If anyone knows about the ACJr, I'm having a hard time understanding the power situation with it. It has the standard 8 outlet power strip and you can add extra 4 or 8 outlet strips but are all of these running off of the same circuit?
You can buy one 8 channel and one 4 channel for the ACJr and each of these can run off a seperate power outlet.
The RK2 has a similar function, but you lose a power slot on the 8 channel controller when you do this. Basically, you plug the RK2 expansion port into a power outlet and into the 8 channel controller as well. The expansion port can pulls power from a seperate outlet, but it is turned on/off by one of the channels on the RK2 controller. The expansion outlet has 2 power outlets. So you lose one on the controller and gain 2 giving you a total of 9 power outlets. I personally use cheap surge protectors to expand the RK2. My heaters are plugged into a surge protector and that is plugged into the RK2 so I only use one controller port for two heaters. I put my MH lights on the expansion port, but my chiller will eventually go there.
izib wrote: I really liked the fact that on RK2 you can put things on another breaker (1/2 hp chiller). Also, can you fully control 16 devices with this?
You can control 8 outlets on the RK2 and 12 on the ACJr, but you have to spend an extra $125 or so picking up a seperate 4 port power outlet for the ACJr which is probably not worth it.
izib wrote: I was thinking and 8 outlets isn't enough to fully control everything I have but most of the other stuff wouldn't need to be controlled.
Things like skimmers and return pumps are not even hooked into my RK2. I ended up using a DJ power controller for that. Anything that is always on pretty much ended up on the DJ controller.
izib wrote: Also, the ACJr seems to be a bit more since everything costs extra with it, is it worth the price? Yet another note, the RK2 people seem to be a bit more friendly and personal.
The ACJr and RK2 are pretty much the same price for the same features (Controller, temp, PH and 8 port controller, computer interface). At reefgeek.com you can get the a package for $289 the same RK2 setup is $317.
I ended up with the RK2 myself, but the good news is you really can't go wrong with whatever you purchase. I will say that if you plan on showing off your controller, the RK2 wins hands down. Some people are more interested in it than the tank. Very high "trick" factor with this device. If you want pure functionality, ACJr is better IMO.
Some quick pics of my setup:
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