Controllers & Monitors

[reefrancher]

Does anyone use an Aquadyne Octopus or Neptune Systems AquaController in their setup?

What's the pros and cons of these expensive gadgets?

If you don't have one is price solely the reason?

Steve

[moe_k]

Price is the only reason I don't have one.

[Mike W]

I purchased mine ONLY for the paging capability and temperature controling as I had numerous heater failures, even with the expensive temperature controllers.

All the other stuff it can do was a bonus o me.

[reefrancher]

Which did you get?

[Mike W]

I bought the Aquacontroller based upon others experiences with the manufacturer. Indications were that the people at Aquadyne were less than helpful. I have found Jeff over at Neptune to be very helpful and knowledgable.

[php1775]

I found a cheap solution to keep my temp.where i want it.I bought a ranco ETC single stage controller about a year ago at johnstone supply in i believe it was malden right on the sommerville line on mystic ave. .i love it it can be programmed to keep your temp within 1 degree of your set point,and it was only about $55.they also have a dual stage for a couple of bucks more ,im not sure what that does (probably heat&cooling).the only problem is that the probe is not completely waterproof,but all i did was insert it into a piece of that clear tube that they sell at the lfs and seal the end.i just attach it to my chillerin the warm weather and switch it to my heaters in the cold.

[Mike W]

FYI: I had 2 Ranco controllers fail on me within 4 months each. If you look at the posts about the Rancos you will find that their failure rate is worse than the heaters that it is meant to control.

I said screw this and decided to get the best: The Medusa for $180. Failed after 5 months!

ANYTHING you buy WILL EVENTUALLY FAIL. What you do to set up redundency and notifications seems more important to me.

[php1775]

I wasnt aware that the ranco's had such a bad rep. mine actually failed within the first few days because the probe wasnt waterproof(my suspicion was verified by a ranco tech support person).I just replaced the probe ,sealed it a tube,and it has been working perfect for well over a year.KNOCK ON WOOD.