Melev's new 280g Starfire tank thread

[AJP]

Well is it gonna split?

[NexDog]

Maybe it's the end of page 40 rather than the end of page 39. Whatever the case, it will be when one of the mods notices.

[AJP]

Originally posted by NexDog
Maybe it's the end of page 40 rather than the end of page 39. Whatever the case, it will be when one of the mods notices.

It is done automatically read the little blurb you get on the first page.

[NexDog]

Yep ("automatically"). Also, it's teh end of page 40 if you look here:

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...16#post5098316

Guess I jumped the gun.

[WILDTHING]

Well at 25 posts to a page, it'll be splitting in .....20 more posts!

[WILDTHING]

19 HAHA couldn't resist

[Randall_James]

I thought that there was a suggested limit as to how much phosban you should run at a time?

[angelfishlover]

Last page and BTA time!

[rjwilson37]

Marc, I got my stand done for my new 90g, pics are in my thread. I am hoping to bring it in the House this Tuesday and get it started.

[melev]

Woohoo!!! I'm back, and missed y'all!! Spending four days in the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in (near) Washington D.C., I had a blast. I drank more at the conference than I drink all year. However, before I go into some of the highlights of MACNA, I'd like to bring you up to date with what happened to my 280g reef while I was away...

As you read a page ago (lol - you guys are goofy trying to force the next split... ), I attempted to bullet-proof the reef for my time away. When I arrived in D.C. and was in my hotel room, I called my son to let him know I got there and was safe. He told me there had been a storm in the area and the power had gone out briefly and the lights over the tank were not on. I assured him that was fine, and that they would come on after 15 minutes, as they had to cool down first. "Um... they've been off for an hour, Dad." Hmmm. So he checked and the top bank of switches were dark on the power center. He reset the GFCI breaker in the garage, but still the lights didn't come on. After a couple of minutes of trying to figure out over the phone what was going on, we discovered the Aqua Controller II had lost its time and date, and it was reading Jan 1, 1996, and 00:01:46 (you get the idea). ARGH! The Aqua Controller II has a 9v battery backup that is supposed to be good for 12 hours or so, and it hasn't been in that situation since the fresh battery was installed a few months ago. I was able to navigate my son through the menus to get it time and date re-entered, and the lights soon came on. Good.

Since Neptune Systems was there, I told Curt what had occured. I'm going to buy a new battery tomorrow, put it in the AQII for a day or so, then kill the power to it for one hour or so, to see if it loses the time/date again. If it does, I'm sending it in to be repaired, because I rely on it to keep everything on schedule and can't have it failing like it did Thursday night, mere hours after I left.

As long as the circuit breaker was reset, the lighting would have been off on its own schedule, rather than matching our clock on the wall. All the other information is stored in EEPROM chips, so it knows when to turn things on and off as needed, based on pH, temperature, etc.

Funny how you can never plan for every possible contingency. Between my son and the LFS owner I had stop by daily, all my livestock appears to be just fine.

Okay, all my pictures are downloaded to the computer now, so I'll go see how those came out.

[Broodingwolf]

I swear to god, if you want to guarantee that something is going to go wrong for sure, 100% for SURE while you are on vacation, get a reef tank. Its insane!

[Randall_James]

I will look at my manual but I thought that thing was only good for a couple hours. Mine has been so unstable and unreliable that I only use it to monitor PH and turn pumps off and on for wavemaking and feeding. Has been a total disappointment. It does not work with filters or boosters as well as it works under odd conditiongs. If my 72W PC's are running, the thing does not work at all, if at the same time my MH (blueline ballast)comes on, then it works again. I have a $700 off/on switch for my pumps...

[melev]

Randall, it sounds like you have some interference going on. Have you contacted Curt to see if he can help you get it working properly? I have it do more than timer-duty: If the tank gets too hot, the lights are shut down in a specific sequence, and if my heaters try to stick on, the controller kills power to them. It can do a ton more stuff, but I've kept things relatively simple.

[jnb]

this happened to me.... bottom line ; fix which has so far worked conclusion (knocking on wood) is that other reef eqipment perhaps like the pumps, etc cause surges which get thru some surge protectors - not all surge protectors are created equal and the sensitive aquacontroller is effected such that it wipes away the non eprom memory - despite the battery which i believe is a flaw when you rely on things like this to keep life.... so i got a tripplite isobar protector and so far this has not happened again whereas i could make it happen by flicking power off and on. this surge protector plugs are such that you plug in the more sensitive applainaces in the end plugs - based on threads on neptune forum i believe where i asked whats going on. others have had the problem but as far as i know i am the only one who who was more persistent in getting answers - no i take it back i traded emails with neptune - i need my coffee and need to check the latest storm. marc read my email for suggestion as to power outage life fix of sorts

ps now that ive had my coffee and seen the storm is going west - at least get the aquacontoller to another branch of circuit off the same surge protector as other appliances.....


........for 12 hours or so, and it hasn't been in that situation since the fresh battery was installed a few months ago. I was able to navigate my son through the menus to get it time and date re-entered, and the lights soon came on. Good.

Since Neptune Systems was there, I told Curt what had occured. I'm going to buy a new battery tomorrow, put it in the AQII for a day or so, then kill the power to it for one hour or so, to see if it loses the time/date again. If it does, I'm sending it in to be repaired, because I rely on it to keep everything on schedule and can't have it failing like it did Thursday night, mere hours after I left.

As long as the circuit breaker was reset, the lighting would have been off on its own schedule, rather than matching our clock on the wall. All the other information is stored in EEPROM chips, so it knows when to turn things on and off as needed, based on pH, temperature, etc.

[thewuf]

Marc -

Count me in amoung the people that this same thing happens too. I've got a whole house generator that kicks in 30 seconds after a power outage - and my Aqua Controller II does the exact same thing - brand new battery or not....

[NexDog]

Wow, I've heard so many bad things about this product lately. Definitely going to get an Aquatronica now.

[jnb]

personally, I would stay with aquacontroller unless you find the other (isn't it sort of a new product) is flawless and offers all the capability - I believe this glitch is easily manageable - of course if it happens again I am gonna be po'd

oh - what else have you heard - can you point me there (I like to worry - not really but like to know my exposures)
jmo

Originally posted by NexDog
Wow, I've heard so many bad things about this product lately. Definitely going to get an Aquatronica now.

[Travis]

Yup, Aquacontrollers suck. Mine dang near did some major damage to my tank last week and, NO, it didn't have ANYTHING to do with interference. BTW, mine also resets its date and time when the power goes out even with a fresh battery. For the amount of $$ we drop on these things, you would think Curt could at least have them programmed so the battery would hold the date and time during a power outage.

There is a solution to the date and time loss thingy though. In aquanotes, you can set it so that if your aquacontroller date/time strays more than 1 minute from your computer date/time it will automatically reset to the time and date on your computer. However, this won't help if your computer turns off during the power outage and the aquanotes program isn't started on startup. With some older OS's the computer will boot right up to windows on a restart and everything should be fine. But I've found that with XP, my computer will only boot up to the user control menu where each person then logs on to their account, so aquanotes doesn't start up on a restart.

[jnb]

what was the nature of your issue last week?

maybe we should move this?

Originally posted by Travis
Yup, Aquacontrollers suck. Mine dang near did some major damage to my tank last week and, NO, it didn't have ANYTHING to do with interference. BTW, mine also resets its date and time when the power goes out even with a fresh battery. For the amount of $$ we drop on these things, you would think Curt could at least have them programmed so the battery would hold the date and time during a power outage.

There is a solution to the date and time loss thingy though. In aquanotes, you can set it so that if your aquacontroller date/time strays more than 1 minute from your computer date/time it will automatically reset to the time and date on your computer. However, this won't help if your computer turns off during the power outage and the aquanotes program isn't started on startup. With some older OS's the computer will boot right up to windows on a restart and everything should be fine. But I've found that with XP, my computer will only boot up to the user control menu where each person then logs on to their account, so aquanotes doesn't start up on a restart.

[NexDog]

Travis had issues and Bigred had some major issues too. That's just in the last few days and now here's melev with a new bug. And there's plenty of complaints floating around about the X-10's. With so many negative posts about the AquaController that I've seen in the last month, I can't justify taking the risk. Aquatronica might be large untrodden country but there isn't alot of choice....

[Travis]

Originally posted by jnb
what was the nature of your issue last week?

maybe we should move this?

third to last post on the bottom of this page:

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...5&pagenumber=8

[tang_man_montreal]

If the aspect of x10 control is presenting problems, then just simply use a DC4HD...

I personally have no problems with mine...

[Travis]

Problem is when you are already controlling 20 modules you would need to buy an additional 5 DC4HD's bringing your expenses up an additional $800.

[tang_man_montreal]

I think the Aquatronica is considerably more expensive if you take into consideration the additional components necessary to control 20 pieces of equipment.

[gregt]

This thread was automatically split due to performance issues. You can find the rest of the thread here: http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=672541