Controller recommendations

[jamesdong009]

So I've been in and out of the hospital for much of 2020. I'm currently looking for options that I can control EVERYTHING from a hospital bed or my own bed . Long story short, I lost everything from my last stint, and stint, and stint.

WIFI outlets work okay, but not reliable. I have cameras on everything, so can check if things go off or on.

I use the old school reef keeper because it was easy to program.

Should I just go with an aquarium service? Never thought I'd ask that question, but I think they'd be more equipped to handle things.

 

[BiGGiePauls33]

You know my answer, it isn't orange and gray. A man of your caliber only deserves the best, sleek, modern, made of quality materials. Check out the Profilux.

 

[coralfishreef]

...
Should I just go with an aquarium service? Never thought I'd ask that question, but I think they'd be more equipped to handle things.

Might not be a bad idea if you can get someone like “Cam the fish guy”.

I’ve used 2 of the newer Neptune Apex controllers for the past 2 years. The Apex controllers have been mostly great with a couple exceptions. A couple of times after a power outage the Apex’s would not connect to Apex Fusion without manual intervention - pushing the reset button on the controller. Also, once and for only a period of a few days, I would change and save a setting such as dosing times, but the setting would mysteriously revert back.

I haven’t had either of these problems for a while, but the reconnect problem could potentially ruin my vacation if I was out of town.

 

[this is me]

You probably have to elaborate the in and out of the hospital thing. To me, it's not feasible to have a reef tank if you're health is questionable. I've made a lot of automation in my tank build but I wouldn't be comfortable with it if I'm in and out of the hospital all the time.
Even if you can control everything, who's going to feed the fish? Make RODI and mix saltwater? Who's going to clean the glass and talk to the fish?

 

[jamesdong009]

You probably have to elaborate the in and out of the hospital thing.

Spent fours weeks under "observation" because they didn't know what I had. Clear liquid diet and lasix don't mix

To me, it's not feasible to have a reef tank if you're health is questionable.

I've kept xenia in a bucket, outside during the summer

I've made a lot of automation in my tank build but I wouldn't be comfortable with it if I'm in and out of the hospital all the time.

I totally agree.

Even if you can control everything, who's going to feed the fish? Make RODI and mix saltwater? Who's going to clean the glass and talk to the fish?

I sing more than talk

Nick, if you lived closer, you would be one of the few I would trust with my tanks.

 

[danzig]

You know my answer, it isn't orange and gray. A man of your caliber only deserves the best, sleek, modern, made of quality materials. Check out the Profilux.

Do you have any experience with the profilux mini wifi controller? Was looking at it and tempted. Sorry to thread steal but it may be beneficial to the OP as well.

 

[this is me]

Anthony,
If you have just one tank and a sump to keep, then it would be more manageable. But based on what I know, you like to have multiple tanks. That's a very challenging job to not be around.

I trust an Ethernet cable plugged into the router and into the device more than I would with WiFi. With any device that you want to reliably remote control, you must do an IP reservation on it. So that the IP address doesn't release and renew into a different one. It's a headache and often time, you will lose the connection to that device when you're remotely logging in and won't be able to log back in. On top of that, if you're using port forwarding, there's also your gateway IP which is set by the provider. You can ask for a static one, one that doesn't change so that you know what IP to log into when you're remote. This is now less of a problem with many manufacturers that will have their own server for you to use. ie. My Profilux goes to the GHL server first so I ping that server and don't have to use port forwarding. You just hope that the server is also not on vacation when you are. But the IP reservation is still important. Otherwise, the server doesn't really know what to look for if the internal IP of the device has changed.

I can't speak for the new GHL Profilux(P4) WiFi but my older P3 with the ethernet hardwired, I can safely say it works 99.9% of the time when I'm outside or inside the network.
I'm not sure why I went with GHL 10 years ago. It must be that it was the most expensive controller at the time and maybe still is now. but it has worked all these years.

 

[BiGGiePauls33]

P4 wifi has been rock solid thus far for me. Haven't had any ip changes and set mine up with a static ip address.
Look at all those amazing european aquarists, they all can't be wrong with GHL. I wish I had gotten one sooner.

 

[jamesdong009]

I'll be honest and say all that sounds Vietnamese to me and I'm Vietnamese . Just got out of the hospital a couple of hours ago, so I'll re-read when ready.

 

[BiGGiePauls33]

This guy kills me.

 

[Cpage101]

I have the new apex with old eb8 power bars. I am still not on board with the eb832. System has been solid and I do everything but mix the salt easily lol!

 

[jamesdong009]

I usually don't have just one tank, and when I'm healthy, can monitor them without a controller. LTR is five minutes away, so if I do need any service, I'll probably call them. I guess I'll have to sing to my tanks through the cam mics .