Aquatronica Controller

[support@proline]

Hello Psyire
Thank you for sharing your experience ,I don't want to hijack the thread ,however ,I am not sure why you think aquatronica is more felxible ,I have not had the opportunity to play around with the Elos Controller much ,but as far as profilux ,It has way more features than Aquatronica ,The programing is alot more advanced & has way more failsafes for each feature ,We had these units unveiled @ MACNA this year ,so the reason that there are currently more northamerican users for aquatronica is that ,profilux is new here ,Matthias Gross ,Designer /Programmer of Profilux did take it's time to make sure all commponents are UL tested & tested the north american versions for few months before production. (unlike other brands)
There are alot more Profilux users in germany than Aquatronica ,I do have family in Colonge germany & visit quiet frequently ,you can find profilux in many aquarium shops ,in case of aquatronica it was distributed by fauna marin in the past & only in a few shops
http://www.ghl-kl.de/Produkte/Aquari...e_handler.html

http://aquatronica.de/haendler.html
Also GHL won an award for this controller in 2005
http://www.ghl-kl.de/Produkte/Aquari.../uber_uns.html.


I do frequent some of the aquatronica boards & I believe more than anything majority of the posts are about the flaws ,problems & part replacements they need.I have read your post & I believe you are very knowledgable aquarist &very hands on & familliar with aquatronica ,but I believe it will be hard to judge a unit without Having experience with it,I amsure given the chance you will be very impressed with profilux .
We have our first shipment of Profilux plus II units on the way they should be here shortly & I will be doing a overall review ,specially on all the new componnents & I hope you get the chance to read it .
Along Many extra features of profilux ,what sets them Apart
1- advance programing
2- Better quality probes ,specially the conductivity probe in case of aquatronica they use a graphite one ,profilux uses platinum probes that is actually meant for SW
3-The Dimming light options that come stock with unit
4- Powerbars are alot better quality & they can handle 30 amps between the 8 sockets,in case of aquatronica is only 15.
Also each socket has a seprate fuse.
5- the W-LAN option that is already out & tested makes this unit alot easier to work with.
6- Combo Interfaces instead of having to buy a seprate interface for each option .
& many ,many more ,as I promised I will keep you guys posted very soon.
& also I have to agree with you RK2 dosen't even play in the same playgrund.
Regards
Proline

[Psyire]

Well for me it needs more available documentation, and support in North America.

I'm not sure how you think it's more flexible.. perhaps a list of maximum number of probes, programs & outlets would be nice.

I'll admit, wireless lan would be interesting.

But

Aquatronica just released their dosing pimp unit (3 pumps ea), ethernet (webserver), as well as SMS & calcium probes are just around the corner.

I haven't experienced the problem with the salinity probe like others have, but I do clean it every 2 weeks. (as with all my probes)

The aquatronica has been rock solid and hasn't hiccuped once for me. (it's been running 24/7 for over a year now) I have a full array of probes and 16 controlled outlets on it. (so it's doing it's far share of work, flawlessly)

I do like the 'combo' interfaces and higher amps per outlet. But there really isn't enough evidence to make me want to switch controller yet. Do you have full programming ability through the use of a computer?

[Dave C]

Originally Posted by support@proline

I do frequent some of the aquatronica boards & I believe more than anything majority of the posts are about the flaws ,problems & part replacements they need.

That's not really a fair comparison given the fact that there is a single user of Profilux in N.A. at this time. Wait until you have a base of 50-100 users, set up a forum for them to meet & share comments and see how things like the language translation, change in electrical, stuff like that impact this market. I have frequented the same boards and I've found many satisfied Aquatronica users. That's the reason I purchased that controller. But it is still relatively new to this market and did go through some bug fixing & beta testing so I don't deny that there were issues. Most have been resolved to date. How would you compare the Aquatronica to ELOS, or Profilux to ELOS?

[support@proline]

Hi Dave
That is exactly why I mentioned that ,The northamerican versions of profilux were being tested for some months before release .
The reason I mentioned the problems ,many of them are software or probe problems ,poweroutage issues,...
Profilux does not have those exact problems ,I was merely making a comparison between 2 products.
Also as far as Elos,I saw the unit @ MACNA looks very well built ,unfortunately I don't have much experience with it ,what I have used so far Neptune ,Profilux & aquatronica,it will not be fair for me to make a comment about Elos controller without any experience with it.
Dave I am pleased you are happy with your unit & it is working for you ,I hate to make anyone feel bad about a purchase & that was not my intention.
Regards
Proline

[support@proline]

Hi Psyire
Give me a few weeks as soon as the products land I will start a thread with all their features.I will be asking Matthias to do a write up on it as well.Thanks for all your interest
Regards
Proline

[Dave C]

Not to worry, I don't feel bad about my purchase. But you need to be fair when commenting on issues that arose from the Aquatronica product when it was first released into N.A. users' hands. Sure, there were issues that needed to be resolved, much like there were issues with the first release of the Vortech. But those issues don't diminish the value of the product as a whole. One thing that I have noticed is that the company behind the Aquatronica product is very responsive to its customers' needs & wants and that is what will make this a good product for years to come. I assume the same will be said of the Profilux product.

[Ruth]

Originally Posted by Dave C

One thing that I have noticed is that the company behind the Aquatronica product is very responsive to its customers' needs & wants and that is what will make this a good product for years to come.

And that statement is the key and just may sway me in favour of an Auqtronica when and if I decide to buy a controller. I have bought some very expensive German made equipment that has since broken down (within a year) and have found the customer service to be sorely lacking. If you want something that has broken fixed or replaced you are on the hook for some very expensive shipping.

[Dave C]

I should also say, don't treat my posts as an endorsement for Aquatronica. Although I do have the unit in my possession & have tested it on my tank, the tank that it is intended to be used on isn't running yet. So far I'm very happy with what I see, but it's not actually controlling anything.

[Ruth]

Well we can look forward to some detailed reviews when you get everything hooked up.
I just think it is important to see that a company actually stands behind their products and is interested in customer service and willing to listen to their input.

[Dave C]

I've been using the Aquatronica for a couple of weeks now and I like it. Everything I've needed it to do works well. And with the new firmware update it will do the rest of what I need. So far it's not doing a ton but here's a list:

Heater - I set the temp, an upper and lower delta and it handles the rest. Pretty simple stuff.

Top-off - I have a solenoid and two float switches. When the water gets down to the lower float it opens the solenoid and closes it when the float goes back up. If that takes too long (based on a setting I choose) it shuts down the solenoid and sounds an alarm (because I told it to). That way if a float gets hooped it won't run forever. The other float switch is a maximum water level. It should never be used but if the water ever did get that high it would shut down the solenoid. I plan to run this top off water through a Kent Marine float valve that will shut it down if the solenoid ever fails. Triple redundancy works great.

Ozone - I have an ORP probe and the AQT will turn on/off the ozonizer on the basis of my ORP levels. I'm at 375mV right now so it runs constantly.

Sump lights - there are simple timer functions so the sump lights are handled by the AQT.

Calcium reactor - this isn't operational yet as I'm waiting for my co2 tank. But when I get that the pH probe in the reactor will turn on/off the solenoid on my regulator to maintain the proper ph in the reactor.

Ethernet adaptor - I got this and it's up and running. Now I can monitor & adjust any equipment on my AQT system from anywhere in the world. That allows me to go to Mexico and check the temp/salinity/water level in my tank, just for peace of mind. If I wanted to I could shut down or turn on any piece of equipment attached to the AQT system. I have it set to send me an email if any parameter goes out of the normal operating range.

X-Y Programs - I don't use this yet but this basically gives you the ability to have two parameters affect the operation of a device. Aquatronica is working on a calcium probe and when that comes out the X-Y ability will allow me to either run top-off through my kalk mixer or straight from my RO on the basis of water level & calcium levels. Should be great.

That's it for me. I'm totally satisfied with the way this unit works & how you program it to do the things you need it to do. I haven't found anything yet that I need that it can't do.