Effects of Flow in a Mid sized reef tank

Treefer32 · Dec 8, 2023

I've had issues with my Hydros Wave Engine that controled my 2 FX 280s and FX350 Gyres. It would no longer light up and I couldn't connect to it with my phone anymore, however, there was some type of power pass through running because all three gyres ran at a 10% rate. So, I found my controller I had for my fx 350 and plugged that in and it worked fine. I never bought controllers for the FX 280s so, I unplugged them and pulled the Hydros and sent it back to Hydros last weekend to see if there's an easy fix.

I was thinking running with my 2 MP40s at higher speeds and the fx 350 would be enough in the meantime to keep things manageable. . Nutrients at .1 for phosphates and nitrates hover between 10-15. I only have around 15 fish in 340 gallons of water. Lots of corals.

All that said, my tank went through some new cycles... The surface filled in with a thick oily look. Around one of my return nozels I had a huge amount of white foam build up. I was able to physically pull it off and set it aside. And noticed yesterday the foam was still sitting there. I thought it was just foamy water that would dissipate. The white foam was still there and more solid. It had a texture to it and became powdery. I'm assuming it must be calcium foam or salt foam of some type.

One side of my tank filled in with Cyano. My over flow screens are filling daily with sandy cyano. I clean all the teeth off and the next day they're covered again with sandy cyano film.

I'm amazed at what the loss of 6000 gph of circulation does to a large tank. I ordered a Tunze (up to 3000 gph) powerhead to point at the surface to supplement circulation. I'll keep it in the tank if I can get the two FX 280s operational again.

I know the Cyano will clear up once the proper surface agitation is in place. Just crazy how fast it can go backwards by losing something as simple as circulation.

jsker · Dec 17, 2023

Have you changed out your home internet router lately. Most of the equipment that is out only connects at a 2.4K level instead of 5K or 6K?

The work around would be to purchase an extender that has 2.4K and connect via the extender for connectivity. I have some brand new wifi LED bulbs that I purchased and one of my doser if have to connect to the network this way.

Treefer32 · Dec 18, 2023

jsker said:
Have you changed out your home internet router lately. Most of the equipment that is out only connects at a 2.4K level instead of 5K or 6K?

The work around would be to purchase an extender that has 2.4K and connect via the extender for connectivity. I have some brand new wifi LED bulbs that I purchased and one of my doser if have to connect to the network this way.

Great points and I had worked with Hydros support and they indicated this as well a while back. This fixed it for a while, and then just stopped responding.

Update: I sent to Hydros and they indicated it's beyond repair. From what they could tell there was no water damage and it appears to have been a power surge that shut it down. It's always been on a power strip where my MP 40s were plugged into. The MP40s are fine. So, not sure how a power surge would have damaged a controller but not two powerheads on a power strip...

Either way, they said it's dead. 18 months, $300 down the drain.

jsker · Dec 18, 2023

Sorry about the dead controller.

I am in-between tanks. I had my controller plugged into its own good quality surge protecter, then a GFCI plug in the wall. I was living in the lighting capital, until recently. One of my old neighbor across the streets, house was struck twice by lighting. No damage to our house. We even had our refrigerator plugging into its own surge protector. I will be doing the same when we find the right house in the near future.

I do not have experience with the Hyros controller, just an Apex classic. I have been looking at the GHL controller to replace my Apex classic for the hardware quality. The Proflux is in the price range of the Apex, as mentioned the build quality of the GHL is much more solid. The price of the power bars can be an investment though, on both the Apex and GHL controllers. I will take the hit on the GHL power bars, since the power bars are also better constructed than the Apex cheap plastic.

The only advantage that Apex has, is the Cloud experience is much better than GHL. More refined and the Neptune servers seem to operate faster than GHL even during high traffic times. Hydros started out to be the least expensive choice of the three, but when you add it up, Hydros can still be pricey. This is just my thoughts

Treefer32 · Dec 19, 2023

jsker said:
Sorry about the dead controller.

I am in-between tanks. I had my controller plugged into its own good quality surge protecter, then a GFCI plug in the wall. I was living in the lighting capital, until recently. One of my old neighbor across the streets, house was struck twice by lighting. No damage to our house. We even had our refrigerator plugging into its own surge protector. I will be doing the same when we find the right house in the near future.

I do not have experience with the Hyros controller, just an Apex classic. I have been looking at the GHL controller to replace my Apex classic for the hardware quality. The Proflux is in the price range of the Apex, as mentioned the build quality of the GHL is much more solid. The price of the power bars can be an investment though, on both the Apex and GHL controllers. I will take the hit on the GHL power bars, since the power bars are also better constructed than the Apex cheap plastic.

The only advantage that Apex has, is the Cloud experience is much better than GHL. More refined and the Neptune servers seem to operate faster than GHL even during high traffic times. Hydros started out to be the least expensive choice of the three, but when you add it up, Hydros can still be pricey. This is just my thoughts

Yeah, I have a 10 year old Apex Classic with two ten year old 8 bars. one of the 8 bars was plugged into the same outlet as the Hydros Wave Engine's power Strip. The unreliability of Hydros network components and no Ethernet connection bothers me. If you can't have stable wireless access without hacking the features on a router to shut them down, then give me an ethernet port so I can hard wire it into the network. My Apex is hard wired with a lan cable. The only time it's down is if a breaker trips or power is out. I have a wireless mesh router in the fish room, 10 feet away from my aquarium equipment. If you have issues connecting it, then your technology is outdated.

I have 6 year old AI Hydra lights. They're always on my network. Two Mobius enabled MP40s and they're always on. A red Sea Reef mat that's always on. The Hydros Wave Engine had so many issues staying connected to my wireless network. It was the only device I have problems with. Scared to buy the whole Hydros controller because there is no Ethernet port.

jsker · Dec 19, 2023

I agree and call me old fashion,I just fix a network at a house I am staying at to be hard wired instead of Wifi.

The industry really needs to up their game with Wifi connection and bluetooth connection. Bluetooth for setup would be a plus.