Hydros questions

[kenchilada]

Thinking of ditching my GHL stuff and switching to Hydros, but I’m confused a little on how the pieces fit together and what devices are compatible. Here’s some questions…

1. Can you build custom length bus cables? I need a 100’ cable to go out to my other building.
2. What are the drive ports good for? Am I going to need to buy a ton of adapter cables or what? I can’t tell what is compatible with these ports.
3. I have a 4 head GHL doser. What’s the Hydros equivalent?
4. How reliable are the rope leak sensors?
5. Saw the Kraken. What 24v devices would this be used for?

Thanks

 

[Rutrag]

The drive ports are good for some low power applications. Their ATO kit is essentially a micro pump that runs off a drive port and a water level sensor that takes a sense port. There are single-head dosing pumps available (based on Kamoer), some solenoids (water and CO2), and the Klir roller mat you can run off them as well.

There's not really a does equivalent yet. The control X10 will have a 4-head doser on board when it releases sometime later this year.

The command bus cables are available up to 14' with power and up to 50' without power. I'm not sure what kind of length limitations there are before you start having problems. What are you trying to do 100' apart? The command bus is only needed if you want to make a "collective" - multiple controllers that share the same program and any one controller can run the whole show if another one's brain fails OR if you want to use a Wave Engine in conjunction with a Hydros controller.

The Wave Engine lets you run several circulation pumps off one power supply and one program. However, you can only use it with certain pumps and they all require an adaptor cable (about $10 each): IceCap and Maxspect gyres and Octopulse I think are the only ones. (I use it with three IceCap gyres.) Other manufacturers have not been willing to play in the same sandbox. There was a version of the Wave Engine that you could use with Ecotech pumps wirelessly (I believe), but I think that version has been discontinued.

I've generally found the rope sensor to be reliable, although my first one failed after maybe a year, sending a false leak signal. If it fails, I would rather it fail like that than say it's dry when it's not.

I haven't looked into the Kraken, so can't really speak to that.

There are lots of folks who do more than I do with their Hydros systems. I'm a pretty basic-level user with a Control 4, Wave Engine, and three WiFi power strips. I use the ATO kit, pH probe, temperature probe, rope leak sensor and two WiFi feeders (one is on another tank) as far as Hydros-branded stuff. In the strips I have my lights, return pump, Jebao circulation pump, heater, Maxi-Jet (for my media reactor), protein skimmer webcam, and two single-head dosers.

 

[n2585722]

If you know what you are doing you can make the cables yourself since the GX12 connectors are available from CoralVue or Amazon. Also there is a third party supplier that makes a box the converts command bus to CAT5 cable. Here is a link https://www.jbaquaticsllc.com/produ...et-pair-/22?cp=true&sa=true&sbp=false&q=false . I think CoralVue will also make custom links for the data only cables.

The drive ports are great for dosing pumps that run on 12v. Also there are solenoids you can get with the GX12 connectors also. I currently have 12 drive ports in use in my collective.

For dosing pumps I use the Hydros that connects to a drive port and Intllab dosing pumps. i made cables to hook them to drive ports. I have 4 Intllabs in use and 1 Hydros pump. I will replace the Intllabs with the Hydros except for 2 when they eventually go bad. The 2 that I can't are setup for flow rates of 12ml a minute. The Hydros is fixed at 43ml a minute. The X10 will be able to replace them when it comes out. The Hydros can use any dosing pump that will run when powered up. That is how the Hydros controls them powering them on or off.

I don't have the rope leak detector. The ones I have are point leak detectors and they seem to work great.

The Kraken can power anything within reason that uses a 24v power pack or runs on 24v by replacing the power pack. It will have 8 24v outputs that can be controlled by the controller. It also has 4 drive ports which are 12v outputs. It will also power other controllers via the command bus. It also has a connector to hook up a lead acid gel cell to. There is a built in charger for charging gel cells with.

 

[kenchilada]

Wow thanks for such great answers @Rutrag and @n2585722 !

What are you trying to do 100' apart?

I’m building a fish room in a small detached building near my house.

For dosing pumps I use the Hydros that connects to a drive port and Intllab dosing pumps. i made cables to hook them to drive ports. I have 4 Intllabs in use and 1 Hydros pump.

I see… so you can cut off the power block and wire a GX12 connector to 12V devices.

Very interesting about the CAT5 converter.

I might make the jump. Plus I live down the street from CoralVue so I can bug them anytime.

Hopefully the phone app is more reliable and pleasant to use than GHLs garbage app

 

[n2585722]

Wow thanks for such great answers @Rutrag and @n2585722 !




I’m building a fish room in a small detached building near my house.


I see… so you can cut off the power block and wire a GX12 connector to 12V devices.

Very interesting about the CAT5 converter.

I might make the jump. Plus I live down the street from CoralVue so I can bug them anytime.

Hopefully the phone app is more reliable and pleasant to use than GHLs garbage app

I got some cables from Mouser and GX12 2 pin connectors from Amazon and made my own cables. The cables form Mouser are Kobiconn 172-181152-E. These work with the Intllab dosing pumps I have and the Hydros dosing pumps. The Hydros dosing pumps come with a drive port cable. I just had the other one already in place and it plugged into the Hydros dosing pump also when I got it. The current limit on the drive ports on the X4 and X2 controllers is 1 amp on any of the two but a combined output of 1.5 amps if both are on. The XD and Kraken is higher at 1.5 amps each or total of 3 amps. So any 12v device will run as long as it is below those specs. The dosing pumps and Hydros solenoids do not come close to max ratings. I run my control solenoids for my RODI and the ATO and AWC pumps from drive ports. In the photo the solenoids at the top control my RODI to refill my DI reservoir and my mix tank. Each also has a manual shut off valve also. There is also a manual valve at the DI reservoir and mix tank. The two Intllab dosing pumps near the bottom on the left are bottom one drain pump and top fill pump for my AWC. The pump on the right a Hydros dosing pump is my ATO pump. All of this is in my garage and controller with my Hydros collective. The second photo is a full shot of the whole control board but is a older photo. The Digital Aquatics modules have been removed.

 

[kenchilada]

I got some cables from Mouser and GX12 2 pin connectors from Amazon and made my own cables. The cables form Mouser are Kobiconn 172-181152-E. These work with the Intllab dosing pumps I have and the Hydros dosing pumps. The Hydros dosing pumps come with a drive port cable. I just had the other one already in place and it plugged into the Hydros dosing pump also when I got it. The current limit on the drive ports on the X4 and X2 controllers is 1 amp on any of the two but a combined output of 1.5 amps if both are on. The XD and Kraken is higher at 1.5 amps each or total of 3 amps. So any 12v device will run as long as it is below those specs. The dosing pumps and Hydros solenoids do not come close to max ratings. I run my control solenoids for my RODI and the ATO and AWC pumps from drive ports. In the photo the solenoids at the top control my RODI to refill my DI reservoir and my mix tank. Each also has a manual shut off valve also. There is also a manual valve at the DI reservoir and mix tank. The two Intllab dosing pumps near the bottom on the left are bottom one drain pump and top fill pump for my AWC. The pump on the right a Hydros dosing pump is my ATO pump. All of this is in my garage and controller with my Hydros collective. The second photo is a full shot of the whole control board but is a older photo. The Digital Aquatics modules have been removed.

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Great info, thank you so much.

I ended up buying the X4/XP8 Pro Pack today from CoralVue at a reef show. Unfortunately the X4 seems defective and just reboots over and over. I opened a support ticket. Hopefully I’m doing something dumb but there’s not much to get wrong. Seems like hardware issue.

Luckily I live down the street from CoralVue.

 

[n2585722]

Great info, thank you so much.

I ended up buying the X4/XP8 Pro Pack today from CoralVue at a reef show. Unfortunately the X4 seems defective and just reboots over and over. I opened a support ticket. Hopefully I’m doing something dumb but there’s not much to get wrong. Seems like hardware issue.

Luckily I live down the street from CoralVue.

Here is the online manual for the controllers https://www.coralvuehydros.com/product-support/hydros-control/ . Are the LED's doing a pattern or flashing a color?

 

[kenchilada]

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[kenchilada]

Here is the online manual for the controllers https://www.coralvuehydros.com/product-support/hydros-control/ . Are the LED's doing a pattern or flashing a color?

It starts normally, I can even see it briefly in the add device screen, but then it suddenly goes dark and restarts. And that keeps repeating.

 

[nukemdanno]

A couple things to note on install. I'm sure you've read Hydros has to be on 2.4G hz Wifi. If you haven't already you will need to disable auto switching in your router so you have a dedicated 2.4Ghz band. Also your security protocol needs to be WPA/WPA-2. I was running just WPA and the Hydros app would not connect with the XP4 Controller

 

[kenchilada]

A couple things to note on install. I'm sure you've read Hydros has to be on 2.4G hz Wifi. If you haven't already you will need to disable auto switching in your router so you have a dedicated 2.4Ghz band. Also your security protocol needs to be WPA/WPA-2. I was running just WPA and the Hydros app would not connect with the XP4 Controller

Thank you. I'm not sure if this is Wifi-related though. Even if I let the X4 just sit there while my phone is in my pocket, it will reboot. Sometimes it takes ten seconds, other times a minute.

I have a Unifi home network. I will create a new separate Wifi SID for this limited to 2.4ghz and WPA2.

 

[kenchilada]

CoralVue support is excellent. Like 1000000 times better than GHL support. After trying a few things, they had me stop by the CoralVue office and swap the X4 for a working unit. Everything up and running now and I am really liking the app so far.

Also, CoralVue has a unicorn tang the size of a truck in their lobby aquarium.

 

[kenchilada]

Here's the heater thermostat versus when I enabled Hydros control of temperature. This Eheim heater is actually pretty good and stayed within 1F fluctuation. The Hydros stays within 0.2F.