Kessil

Reef Keeper Elite, Like it or not?

In my opinion, it is still very new and still has a few bugs to be worked out though at this point I am able to use it for pretty much everything I need. Currently I am using it to control 2 MH's a set of T-5's my fuge light, canopy fans, 2 heaters, my chiller, 2 dosing pumps, my skimmer, and their Moon Light controller without issues. mind you that I have the head unit upstais with 2 of their power stip units (PC-4's) and am running 2 more down in my garage some 35 or 40 feet away without issues linking with a bus cable.

Their support seems to be very good to the extent that I had the main support guy and 2 other technicians on the phone we me to work through an issue at 9:30 at night.

It will be extremely expandable in the future but at this point some of the coloer bells and whistles are still in development stages (though I believe some big ones are targeted this quarter) such as the Net unit and tracking software.

Summary- go to their website and take a look at their support forum and take a look at some of the issues and their respective solutions. I believe this will be a very powerful controller but much of what they will offer really depends on what it is you are looking to do with your tank and some is still not yet available. it is pretty easy to use one you get the hang of it and is extremely expandable. Though many of the bugs have been worked out, it is still very new and it is possible that there will be issues. If you want something rock solid out of the box might be best to wait, but at this point I feel more then confident in it for what I am currently using it for.
 
Alright here's my view on it.

When I got it originally it worked fine with maybe a couple issues, after upgrading the firmware on the thing however is when I started running into problems. My biggest complaint is that graphing doesn't work on mine, and that there are sensitivity issues with the touch pad. That being said, most of this is most likely electrical interference since apparently I have quite a "electrically noisy" ballast, however the guys are working on fixing bugs constantly and doing updates so the customer support side of things is fairly good.

Its funny, those I know who have one had issues initially with it, now they have none (or very little), where as I had no issues initially but now that I updated now I do. I wouldn't in any way say there's anything different from a manufacturing standpoint between the setups (i.e. mine is not "broken"), it just doesn't work as well as I'd like. Also I've changed directions a bit, so most of the features really aren't needed for me so it is just "Too much machine" for me with all the doodads and what not, basically its a $500 light timer (and I've also used it as a failsafe for heater control just because I felt I Had to use it for something other than lights)

Although one thing I will say, if it is an electrical interference problem, I don't see how a software update is going to fix it.

That being said mine might be up for sale at a discount fairly soon :)

Whatever you do, don't take my opinion as the end all be all of how it works, who do you want to listen to? The few bad experiences or the average experience of all users?
 
BTW Mike, if you want I can try to swing by some time at take a look at how you have it set up to see if Ican help you work out some of the interference problems etc.
 
Well right now its a jumble of cords because I'm not quite sure where I want it, or where the interference is coming from.

What I can do I guess is after the lights go out, is simply disconnect the head unit and take a PC4 upstairs or someplace relatively "quiet" to see if the intereference is actually where the issue is at.
 
Yes, it does sound like an expensive light timer, when you put it that way. I am mainly interested in monitoring my pH, temp, salinity while controling my lighting. It sounds like the Reef Keeper will be able to monitor salinity soon. I would love for the information to go to my computer so I can see some graphs. I'm not sure what the RKE will offer in the department of software. I have seen a shot of their software, but I'm not sure if that is what I really want. I would really love to see a system that captures THAT information AND allows me to track additional tasks and livestock in one nice package.
 
One of the main things I wanted as well was the monitoring of all that stuff (minus salinty) and wanted it output to graphs to monitor as well, and I don't know why, but I thought that would be possible out of the box... well its not. Either way, they are working on a "My Reef" which is the Rk2 software, so it is on the drawing board. Also the SL2 box does pH & Salinity (instead of ORP which is on the SL1), however I don't know if you can request that with the package deal instead, if you are interested its worth a shot at an email though.

Also have you looked at the Aquacontroller 3? (The 3 pro does salinity, and others but at a huge cost). It's "the other" big one out there. Also I've heard good reviews about the ProfiLux as well, swing by aquariumcontrollers.com and they have on their webpage a HTML document that gives a rundown of what they can all do.
 
I have looked at the Aquacontroller systems, and it appears I would do better with a RKE. More stuff for the dollar. It would be nice to actually see what the new myReef software will do when it comes out for the RKE. That will probably help influance my decision once they finally relase it. I certanly will check to see If I can get the SL2 as an option instead of SL1.

I will have to check out the ProfiLux. I haven't come across that one yet.

Thanks for all the info.
 
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