Alexander1312
Supporting Member
The good news is that the Aqua Logic website is back online 
.
In summary, this post was about where to get the controller and which exact model, if not from Aqua Logic. It is indeed an old tech product, that looks very unpolished from an visual design perspective and where I struggled in the beginning a lot to program it properly (separate post: https://www.bareefers.org/forum/posts/486898/). However, it's commercial application appealed to me and the fact the folks have these for a long time/a decade and are still working. Despite so many other options, I have also not seen another controller with the same long-term reputation for reliability.
The importance of redundancy is what I learned early on, and should defintely be thought through well when setting this up, regardless of the products used to achieve this.
Despite the limited scope of this post, there are some great additional learnings here for me:
- Lot's of places to buy this controller from other than aqua logic directly (championlighting, supplyhouse.com). However, prices seem slightly higher, although they may charge less for shipping than aqua logic does so overall possibly not more expensive.
- Rancos do not need to be expensive, if you do not require two stage, and if you can do some of the wiring yourself. This would make them a competitive product despite the remaining clunkiness of the setup and the old tech appeal.
- Great discussion around Inkbirds, and it seems like the WIFI version should be avoided, which would enhance reliability. This is good to know IMO.
- Interesting perspective from John on product visibility and use and the number of complaints correlation. I do sometimes feel the same way where people seem to not be successful with a good product due to misuse or not knowing how to use this properly, and complain about the product having issues. I am still not planning to invest (more) into the APEX world for now and will continue to research alternatives or wait for alternative offerings. Seems like Hydros have become more popular, but I have not read enough about comparisons yet.
Maybe I should start a new post about the titanium heaters. I only use them except for brute containers, but I wonder if they are actually more reliable than EHEIM or any other? Specifically the higher watts.
. In summary, this post was about where to get the controller and which exact model, if not from Aqua Logic. It is indeed an old tech product, that looks very unpolished from an visual design perspective and where I struggled in the beginning a lot to program it properly (separate post: https://www.bareefers.org/forum/posts/486898/). However, it's commercial application appealed to me and the fact the folks have these for a long time/a decade and are still working. Despite so many other options, I have also not seen another controller with the same long-term reputation for reliability.
The importance of redundancy is what I learned early on, and should defintely be thought through well when setting this up, regardless of the products used to achieve this.
Despite the limited scope of this post, there are some great additional learnings here for me:
- Lot's of places to buy this controller from other than aqua logic directly (championlighting, supplyhouse.com). However, prices seem slightly higher, although they may charge less for shipping than aqua logic does so overall possibly not more expensive.
- Rancos do not need to be expensive, if you do not require two stage, and if you can do some of the wiring yourself. This would make them a competitive product despite the remaining clunkiness of the setup and the old tech appeal.
- Great discussion around Inkbirds, and it seems like the WIFI version should be avoided, which would enhance reliability. This is good to know IMO.
- Interesting perspective from John on product visibility and use and the number of complaints correlation. I do sometimes feel the same way where people seem to not be successful with a good product due to misuse or not knowing how to use this properly, and complain about the product having issues. I am still not planning to invest (more) into the APEX world for now and will continue to research alternatives or wait for alternative offerings. Seems like Hydros have become more popular, but I have not read enough about comparisons yet.
Maybe I should start a new post about the titanium heaters
. I only use them except for brute containers, but I wonder if they are actually more reliable than EHEIM or any other? Specifically the higher watts.
