[marshmallow]

I currently have the fluval aquasky and am wondering if it is worth it to switch to the plant 3.0.

I have a 55 gallon tank and eco complete substrate.

In addition to the best light quality for my plants, three additional considerations are:

1- that I would like there to be a way for the lights to be turned on and off manually in case I am out of town and the house sitter needs to keep the light going without the knowledge of how to use the bluetooth app. ;

2 - I will be starting up co2.

3 - the ability to run it synced with the co2 regulator so that if there is a power outage and the lights go off and stay off, the co2 will not go on without lights.

thanks!

 

[jeffkrol]

I currently have the fluval aquasky and am wondering if it is worth it to switch to the plant 3.0.

I have a 55 gallon tank and eco complete substrate.

In addition to the best light quality for my plants, three additional considerations are:

1- that I would like there to be a way for the lights to be turned on and off manually in case I am out of town and the house sitter needs to keep the light going without the knowledge of how to use the bluetooth app. ;

2 - I will be starting up co2.

3 - the ability to run it synced with the co2 regulator so that if there is a power outage and the lights go off and stay off, the co2 will not go on without lights.

thanks!

#3 is relatively tricky.
3.0 has no battery backup so it's dependent on connecting to bluetooth.
Then there is this..

The Fluvals have a gotcha that if the power is hard cycled (unplugged), they go back to a default 24 hour schedule that fades between night and day.
I picked up a Fluval Plant 3.0. I’m having trouble because whenever the power goes out, the light thinks it’s midnight.

The "best" answer is a UPS and have both the light and co2 solenoid on it.
Don't do heaters.. too much power draw generally speaking.

A smart plug can re-synch your CO2 via wifi but doesn't help w/ light synching.

Lastly a Milwauke pH controller can help protect the tank by shutting off the CO2 in the event of a pH drop due to light/CO2 out of synch.

Thinking about the Fluval default at midnight on power resumption you need to look for a "bad timer" for the CO2 which behaves the same way..
This may or may not be easy to find..
See digital timers have all sorts of flaws..
Like this one:

https://www.leviton.com/en/docs/VPT24-Power-Outage-Application-Note.pdf

Backup battery is only good for 3 days. Programs for forever but after 3 days clock will reset to

The device will go through a reset with 12:00 AM flashing on the LCD screen for 30 seconds and then will settle on the default time of 12:00 AM. The clock will start and continue running at this time, so it will need to be reset to reflect the correct time.

Point is find a "bad" timer that keeps it's programming but loses it's clock.
That way when power is restored both the Fluval and CO2 will start at midnight regardless of the REAL time..


I believe my old one of these stored the program but lost the time.
I'd need to check.. I really hated it.. Also required 24r to "reset".
at the time I bought it I wondered, as I do to this day, how they could sell this..
CORALIFE® Aqualight Digital Power Center | fish Heating & Lighting Accessories | PetSmart


See this quote is what I mean..

Most modern digital timers have programming back-up that lasts indefinitely in memory until timer is reset.
However current time is sometimes lost with low battery or power outage.

 

[TigerWithBarbs]

I don't think it is correct that the Fluval 3.0's default to the 24 hour cycle upon power cycling. Myself and many others run a nightly failsafe procedure to avoid prolonged periods of desync between CO2 and lighting cycles.

Essentially every night at 11:59pm my Fluval 3.0 is turned off by a smart plug and it is turned back on at 12:00am. This resets the internal clock of the light every day and it resumes its existing lighting profile. While there is no battery backup on the device, it does save the user-indicated lighting profile onboard the light. So upon power resumption it'll start at 12:00 for whatever the existing user-indicated lighting cycle is.

So, in this case, if the power were to go off at say 3:00pm and my CO2 normally shuts off at 5:00pm, there would be roughly two hours without a CO2/lighting overlap because upon power resumption the light would default its clock to indicating 12:00am at whatever time the power comes back on. Then at midnight, the light would reset and the clock would once again be "correct."

My CO2 solenoids are also on smart timers connected to wifi.

Regarding which light: go with the Planted 3.0. Anohter, more expensive alternative, is the Chihiros WRGB 2. This offers higher PAR at depth, but is more expensive, has no US-based warranty support, and has an even worse app for lighting profiles. Also, depending on the size of your tank and the type of plants you're growing, you may need to supplement the light to get enough front-to-back spread. I'm starting up a 75g with a Fluval 3.0 and I'm already thinking I'll need to get a second one eventually to support the full tank.

 

[marshmallow]

so far I'm not following these replies - but they seem very good - I'm just not following.

is there a way to plug either fluval lights into a timer so that it will just run off the timer and be synced with the co2 that way?

 

[TigerWithBarbs]

is there a way to plug either fluval lights into a timer so that it will just run off the timer and be synced with the co2 that way?

Sure, both can be run with a timer installed but you won't be able to control the lighting levels...so why pay a huge premium if you aren't using those features?

 

[jeffkrol]

Maybe... Does have a manual mode.
THAT may work.

Sorry I was a bit obcessed w/ ramping/ control.

"Manual gives you Off, or On, with a custom light level and no scheduling. This is the perfect mode to use for photography, showing your aquariums on off-hours, or if you need to make some darkness so you can sleep in, or film other tanks in the same room."

 

[marshmallow]

The "best" answer is a UPS and have both the light and co2 solenoid on it.
Don't do heaters.. too much power draw generally speaking.

A smart plug can re-synch your CO2 via wifi but doesn't help w/ light synching.

Lastly a Milwauke pH controller can help protect the tank by shutting off the CO2 in the event of a pH drop due to light/CO2 out of synch.

I did look up what an UPS is and that seems promising. Also the Milwauke PH controller. Can you tell me more about how that works?. Appreciate it!

 

[jeffkrol]

I did look up what an UPS is and that seems promising. Also the Milwauke PH controller. Can you tell me more about how that works?. Appreciate it!

Do you mean the pH controller?
Basically it turns on the solenoid until the pH decreases to the set point.
Point is it won't allow your tank to get too acidic (too much CO2)

Fish in? Have to be a bit more careful so find the point at which the controller turns the CO2 on. This should be just a touch lower than your PH without CO2. Say tank is 7.8, maybe set the controller to run it down to 7.6. After a few days or a week, if the fish show no unusual action, you can run it down to a couple tenths lower. Continue this process of letting the fish adapt until you get down to about a full 1.0 lower than the tank without CO2. In theory this will give you the recommended 30PPM. Depending on fish, you may have to stop and give them more time to adjust or some will still not let you go that low. WATCH the fish.

I suppose the best time to determine your non-CO2 pH is easly morning prior to lights on inc. daylight.i