Apex and co2 help

[charliethetuna88]

What outlet do you guys have ur calcium reactor co2 solinoid plugged into I was told to use 4 or 8 only ..also u have to set a high and low on it I understand the low but y the high side .what would be the purpose of shutting the soliniod off if the ph was high in the reactor ?

 

[reefs4life]

I don't know why you were told to plug it in 4 or 8. I use 4 or 8 for things that draw more power because from what I know, those two plugs have 10amp relays unlike the others. I also have a DC4HD which is 4 plugs all at 10amps.

Anyways, the programming part...the low is for when you want the CO2 to go off for example, If pH is <6.50 then OFF. And the high is for when the CO2 to go on, so it is the control that comes after the OFF control, for example if pH is >6.7 then ON.

It's pretty much the same reason you need a high and a low for temperature control. Without the set high to turn it off it would pretty much just go on and stay on since you're not limiting the value

 

[mbg75]

Controller shuts CO2 off at a predetermined low ph. Then turns it on when it rises up to the high set point. Thereby dropping ph and cycle repeats.

 

[mbg75]

 

[Geraud]

Actually 4 and 8 are relays, while the other are triacs. Relays are good for devices that draw little current (with a triac they can stay always on), but in the very long run, the contact can get damaged with devices that draw a high current on start-up.

A good read about all of that: http://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/3352/triac-versus-relay

With regards to the APEX, the relays are rated for 10A, the Triacs 5A, but the overall bar cannot draw more than 15A.

 

[reefs4life]

Well thanks for all the corrections, I guess the general idea was there. Let me go ahead and fix my comment.

 

[mbg75]

You could use the apex on a tight ph control to keep reactor where you want. This would make up for a regulator setup that's not easy to dial in. For example. Co2 off at 6.49 and on at 6.51. This would try to maintain at 6.50 The problem with this is the ph probe reading changes as it ages, so it's a short term solution.

 

[charliethetuna88]

Yeah at the last lira meeting terence fugazzi from apex was there talking about the controllet and recommended using the relays for the co2 soliniod for the reason explained before