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Welcome to Reeftronics.net

reeftank

Reeftronics is dedicated to reefkeepers and other hobbyists who utilize aquarium controllers.

We currently support these controllers:

  • Neptune Systems
    • AquaController Apex (including Apex Lite and Apex Jr)
    • AquaController 3 & 3 Pro (with v3.4 or newer firmware)
    • AquaController 2 or Jr (with ACSerial2Web)
  • Digital Aquatics
    • ReefKeeper Elite (with RKM-NET module & v2.0 or newer firmware)
    • ReefKeeper Lite (with RKM-NET module & v1.11 or newer firmware)

We will develop support for other network-capable controller models upon request.

 

If you would like to utilize Reeftronics, please read our FAQs first, then submit a Membership Request.

For other inquiries or comments, please use this form.

New Feature: SMS Notifications

12/01/2011

I  recently added a new feature, SMS notifications.  In addition to the usual email notifications, the system can now send text messages.  This is primarily intended for members who don’t have email on their cell phones, but would still like to receive timely notifications in the event of a problem.  This is entirely optional; if any members are interested, just email me your email-to-txt address.  Here are the email-to-txt address formats for the most common carriers in US and Canada:
 

 Alltel 10-digit-cell-number@message.alltel.com
 ATT 10-digit-cell-number@txt.att.net
 Sprint 10-digit-cell-number@messaging.sprintpcs.com   
 T-Mobile 10-digit-cell-number@tmomail.net
 Metro PCS 10-digit-cell-number@mymetropcs.com
 Rogers 10-digit-cell-number@pcs.rogers.com
 Telus 10-digit-cell-number@msg.telus.com
 US Cellular 10-digit-cell-number@email.uscc.net
 Verizon 10-digit-cell-number@vtext.com

Members’ Controllers

11/17/2011

I was recently asked how many of each of the controller models are represented here.  Here are the stats as of 11/17/2011:

Apex 95
Apex Lite 19
RK Elite 9
AC3 5
Apex Jr 4
RK Lite 4
AC3Pro 2

Linking to Reeftronics from other web sites

11/02/2011

Unfortunately, due to some recent abuse of the resources provided Reeftronics, I’ve been left with little choice but to implement a new policy regarding linking to content on Reeftronics from other web sites.

Hotlinking of Reeftronics’ dynamic images (status and graphs) on commercial web sites and in *any* public forum/bulletin board post is now disallowed.  However, hotlinking of real-time status images and graphs is permitted if you operate the web site yourself, such as a blog or other personal web site.

A clickable hyperlink to any page on Reeftronics is always OK.

Reeftronics Server Upgrade

10/09/2011

Reeftronics is now running on a new screamin’ demon server.  There were substantial changes necessary to the Reeftronics software and plenty of debugging done as a result – hopefully I’ve found and fixed all the little gremlins in my code.  Please use this form if you find anything that isn’t working right.

Reeftronics Update for Digital Aquatics Controllers

7/27/2011

I just finished implementing several major changes and other enhancements to Reeftronics for DA Reefkeeper controllers.  Many of these changes parallel the changes made a few months ago for Neptune controllers.  I’ve had the changes ready to go for a couple of months,  but there were a few RKE owners still running 1.x firmware; the new Reeftronics software requires and capitalizes on the XML data which became available in RKE/RKL v2.0 firmware.  But now that everyone is running RK v2.0, I was able to make the cut-over.  Reeftronics longer support RKEs running the old v1.x firmware. 

1. Now, if you add or remove a probe, the system will automatically detect that change – I no longer have to manually add/remove graphs. The only time I need to intervene is if you rename a probe; the system will see that as one probe being removed and a new probe added. If you do rename a probe, I still have to manually merge the old and new data, which only takes a minute – just ask me to do so.

2. The status display is faster, and will automatically make use of custom module and probe/channel names if they are defined in the RKM-NET.

3. Graphs are faster.  Also, the 30-day graphs use a narrower line to better reveal detail.

4. Output intensities for ALC and MLC modules will now be graphed.

5. In the past, a bad/invalid data point for a probe would sometimes cause not only the corresponding graph to show strangely, but it would also sometimes affect other graphs too. This condition is now detected, and can no longer affect other graphs.

6. Reeftronics will now display the sum of all PC-4 Ampere values in the real-time status area and will also now display a new graph showing the total of all PC-4 Ampere values for each polling interval.

Early Warning System

6/5/2011
For the past year and a half, Reeftronics has had an email notification system which sends an email to a member if communications between the Reeftronics server and the member’s controller are lost for 6 hours. If another 6 hours goes by without successful communications, another email is sent, and the server suspends polling that controller until the problem is resolved. This notification system has been credited for saving at least 3 members’ tanks due to power outages or other major failure.

In response to multiple requests from members, the notification system has been enhanced to send an early warning message after just 1 hour of failed polling.

Another new feature for Apex owners

4/15/2011
For those of you having multiple Energy Bars (EB8 and/or EB4), Reeftronics will now display the sum of all EBx Ampere values in the real-time status area and will also now display a new graph showing the total of all EBx Ampere values for each polling interval.

Reeftronics Updated for Neptune Controllers

3/10/2011

In the last few weeks, there have been a several major changes and other enhancements to Reeftronics for Neptune controllers.

1. Now, if you add or remove a probe, the system will automatically detect that change – I no longer have to manually add/remove graphs. The only time I need to intervene is if you rename a probe; the system will see that as one probe being removed and a new probe added. If you do rename a probe, I still have to manually merge the old and new data, which only takes a minute – just ask me to do so. I’m still trying to make that part happen automatically.

2. Graphs are faster.

3. In the past, a bad/invalid data point for a probe would sometimes cause not only the corresponding graph to show strangely, but it would also sometimes affect other graphs too. This condition is now detected, and can no longer affect other graphs.

4. Enhancements in the status pages to handle custom Apex probe names (a capability introduced in Apex v4.04 firmware). If you have renamed a temp probe, for example as SumpTemp, Reeftronics will display it simply as that: SumpTemp. But if the probe name does not contain the probe type, i.e. you’ve named a pH probe as CaReactor, Reeftronics will add the probe type on the real-time status display and corresponding graph – it will now show up as pH:CaReactor.

5. Previously, if an outlet name began with ‘unused’, it would automatically be hidden from the real-time status display. Now, any outlets beginning with ‘unused’, ‘empty’, ‘open’, ‘blank’, ‘spare’ , ‘notused’, or ‘n/a’ will be hidden by default. I can easily add other such keywords upon request.

6. Support for 32 Apex profiles in the Program & Profile Lister tool to match the expanded profile count available in v4.05 firmware

7. Improved support for the VDM module in Program & Profile Lister tool.

8. Improved handling of WXM error/status messages in the status pages

Reeftronics is growing!

Reeftronics is now monitoring well over 100 controllers.

And we’ve gone global! I take great pleasure in serving our members from Canada, Mexico, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, and South Africa as well as the United States.

iOS and Android Device Support

Reeftronics now has an optional theme optimized for viewing with touch-screen devices like iPhone/iPod Touch, Android-based phones, and the Palm Pre.

If you have a suitable phone, give it a try… to enable it, scroll to the bottom of this page and enable Mobile Theme.

(The Mobile Theme option will only be seen when using a compatible device.)