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I have not said much about the controller I am using. So I figured I will give it a go here. The screenshots here were done from an iPad. The controller tailors the web pages to the device so the screens will be different on a computer or phone. The controller I am using is the Archon. It is Digital Aquatics latest controller release. It is completely web based. It also has WiFi right out of the box. There are no additional module needed for WiFi. The head unit has 2 ports that can be either pH or ORP, 1 iTemp port, 4 0-10v output ports, 2 PWM output ports, 4 switch inputs, 3 bus ports, USB port and a LAN port. There is a 9v power input jack. It comes with a 9v power pack to power the head unit with. The PB4's were not ready when they shipped the beta units so I got 2 PC4's with it instead. I am one of the beta testers for the Archon. At this time the software and firmware for the beta users is the same as the production units. It is not always the case. Initial setup is simple if you have a WiFi enabled device with a web browser. Just plug in the Archon and press the reset button for over 10 seconds. Then take your device and select the Archon as your network in the WiFi settings as shown in screenshot below.

Once selected open your browser and type in 192.168.10.1. This should get you to the setup screen shown below for initial setup.

Once you have filled in the WiFi information and setup a name and password to access the Archon with then select the UTC offset for your time zone. Central time which I am in is -6. The continental US is -5 to -8. I did not mess with the port setting, but it i there if you need to use a different port than 80 on your LAN. Then add a email address you want the Archon to send alarms and other notices to. Then hit send. The Archon network will disappear after that. Now just select your WiFi network to continue to the Archon. Use the hostname you selected to get to the Archon. In my case I left it with the default so I used "archon/index.html". If for some reason that doesn't work use the IP address that was sent to the email address you entered by the Archon.

This is the content from the email from my Archon.

da.archon.mail@gmail.com
4:26 PM

Email Alarm Alert from your Archon Webserver
To: XXXXX@XXXXXX.com; XXXXXXXX@XXXXXX.com

Sun Jul 17 16:20:27 CDT 2016 Your alarm has triggered! This Archon is using the ethernet IP , and the wireless IP 192.168.1.118.

Since I do not have a wired connection there is no Ethernet IP.

Using either name or the IP should get you to the home page shown below. The home page here already has several output and input ports selected for display since mine was setup previously. To add or remove ports from the home page click the gear in upper right corner of either outputs or inputs columns. Once you make the changes click the update button in the lower left of either the output or input columns. The update button is not in the screen shot below since the gear has to be clicked for them to show up.

The output name is displayed in the upper left side of the output port bar. Upper center is the current state of the output. Upper right is the graph icon. Clicking this will select the port for the graph to be displayed in the graph/webcam section. Across the lower part of the output port bar is the current mode of the port (Off Auto On). In the off mode the port will remain off at all times regardless of alarms or timers. In auto it will follow the programming setup in the controller. On is just like off except it remains on. This can be selected on the home screen if you need to turn something on or off temporarily. The reason I say this is if for some reason the controller is powered down or reset the mode will revert to the original setup state.

The input module name is in the upper left of the input bar. The port name is in the upper center. Also there is a graph icon in the upper right like the output bar. The port value is in the lower left of the bar. All the numeric reading have a two place decimal so that it is available on the pH. The other ports will have a 0 in the hundredths position.

The Graph/Webcam can show either a graph or a webcam link. It will default to graph each time you go to the page. It is shown here with the webcam feed. The webcam is looking at the back left side of a hex tank.

Next is the graph page. Here you can select a module and then a port on that module to view the graph. In the screenshot below I have selected the iTemp port on the Archon so it is showing in the graph.

The fans are set to turn on at 78.1 and go off at 77.9. The heaters are set to turn on at 76.9 and go off at 77.1. I had some trouble with the fans at the end of March so the temp ventured above 78.1 during that time. The next high peak was when I left a door open on the back cover. This prevented the exhaust fans in the back cover from pulling air from the stand where the cooling fans are located on the sump. The last large spike up in temp is when the air conditioner went out in the house. Luckily I noticed a few days earlier that the fan on the compressor unit was making noise and had purchased one. I was just waiting for a day off to tackle it. It went out my last day of work. So I was busy replacing a fan motor when I got home from work. Luckily it was the last day for the week. The last downward spike was due to a low sump level caused by a tube popping off the ATO pump. The sump ran low and the return pump, along will all pumps and heaters in the sump being turned off caused the temp drop until I could fix the issue. The controller did sense the leak and turned off all pumps and the RODI system. So it did react as planned in both cases. The MP10's in the display tank continued to run so there were no issues with the livestock.

The next screenshot is of the output page. Just scroll the column of bars up and down to navigate to the output you want. They are separated by module. The modules are displayed in the order that they were discovered by the Archon. If you want a specific order then the modules need to be attached to the Archon in that order the first time they are connected. From then on the Archon will remember the module. If the module is removed from the system it will show as detached in the column where it was when connected. To view or change the programming of a output then select the gear in upper right of that particular output. The information will be displayed to the right of the output bars on a computer or iPad. It is displayed below on a phone.

This screenshot has the White LED's output selected. This is one of the PWM outputs on the Archon. It is using the ramp function. It is set for a maximum intensity of 30% and a minimum of 0%. The ramp time is set for 3 hours. And the timer for this is named White LED's. When the timer activates it will start ramping to maximum taking the amount of time set for ramp time. After the timer expires it will ramp down to the minimum. On the ramp function the timer off time has to exceed the ramp time to get the output down to the minimum set. If it is not the ramp will stop when the timer off time expires.

The next web page is the input page. In the screenshot below I have clicked the gear on the iTemp probe. I also clicked the calibrate button. If you want to change the module name and or the port name just change it where it is displayed on the right side of the screen and press save. If you are calibrating then set the target value to the actual temp of the water which is 78.1 here. Then click copy to copy raw data from the port to the data value then click finish. For two point calibrations such as pH there will be two target and two data and two copy buttons. One for each data point. The temp is a single point calibration using this method. A two point calibration can be done for temp if needed using the PortCalibrate command. You would have to get the raw data for the two point before executing the command. That is a little more detail than I was going to get into here though.

The next web page is the system page. The system page is where you will change system data, setup and change timers and setup and change alarms. You can change the wireless settings and email addresses from here. The current settings will not show for privacy just in case someone else is viewing the webpage. The current firmware and software versions are displayed. It will also alert you here if there is an update of either. It also will send an email alert that an updae is available If there is a webpage update a button will show to alow an update. You can also setup and change the night mode settings and standby timers from the system page. If automatic time synchronization is selected the system time is updated from the web UTC time every day.

The next page is the alarms webpage. On this page there is an alarm log. The log will scroll up and down to display all the alarms that have triggered since the last time the log was cleared. This screenshot was taken after I added a leak sensor to the floor beneath my air conditioner. That way if the drain line clogs for any reason I will get an email sent. I know this is not aquarium related, but it might save our hardwood floors. It shows the date, time, alarm name and value in the log. The last alarm in the log is set to trigger when the low level float switch in the fresh salt water reservoir is triggered. On the right side is a list of all programmed alarms. It list the alarm name, state and has a clear button for each alarm. In this screenshot none of the alarms are active. If they were it would have a red true instead of false for the state. On the Archon each output can have multiple alarms act on that output. The first alarm in the list will have priority if there is a conflict. The alarm can either turn on or turn off an output.

The next screenshot is the webcam page. This page is large enough that it wont fit on one screen without scrolling. It has two inputs one was for the local IP and the other for internet access. Both will accept a internet access address. So you can have two webcams if you want. Mine have the same one in both entries.

The next screenshot is the EcoTech web page. This is a link to the EcoTech's EcoSmart web pages. If you notice it was accessed via Safari the other screenshots were from Firefox. For some reason Firefox will not work on EcoTEch's website so I used Safari for this screenshot. I won't go into any detail here since it is the embedded webpage for EcoTech and not the controller.

Now to programming an Output. First you would go to the outputs webpage and click the gear on the output you want to program. I will use the output with my skimmer as an example. Once the gear has been clicked you will get the data to the right or below depending on the device you are using. The example below would be what you would get if the output had been programmed previously. The only difference is with an unused output you would have to select a function and click show to get what is shown. The module name and port name can be changed here as well. I have already change the name previously. This is just to show the screens you get programming an output. With the skimmer function used here you can change the delay out of standby and channel default. The output port is defaulted to always on and sure on enabled since it is a skimmer. The delay out of standby is to make sure that if you are stopping the return pump that it has time to get the level in sump right before the skimmer starts up. The default value is the value the output will use if for some reason communication is lost with the Archon head unit. For the skimmer i use off as I have no idea of what kind of level is in the sump in an emergency. Not running the skimmer in an emergency condition will not harm the tank if done for a rather short time frame. Sure on is a delay that is triggered any time the skimmer goes off whether it is from a power failure or turned off by an alarm. I believe the time delay is a fixed 10 or 15 minutes not sure which. The light for the output port on the power bar will flash to indicate the port is in sure on timer mode.

The next screenshot is of the pull down menu of functions. Not all are in view in the window. Select the function from the list in this case it is the skimmer function.

Next you would click show alarms to setup the alarms for the output if any are needed. For a skimmer there are a few. You just check the check box to the left of the alarm name and then check whether it is to turn the output on or off when the alarm is active. Here I have selected the stand leak detectors, skimmer full alarm, low sump, sump overfull and return off( that is not showing here). I would have to scroll up to get to it. All are set to turn the output off so it doesn't matter which is triggered it will go off if any or several alarms trigger.

The next screenshot is of setting the standby's that affect this output and how. Click on show standbys button to get to the standby settings. In this case there are two standby's that are selected for this output empty skimmer and MB7 dosing. The first turns of the skimmer for 10 minutes so I can empty the container. The second was for when I was dosing MB7. It would turn off the skimmer for 4 hours. Once you get every thing set click the save button and it is done other than testing to make sure it is working the way you want it to work.

That pretty much covers the basics of the controller. It has been a lot of fun with the beta testing. There has been some speed bumps along the way. I guess that is normal for a new product as complex as a controller though. All in all I am very satisfied with the way it is running. It has become a solid performer. It has saved me from a mess several times now. Most of which were my fault in the first place. I would guess that would be normal for most of us. Originally the stand was designed for the RKE unit. In fact the RKE head unit is still mounted in the front door of the stand. At the moment it is not in use. Everything is done from the web access in my case I use the iPad at home. I can carry it with me to the tank or to the garage where the support items are. That makes it easy to turn thing on or off or to change the programming while there. I thought I would miss the display and keypad but I don't at all. After using this controller I would find it very hard to go back to the RKE unit.

The tank is still going good. The nitrates are still a little high but they are down to near 12 now. I have tiny snails all over the place now. I guess that is a good sign though. All three of the blue reef chromis still seem to be healthy. I have lost a few more snails , but most are still going strong. I found some brown and white stripped serpent stars in the sump. I am not sure whether to leave them there or move them to the display if I can find them again.