Opinions On Fluval Aquasky Please?

[Magic8]

I could not or did not see a lighting section thats why I am posting here in the general sectionI just started shopping around piecing together a 65 gallon tank setup my stand is ordered as well as my tank next up is my versa glass top then comes my lighting I don't plan on having any live plants.I am coming from a 45 gallon and have always had this or smaller with flourescent lighting.I do not want to spend a ridiculous amount on lighting coming from fluorescent I'm sure its going to be a world of difference.
I am leaning towards the aquasky mainly because I like all the different features it has day/night/dusk/moonlight the only downfall I am reading is there is no timer.I am looking for a little more info from people who have this light to get a little feedback.I have heard about the current usa plus as well which looks to have similar features but its almost $100 more if I am not going to be using any live plants is there any big difference between the two and do you guys prefer one over the other.
I really would like to program the light for sunrise in the morning have maybe a couple of cloudy days during the week with a mid-week lightning storm then sunset into night with a couple of moonlit nights I don't think this can be done with the fluval are you able to do this with the current usa satellite plus.I'm about a week - 2 weeks away from ordering the light and top I'm waiting for my stand/tank filter media so the light will be towards the back end just doing a bit of research thanks all!

 

[cowgirluntamed]

I love my Aquasky! It is not progammable unfortunately. I did try the current USA single ramp timer though and it does NOT work with the aquasky. I returned those and purchased the fluval timer...not good reviews but I don't see any other choice. I only have a few low light plants in this. The anubias seems OK but not the Java fern(then again you can do different intensities as well). I plan on doing plants eventually that are still low to medium light. I have the 24" version running now but also have the 48 inch for when I get my 55 up. One thing I noticed about it is that it gets pretty warm. I cover mine at night(I work nights so tend to have my own lights on so need to cover their tanks. Lol.) I warn you do NOT cover the light! It got really hot and it actually had a tiny bit of melting on the black case on top. I haven't done it since and it seems better now. Still gets warm though!

 

[arciere]

Hi all, I bought two of these Aquasky LEDs for my reef tank (I know it's not ideal, but so far so good).

I was also looking for a timer, and after reading all the reviews, I decided not to buy the Fluval one.

I ended up making my own timer, using an Arduino board. Basically, I have programmed it to send IR signals (just like a remote) at specific times (i.e. 8:30am increased levels, 9:30am full white, 7:30pm sunset, 9:00pm onwards light blue, etc...).

If you are interested, let me know, I'm still working on this project, but the basics are there.

 

[mononk]

Hi there!

I'm new to these forums but this thread caught my attention! I bought an aquasky last week and, although I really love its features, was a bit bummed to see there was no programming possible. I have an arduino and would love to try your Arduino Timer. I was even wondering if it would be possible to link it online to match outside weather i.e. cloud cover (of course not thunderstorms as I find this feature a bit strange). Having sunsets and sunrises a bit more realistic would also be nice (colors ramping up at different speeds).

 

[arciere]

I guess you can find a way of downloading weather info and coding them in a way that Arduino understands.

The biggest challenge for me has been decoding all the buttons on the remote.

 

[Wired0413]

...

The biggest challenge for me has been decoding all the buttons on the remote.

Arciere,
I, too, am looking into creating my own aqua-troller using Arduino, starting with my lighting (Fluval AquaSky). I, unfortunately, did buy the Fluval dual-ramp timer and am a bit disappointed in it. Fortunately, I'm an Arduino enthusiast and a programmer by profession, so I thought I could make a better one. I'd love to hear how yours came out, and/or advice.

Would you be willing to share the deciphered IR codes you gleaned from the AquaSky remote? It'd save me tons of time and headache not having to fire up IRLib and decipher it myself.

Cheers!
(new member, haven't set up a sig yet)

 

[arciere]

Arciere,
I, too, am looking into creating my own aqua-troller using Arduino, starting with my lighting (Fluval AquaSky). I, unfortunately, did buy the Fluval dual-ramp timer and am a bit disappointed in it. Fortunately, I'm an Arduino enthusiast and a programmer by profession, so I thought I could make a better one. I'd love to hear how yours came out, and/or advice.

Would you be willing to share the deciphered IR codes you gleaned from the AquaSky remote? It'd save me tons of time and headache not having to fire up IRLib and decipher it myself.

Cheers!
(new member, haven't set up a sig yet)

No problems, I'll send you the codes when I get back home.
It's working like a charm, I also have a battery-powered RTC module, so when I unplug everything for cleaning purposes, I don't have to worry about re-setting the time.
For ease of use (and because I'm lazy) I have left both the IR led and IR receiver on the board, in case I will need to decode more buttons in future.

So far I am only using the power button (which is a bit disappointing, since you can only switch on the lights with this button. If, for whatever reason, the switch off command doesn't work at a specific time, you end up switching off the lights when you actually want them on), P1 and full white.

 

[arciere]

This is what I use:

Full White:

{9000,4450,550,600,550,600,550,1700,550,600,550,600,650,500,550,600,550,600,550,1700,550,1700,550,600,550,1700,550,1650,600,1700,550,1650,600,1650,550,600,550,600,550,600,550,1700,550,1700,550,600,550,1700,550,600,550,1700,550,1700,550,1700,550,600,550,600,550,1650,550,600,550,1700,550,}

Sunset (this is how it is called in my code, I forgot if it's one of the pre-set colours or is a P button):

{8950,4500,550,550,550,600,550,1700,550,600,550,600,550,600,550,600,550,600,550,1700,550,1700,550,600,550,1700,550,1700,550,1700,550,1650,550,1700,550,600,550,1700,550,600,550,1700,550,1700,550,600,550,600,550,550,600,1650,600,600,550,1650,550,600,550,600,550,1700,550,1700,550,1700,550,}

P1:

{9000,4450,600,550,600,550,600,1650,550,600,550,600,550,600,550,600,550,600,550,1700,550,1700,550,600,550,1700,550,1650,600,1650,600,1650,600,1650,600,550,550,600,550,1700,550,1700,550,1700,550,550,600,600,550,550,600,1650,600,1650,500,650,600,550,600,550,600,1650,600,1650,550,1700,550,}

On/off:

{9050,4500,550,600,550,600,550,1700,550,600,550,600,550,600,600,550,600,600,550,1700,550,1700,550,600,550,1700,550,1700,550,1700,550,1700,550,1650,600,600,550,600,600,600,550,600,550,600,550,600,550,1700,550,600,600,1650,600,1650,600,1700,550,1650,600,1700,550,1650,600,600,550,1700,550,}

Depending on what libraries you use, you may need a different format.

Decoding the signals wasn't straight forward, it appears that different lights (even of the same model) have different sensitivity. I have two lights, sometimes one signal would work on one light but not the other.

 

[Wired0413]

Great! I'll give these a go as soon as I can. Turns out my IR emitter was busted & I'll need to order a new one. Do you know whether or not these came in at the (almost) standard 38KHz/940nm, or were they higher/lower?

I've been looking at a few libraries, and think I'll take the best parts of several - I'd like to create a self-learning variant that can take in several runs of the same pulse and gain a better confidence on each run from an almost 20% variance to closer to a <5% variance based on the past saved reads while in a "learning" mode. But I'm only just working out the code architecture at a 10K ft "wish list" level right now.

Also looking at Temp, pH, Phos, N+/N-, CO2, etc. sensors... So... Implementation might take awhile