ReefLaw
Active Member
Has anyone tried the new hydros kraken power center? I’m running the wave engine and control 4 and am interested in the kraken mainly for the further reduction of power supplies and the battery back up.
Hydros Kraken
- Thread starter ReefLaw
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n2585722
2500 Club Member
I have one. It will replace most 24v supplies and there are also 4 12v ports where you can replace up to 4 12v supplies. You can even use it to replace the WE supply you already have. It can also replace the ones for the X10 and XD. I also have it powering a Sicce SDC 3.0 pump. Below is a photo of the power supplies I removed after getting the Kraken.
n2585722
2500 Club Member
They make DC to DC converters you can use to get the 24v up to the other voltages but it would be a DIY project and you would still have the converter box. I guess I got lucky my MP10's are 24v.
n2585722
2500 Club Member
Here is a photo of the Kraken on my controller board. I have 7 of the 24v ports and 2 of the 12v ports in use. The controller board is homemade. I used a different wood than normal and that is the reason for the rough pattern. The wifi wifi power strip power the sign and the KH Carer. I also have a XP8 but it is in a cabinet in the stand with a WEv2, XS and X3. The controllers on the left side of the controller board are a XD and X10. I also have 6 more controllers in the garage that are all a part of the same collective.
n2585722
2500 Club Member
So far it has worked like a champ. I do have a small seal lead acid battery hooked to it. The only thing important during a power outage is the controller brains and my 2 MP10's. The MP10's have a EcoTech battery backup for them. I had also got a IceCap backup for the Wave Engine which I use to control the MP10's. So between the three I should be good for a while if I loose power.
apb03
Active Member
Very nice. I had originally intended to wire up my 100ah Lithium Iron Phosphate battery to it, and just disable the charger on the Kraken. My original hope was to have the Kraken supply the backup power to the Ecotech devices instead of running separate cables from my panel.
Since I can't use the Kraken to manage my battery power now, I just set up a Drive port off my X4 to act as a battery cutoff using an 87a automotive relay. That way I can shut off my Vectra and Vortechs fully for Water change mode by turning on that drive port. Works great if you have a spare port and want the ability to cut off battery power to the Ecotechs.
n2585722
2500 Club Member
Than
Thanks, here is the controller board in the garage. I have 2 more Hydros controllers out there since the photo and the Digital Aquatics modules have since been removed. I have added some more relays to it. My first Hydros was the X4 which is in the photo. I got it and the 2 X2's and an XS to control my mixing station anf my RODI. One of the first things I switched to the Hydros was the ATO and AWC which are the dosing pumps on the lower right. The solenoids in the upper right control my RODI unit using the Hydros. It is mounted to the wall behind my work bench. The three storage tanks are under the workbench. The Hydros autofills the DI storage tank when it goes low. It will transfer the water from the mix tank to the fresh saltwater tank when the fresh saltwater tank goes low and the mix tank is ready to use. Once the water has been transferred from the mix tank to the fresh saltwater tank it refill the mix tank with DI from the RODI. All I have to do is add the salt mix to the mix tank and press a button when it is ready to use.
I have a pretty crazy Kraken setup right now. I use 1 kraken to provide most of my backup power for my 1000+ gallon farm setup. I run 12+ tanks and a TON of Hydros Wave Engines across them for my flow needs. I have 20 icecap gyres, and 3 octo pulse 2 power heads for flow. Kraken powers all of these Wave Engines for me! My farm is actually split up into 2 main systems, each system uses 2 parallel return pumps for redundancy but also for backup. I run a main varios 10 off standard AC power (not on Kracken) and also a Varios 8 return pump as well. The Varios 8 pump is powered by Kraken but only run if I lose power. Since Kraken doesn't support 36V out of the box, I use a 12V or 24V in to 36V booster to run these pumps. These varios 8s still provide enough flow to turn over the whole system when on battery too. Then I also run a bunch of dymax cooling fans that turn off/on based on tank temp.
I am running a 200Ah LIFEPO4 battery with its own external charger made for that type of battery, plus its bluetooth so I can see charging/usage info if I need to. I disabled the internal charger in Kraken to use this type of charger/battery.
The Kraken has a max battery draw of 10A. So out of a 200aH battery, at max draw, I should be able to get up to 20 hours of run time! When Hydros detects its on battery mode, I actually change my flow modes to save power. All tanks have 2 gyres, so I turn off the bottom one and run the top gyre at a constant speed to keep gas exchange up. Then I alternate turning on each of my backup varios 8 return pumps every 10 mins. I have to do this since running both at the same time, plus running the gyres, would exceed the 10A battery draw limit. Plus the cooling fans will trigger if for some reason the tanks are too warm (summer) on battery too.
Overall its pretty sweet that I can keep my whole 12+ tank, 1000 gallon farm running for at least 16 hours with flow and cooling. Heat is another issue but typically I dont lose much heat since my farm room is very well insulated. I might add a second 200aH battery soon and double my runtime as well.
I am running a 200Ah LIFEPO4 battery with its own external charger made for that type of battery, plus its bluetooth so I can see charging/usage info if I need to. I disabled the internal charger in Kraken to use this type of charger/battery.
The Kraken has a max battery draw of 10A. So out of a 200aH battery, at max draw, I should be able to get up to 20 hours of run time! When Hydros detects its on battery mode, I actually change my flow modes to save power. All tanks have 2 gyres, so I turn off the bottom one and run the top gyre at a constant speed to keep gas exchange up. Then I alternate turning on each of my backup varios 8 return pumps every 10 mins. I have to do this since running both at the same time, plus running the gyres, would exceed the 10A battery draw limit. Plus the cooling fans will trigger if for some reason the tanks are too warm (summer) on battery too.
Overall its pretty sweet that I can keep my whole 12+ tank, 1000 gallon farm running for at least 16 hours with flow and cooling. Heat is another issue but typically I dont lose much heat since my farm room is very well insulated. I might add a second 200aH battery soon and double my runtime as well.
There is a DIY method I have been using for 36V pumps: https://forum.coralvuehydros.com/threads/diy-guide-36vdc-devices-on-kraken-force-ports.2111/
apb03
Active Member
I have a pretty crazy Kraken setup right now. I use 1 kraken to provide most of my backup power for my 1000+ gallon farm setup. I run 12+ tanks and a TON of Hydros Wave Engines across them for my flow needs. I have 20 icecap gyres, and 3 octo pulse 2 power heads for flow. Kraken powers all of these Wave Engines for me! My farm is actually split up into 2 main systems, each system uses 2 parallel return pumps for redundancy but also for backup. I run a main varios 10 off standard AC power (not on Kracken) and also a Varios 8 return pump as well. The Varios 8 pump is powered by Kraken but only run if I lose power. Since Kraken doesn't support 36V out of the box, I use a 12V or 24V in to 36V booster to run these pumps. These varios 8s still provide enough flow to turn over the whole system when on battery too. Then I also run a bunch of dymax cooling fans that turn off/on based on tank temp.
I am running a 200Ah LIFEPO4 battery with its own external charger made for that type of battery, plus its bluetooth so I can see charging/usage info if I need to. I disabled the internal charger in Kraken to use this type of charger/battery.
The Kraken has a max battery draw of 10A. So out of a 200aH battery, at max draw, I should be able to get up to 20 hours of run time! When Hydros detects its on battery mode, I actually change my flow modes to save power. All tanks have 2 gyres, so I turn off the bottom one and run the top gyre at a constant speed to keep gas exchange up. Then I alternate turning on each of my backup varios 8 return pumps every 10 mins. I have to do this since running both at the same time, plus running the gyres, would exceed the 10A battery draw limit. Plus the cooling fans will trigger if for some reason the tanks are too warm (summer) on battery too.
Overall its pretty sweet that I can keep my whole 12+ tank, 1000 gallon farm running for at least 16 hours with flow and cooling. Heat is another issue but typically I dont lose much heat since my farm room is very well insulated. I might add a second 200aH battery soon and double my runtime as well.
That's an amazing setup! Congrats on this, I really like how efficient and scalable this design is and that you found a way to get around the 36V limitation. Knowing what's possible my next setup would emulate this, for sure.
At this point, I'm committed to the XP8s with my Ecotech gear that I currently have, but I hold out hope someday that we get a Kraken PRO or something that puts out 36V power with 600-watt power supplies so that you can run the lights off it too. Something like that would certainly trigger a revamp of my build!
With 36v lights you really dont get much benefit running them through a kraken, really never turn them off and on. You could always get a HLG-600H-36 supply and make your own distribution center using something like this (https://a.co/d/74hormV) and then use these to connect to your lights (https://a.co/d/74hormV).
apb03
Active Member
Definitely thought about doing this for sure. It really is about eliminating my need for AC plugs and AC/DC converters. It's messy and frankly, I find it to be a hazard and can easily fail due to heat. Cramming in a dozen or more of these things behind even a nice controller board isn't ideal, and I bet there are thousands of rigs where they are just lying on the ground near the tank or sump.
I keep imagining the Kraken someday that takes two of those Meanwell LED drivers, one for the 12 + 24v and another for 36v, and everything is wired cleanly with full backup control in Hydros. One can dream!
Gellisjr1
Community Member
Do you have more than on tank set up? Curious why so many Hydros controllers? Seems like a crazy complicated system.Here is a photo of the Kraken on my controller board. I have 7 of the 24v ports and 2 of the 12v ports in use. The controller board is homemade. I used a different wood than normal and that is the reason for the rough pattern. The wifi wifi power strip power the sign and the KH Carer. I also have a XP8 but it is in a cabinet in the stand with a WEv2, XS and X3. The controllers on the left side of the controller board are a XD and X10. I also have 6 more controllers in the garage that are all a part of the same collective.
n2585722
2500 Club Member
I only have my 42 gallon hex tank setup at this time. I do have a 110 gallon tank also but it is not currently setup. I did have a Archon system and slowly replaced it with the Hydros. The Hydros system does not have modules that you add like the others. All modules are controllers and can operate individually or in a collective as if they were a large controller system. I control the normal heating, cooling, lighting and pumps at the tank. I now do auto alkalinity testing and dynamically dose All For Reef and a KH buffer depending on test results. I have ATO and AWC controller with the Hydros. I also control my RODI and mixing stations. It auto refills my DI reservoir. If my saltwater reservoir is low and the contents of the mixing tank is ready to use it will transfer the contents from the mixing tank to the saltwater reservoir. It then refills the mix tank with RODI from the RODI filter. All I have to do is add the salt mix to the mix tank and press a button when it is ready to use. So it is a complex setup.
Gellisjr1
Community Member
Thank you for your reply. I see, so the majority of those controllers are for the RODI & mixing station. I would like more information on how you are set up for doing dynamic dosing using the Hydros. I have been doing my own research watching YouTube videos, reading online and asking questions. There is not a lot of good information about setting the Hydros up for dynamic dosing. You really have to do a lot of digging and reading between the lines to figure out what equipment is needed. I am still not 100% clear but I have figured out a lot. Are you using the Hydros dosing pumps to dispense the All for Reef & Buffer? Are the Hydros dosing pumps controlled via the drive ports or Wifi? I actually found a company online (Marineandreef.com) that offers a dynamic dosing package using the X4 controller pro pack with the XP8, two Hydros dosing pumps & the Kamoer kH Carer and a few other items. I am really leaning toward buying this package. I am currently dosing All for Reef, Calcium, Magnesium & NP Bacto Balance for nutrient control. I am however still performing my own manual testing. I keep a pretty close eye on my pH, Alkalinity & Magnesium. With my work schedule I am only able to test my Alkalinity and pH once a day in the evening when I get home from work. I think dynamic dosing will help give me a lot more stability by being able to test the Alkalinity a few times a day rather than once a day being able to adjust the dosage based on testing. Wow mind blown
How well has the dynamic dosing been for you? Any thing I should be aware of getting into this before hand? Sorry for getting so long winded. I get a little carried away sometimes when I am geeking out. LOL. I look forward to your answers. Gordon.
n2585722
2500 Club Member
I use the X10 with the iV and a simple dosing pump for alkalinity testing and dosing the All For Reef and KH buffer. I use the simple dosing pump on one of the drive ports on the X10. The other drive port is used for the stirrer on the iV. The X10 pH port is also used in the iV for alkalinity testing. I did have this setup as a stand alone for a while for testing and it was doing the testing and dosing. The X10 also has a salinity port which I also use but it is also in the iV so the iV test pH, salinity and alkalinity on a schedule. I test 4 times a day at this time. I also have my water changes and dosing timed to happen after testing. I use Hanna testers for the other things such as calcium, magnesium, phosphate and others. Now the X10 is in the collective with the other controllers so I now have all ports except for 1 in use on it. Below is a screenshot of my testing page. The last 2 inputs pH and salinity is realtime reading from the probes in the iV and are not accurate between tests since it still has some of the test water in the container. These are normally hidden but I like having them visible so I can watch the values during the test. The sampled inputs will have a date and time of the last test. I also enter my manual test into the hydros. So some of the inputs are from my hanna testers. Today I changes some things so I tested alkalinity with the Hanna, Salifert and Fauna Marin test.Thank you for your reply. I see, so the majority of those controllers are for the RODI & mixing station. I would like more information on how you are set up for doing dynamic dosing using the Hydros. I have been doing my own research watching YouTube videos, reading online and asking questions. There is not a lot of good information about setting the Hydros up for dynamic dosing. You really have to do a lot of digging and reading between the lines to figure out what equipment is needed. I am still not 100% clear but I have figured out a lot. Are you using the Hydros dosing pumps to dispense the All for Reef & Buffer? Are the Hydros dosing pumps controlled via the drive ports or Wifi? I actually found a company online (Marineandreef.com) that offers a dynamic dosing package using the X4 controller pro pack with the XP8, two Hydros dosing pumps & the Kamoer kH Carer and a few other items. I am really leaning toward buying this package. I am currently dosing All for Reef, Calcium, Magnesium & NP Bacto Balance for nutrient control. I am however still performing my own manual testing. I keep a pretty close eye on my pH, Alkalinity & Magnesium. With my work schedule I am only able to test my Alkalinity and pH once a day in the evening when I get home from work. I think dynamic dosing will help give me a lot more stability by being able to test the Alkalinity a few times a day rather than once a day being able to adjust the dosage based on testing. Wow mind blown
Gordon.
Here is screenshots of the dosing outputs and the schedules used for dosing. The first 2 are the output setups for the All For Reef dosing pump and KH buffer dosing pump. Hydros does have a 3ml a minute dosing pump that is AC powered that will work on the XP8 that would also be good for dosing low amounts at a time. I would not use a dosing pump on a wifi power strip though. The X10 dosing pumps are considered smart doser's since you can change the flow rate and direction within the Hydros on those. I have then set to 10ml a minute in the forward direction.
Now on to the schedules. The first 2 screenshots is for my All For Reef dosing. The schedule type is dosing regimen. Dynamic dosing is turned on for this schedule. The input selected is the sampled alkalinity test done by the X10. I have the low point set to 7.5DKH and the high point set to 9.5DKH. What this is what you have the dose set for for the low point that is what will be dosed if it is at or below that point. The same for the high point if it is at or above it. The next setting is the total dose per pump at the low point for the entire schedule. It is not per individual dose. If dosed more than once in the schedule then it would be divided by the number of doses to get the per dose amount. The next setting is for the high point. The next setting is what is dosed if the reading is stale or invalid for some reason so it will at least dose that amount. This would be your normal safe amount you would want to dose. This will probably be in between the other to somewhere. If the reading is between the low and high set points the the dose is adjusted accordingly depending on the value. As you can tell I do not have a very large difference between them especially since the set points are quite a distance apart. The next setting is dose count. Since I want it to dose 4 times during the schedule it is set to 4. The doser count is 1 since there is only one doser but if you want to dose the same amount with several dosing pump you can have more than one and have a deleay between the dosing on each pump. The next setting is where you choose each doser you want in the schedule. The doser 1 speed will carry over from the speed set on the output here. The start time is set to 3:00 am. Since I want this to go 24 hours the end time is the same at 3:00 am. Next 2 settings determine if it runs every day or on certain days of the week. I want it to run every day. The depends on settings can be set to output where you can control if the schedule will run or not when a dosing time comes up. You can use this to stop the schedule from running depending on other inputs that control the listed output. I have this setup but will not go into detail here other than to say it is a way of turning off the schedule if there is an issue that would warrant doing that.
The next 4 screenshots are the 2 schedules I have setup for dosing the KH buffer. I have a separate schedule for day and night dosing since it does not require as much of a dose at night to keep it stable. Since these are very similar to the first one I won't go over the settings other than to say the start and end times are different since these are 12 hours each. This makes up the full 24 hours using the 2 schedules. The night schedule has lower total doses and that is the dose for the 12 hours of each schedule.
I have a build thread on R2R that has a lot of information on how I am using the Hydros. I think it starts on page 6 if I am not mistaken. You can get to it by clicking my tank thread banner in one of my post. Let me know if you have questions
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