Reef Octopus VarioS 0-10V Advanced Pump Control

Connect your Reef Octopus VarioS pump to a 3rd party controller by using an available 0-10 volt port for advanced control.

Are you looking to make your new Reef Octopus VarioS pump work with your Apex by Neptune Systems?

In this video we will concentrate on connecting your VarioS pump to a 3rd party controller by using an available 0-10 volt port. This makes the Varios pump very versatile and almost universally compatible with most system controllers like the Neptune Systems’s Apex or the Reef Angel. I will show you how to program your Neptune System’s Apex controller to take advantage of the advanced controllability of the VarioS skimmer and water pumps.

By the end of the video, you will know how to produce surge effects, ramp the VarioS water pump up and down and even cover some unique settings to use with the VarioS skimmer pump.

Now, this video will only cover the configuration and programming of your VarioS pump with an Apex controller from Neptune Systems. It assumes that you already have a fully configured and working Apex Controller as well as a free Variable Speed port. You should be familiar with the creation of virtual and regular outlets. If you have not configured your Apex controller, a really good place to start is Neptune Systems website. They have an amazing website full of support articles, videos as well a support forum with a thriving community of experienced staff and fellow Apex users. You can visit them at www.neptunesystems.com.

To connect your VarioS pump to the system controller, you will need to plug one end of a connection cable into the 3.5mm jack on the side of the VarioS controller and the opposite end with the ethernet jack into an available 0-10v port on your existing system controller.

Now that we have the pump and controller connected to our Neptune System’s Apex, let’s get started with “Reef Octopus VarioS Pump: Advanced Controlling”.

Who Controls the Pumps? 

Before we start to configure our pumps, we need to figure out which outlet our pump is connected to. The variable speed outlet on your Apex can control two interfaces at the same time. That is the reason why we suggest the use of a Y cable to connect the system controller to the VarioS pump controller. To start, make note of which Variable speed port you connected the cable to. If you connected your cable to Variable Speed port 1 and 2, then we know our pump is going to be controlled by either variable speed outlet 1 or outlet 2. With that in mind, we must first turn off both outlets and then turn them back on one at a time. Just make note of which outlet turns your pump on and off as that will be the outlet that we will be working with.

How Low Can the Pumps Go?

Plumbing setup has influence over the speed of the pump.  The more elbows and corners water has to move through, the harder it is for the pump to push water.  Therefore, even if the pump can push water as low as 5% speed, it wont necessarily work with your setup.  We need to figure out what is the lowest speed our pump will work in our configuration.  

To do so, just turn on the pump and manually lower the speed slowly.  Keep an eye on the pump itself and when the pump is no longer pushing water into your system, make note of that speed.  Remember that speed when you do your pump programming.  Be sure to never go below that speed level.  Repeat the process with every pump as the plumbing may be different from pump to pump.  

The Schedule

Our goal for this video is to create a complete flow schedule using two VarioS Pumps in a closed loop.   We will create a combination of profiles, virtual and regular outlets to allow both pumps to work together to create some amazing flow patterns.

We will create ramp up and ramp down profiles that can be used by both pumps in offsetting times. During the morning hours, while one pump ramps up, the other will ramp down. Then midway through the day, we will change the flow and have the pumps pulse and create crashing waves in the middle of the tank. In the afternoon, we will have the pumps return to offsetting ramp up and ramp down and during the night, we will use the same ramp up and ramp down motion but at a much slower frequency and reduced intensity to give our corals and fish a break.

• 8 am – 1 pm: Offsetting ramp up and ramp down flow.

• 1 pm – 2 pm: Synchronized pulsing.

• 2 pm – 10 pm: Offsetting ramp up and ramp down flow.

• 10 pm – 8 am: Night mode.

Setting Five Profile Types

The first thing we need to do is create the profiles. Profiles can be looked as different flow patterns. Their purpose is to tell the pump how to run. They are not meant to tell the pump when to run (that is done by the schedule on the outlet) but mainly to instruct the pump on what pattern to run to create a particular flow. We will need a total of 5 different profiles.

A ramp up profile and a ramp down profile for the day. A pulse profile to use during the early afternoon, and finally a ramp up profile and a ramp down profile for night time.

Day Profiles:

• Name: CLDay_Up
• Type: Ramp
• Ramp time: 10
• Start intensity: 30
• End intensity: 80

• Name: CLDay_Down
• Type: Ramp
• Ramp time: 1
• Start intensity: 80
• End intensity: 30

Night Profiles:

• Name: CLNight_Up
• Type: Ramp
• Ramp time: 10
• Start intensity: 30
• End intensity: 50

• Name: CLNight_Dow
• Type: Ramp
• Ramp time: 10
• Start intensity: 30
• End intensity: 50

Pulsing Profile:

• Type: CL_Pump
• Synchronize: No
• Divide by ten: No
• Initial off time: 0
• On time: 60
• Off time: 60
• Minimum intensity: 50
• Maximum intensity: 80

Configuring Virtual Outlets

The next step is to create virtual outlets. A virtual outlet is an outlet that exists only within the apex programming but does not have a physical presence.   There is no EB8 or module that has a physical representation of the outlet. Virtual outlets are used mainly as switches that virtually turn on and off and run together with regular physical outlets to create more complex schedule patterns that cannot be achieved by just using regular outlets and profiles.

In our case, we are creating a virtual switch that will run a profile when on and a different profile when off. If we use our pumps as example, if our virtual outlet is on, the left pump will run the Day_Up profile while the right pump will run the Day_Down profile and when the virtual outlet turns off, then our left pump will run the Day_Down profile and our right pump will run the Day_Up profile. This process will repeat at whatever rate we set the virtual outlet to turn on and off. 

So, We will need to create FIVE virtual outlets, two for the day and two for the night and one for pulse.

Day Virtual Outlet: 

• Name: VIRTCL_DayOSC
• Icon: Up/Down Arrow
• Type: Advanced
• Log: No

OSC 000:00/010:00/010:00 Then ON
If Time 13:00 to 14:00 Then OFF
If Time 22:00 to 08:00 Then OFF

Day Virtual Outlet (Default)

• Name: VIRTCL_Day
• Icon: Up/Down Arrow
• Type: Advanced
• Log: No

Set ON
If Time 13:00 to 14:00 Then OFF
If Time 22:00 to 08:00 Then OFF

Pulse Virtual Outlet

• Name: VIRTCL_Pulse
• Icon: Up/Down Arrow
• Type: Advanced
• Log: No

Set ON
If Time 14:00 to 13:00 Then OFF

Night Virtual Outlet

• Name: VIRTCL_NtOSC
• Icon: Up/Down Arrow
• Type: Advanced
• Log: No

OSC 000:00/0010:00/0010:00 Then ON
If Time 08:00 to 22:00 Then OFF

Night Virtual Outlet (Default)

• Name: VIRTCL_Nt
• Icon: Up/Down Arrow
• Type: Advanced
• Log: No

Set ON
If Time 08:00 to 22:00 Then OFF

Configuring Physical Outlets

The final step is to configure our Variable Speed outlets.  These are the two outlets where each of our two pumps are connected to.  These outlets will execute a schedule that will combine both profiles and virtual outlets to create the flow we are looking for.  We will need to create a left outlet as well as a right one.

Right Outlet:

• Name: CLVarios_L
• Icon: Left/Right Arrow
• Type: Advanced
• Log: Yes

If Outlet VIRTCL_Day = ON Then CLDay_Up
If Outlet VIRTCL_Pulse = ON Then CL_Pulse
If Outlet VIRTCL_Nt = ON Then CLNight_Up
If Outlet VIRTCL_DayOSC = ON Then CLDay_Down
If Outlet VIRTCL_NtOSC = ON Then CLNight_Dow
If FeedA 000 Then OFF

Left Outlet:

Name: XF130_Left

Icon: Left/Right Arrow

Type: Advanced

Log: Yes

If Outlet VIRTCL_Day = ON Then CLDay_Down
If Outlet VIRTCL_Pulse = ON Then CL_Pulse
If Outlet VIRTCL_Nt = ON Then CLNight_Dow
If Outlet VIRTCL_DayOSC = ON Then CLDay_Up
If Outlet VIRTCL_NtOSC = ON Then CLNight_Up
If FeedA 000 Then OFF

Controlling a Protein Skimmer

An advantage of using a VarioS pump on a protein skimmer is that you can tell the skimmer to speed up or slow down based on a program.  Say you want to slow down your pump when you feed your tank.  All you need to do is program your Neptune Systems APEX controller to tell the skimmer to slow down when the Feed Mode is engage.  

To accomplish this we first need to make sure that our skimmer pump is connected to a Variable Speed Port just like the pumps in the Closed Loop example above.  

Setting a Skimmer Profile

We will need to create a profile that will tell the skimmer pump to run at a lower speed.  Since we want to run the pump in a constant lower speed, we will need to trick the controller into thinking that the pump is pulsing BUT, we will program it to pulse at the same speed for minimum and maximum intensity.  Therefore, the pump will be running in constant speed all the time.

Skimmer Profile:

• Type: Skmr_Feed
• Synchronize: No
• Divide by ten: No
• Initial off time: 0
• On time: 60
• Off time: 60
• Minimum intensity: 30
• Maximum intensity: 30

Configuring Skimmer Outlet

The final step is to configure your existing skimmer outlet to include a Feed statement that instead of turning the skimmer OFF, it will instead execute the profile we just created.

If FeedA 000 Then Skmr_Feed

Now, every time you press the feed mode on your controller, the skimmer will ramp down to 30% intensity!

Please use the information you learned as a base or starting point and feel free to experiment more. Go ahead and create more profiles and have the pump change flow patters multiple times during the day. Your pump is now able to do things that it could not do before so have fun with it… the sky is the limit.

If you are experiencing issues with your Reef Octopus VarioS controller or pump, or have technical questions that you wish to ask, please head over to www.coralvue.com/support and submit a support ticket. If you are in need of replacement parts, please head over to www.coralvue.com for a complete list of all available parts.