The Aquarius Ultima Controllers can be purchased as a Basic unit or a Professional unit. They can be supplied with or without a web connection.
Before going into the differences between the Basic Ultima and the Pro Ultima, we best explain the significance of the web connection. Having a web connection allows you to see on any device anywhere that there is an internet connection what you would see on the controller screen if you were standing in front of it and more.
It allows you to,
This list displays the two important components of an Ultima,
Control of chemical additions to a pool resulting from a voltage detected by a probe is the basis of just about all types of pool chemical controllers. The Aquarius Ultimas can store information up to five years and it’s that information that gives you the power to manage your pool and this is what makes web connected Ultimas special.
All Units
This tells you that the unit can handle a lot of devices and that it comes with a lot of connection options for those devices, even if you don’t understand what any of it means.
Of course, if you understand PLC programing all of this makes sense, and the operation of an Aquarius Ultima is a lot easier to appreciate. Learning PLC programing isn't expensive, but it does take a bit of time. I have found PLC Dojo to be very good.
Ultima Basic – no web connection
Most suited to onsite operators who are confident in what they are doing and who are in constant contact with their pool.
You will need to be confident with operating with ORP as a measure of pool sanitation.
You can access the same information that you can remotely by downloading onto a USB. However, it is far easier to be able to check everything, download information on a laptop or a desktop in your office than it is while trying to check the unit bent over in the corner in an area underneath a pool deck which some bright-eyed architect thought was a good spot for the equipment. When you download to a USB you get all of the information (and there is a lot of it). With a web download you can filter to the time period and to the specific information you require.
Ultima Basic – web connected.
The web connection releases the power of the Ultima controllers. This unit has been my choice for a minimum level requirement for any school pool that we have serviced, given that the sites were attended only once a week. I would log on to Aqua Reporter and check the pools first thing in the morning (5am) and again early afternoon. This check takes less than 60 seconds to look at the chart for the dosing probe (FAC or ORP) and the pH stability for the last 24 hours. These check times gave us the ability to react in a timely fashion before any problems occurred. Obliviously the check takes longer if something doesn't look right, but that's the idea.
Having that ability gave me peace of mind and full confidence in our service. It certainly enhanced the standard of our service business.
I would have killed to have these on all the apartment building pools we serviced.
Ultima Pro – no web connection
Again, this non-web connected controller is suitable for an onsite operator who is confident in operating without it. It’s very easy to add web connection down the track.
This unit comes with the additional
Which gives you the ability to add many more monitoring devices that you may wish to easily compare. Examples are shown further down the page.
Ultima Pro – web connected.
When you first start working with the Ultimas you begin by just dipping you toe in the water. As you learn how the unit operates and begin to recognise what you are seeing remotely and understand what it is telling you, you will start to ask yourself what more can these things do?
When you ask that question, you have broken through the door to developing you pool management skills and knowledge. That’s what happened to me.
Every bit of information you can get will assist in containing costs. A good domestic pool service technician will recognise when something, no matter how minor, just isn’t right and it’s that ability that will save a client money, provided the problem is fixed of course.
It is no different at the pool management level. If you are not hands on daily, then you need access to information. You need to be able to see that minor little thing that’s going wrong and get it fixed before it becomes serious. The Ultima Pro can give you that ability.
For example.
Q. How do you know if the filter pump hasn’t stopped running for some reason?
A. The Ultima is showing it has ‘flow’.
All good?
Wrong!
If there is a sample line to the unit with its own pump, then all you are seeing in the water circulating from the main filter line back to the filter line. That doesn’t mean the filtration pump is running. Yes, that happened to me.
The solution is to connect the flow meter to your Ultima Controller. If you have a Site Lab SL1168 you can connect it via a 4-20mA current loop. If you have another brand, just check the specifications. Once connected you will be able to set an alarm to text or email you when the flow drops below a certain rate.
You will start asking the “What if I can....?” question. Using the connectivity of the Ultima Pro you can add, for example,
…………. which is where all those extra connections come in.
Ask us if something can be connected and we will respond.
Aquarius Ultima and Operational Management
All pools need to be serviced. This an area where an Ultima Controller can play a much larger role in utilizing its monitoring power just by looking at the possibilities at the design stage.
The greater the number of monitoring devices that can be included in a system the less reliant a manager becomes on the information received through other means or the greater the ability to confirm alternatively sourced information. The devices need to be located in such a way as to give you information about every stage of a pool filtration and sanitation system. For example, you know that the water the Ultima is monitoring is reflective of the water in the pool. Where does that water come from?
If I owned a commercial swimming pool, I would want to be able to contain the costs in every area of its operation. More so, if I owned several pools. Knowing your costs and being able to monitor them are two different things. You would have data available to aid in comparisons between pools. Want help, then that's us.
Say for example, you wanted to monitor your water loss. Water loss costs you the water cost itself, chemicals if it’s leaking and heating if the pool is heated. To do this through your Ultima Unit all you would need is a water meter on your backwash tank outlet line (or the back wash line itself, if feasible) and a water meter on your top-up line. Both can be connected to the controller and there is the information you need when you look at your computer. I don’t know of any site that has a way of monitoring backwash water, but why not? You would then know your loss from evaporation or be alerted to a leak.
A look at the User Manual Rev 0 will give you the Aquarius Operating Manual and, a very good idea of why these controllers are so good.
Having a web connected Aquarius Ultima is the start of great management.