Limits and Faults of the Controller
During our long trial, the system never showed any shortcomings. From the manufacturing point of view we cannot point out any relevant issue. The system works, it’s easy to turn off, the acoustic signal is exceptionally useful.
But the Hydor Smart Level Control could have a limit that might be relevant to some of you: the 1.5 cm gap between Min and Max in some particular cases is really too much.
The correspondent salinity variation is NOT a problem, any tank should not have any issues dealing with a 1% salinity swing.
What matter is the sump water level, in case the controller is used in a marine tank with a mono-pump skimmer, known to be sensible to water level changes.
The problem would be limited in the case of a double-pump skimmer, a special mono-pump one, or with a return pump compartment in the sump, as we have already seen in the Vertex sump.
In a freshwater tank sump there really shouldn’t be any kind of concern.
For all these reasons I consider the 1.5 cm gap more like a characteristic than a real problem, even though it can cause some troubles in specific set ups, as the skimmer would work with an unstable water level that could lead to a inefficient system.
In case you are going to use the controller in an open sump, I suggest you adjust your skimmer at the maximum level, not minimum or in between, to avoid over skimming when the level increases.
Conclusions
The Hydor Smart Level Control is an almost perfect automatic top off system. Functioning with temperature changes, it doesn’t risk to be blocked by snails, salt or calcium deposits, like it often happens to floats. An ever working system that doesn’t have any shortcomings.
All of it is also offered at a really competitive price. We are talking about an Auto Top Off system which only costs 65.50 euros, it is also currently available from Amazon at the special price of 56,90 euros.
During our test it proved itself to be faultless, it always functioned without troubles, with the only possible weakness of the 1.5 cm working gap, which could cause issues to the skimming process of a mono-pump system in an open sump. This is the only detail that keeps me from assigning the 4.5 stars to the quality. However, it is a highly recommended purchase!
Hydor Smart Level Control
| Manufacture Quality |  |
| Quality |  |
| Quality/Price Relationship | |
