Arduino Controller

I've been reading through some old threads that mentioned Arduino's but didn't want to necromance old threads so thought I would post and see who I can use for resources once I kick off my next project of building an Arduino controller...

I've got my Apex Gold, but I am going to build a controller for my aquaponic greenhouse to monitor the conditions of my fish tank / aquaponics system / greenhouse temps / eventually tie is in to the battery bank that will get charged off the solar panels, and be able to switch over to grid tie if the battery power gets low (eventually... don't have electric ran to the greenhouse yet, just running an extension cord for now, probably won't get the solar panels built until this winter to power the battery bank either).

I have never looked in to programming arduino / raspberry pi so it sounds like arduino's are a little easier than raspberry pi so I figured that is where I'm going to start... then we'll see if I run in to a case where arduino won't handle what I want to do then upgrade to raspberry pi if I decide I need to... but at least for now I'll get my feet wet with arduino. I ordered a bunch of parts this morning so now it is time to wait a week or so until I get them all then I can dive in.