There are an awful lot of posts saying that they don't work. The two tanks that I setup for friends that have an Apex had similar issues and the owners decided to remove them due to drifting and the constant maintenance.
Salinity Probes that work with the Apex
- Thread starter C_mo97
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There are an awful lot of posts saying that they don't work. The two tanks that I setup for friends that have an Apex had similar issues and the owners decided to remove them due to drifting and the constant maintenance.
Miller535
Valuable Member
There are an awful lot of people who say they work. And I'm one of them. And have been using for over a year.
dreamcatcherr9
Well-Known Member
I am in the fence of purchasing one for my next build. I enjoy reading these threads, but it doesn’t help! It’s still seems split down the middle. I don’t want to control equipment, just monitor for power loss, failure, and the probes would have been nice if they worked!!? Just still unsure of a $800 investment that doesn’t help the tank functionally (filtration, lighting, water movement).
Miller535
Valuable Member
While I am one of the people who say the salinity probes work. Even aside from that, an Apex is worth it for ph monitoring which almost everyone would agree works very well, as well as being very reliable at temp control. Sure you can buy a ink bird heater controller (that imo won't last as long as the apex), but is the ink bird going to turn your lights off if the tank gets to hot? Is it going to give you easy feed modes for pumps? And alert you of these things even when you're away from your house? Just some things to think about
zoomonster
Valuable Member
The best I can say is my salinity probe works when it works... I've been using Apex since the Aquacontroller II and I have had more than my share of problems with all of it. Except when it decides to start swinging low or high it provides a good at a glance reading. But like I have said since I got my Apex gold and later two of the new junky plastic orange ones the salinity probe is of NO other use because of constant reliability issues even with proper placement, calibration and cleaning. I would never trust it to actually control anything. PH, ORP and temp work pretty well when kept clean and calibrated.
MikeyG
Active Member
You took the words out of my mouth.
I love the Neptune platform but over the past year they have replaced 3 components of it.
This platform is not cheap, so expecting a little more dependability is not too much to ask
dreamcatcherr9
Well-Known Member
So would you personally recommend to anyone? Was it worth they investment? Was the peace of mind actually worth the value?
MikeyG
Active Member
Considering the broader capabilities of the system I would recommend the platform especially if you have a lot of devices such as pumps, ATO, dosing, lighting controls, reactors, nutrient export systems such as refugium and algae scrubbers.
Having the ability to turn things on/off based on multiple variables is nicely done by Apex.
Therefore, I can give them a pass on the inaccuracy of the probe mainly because I have other means of measuring salinity.
Having the ability to turn things on/off based on multiple variables is nicely done by Apex.
Therefore, I can give them a pass on the inaccuracy of the probe mainly because I have other means of measuring salinity.
If I had to do it over again I don’t think I would buy a apex. Neptune apex is old technology.diferent manufactures are using their own apps to control lights/pumps/dosing
I purchased the Neptune to monitor my salinity but the salinity probe can’t be trusted.
The dos was great but the new ecotech is much better.
The ATK is a bad product. Apex released the ATK2 to fix some of the problems from the original.
The auto feeder is a bad product. I had two and now I am back to using the $20 eheim feeder that I have never had a problem.
The wav pumps I personally had 3 wav pumps replaced.
For my heater I use a $40 inkbird controller.
Even Neptune tells you to connect your heaters to a separate inkbird controller.
My lights no longer connect to my apex
I purchased the Neptune to monitor my salinity but the salinity probe can’t be trusted.
The dos was great but the new ecotech is much better.
The ATK is a bad product. Apex released the ATK2 to fix some of the problems from the original.
The auto feeder is a bad product. I had two and now I am back to using the $20 eheim feeder that I have never had a problem.
The wav pumps I personally had 3 wav pumps replaced.
For my heater I use a $40 inkbird controller.
Even Neptune tells you to connect your heaters to a separate inkbird controller.
My lights no longer connect to my apex
U
User1
Guest
I would recommend one. It is worth the money just for the heartbeat / reach back notification if nothing else. The simple truth is that they have been in this business now for over 20 years and there is a reason for that. It works. Doesn't mean there are not issues but it does mean they have a pretty good track record. If they didn't they wouldn't be in business. Simple as that. Yes, I'm biased because I own the ecosystem and have since 1999 so not going to lie. However, I've also used other products for a few years such as the Reef Angel. Another product I'd recommend. Why? Because it works and works well.
There is so much more than a thread on the internet discussing the salinity probes on the Apex. We see the thread asking which works best or complaining but not everyone sees the invisible post that says it is working. How many post that it is working great? Not really an important thread at the end of the day. And people here saying it works for them...well, they get ignored.
I'll admit it is the running joke in the Neptune community. So much even Terrance spoke about it in the Feb 20th Live Stream. But to say the whole system is a joke, or cheap, or bad because of it just means you are misinformed.
I'd even recommend GHL even though I don't own the product. I can see it is well built. I can see it works within our community. It also has been around a while clearly for a reason. It works and has a following. There is room for both major controllers in this market and their respected automated test systems.
Week of my salinity probe. Seems to be working ok....the dip is my ATO being low (off) and my sump water level being low. Note: I could set up a alert/monitor to email me but...I'm lazy and haven't done that. Edit: probe is 2 years old.
My problem is that several parties have allied themselves to create a situation were really only one controller is dominant on the US market, all the others that try are just ants eating the left over crumbs. Even the mega stores that carry more than one controller will steer you towards buying one particular brand and the forums while full of objective stories and advice are loaded with one brands employees and their objective seems to be to push their companies product and some people even go so far as to make a case that low expectations on reliability are normal with any controller and burned out items and wonky probes are normal. Sadly many people now believe that ALL controllers unreliable, which is simply not true! Most of the European brands will run for 10 years without a single major issue.
It's very sad because innovations in most electronic device has more than doubled in the last four years while Aquarium controllers have just about stood still during that period and will continue to remain stagnant in the USA because there is absolutely no incentive for the US market leader to make any forward movement unless a sales competitor comes into the market and that's not possible because the big distribution networks are not favorable to them.
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U
User1
Guest
I hear what you are saying but that isn't Neptunes's fault. GHL or others could step up and market more to make their presence known or felt. Pretty sure the Reef Keeper was marketed heavily and stocked on many a online vendor yet still failed. You raise a good point about crumbs because I really don't know what sort of market we are looking at in relationship to return on investment.
It also isn't helping the hobby any with all of the in fighting going on with companies not willing to support above said controllers. Neither GHL or Neptune. Everyone wants their own app, controller, and dongle. It isn't helping the hobby at all. Absolutely no integration and everyone thinking their way is best be it bluetooth, wifi, cable, or whatever.
Anyway rant aside hope all is well.
I wish I could put you in contact with one of the two controller CEO's that I know. You would be shocked to know what kind of pressure has been put to bear on the various outlets and other "ahem" places to make sure that the other products are not highlighted or pushed for sale in any way possible. As the owner of Aquatronica told me, "It is impossible to sell our products directly in the USA". Reef Keeper was available but once you started to ask about it you always got steered in another direction. Hence why the company closed and left disgusted over the industries mafia like style.
GainesvilleReef
Active Member
In my opinion no. It's very hard to get ghl modules in the us. I do believe that some of this is do to Neptune influence. I'm very frustrated because Neptune no longer listens to its customers and are quite arrogant about it. I have 5 Apex's and would replace them all just to be able to buy from someone else.
dreamcatcherr9
Well-Known Member
Thank you. It’s comments and threads like this that are very helpful in decision making process.
Thank you to C_mo97
Sorry for tagging along and slightly highjacking your thread.
AbjectMaelstroM
Valuable Member
If you're into Diy there's Reef Pi. Opensource controller based on a raspberry pi. There are even people building plug and play systems (Robo-Tank) and pre-made, streamlined boards to make the build cleaner/easier. You can check out the 600+ page thread in the Diy forum here on R2R.
For example my setup has 16 controlled power outlets, provides 3 temp probes that control my BRS titanium heaters with in 0.1F, monitors ph controls the schedule and color/intensity of my viparspectra lights. It controls my ato by reading the sump water level via optical sensor or float and monitors the ato container and tells me when it sends to be refilled. It also controls my doser. It sends alerts to your phone (ie. Ato ran too long or is empty, temp out of range, ph out of range etc). All built for less than half the price of the base Apex unit. Value is pretty hard to beat.
Worth taking a look.
Edit: also, while it doesn't have logic level programing like the Apex, you can use custom macros and timers (or combination of both) to do essentially the same thing (ie feed mode macro, water change macro.. Etc)
dreamcatcherr9
Well-Known Member
Why would it not operate normally if pump is off?
Ok, why would the water that the probe is in change salinity just because the water is not flowing?
My probe does not change value depending on flow, so I am wondering if something is different with your setup.
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