Is an apex a must or can u maintain a good reef without it ?

[reefwiser]

Kasa power strips are great automation beginner package.
https://www.kasasmart.com/us/products/smart-plugs
You can set timers name the sockets turn things on and off with a smartphone app. An do it remotely also.

 

[MartinWaite]

Apex is an expensive waste of money unless you are away from home a lot and there is nobody to look after your system for you. I personally wouldn't give apex a penny of my money.

 

[Mark Gray]

I ran tanks for over 38 years with out an Apex. Then I bought an Apex, n ow I will not run a tank without one. They save me time they give me a lot of info. I have 2 systems now

 

[n2585722]

My ato pump failed on me probably Tuesday sometime. I woke up this morning to my return pump sucking air. An apex would have alerted me to the increased salinity.

I don't think the salinity reading is going to swing enough for this but you can have a low level float switch trigger when the water level gets too low. Most controllers have switch inputs you can use for this.

 

[DzidtheReefer]

I know people who have kept great reefs without one and i know people who run great reefs with them. All depends what your looking for.
I have a 60 gallon thats been thriving and all ive been doing is 10gallon water changes every 2 weeks. But now since i am moving it to a 125 and have all this extra equpiment going in like an ATO, doser, and extra heaters, i want the added security that the apex will alert me if anything goes wrong. Only reason why i am getting one is for the security of it. Sucks that i had to splurge 1000bux for an apex and DOS but im hopeful that it will save me in the longrun.

 

[Jonnyreef2121]

Ran without one for over 2 years. I just recently bought one and I dont think I would ever be without one again. Being able to know exactly what's going on at any point is incredible, but being alerted to avoid a potential catastrophe is absolutely priceless.

 

[Jonnyreef2121]

Ran without one for over 2 years. I just recently bought one and I dont think I would ever be without one again. Being able to know exactly what's going on at any point is incredible, but being alerted to avoid a potential catastrophe is absolutely priceless.

 

[Jonnyreef2121]

Ran without one for over 2 years. I just recently bought one and I dont think I would ever be without one again. Being able to know exactly what's going on at any point is incredible, but being alerted to avoid a potential catastrophe is absolutely priceless.

 

[russell13]

You don’t need running shoes to jog. But it helps a lot. I guess it depends on how much you have wrapped up in your system

 

[Wiskey]

I've had controllers since the original Aquacontroller Jr. Do you need it? No. Would I ever run a tank without one again? No.

It controls my flow, my ATO, my lights, my return, heaters, chillers, dosing, it makes my tank much more stable, and alerts me to problems with leak sensors, sump too low sensors, sump too high sensors, dual temp monitors, flow sensors for my chiller feed and return, it kills the return (with Kalk) if the PH gets too high, the whole bit. It even turns on a light under the stand when I open the doors.

But,.. I work in IT, so I know anything computer related can fail. If it failed my flow pumps (which are plugged directly into the wall) would fall back to 50% to keep the tank going till I get home, then I can plug the returns into a power strip, use my heater's thermostat (which is used as a backup anyway) and use a timer for the lights, and I'd top off manually until it's fixed. I have a backup of the config to restore.

I've never had a failure in the main system (knock on wood), but you always have to think of that.

Whiskey

 

[ReefWithCare]

Inkbird temp controller hooked up to fans and heater...

Alexa enabled power strips to handle automated feeding and anything you want to hook up to a timer. The routines feature is key here.

Wyze webcams for active monitoring of tank, sump, and even temperature if you put your inkbird somewhere smart!

I was wondering about putting a Wyze in the cabinet. It holds up in all that humidity?

 

[ReefWithCare]

Inkbird temp controller hooked up to fans and heater...

Alexa enabled power strips to handle automated feeding and anything you want to hook up to a timer. The routines feature is key here.

Wyze webcams for active monitoring of tank, sump, and even temperature if you put your inkbird somewhere smart!

Can you send over some links to some smart power strips? The ones I have looked out are deeply flawed in that they reset during a power outage. I lose power here about 3-5 times a year so I need something that won’t reset on me.

 

[ReefWithCare]

Watch this video and see an amazing big tank from someone who manually doses, doesn’t use an apex, manually tops off, and never buys frags from an LFS.

I wouldn’t be surprised if she doesn’t QT [emoji28]

 

[Wh00pS32]

Watch this video and see an amazing big tank from someone who manually doses, doesn’t use an apex, manually tops off, and never buys frags from an LFS.

I wouldn’t be surprised if she doesn’t QT [emoji28]

Love her attitude towards reefing.
Only feeds flake and reef roids as well.

 

[TetoCCB]

Yea those are jebao power heads LOL..

Jebao Rocks!!...

 

[Elder1945]

Manual ATO is to far for me LOL. I love controller's as they do have a use and are quite handy.

As more and more "auto" testers hit the market the more controllers become a easier way to have success in this hobby.

They are 100% not needed as my Reefer 450 can attest to but this is attributed to consistand water changes and daily care.

Controllers whether be Apex,GHL,Ekoral and others are worth the investment IMHO.

 

[Scooter90254]

Seems like more of a toy for your tank then a piece of equipment. It’s fun to know what’s going on all the time and control everything from your phone.

Now If the new system that measures and control the big 3 works then that will change everything. IMO

 

[RobW]

At the end of the day I think it boils down to how dedicated of a schedule you can keep up with. If you have enough free time on your hands and dont mind manually monitoring and taking care of your system.. by all means you can be successful with your tank. If you have a few extra bucks you can part with and put an Apex into place to help you out. Go for it. If you are able to build an auto water change system, that's even better. Takes some of the heavy task of maintaining a system off your plate. I'm building a new system at the moment. I will be using an apex to monitor everything. I am also using litermeters for auto water change and top off. My system will change out 3.75 gallons a day, 5 days a week. Plumb to a 75 gallon saltwater storage tank. Then when it is off on the weekends I can mix new saltwater on a Saturday morning and have it start pumping again come Monday after the saltwater has had time to mix and do its thing over the weekend. It will also auto top off from a 20 gallon rodi reserve tank.

 

[408Dartfish]

I believe if you good attention to details you don’t need a controller. If you stay on a great maintenance schedule keeping a reef tank is simple. I’ve been running my Redsea E-260 nearly a year and I haven’t had a time yet a controller would help me out yet. Unless the controller could rotate ball valves for me.

 

[Butuz]

I use ekoral controller, super user friendly. Have a reefer 250 too.

In general, just as you dont need a car to get to places or dont need alcohol to have fun, it certainly helps to get there faster/easier. Same with controllers and tanks!

 

[CDavmd]

Of course not. I’ve run this system since 2006. Water changes, kalk in my ATO, a pinpoint pH meter, and a couple heaters with their thermostats.

...but it sure is cool and I’ve added one to my new build. It does give me peace of mind when I’m traveling and away from home which happens a lot.

 

[MnFish1]

I have one. Do you need it ? No. Does it make some things easier? yes. Does it cause other potential issues? Yes.

The easier things: Shutting off things during maintenence. Being able to see your temperature, pH, etc from anywhere (when on vacation), etc. Being able to shut off things if the tank gets too hot (i.e a heater malfunction), Monitoring Power usage, Managing other equipment with one unit (pumps, lights, etc)

The harder things: making sure the probes are calibrated. There can be problems with networking depending. If the unit malfunctions you can have major problems (happened to me). I find that the software Apex uses is no where near as good as the software to control my radions for example. You still need 'back up systems' incase something is not working properly..

There are probably other issues in both categories - in general its a positive - I use it much less than when I first bought it - mostly to monitor pH and temp (the ORP probe wasn't that helpful - and the salinity probe is hard to calibrate - keep working (and its easy to use a refractometer). I also no longer use any of the modules used to control pumps, lights, etc - but just use the controller provided with each piece of equipment.