another Thinking of making the switch to ProfiLux

[Trivan]

I've been a long time user of the Apex and in my opinion seen stability decrease as new products/software introduced. Not serious until last night. I had a blackout late last night, house generator kicked on, so I went back to sleep. It is why I got the generator right? Woke up and my apex was dead, outlets which were suppose to fall back to on were off. At this point I'm not sure if it's a software or hardware issue. I am waiting for support to get in and have my set up on extension cords and mostly disconnected from the Apex. I travel almost every week, so I was lucky to be home when this happened.

I've been thinking about switching to the ProFiLux 4 since the announcement, and would like to hear of other peoples experience on switching. I have a large Apex set up so this will be quite an investment my current system on 4 powerbars has :

• 3 pumps (DT, Skimmer, and manifold)
• Doser
• Automated feeder
• Automated water change
• Automated ATO, ATO filler from RO tank and Ro/DI maker
• UV light
• 2 heaters
• Calcium reactor w/MasterFlex (so will need 2 pH probes)
• Chiller
• Refugium lights
• Skimmer neck cleaner
• 2 MP40s in the DT
• various float sensors to control water changes and alarms, 5 in total

I've read many posts on the quality, but would like to hear about people experience making the switch. I've very versed in the programing of the Apex so that has never been a plus/minus for me.

 

[reefwiser]

I have used aquarium controllers since the first ones came out. I do industrial PLC work for a living and controllers are a part of my daily work life. You can do everything up there in your list with a GHL unit. Somethings like the auto feeder if that is a Apex you could wire it to work with the digital outputs of the Profilux or get the Ehiem unit that works with the Profilux. You can have as many ph probes as you want it comes with them built in and you can add them like a PC card in a computer. You can also resign the function of a probe connector to ph if you wish. I have 3 powerbars in my full setup with 3 dosers

 

[MRodrigues1991]

Following as i am looking into the profilux as well...

 

[Trivan]

I have used aquarium controllers since the first ones came out. I do industrial PLC work for a living and controllers are a part of my daily work life. You can do everything up there in your list with a GHL unit.

Thanks for the input, I'll be reading the manual this evening to see how the "programming" part is. I just finished restoring my set up. I had to completely flash the unit and then I opted to start fresh instead of using a back up. What a chore...

 

[reefwiser]

You do most everything very simply with drop down settings. You can write code if you really need to but it is not how most things in Profilux work.

 

[Matthias Gross]

Hi

thanks for considering our ProfiLux system for your tank.
Don't worry, although this post comes from GHL you will not hear some promotional or marketing bla bla, I will give you just some facts:

• 3 pumps (DT, Skimmer, and manifold) - for controlling non speed variable pumps use one of the 32 timers, 12 level controllers, or other features, for controllable pumps use one of the 16 pump controllers
  
• Doser - 16 dedicated doser channels
  
• Automated feeder - sockets programmable for feeding/feed pause, we don't have our own feeder yet (working on it), but it is possible to connect a 3rd party feeder
  
• Automated water change - of course, up to 4 separate circuits
  
• Automated ATO, ATO filler from RO tank and Ro/DI maker - yes, ATO, also combo mode ATO + water change with the same level sensors (of course different sockets for draining salt water or RO)
  
• UV light - yes, controlled by 32 timer channels or 32 illumination channels, or controlled by a certain value, e.g. ORP
  
• 2 heaters - you can have up to 32 (different) sensors, each of them can control as many sockets as you want the way you want (e.g. temp: heater, substrate heater, chiller, fans, ...)
  
• Calcium reactor w/MasterFlex (so will need 2 pH probes) - yes, up to 32 sensor inputs
  
• Chiller - yes
  
• Refugium lights - as above - use one of the 32 timers or 32 illumination channels
  
• Skimmer neck cleaner - same here
  
• 2 MP40s in the DT - with our "Vortech Controller"
  
• various float sensors to control water changes and alarms, 5 in total - up to 16, working in up to 12 independent control/monitoring circuits

I think until here we use about 15% of the ProfiLux 3/4 capacities.

 

[Jonty]

I really want to do this but I just priced the conversion from Apex to Profilux and it would cost $3500 for me to replace the functionality I have with the Apex, I spent that much with Apex for sure but doing it again is a hard pill to swallow I will have to wait for the next sale!

 

[Trivan]

@Matthias- thanks for the input. I realize I don't have a complex system but still important to have the stability.

@Jonty - I agree it's a big drop at once, but I would loose a lot more if my tank crashed when my Apex bricked up. I got lucky I was home and the 5 hours didn't kill anything. I do have my MP40's on battery back up.

 

[Trivan]

I was just looking to see how many power bars I need and was wondering what the difference is between the Powerbar 5.1 and Powerbar 6d.
If I need to expand by 2 additional powerbars which one is best?

 

[Lasse]

I was just looking to see how many power bars I need and was wondering what the difference is between the Powerbar 5.1 and Powerbar 6d.
If I need to expand by 2 additional powerbars which one is best?

Powerbar 6D (as it been sold today) has no PAB Connection. Its an digital powerbar for the old bus (the S socket) Before the 5.1 was introduced – there was a PAB version of the 6 D - but I do not think you can by new ones with the PAB bus today. You choice should be the 5.1 powerbar. The 5.1 has 5 switchable sockets and one permanent socket. Mattias has describe it in another thread

Part of the post

- 5 of the sockets can be switched (1 is also dimmable), 4 of them have High-Inrush-relays (160A switching current), each of them has a nominal current of 15/16A @ 115/230V.
The total current is of course limited by the national regulations (USA 15A for the entire powerbar).
- Each channel has its own current measurement (BTW - we have this feature since 2009, nothing new for us)
- why "only" 5 sockets per powerbar? Although it is possible to switch 15A per socket you should keep in mind that the total current is also limited to 15A. So we think it is quite pointless to have 8 or 10 sockets in one powerbar when the total current is limited anyway, you want to distribute the power to several circuits in your house - then you need also several powerbars.
- the 6th socket has permanent power, you can use this for devices which don't need to be switched, e.g. the ProfiLux
- all sockets (incl. the 6th) are surge-protected - so the 6th socket again makes sense
- the PB5.1 has a switch which is also a fuse and indicates if the PB has power
- security: the built-in controller checks permanently if the the connected master (here: the ProfiLux controller) is "alive" and in a normal operating state - if the alive message is overdue or a problem occured the PB5.1 activates an emergency program - you can adjust what each socket should do in this case
- communication: as most other of our devices the PB5.1 uses our ProfiLux Aquatic Bus which is based on CAN, an highly secure bus system known from the automotive industry - even

Sincerely Lasse

 

[4reason]

The 6d was their old Powerbar replaced by the 5.1 about 2 years ago. GHL does not offer the Powerbar 6d anymore. A few changes besides form factor were made to include a non-switchable, always on channel. Don't remember the other changes off the top of my head.

 

[4reason]

Whoops, Lasse beat me! What he said.

 

[Trivan]

Thanks all. I still find it odd to have one outlet always on and not switchable. I would need 3 bars for my existing set up and the loss of being able to control 3 of the outlets is not a deal breaker but not optimal.

 

[reefwiser]

You always keep an eye out for some 6D power bars. You see them in the used equipment threads. They are a little longer than the new 5.1 model.

 

[nwkermit]

I have a profilux 3.1 ultimate package for sell cheap brand new. It might help with the switch.

 

[Trivan]

I have a profilux 3.1 ultimate package for sell cheap brand new. It might help with the switch.

Thanks, but when I do switch I'd go for the Profilux 4.

 

[Jamie7907]

So did you make the switch? Considering this myself.

 

[atx100r]

I have used aquarium controllers since the first ones came out. I do industrial PLC work for a living and controllers are a part of my daily work life. You can do everything up there in your list with a GHL unit. Somethings like the auto feeder if that is a Apex you could wire it to work with the digital outputs of the Profilux or get the Ehiem unit that works with the Profilux. You can have as many ph probes as you want it comes with them built in and you can add them like a PC card in a computer. You can also resign the function of a probe connector to ph if you wish. I have 3 powerbars in my full setup with 3 dosers

Reefwiser..Im abit new here and just happened on our post. Is the unit you are showing here a profelux or is this a ghl unit? Can you proivide me with specifics. do you have a forum shoing your build? Sorry if this is basic but I am new to the contoler part. Thx

 

[cpllongjk]

To the OP!

I want to let you know that you're not the only one that did the move or thought about it. About 6 months ago I had similar issues as you. My biggest concern with APEX was stability of the system. Don't get me wrong APEX has some great features. But, at the end of the day stability is just so much more important.

I have never heard of a Profilux powerbar failing or the entire system just crashing, yet I have had multiple APEX powerbars go out and many individual sockets just die for no reason. I have also had the APEX "brain" just die from what Neptune Systems said was water damage even though the unit was dry and in storage.

Switching over from APEX was a difficult and expensive decision but I am 100% glad I did it. Also, with every update the Profilux is getting better and better.

 

[HolisticBear]

Switching over from APEX was a difficult and expensive decision but I am 100% glad I did it. Also, with every update the Profilux is getting better and better.

To follow-up on @cpllongjk post, I recently updated my Profilux and have email alerts working. This lack of this functionality was really bothering me, but I now have email alerts set up on my two level sensors and temperature settings. It was harder to set up than expected, but it's working and it's getting with every update.