Apex/Neptune Sytems

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What’s the best apex system or startup for a 15g ? This will be my first apex/Neptune system .
Tank will be for SPS

Innovative marine 15g
AI Prime16HD
AI Nero3
Tunzee nano skimmer
Media basket
 
Best can mean many things. What are you wanting to monitor and or control? It’s a big endeavor for a smaller system like a 15g and by no means a necessity. That said, people like me love toys too.
 
Best can mean many things. What are you wanting to monitor and or control? It’s a big endeavor for a smaller system like a 15g and by no means a necessity. That said, people like me love toys too.
Honestly just for the monitoring since it’s going to be SPS dominant I wanna be extra careful with water parameters
 
Honestly just for the monitoring since it’s going to be SPS dominant I wanna be extra careful with water parameters
Just monitoring for sps dom would mean adding a trident if you are looking for automated monitoring of Alk, ca and mg. I don’t mean any offense but your getting into spending a lot of cheddar here. Do you have a budget or is the sky the limit? On a 15 gallon tank water changes alone can get you by for awhile and dosing something like all for reef which can be calculated off of alkalinity is pretty common so a trident monitoring Alk, ca, and mg isn’t really a must have. Just monitoring salinity adds a couple hundred bucks now as most packages omit that probe now. This really depends on what exactly you want to monitor.
 
Apex A3 Jr (if you don’t mind wifi-only connection). This gets you pH, temp and leak monitoring right out of the box.

You can expand on it later and get the Trident for more extensive monitoring but I’m not sure it would be worth it for a small tank unless you have money to burn.

Before that I would add a DOS for auto water changes, and maybe another for dosing 2-part. Also the ATK for auto topoff.

You won’t be limited by getting Jr as far as modules. You can use all the same modules as you can with the other Apex models. The biggest downside is no Ethernet connection. There are a few other small differences but nothing that would make much of a difference for most people.
 
Just monitoring for sps dom would mean adding a trident if you are looking for automated monitoring of Alk, ca and mg. I don’t mean any offense but your getting into spending a lot of cheddar here. Do you have a budget or is the sky the limit? On a 15 gallon tank water changes alone can get you by for awhile and dosing something like all for reef which can be calculated off of alkalinity is pretty common so a trident monitoring Alk, ca, and mg isn’t really a must have. Just monitoring salinity adds a couple hundred bucks now as most packages omit that probe now. This really depends on what exactly you want to monitor.
Do you think I would even need it ? I plan on changing out two cups of saltwater each day for fresh water instead of doing weekly water changes. If the monitoring isn’t necessary or you think it wouldn’t make any difference then i probably won’t get it.
 
Do you think I would even need it ? I plan on changing out two cups of saltwater each day for fresh water instead of doing weekly water changes. If the monitoring isn’t necessary or you think it wouldn’t make any difference then i probably won’t get it.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s definitely useful. A necessity, especially on a small tank, absolutely not. You can be very successful with or without, just as you can have failures with or without. My opinion is on a small tank, with some basic quality test equipment, a logbook or similar, and water changes you have a good baseline. If you want a cool doodad to play with and have the means, have fun and enjoy a monitor controller as they can be awesome. Exchanging two cups of tank water for two cups of new saltwater daily is probably just fine to start. It depends on what and how much you feed and filtration. I’m really not the right person to advise anyone on how to setup and run a tank, let alone a pico or nano. I just hate for people to feel that some fancy gear is required or guarantees success.
 
Don’t get me wrong, it’s definitely useful. A necessity, especially on a small tank, absolutely not. You can be very successful with or without, just as you can have failures with or without. My opinion is on a small tank, with some basic quality test equipment, a logbook or similar, and water changes you have a good baseline. If you want a cool doodad to play with and have the means, have fun and enjoy a monitor controller as they can be awesome. Exchanging two cups of tank water for two cups of new saltwater daily is probably just fine to start. It depends on what and how much you feed and filtration. I’m really not the right person to advise anyone on how to setup and run a tank, let alone a pico or nano. I just hate for people to feel that some fancy gear is required or guarantees success.
I appreciate it and thank you for the information, definitely will take it all into consideration. Think you talked me out of it lol
 
Yeah I agree. That’s a lot of money to spend for such a small tank

As far as your water changes, you’ll need to do 2:2 saltwater. If you regularly replace salt with fresh you’ll slowly reduce your salinity and other minerals. Evaporation will require you to add small amounts of freshwater, but water changes would be saltwater.

On that subject, you might consider a small ATO.
 
Hey buddy, not sure if you're still looking for advice on this, but just my 2 cents...
I've had my Max nano (20g) going for close to 3 years, and honestly I've had my fair share of parameter swings with such a small volume keeping SPS!
I like your idea of changing 2 cups a day, but a bigger water change once a week will be better for replenishing and removing things.
As for monitoring, I don't think you should discount the idea because the tank is small, if anything it makes it more important as changes happen much faster.
If you're looking at Apex, I'd recommend the A3 Apex. It'll give you a good range of monitoring and controllability to begin with, and will allow you to expand to a wider range when you want to
 
To start out I would look for a used Apex Classic. I used these on my IM 20 AIO and IM 15. Monitor pH, control your heater, fans and lights. Also get an ATO setup. Save the Trident for a larger system.
 
To start out I would look for a used Apex Classic. I used these on my IM 20 AIO and IM 15. Monitor pH, control your heater, fans and lights. Also get an ATO setup. Save the Trident for a larger system.
What's your reasoning behind saving the trident for the larger system buddy? I had so many parameter swings that could have been avoided with regular monitoring of my max nano
 
What's your reasoning behind saving the trident for the larger system buddy? I had so many parameter swings that could have been avoided with regular monitoring of my max nano
If he’s on a tighter budget he may not need to spend that much. Regular water changes go a long way on a small tank. Though buying quality once is something to think about if op is planing to go large soon. He may also be able to get a bundled deal with Apex and Trident. I ran a Plank on my IM 20 so I can’t talk about going frugal:D
 
If he’s on a tighter budget he may not need to spend that much. Regular water changes go a long way on a small tank. Though buying quality once is something to think about if op is planing to go large soon. He may also be able to get a bundled deal with Apex and Trident. I ran a Plank on my IM 20 so I can’t talk about going frugal:D
I get that, but in terms of swings between water changes, the monitoring can go a long way to helping mitigate that worry! Plus if the money is spent now then it's not needing to be spent if/when the OP is upgrading
 
What’s the best apex system or startup for a 15g ? This will be my first apex/Neptune system .
Tank will be for SPS

Innovative marine 15g
AI Prime16HD
AI Nero3
Tunzee nano skimmer
Media basket
Nothing. In all honesty, you really won't get the full benefit of an Apex system on nano tanks.
 
Could you elaborate on this buddy? Personally, having owned nanos for a while, I think they have possibly more benefit than a bigger system
Sure. For starters, a 10%/every 2 weeks water change will replace all your elements - so there's not really any need for dosing (other than occasionally manually supplementing). Second, those of us who run full Neptune systems still test anyway - and the Trident doesn't test for nitrates and phosphates (so you're not saving on test kits). Third, the Neptune ATK is fairly bulky and not ideally-suited for nano tanks (it's fine with larger tanks). That goes for a lot of the other Neptune gear as well (probes, etc.). Finally, it's very expensive to amortize across such a small system where you're already paying a premium for anything "nano".
 
Sure. For starters, a 10%/every 2 weeks water change will replace all your elements - so there's not really any need for dosing (other than occasionally manually supplementing). Second, those of us who run full Neptune systems still test anyway - and the Trident doesn't test for nitrates and phosphates (so you're not saving on test kits). Third, the Neptune ATK is fairly bulky and not ideally-suited for nano tanks (it's fine with larger tanks). That goes for a lot of the other Neptune gear as well (probes, etc.). Finally, it's very expensive to amortize across such a small system where you're already paying a premium for anything "nano".
I think the replenishment of elements is totally dependent on the volume of corals you're keeping. For me I was dosing the maximum amount of all for reef, Kalkwasser and doing 20% water changes a week to keep my nano stable. I still had fluctuations
The sizing of the equipment I totally understand, almost need another cabinet for the gear on its own!
In terms of cost I'd say having monitoring on a nano is really important if you decide to buy "holy grail" corals
 
I use an Apex Classic on my tank. I got it used off FB for $100. I just monitor Temp and PH and keep softies and LPS just fine. I also use it to control my pumps and skimmer and love it.
 

IF YOU HAD TO TAKE A REEFING EXAM, WOULD YOU PASS?

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