Automation, crash course for this laymen?

[4FordFamily]

Alright folks,

Now that I really only have one display tank after my tank disasters whiping out my 180 angel tank and 125 wrasse reef, automation is looking better and better, and more financially feesible.

So who wants to give me a crash course? I keep lots of dirty tangs in this tank, but I have a ASM g4x (for 400 gallons) in a total water volume of 230-240 gallons.

I'm not profiscient with coral at all, I keep easy coral. I'd like to venture a little if I go down the automation road, but nothing too expensive or fragile as my husbandry can waver with life. Less so with only one display now, however.

How can an apex help me? What all does it/can it do? Cost?

Easy way to do these things?

I don't even have an ATO! Someone help this old school cat!

Gift ideas for the family, too

 

[4FordFamily]

I'll bet there's an article for me, in retrospect

 

[mtraylor]

That's a really, really full tank with fish. Forget about the adventure to corals with the angels you have. They will just eat them. SPS would be fine, but that protein skimmer is not going to clean the water enough if you don't have allot of assistance and good husbandry.
Before I start listing out some things that you may need. Can you list out your current tank parms and husbandry habits you have thus far. That will help with recommendation. I"m not much on water changes and I have 4 tangs in my 255. The moment I put one angel
that got to an adult, his dirty habits made my water dirty and nitrates started to raise. Oh not to mention he ate all my corals. Had to get rid of him after 5 years. Was hard to do. Any way..... Flash back.

That being said. I would recommend an emporer aquatics smart uv sterilizer 65watt if you have the room. If not the 40 is a must. Do you have one already?

 

[Michael Montgomery]

After 14 years with my current "tiny" (37g) tank, I too am looking into this automation and moving up to a big-boy tank. Honestly, automation is a bit unnerving to me, yet everyone sings praises. SO.... Like you, I'm eager for info.

 

[Breadman03]

Apex + DOS + Breakout Box

The Apex system comes with its own multi out where each (of 8) outlets are on/off controllable. One can use this to make an el-cheapo powerhead turn on and off quickly to act as a wavemaker, use inexpensive peristaltic pumps for accurate dosing (BRS or Drew's dosers), control heaters, lighting, etc. I have all of my Ecotech stuff plugged into mine so that I can reboot stuff when it starts acting funny.

There are also 0-10 volt outputs that many devices use for an input signal. Some LED lighting use it to adjust brightness, and Tunze and other pumps use it to adjust speed. Other methods of lighting control include the AWM module for AI lighting and WXM for Ecotech. These are add on modules that use a radio signal to communicate with their respective product lines.

The Breakout Box is an interface that easily plugs into the Apex on one side and has a bunch of electrical terminals on the other. It allows the Apex to determine whether a non-powered circuit is open or closed. Wiring in float switches allows the Apex to know if your water level is high or low, and to run your topoff pump, or sound an alarm as needed. It can also be used with magnetic switches to turn on a light when your cabinet door is opened.

There are a multitude of ways of programming everything. You can use temperature as a parameter to act upon. If your temperature gets too low, the Apex can turn on an outlet to run your heater. Too high, and it can turn off a heater. Conversely, it can also switch fans or chillers as needed.

Here is Neptune's documentation page. I'd suggest skimming over the Comprehensive Reference Manual a bit, primarily chapters one and four. Don't worry too much about the details here. For me, most of the stuff seems a bit challenging when I'm reading it as a whole, but it breaks down pretty easily when I consider each function by itself. #apexusers

https://www.neptunesystems.com/support/docs/

Also, while I'm an Apex guy, GHL is also top-tier. Digital Aquatics has the Reefkeeper, and now the Archon that may be worth considering. Reef Angel is another, but I don't see much info about them. There is also the new Tunze controller that @revhtree is giving away. It doesn't seem as advanced, but looks like a pretty solid option.

 

[prsnlty]

I'll bet there's an article for me, in retrospect

You can sign up to the Neptune systems forum and under the support tab there are MANY articles about each aspect of Apex and Fusion. There are things listed there I had no idea the apex or fusion could do. Pretty amazing...

 

[lariat8099]

I have the new APEX and am trying to set up outlet #6 as my Refuguim light to turn on at 2100 and off at 0600. I've tried it in light settings and tried it in advance mode and it still once saving the settings in either turns on 5 minutes after saving the settings no mater the time of day. Its kicking my butt I need help walking thru this simple (ya right) set up. as for now my outlets are nothing more then a HIGH priced power strip.

 

[CarrieB]

I have the new APEX and am trying to set up outlet #6 as my Refuguim light to turn on at 2100 and off at 0600. I've tried it in light settings and tried it in advance mode and it still once saving the settings in either turns on 5 minutes after saving the settings no mater the time of day. Its kicking my butt I need help walking thru this simple (ya right) set up. as for now my outlets are nothing more then a HIGH priced power strip.

This is rather a thread hijack but make sure you have that outlet set on <auto> not <on>

 

[lariat8099]

I put it on auto and its still after 5 minutes of saving settings kicks on the light even when I tried it at 1300 1:00pm.

 

[CarrieB]

I put it on auto and its still after 5 minutes of saving settings kicks on the light even when I tried it at 1300 1:00pm.

Maybe take a picture of the config page and post it to the Neptune forum.

 

[Brew12]

How can an apex help me? What all does it/can it do? Cost?

An Apex can help you do almost anything you want done. The cost will largely depend on how much you want it to do.

The newest starter bundle at BRS (link) costs $800. This will give you lots of new toys to play with. First, it connects to the internet wirelessly allowing you to view and control your system either through a local web page or over the internet.
This system will give you 8 programmable outlets along with several analog controls for compatible equipment. You will also get real time Temperature, ORP, Salinity and pH indications.

Apex scales well with your skill level when it comes to programming. They have pretty basic default settings letting you set up basic controls and as you become more comfortable you can do very complex customized controls.

I still keep things very basic. I use it as a temperature controller/safety system for my two heaters. I use it for the feed mode since I have an Apex auto feeder. I use it to do ramping on my modified LED lighting.

You can also set up feed modes so you activate it when you want to manually feed and it will do stuff like turn off your skimmer and return pump and then 5 minutes later start your return pump and then 5 minutes after that start your skimmer. You can program in a maintenance mode to turn off heaters, skimmers, return pumps, and power heads for 1 hour while you do a water change. That way if you forget to turn everything back on it will come on anyway once the hour is up.

You can disable your ATO system if you get salinity below a certain level. You can have it stop dosing if ORP or pH gets too high or too low. Really the sky is the limit on how complicated you want to get with it.

 

[4FordFamily]

That's a really, really full tank with fish. Forget about the adventure to corals with the angels you have. They will just eat them. SPS would be fine, but that protein skimmer is not going to clean the water enough if you don't have allot of assistance and good husbandry.
Before I start listing out some things that you may need. Can you list out your current tank parms and husbandry habits you have thus far. That will help with recommendation. I"m not much on water changes and I have 4 tangs in my 255. The moment I put one angel
that got to an adult, his dirty habits made my water dirty and nitrates started to raise. Oh not to mention he ate all my corals. Had to get rid of him after 5 years. Was hard to do. Any way..... Flash back.

That being said. I would recommend an emporer aquatics smart uv sterilizer 65watt if you have the room. If not the 40 is a must. Do you have one already?

Sorry for the confusion -- the fish in the signature are not all in my tank, in fact many of them died in the above mentioned incidents. The only angels I'll have are regal and a flame, which may still eat coral. Thanks, I'll catch up on this thread when I am out of the office

 

[mtraylor]

OK. I will await your reply.

 

[Rick.45cal]

Apex can be a little intimidating at first. It's great though. (I run a APEX classic system). I also like the DOS modules alot (I have 3 running my tank). One of my DOS modules comes on every few minutes and changes a metered amount of water (the equivalent of about 2.25 gallons on a 160 gallon net water volume every day).

I just wished I had set up the DOS to do waterchanges sooner. You definitely need a Tunze osmolator and and an ATO. Your life will get so much simpler with just that.

I also run a swabbie and a skimmate locker with a vertex alpha 250. (I haven't had to make an adjustment to my skimmer in a month now).

An Alkalinity controller... now that is icing on the cake!!! I'm just a glorified sock washer/changer.

 

[4FordFamily]

That's a really, really full tank with fish. Forget about the adventure to corals with the angels you have. They will just eat them. SPS would be fine, but that protein skimmer is not going to clean the water enough if you don't have allot of assistance and good husbandry.
Before I start listing out some things that you may need. Can you list out your current tank parms and husbandry habits you have thus far. That will help with recommendation. I"m not much on water changes and I have 4 tangs in my 255. The moment I put one angel
that got to an adult, his dirty habits made my water dirty and nitrates started to raise. Oh not to mention he ate all my corals. Had to get rid of him after 5 years. Was hard to do. Any way..... Flash back.

That being said. I would recommend an emporer aquatics smart uv sterilizer 65watt if you have the room. If not the 40 is a must. Do you have one already?

I only do water changes once monthly about 45 gallons, that's it. I don't do anything else with any regularity. I don't really mess with UV sterilizers because I don't have any parasites due to my qt procedures, but I guess they can also help with algae. Pretty easy to report that to ya! Hahaa thanks for your help!

 

[4FordFamily]

Wow I am pretty overwhelmed and apparently far more old school than I imagined! I thought an apex just controlled dosers and monitored parameters. I'm pretty illiterate with this stuff which is becoming pretty apparent!

You guys are awesome, I feel like I will need to reread this entire thread several times! Thank you.

My initial gut feeling is to keep this really really simple and slowly branch out to more features, like brew said.

At the new house I'm not sure where I could hide an ATO where the tank is going to be. I imagine I'd need to run water tubing from the basement which is over my head in itself!

 

[Brew12]

Wow I am pretty overwhelmed and apparently far more old school than I imagined! I thought an apex just controlled dosers and monitored parameters. I'm pretty illiterate with this stuff which is becoming pretty apparent!

You guys are awesome, I feel like I will need to reread this entire thread several times! Thank you.

My initial gut feeling is to keep this really really simple and slowly branch out to more features, like brew said.

At the new house I'm not sure where I could hide an ATO where the tank is going to be. I imagine I'd need to run water tubing from the basement which is over my head in itself!

Will you have an in stand sump? If so, can you put water container under the tank next to it? Even if it is just 3 to 5 gallons it saves the daily top off.

 

[Eva Rose]

Here is one good article about getting alerts. Some people have not realized their system was not set to be alerted in cause of a power outage. Nice visuals in this article.


https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/protection-from-power-outages.272385/#post-3275347

 

[4FordFamily]

Will you have an in stand sump? If so, can you put water container under the tank next to it? Even if it is just 3 to 5 gallons it saves the daily top off.

Brew, I basically just add water when my pumps make noise and I see bubbles LOL!

There is a window on one side and my sunroom on the other, the sump eats the entire area below. Poor planning on my part I guess. I'll have to give that some thought

 

[prsnlty]

Brew, I basically just add water when my pumps make noise and I see bubbles LOL!

There is a window on one side and my sunroom on the other, the sump eats the entire area below. Poor planning on my part I guess. I'll have to give that some thought

What size sump do you have? Could you possibly fit a 10g over it some how? Or maybe have a long narrow acrylic box made to fit along the inside somewhere?