Finger on the trigger for an Neptune apex.

[Hop2jr]

Ok tank just crashed and lost 2/3rds of my coral and will not let that happen again so I’m looking into an apex system my question is get the EL or go all in with the full apex for the extra 300 bucks? From what I see it will cost me twice as much adding on modes than just getting the full apex but will I need everything the full apex give you. Any advice would be great thanks.

 

[Doctorgori]

put in a extra clip
great decision, either but I had no need for the salinity, but won’t argue

 

[DC Reefer]

I like the salinity probe of the full apex. I don’t personally pay any attention to ORP So that wasn’t big for me. If I was running ozone the ORP would have been important. The other thing is the full one has the port to run my Kessil which eliminates the need for another add on.

 

[Macdaddynick1]

Full apex 100.

 

[SuncrestReef]

The cost of the full Apex is $139 less than if you buy the Apex-EL plus the add-on modules and probes needed to match the full Apex.

The Apex-EL missing features are:

• Salinity probe
• ORP probe
• 0-10v variable ports

If you need or want these features, it's much better to just buy the full Apex, both for cost savings and space savings since you'd need 3 additional modules to mount with the Apex-EL.

See my Apex Hardware Overview article for more: https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/apex-hardware-overview.775/

 

[Hop2jr]

Thanks for info trigger pulled! Full apex next Wednesday! Now to build a box to mount everything in

 

[Hop2jr]

Apex installed and mounted! I’m going to love this thing.

 

[Roytrolls247]

Nice! are you using an Ipad for your interface?

 

[Hop2jr]

Nice! are you using an Ipad for your interface?

No android tablet 10” screen worked out great!

 

[Hop2jr]

Alittle better pictures!

 

[sandracer76]

Hi I'm in a similar situation and am considering buying an APEX controller. Can you tell me if it worked out for you?

 

[piranhaman00]

Apex wont help with a crash unless its temp based.

 

[ca1ore]

I bought the old apex lite (EL equivalent basically) because I wasn’t going to ‘need’ any of the extra stuff in the full model. Within two years I had bought all of the modules anyhow. Maybe most folks aren’t as OCD as me, but nice to have can quickly become must haves LOL.

A quality monitor like the apex can alert you to lots of things, allowing you to intervene before they become problems. Many say the salinity probe is not necessary .... certainly it is not without its challenges. Sometimes rapid shifts in readings are confounding, but occasionally they can alert you so something like a stuck ATO. Really just limited by your imagination.

 

[Brett S]

Apex wont help with a crash unless its temp based.

The apex can help with much more than that. In addition to temperature my apex will alert me if the pH is out of range, if the display or frag tank water level is too high, or if the sump water level is too high or too low. It will alert me if there’s water on the floor near my tank or my water mixing station. With my trident I’ll get alerts if my calcium or alkalinity is out of range as well. It will also alert me if my return pumps stop working, my skimmer stops working, or my wave pumps stop working.

Those certainly aren’t all the reasons that a tank could crash and having an apex certainly isn’t going to guarantee that your tank is never going to crash, but it also can offer a lot more protection than just temperature alerts.

And I haven’t even gone into any of the automation that can be configured to help ensure that the tank functions normally even when you aren’t around.

 

[schuby]

I have the full Apex without Trident. I think it's great. The information/monitoring supplies the most value for me.

As far as crashes, I think that only we (reef-keepers) can prevent crashes because we cause them.

 

[Reefs and Geeks]

Just last night I noticed my pH was dropping abnormally low. Went to check what was going on and my alk reservoir ran out. Knew right away to refill it. Would also tell you if a dosing line got a clog, though you'd need a trident to tell you directly about alk, Ca, and mag.

I went full apex and though I do like having the ORP and salinity, they are just nice to have. I don't currently have a need for the 0-10V outputs so that doens't matter to me right now. I'd probably have gone EL if my wife didn't tell me to just go ahead and get the full apex and instead put the extra money towards a trident.

The automation of the outlets on the energy bar is seeming more and more useful. Especially since I can control the outlets from my phone whether I'm at work, or standing by the display but want to turn off an outlet at the basement sump.

 

[a4edwin]

I constantly hear people saying they’ll never build another tank without it. I want one!!

 

[SuncrestReef]

For those of you who are new to this thread or the Apex in general, be sure to read my Apex tutorial articles for details and examples of what the Apex can do:

Articles by SuncrestReef

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Hop2jr]

Apex wont help with a crash unless its temp based.

My crash was temp based.

 

[Hop2jr]

Hi I'm in a similar situation and am considering buying an APEX controller. Can you tell me if it worked out for you?

I love it! You can see the tank temp, salinity, ph at a glance and watch the trends over time really helped me get the big picture on stabilizing the water and keeping it stable.