I have the Hydros and Neptune Apex
Why did I choose Neptune Apex for my main display tank?
Because it works (knock on wood). It’s the “pro” version. It has Ethernet so it can be hardwired (Who trusts $20k+ of equipment and live creatures to the cheapest-sourced 2.4ghz radio?).
In 3-4 years I’ve had the head unit disconnect and need a restart 2x. You can throw it on a Wi-Fi enabled outlet and do that remotely.
The modules and options are literally limitless. 12V, 24v, and anywhere in between devices can be integrated including 0-10v. Programming is a quick learning curve and anyone on here will help you program/write the basic code for anything quickly.
Redundancy. I can daisy chain devices together easily via standard USB cables to create multiple pathways back to the head unit in case of failure.
It’s so easy to setup. I lost an EB832 on vacation. I got a message at 6am that my return pump was off. Turns out the 24v ports died. When I got home, I plugged in a 1link module, moved the return pump to it, and it worked again complete with programming. Late at night after walking around a theme park for hours and flying for several more, I was up and running in 5 minutes.
Keep your lights separate. This shouldn’t be a deciding factor in picking lights or a controller (but I hear ok things about the sky). I run Radions and they don’t talk to the Apex but lights need to be set and then left alone. There’s no reason to program lights more than once with a PAR meter (with a tweak maybe in 3 months then again in 12 months then never again). Trust me on this. It’s one of my top 5 most important tips.
It controls dosing, monitoring, returns, feeding, and gives me a 99.9% up-time view of my aquarium from anywhere in the world and allows me to reliably make minor changes, turn things off, etc.
WHY I DON’T LIKE APEX: The EB832 is poorly made. From its weird form factor, cheap plastic, and inferior interior components… It’s just awful. Comparing to the old power bar that was a chunk of Detroit steel, I have no idea who they thought would think this was an upgrade.
I’ve lost the 24v ports on one and the AC ports on another within 6 months on 2 EB832’s that were less than 2 years old.
They are closing their ecosystem (or eco tech and Coralvue are) which sucks.
Their leak sensor modules suck. I have 2 of every flavor sitting in a bin of misfit toys. I use Ring devices for this and they are much better.
PRO TIPS FOR APEX: Spread devices over multiple modules and create different pathways back to your head unit. Don’t overtax any module. Try and aim to only use 60-70% of each module or power bar’s power ports.
Learn what a buck converter is if you don’t know. They’re cheap, easy to wire, and can turn any 24v port into a 0-24v port.
Hardwire it.
CORAL VUE HYDROS- What do I like? I’m still looking. I purchased the system for 2 tanks (10g SW and 20g FW planted) next to each other. I got it because it was cheap. I also made the mistake of buying the 4-outlet Wi-Fi power strips. They’re awful and make the EB832’s look like Rolls Royce’s. Ultimately it’s just fine for these 2 tanks. My SW tank is a rock flower tank and could probably go 24 hours. FW probably longer.
I own the 8-outlet power bar (now), the Sensor module, and the control 4 module. I also own the temp sensors, solenoid (for CO2), the feeder, and the dosing pump
You can not use these with an EERO mesh network or any mesh network where the 2.4ghz and 5ghz channel are combined. I would get 5-10 emails and messages that the powerbar disconnected/reconnected every day. I started ignoring them (which is dangerous in this hobby).
I upgraded to the Hydros 8 outlet power bar and it’s been far more solid but I also added a dedicated 2.4ghz Wi-Fi network to my home (it cost $50 on
Amazon). It’s still annoy
I use dedicated always on tablets for both systems. The Apex tablet updates in real time, the Hydros does not. It’s slow to update sometimes so I have to hit refresh, wait 10 seconds, hit the feed button, hopefully it works.
The number of ports is limited. I could try and figure it out exactly but off the top of my head, to rewire my big tank, I would need to 8-outlet power bars, 2 control8 units (maybe a control8+control4) and probably a sensor unit and I’d still be missing features.
Whoever wrote this software should go work as a dom in a dungeon or at the DMV. It’s painful. It’s frustrating. It makes very little sense. If you do things in the wrong order it breaks.
Setting it up is also painful. Everything needs
To be plugged in correctly and if it isn’t, it will break (and lord does it break). I wake up to “collective broken” messages once every few months and the whole thing has to be rebuilt and I pray I don’t have to reprogram or flatline any of the devices.
The Sensor module is the red headed step child in the system. I think the issue is that it takes longer to boot than the others so it breaks the collective because the other two boot faster and time out.
Because I touched on Aesthetics, I’ll mention that the glowing cheap lights that flash are dumb. They’re not helpful. I don’t need it to glow red
To let me know it isn’t connected to the internet. The fact I can’t access it is enough. Like an alarm that goes off when your arm is chopped off. 99.9% sure I’m fully aware of the issue.
conclusion (thanks for sticking with me): The Hydros is fine if you have extra time, are home a lot, and want something really basic. I think it’s important to foster new tech in this hobby and I’m begrudgingly happy to fund progress. If you plan on putting time, effort, money, and sensitive life forms in your tank, you need things to just work and want to reliably monitor, control, and access nearly everything, go with the Apex. I firmly believe the quasi-token Ethernet ring connections + (debatably) BNC connectors are a hardware-level failure and so Hydros will need to scrap the hardware and come out with a version 2. The apex uses very standard connections and so new devices can be added and upgraded without having to revamp the entire system.
SIDE NOTE: I have owned the WaveEngine for some time now. I use it on my big tank with the Apex. I went through several ICV controllers for my Gyre XF350’s (they kept dying) before finally switching to the wave engine. The software is back-butt-wards in design but once it’s programmed, it has been very reliable for me. The software in the beginning was TERRIBLE TERRIBLE but now it’s only awful so they’re improving.
Tech Support: Both are good. Neptune is better for troubleshooting and programming. Coralvue is more likely to replace broken items.
