Looking for the best controllers and if possible automated dosing system.

[NoIdeaWhatIAmTalkingAbout]

Hi guys I am new to the saltwater aquarium game but I am very familiar with freshwater aquariums as I used to breed Discus in the past. At my new job we have a company saltwater aquarium and I have been tasked with finding, purchasing, and setting up an automated wifi capable controller (and if possible automated dosing) I have begun doing some research of my own but would love to hear some unbiased expert opinions on the matter. Price is relatively speaking no object as this is not a personal tank and will be covered by the company.

My list of requirements:
Must be wifi compatible preferably with an app for a smart phone.
preferably has some form of automated dosing.
I would like it to monitor and record results if possible with as many options as possible as far as the monitoring (in other-words hopefully more than just temperature and ORP)

Thank you ahead of time for taking the time to read and reply to this post, I greatly appreciate any advice on the matter, have a great day everyone!
(Also it is a 140 gallon aquarium and can give further details on our setup as needed.)

 

[AZMSGT]

Either Apex or GHL will do the job. Apex is more user friendly. GHL is very reliable.

If the aquarium is fish only not allot is needed. Just a basic controller set up.
If it’s got coral expect to pour a ton of money into the control and test system. It really depends on how hands on or hands off you make it.

I looked back at your previous post. Buy some test kits and test your office system. Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate. Test your system with these three before doing anything else. I highly recommend salifert brand.

Also read the stuff below To get the basic chemistry down.

Cycling an Aquarium

Cycling a new aquarium. One of the earliest topics a new aquarium hobbyist needs to learn is how to properly cycle their aquarium. There is a ton of information on this process and many different methods on how to accomplish it. There are many different chemical and biological cycles our tank...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[NoIdeaWhatIAmTalkingAbout]

Thank you very much for the reply, I have test kits for nitrates, ammonia, nitrites and ph, all levels have returned to normal. ammonia is near 0 if not there ph is around 8.3 salinity is good and so on. the aquarium is mostly a few soft corals and an anemone right now, with fish. in the future hard corals will also be implemented if that impacts your answer regarding controllers and what not, again thank you very much for your reply and any further time and info you are willing/able to put in.

 

[PiggyPuffin]

GHL (what I use) and Apex will both work well for you. Both companies have some overlap in automated testing systems. GHL will be out front here next month with the release of the Ion Director (assuming it works). However, Apex has per socket power monitoring and alerts which GHL does not. To me this is a critical safety function as the system will alert you if power consumption changes on a socket when you aren't there (e.g. dead return pump). I've heard that GHL is more reliable, but I've never seen any evidence of that other than anecdotes.

 

[NoIdeaWhatIAmTalkingAbout]

Thank you very much PiggyPuffin for the reply It is starting to sound like I need to go with the apex setup, being that it seems to have everything I want and it seems to be very userfriendly, if anyone has anything they would like to add or dispute regarding this conclusion please and thank you.

 

[Jon Fishman]

Company is footing the bill, then APEX with DOS/DDR and a Trident.......

 

[NoIdeaWhatIAmTalkingAbout]

Hey Jon Fishman could you give me a little insight as to what exactly a DOS/DDR and a trident are? I'm familiar with APEX as a controller setup. But I know nothing about trident, DOS/DDR any insight would be greatly appreciated.

 

[PiggyPuffin]

BTW, if you want the automated testing that the GHL Ion Director provides and you went with Apex, it will be available as a standalone system.

 

[TheHarold]

Hey Jon Fishman could you give me a little insight as to what exactly a DOS/DDR and a trident are? I'm familiar with APEX as a controller setup. But I know nothing about trident, DOS/DDR any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Look on the apex site. They have details of the modules and names.

DOS= their smart doser.
DDR= their smart dosing reservoir

Trident= automated Ca/Mg/Alk tester.

 

[gtrider]

I've got an Apex with a DOS. Simple to set-up and use. I love it.

 

[NoIdeaWhatIAmTalkingAbout]

Thank you so much for the replies everyone it has been extremely helpful!

 

[vangvace]

Either will work for you honestly. I would look at the user interface for which you prefer. Ditto's thread gives you a good side by side for what the screens look like.

Apex 2016 and GHL both have power monitoring. Apex will send alerts, while GHL is pending. GHL though is also has surge protection, while Apex does not.

Both have remote access and alerts. Apex will let you know if it has lost internet connectivity after X amount of time. GHL can email/text you tank parameters periodically. I have mine set for every 6 hours and looks like this
Temperature 1 : 78.5F
pH-value 1 : 8.16pH
Redox 1 : 385mV
Conduct.(S) 1 : 1.0249

KH Director : 8.7dKH
Flow 1 : 2042l/h (Return Pump)
Flow 2 : 604l/h (Chiller Pump)


Both have various level and flow sensors. I prefer the design of GHL's flow sensor more, though Apex I believe logs the data.

GHL has more variety in dosing pumps of 2-4 heads per unit, while Apex is 2 heads per unit. Only really mentioning as a spacial difference.

Both have probes galore and different methods to expand them, all with logging. Going hard corals dosing might turn into a Calcium Reactor, which uses a second pH probe.

Currently, Apex can monitor/control Alk, Ca, and Mg with the Trident. While GHL is limited to Alk. GHL is releasing a product this year to add Nitrates, Ca, Mg, and K to their monitoring/control product.

Apex makes their own pumps while GHL makes their own lights.

 

[robbyg]

The reason why most people do not typically buy a GHL system is because its pretty expensive. If your company is footing the bill I would go with GHL. The reliability factor is not just a rumor, it's something that people who have switched from Apex to GHL boast about. All the fancy stuff in software will not mean anything if the equipment running it fails. I do like the Apex cloud based software look, but at the end of the day reliability trumps all of that. I also like the methodology of the GHL ION director over the Triton . We will know if it works as good as they say when more reviews come out. If you told me your on a tight budget then I would say go Apex because it's a lot cheaper, otherwise my recommendation would be GHL.