Neptune Advice for a build

[titlowda]

I have a Reefer 250 that is connected to a 35g cube shroom tank. I am an absolute Neptune rookie and looking for advice from the pros to do it right. If you had the below how/what Neptune accessories would you use to run it.

Reefer 250
35 Gl cube
Trigger 39 sump
2MP 40’s
1MP 10
2 XR15’s gen 4
1 XR30 gen 2
Various 6 pump, Sicce 3.5 backup.
Eshopps Gen4 SS s-200
Cobalt Neotherm 100W x4(1 per tank on battery, 2 in sump,
Server rack battery backups
Misc BS

I like the idea of being able to have redundancy when possible. Considering the EL and an add on EB if needed.

 

[pugcrush]

What's your ATO? Of course, just need to add the WXM so you can control your ecotech products. You'll be fine with the EL or the 2016 version. I would've bought the EL if it was available at the time. You going to wait until Labor day? Usually 10% off for the holiday.

 

[titlowda]

Tunze 3155. Sorry, forgot about that.

 

[Drauka99]

ow much control do you want? Like said above the EL and a WXM would give you control over 95% of the tank. A full Apex 2016 has 1-10v port for the Varios 6 in case you wanted to say turn the return down to a low level during a feed mode. You could add a VDM module(~$99) to the EL and have the 1-10v ports that way too. I have very little use for the salinity and ORP probes that are part of the full Apex 2016 setup myself.

If you are controlling the MPs and lights through the WXM then you won't "need" to have them plugged into the EB8/32, obviously if you want the power usage monitoring redundancy then you will need to have them plugged into it though.

 

[titlowda]

Like the idea of feed mode. How cumbersome is that in the software for the return pump and MP’s

 

[Drauka99]

I would not say it was very hard, from easy to hard I'd say it would require a little bit of familiarity before you programmed it but one of the nice things about Apex is there is a good knowledge base and quite a few helpful people around to help out with programming help to do what you want to accomplish

 

[truetricia]

Like the idea of feed mode. How cumbersome is that in the software for the return pump and MP’s

Feed modes are pretty easy to program. Have you looked at Apex programming yet? Neptune has a basic users guide that's a good place to start and get ideas. Neptune also has its own forum where you can get advanced ideas regarding programing. R2R is pretty good too though!

 

[truetricia]

I have a Reefer 250 that is connected to a 35g cube shroom tank. I am an absolute Neptune rookie and looking for advice from the pros to do it right. If you had the below how/what Neptune accessories would you use to run it.

Reefer 250
35 Gl cube
Trigger 39 sump
2MP 40’s
1MP 10
2 XR15’s gen 4
1 XR30 gen 2
Various 6 pump, Sicce 3.5 backup.
Eshopps Gen4 SS s-200
Cobalt Neotherm 100W x4(1 per tank on battery, 2 in sump,
Server rack battery backups
Misc crap

I like the idea of being able to have redundancy when possible. Considering the EL and an add on EB if needed.

So your post shows that you have heaters on backup. IMHO, you should have a pump on battery backup instead. In the advent of a temporary powerloss, your house and tank will slowly drop in temperature, and reef tanks can handle low temperatures for a shorter period of time (while the opposite at higher temps is not true). But loss of flow within the reef tank can have more detrimental effects even for short periods. No flow within the tank will mean a loss of gas exchange and decreased oxygen rates. Having a backup pump that aggitates surface water might be a better use of your battery.

Of course, ideally having both hooked up would be best in the case of a long term power outage, or very extreme temperatures and a poorly insulated house.

Also, you may want to look into how to use Apex to control your heaters so that they act as a backup for each other and minimize the possibility of cooking your tank or leading to fire hazards.

You can set up "Cleaning," "Water Change," and "Feed" modes using Apex that can change your flow, lighting, return pump, etc. to your own designs to make maintenance easier. If you're dosing and have a your tubes near a pump, you can have that pump's flow increase during dosing to help disperse the additives in the water.

Just a few ideas!