Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials Part 1 Introduction

Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials, Part 2: Timers

Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials, Part 3: Automatic Top-Off Kit (ATK)

Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials, Part 4: Power Monitoring

Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials, Part 5: Virtual Outputs

Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials, Part 6: Alarms

Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials Part 7, Feed Cycles

Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials Part 8 and Conclusion: Lunar Schedule and Lighting Profiles

Author Profile: @SuncrestReef

John Halsey is a reefing hobbyist who keeps a Red Sea Reefer XL 425 in his living room. He is new to reefing with just over one year of experience, but has been successful in keeping a healthy mixed reef by following best practices learned here on R2R as well as actively participating in his local aquarist club--PNWMAS--in Portland, Oregon. John retired from his 30-year career in IT support, and put that technical expertise to good use by automating much of his aquarium equipment with an extensive Neptune Apex system.

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

NICE!!

 

[Bethany Yates]

Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials Part 1 Introduction

Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials, Part 2: Timers

Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials, Part 3: Automatic Top-Off Kit (ATK)

Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials, Part 4: Power Monitoring

Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials, Part 5: Virtual Outputs

Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials, Part 6: Alarms

Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials Part 7, Feed Cycles

Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials Part 8 and Conclusion: Lunar Schedule and Lighting Profiles

Author Profile: @SuncrestReef

John Halsey is a reefing hobbyist who keeps a Red Sea Reefer XL 425 in his living room. He is new to reefing with just over one year of experience, but has been successful in keeping a healthy mixed reef by following best practices learned here on R2R as well as actively participating in his local aquarist club--PNWMAS--in Portland, Oregon. John retired from his 30-year career in IT support, and put that technical expertise to good use by automating much of his aquarium equipment with an extensive Neptune Apex system.

This is a great resource, thank you.

 

[SuncrestReef]

Apex Programming - Optical Sensor Verification

I'm adding a mini-tutorial here for a new situation I ran into with my ATK last night. At 3am I received a Fusion alarm notification on my phone stating that my salinity had dropped below 32 ppt. I quickly got up to check the tank, and found that the water level in my sump was so low that the salinity probe was no longer in the water and exposed to the air. There were no leaks, so I checked my ATK logs and found that the PMUP had not run in the past 14 hours, so the missing water was just due to evaporation:

I wiped my ATK_Lo sensor and suddenly the PMUP turned on, so I was pretty sure the sensor was just dirty. However, this made me realize I didn't have any automation set up to account for this condition. I do have a virtual output that monitors if the ATK_Lo sensor is Open but the PMUP doesn't run within 90 minutes as a failsafe if I ever accidently leave the PMUP slider set to OFF:

[AlertATO_Off]
Set OFF
If ATK_LO OPEN Then ON
Defer 090:00 Then ON

But this situation was different. The ATK_Lo sensor was dry, but because it was dirty it still reported Closed. I could have created a similar timer to report if it's Closed for too long, but there are many times where I might have extra water in the sump (sometimes I add a gallon or two of extra salt water to increase the salinity to account for lost skimmate), so I don't want false alarms to nag me in that situation where ATK_Lo is Closed correctly.

Then I came up with this idea:

I have a 4-float switch bracket in my sump to monitor for various water level conditions:

Sump_6 = The sump is about to overflow
Sump_5 = The water is above the skimmer chamber
Sump_4 = Normal water level
Sump_3 = The water is too low for my return pump

(I wrote about this float switch bracket in my build thread)

I decided to create a new virtual output that will compare my ATK_Lo sensor reading with the Sump_4 float switch reading. Since they are both a the same "normal" water level, they should both report Closed under normal circumstances:

When water evaporates, both Sump_4 and ATK_Lo should report Open, and ATK_Lo triggers the PMUP to turn On:

However, last night's situation was due to the ATK_Lo sensor reporting Closed even though the water was low, so it did not turn on the PMUP. At the same time, the Sump_4 float switch reported Open, which was the correct reading:

So I created a new virtual output that compares ATK_Lo to Sump_4, and if they don't match after a period of time, it sends me an alarm notification:

[ATK_Lo_Fail]
Set OFF
If ATK_LO CLOSED Then ON
If Sump_4 CLOSED Then OFF
Defer 030:00 Then ON

I then added it to my EmailAlm program:

If Output ATK_Lo_Fail = ON Then ON

For now I'm just going to have it alert me. I may consider adding this code to my PMUP output to actually turn on in this condition, but uncertain if I want to go that far:

[ATK_PMUP]
Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If ATK_LO OPEN Then ON
If Output ATK_Lo_Fail = ON Then ON
If ATK_HI CLOSED Then OFF
If Output Maintenance = ON Then OFF
When On > 003:00 Then OFF
Defer 000:10 Then ON
Defer 000:04 Then OFF
Min Time 030:00 Then OFF

I think I'd rather just be alerted so I can manually investigate.

I hope idea this helps others with ideas on how to double-check your optical sensors.

Happy reefing!

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials Part 1 Introduction

Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials, Part 2: Timers

Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials, Part 3: Automatic Top-Off Kit (ATK)

Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials, Part 4: Power Monitoring

Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials, Part 5: Virtual Outputs

Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials, Part 6: Alarms

Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials Part 7, Feed Cycles

Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials Part 8 and Conclusion: Lunar Schedule and Lighting Profiles

Author Profile: @SuncrestReef

John Halsey is a reefing hobbyist who keeps a Red Sea Reefer XL 425 in his living room. He is new to reefing with just over one year of experience, but has been successful in keeping a healthy mixed reef by following best practices learned here on R2R as well as actively participating in his local aquarist club--PNWMAS--in Portland, Oregon. John retired from his 30-year career in IT support, and put that technical expertise to good use by automating much of his aquarium equipment with an extensive Neptune Apex system.

I don't see any hair algae in his tank, I wonder. .....hmmmmm

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials Part 1 Introduction

Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials, Part 2: Timers

Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials, Part 3: Automatic Top-Off Kit (ATK)

Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials, Part 4: Power Monitoring

Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials, Part 5: Virtual Outputs

Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials, Part 6: Alarms

Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials Part 7, Feed Cycles

Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials Part 8 and Conclusion: Lunar Schedule and Lighting Profiles

Author Profile: @SuncrestReef

John Halsey is a reefing hobbyist who keeps a Red Sea Reefer XL 425 in his living room. He is new to reefing with just over one year of experience, but has been successful in keeping a healthy mixed reef by following best practices learned here on R2R as well as actively participating in his local aquarist club--PNWMAS--in Portland, Oregon. John retired from his 30-year career in IT support, and put that technical expertise to good use by automating much of his aquarium equipment with an extensive Neptune Apex system.

Very nice of him doing that.

 

[robbyg]

The links are all dead. Did it get moved?
I will alert the Mods.

 

[Crabs McJones]

The links are all dead. Did it get moved?
I will alert the Mods.

On it!

 

[SuncrestReef]

On it!

Any status update? The entire Articles section appears to be missing today.

 

[Crabs McJones]

Any status update? The entire Articles section appears to be missing today.

I've forwarded it to the IT and admins. Havent heard back yet.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

We will have them up again on Monday! We updated our software last night and haven’t turned the system back on due to the current live sale. We don’t want to interrupt it. Thank you!

 

[SuncrestReef]

We will have them up again on Monday! We updated our software last night and haven’t turned the system back on due to the current live sale. We don’t want to interrupt it. Thank you!

Thanks for the update!

 

[charlieborg]

What is the " Initial Off Time " used for? I did this for a power head and it's not working right?

 

[Dr RBG]

see new thread. Sorry I Put this in the wrong place

Thanks

 

[LowDime]

i am having issues with my ATK. Its new just set it up well tried to. It wont shut off when it reaches the top optical sensor. Here is how i have it set up

Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If Sw1 OPEN Then ON
If Sw2 CLOSED Then OFF
Defer 000:01 Then ON

But it will not see the sensors they are either always showing open or closed i cant figure it out.

 

[LowDime]

As you can see the top sensor is out of the water but yet it is reading as closed like it is under water

 

[Bob Escher]

Try this instead according to manual
Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If ATK_LO OPEN Then ON
If ATK_HI CLOSED Then OFF
When On > 005:00 Then OFF
Defer 000:10 Then ON
Defer 000:04 Then OFF
Min Time 060:00 Then OFF

replacing ATK_LO with SX1

 

[LowDime]

I swapped it to that and still nothing. But I am not sure if I have bad sensors or what a brand new unit but they are won’t change status. Either both read open when I have them manually set to optical or both read closed if I let it auto detect but when it auto detects it sees them as leak sensors.

 

[Bob Escher]

do you have the ATK In auto mode on the fusion dashboard

 

[LowDime]

Yes it is in auto on the dashboard. The weird part is is that it is on the dashboard twice. I configured the power outlet that the power supply is plugged into and also it auto populated one with the aqua bus cable.