Neptune Questions!

[miasreeftank]

Hi All, I’m new to his forum and recently set up a 45gal cube tank after being away from the hobby for the last 3 years. I seen that a ton has changed and been upgraded in my absence! I’d like to set up a Neptune system, but wanted to know if it would work with a different ATO, and AI lights?

I’m also going to want to set up a Neptune dosing pump. Any suggestions or recommendations would be awesome!

Thanks All!,

 

[SuncrestReef]

The Apex can work with any ATO system, but unless you have some sort of water level sensors connected to the Apex, the amount of control is limited to turning the ATO on or off based on other events. The Neptune ATK fully integrates with the Apex and includes optical sensors so the Apex knows the water level.

Which model of AI lights do you have? The Apex can control AI Prime, Prime HD, Hydra 26HD, and Hydra 52HD through the IoTA interface.

What specifically do you want to know about dosing pumps? Are you asking about the Neptune DOS, or a different brand of doser?

If you want to get up to speed on Apex programming, take a look at my 8-part Apex tutorial series: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/neptune-apex-programming-tutorials.700483/

 

[miasreeftank]

The Apex can work with any ATO system, but unless you have some sort of water level sensors connected to the Apex, the amount of control is limited to turning the ATO on or off based on other events. The Neptune ATK fully integrates with the Apex and includes optical sensors so the Apex knows the water level.

Which model of AI lights do you have? The Apex can control AI Prime, Prime HD, Hydra 26HD, and Hydra 52HD through the IoTA interface.

What specifically do you want to know about dosing pumps? Are you asking about the Neptune DOS, or a different brand of doser?

If you want to get up to speed on Apex programming, take a look at my 8-part Apex tutorial series: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/neptune-apex-programming-tutorials.700483/

Thanks so much! I mainly wanted to know if it's worth adding the apex to a 45 gal tank, or if it's something mainly used for larger aquariums.

I have Hydra 52 lights. So the apex should work well. I'd like to add the apex doser if I choose to hook up an apex system, but I'm not sure if other dosers would work with the apex either.

Thanks so much for that link!

 

[SuncrestReef]

Thanks so much! I mainly wanted to know if it's worth adding the apex to a 45 gal tank, or if it's something mainly used for larger aquariums.

I have Hydra 52 lights. So the apex should work well. I'd like to add the apex doser if I choose to hook up an apex system, but I'm not sure if other dosers would work with the apex either.

Thanks so much for that link!

I know many people who use the Apex on smaller tanks. What it's worth is up to you.

Any doser can be used with the Apex. The difference between a Neptune DOS and any other brand dosing pump is that the Apex gives you very simple graphical tools to control the DOS, but other brands you need to program the output to turn on and off based on time and the pump's rate to ensure you're dosing the correct volume. For example, if you have a 1.1 ml per minute dosing pump and want to dose 120 ml per day spread out over the whole day, you'd need to use this programming code:

Fallback OFF
OSC 000:00/004:33/055:27 Then ON

These timers cause the pump to run once per hour for 4:33 minutes, so that's 1.1 ml x 4:33 = 5.005 ml per interval, x 24 intervals = 120.12 ml.

With the DOS, you simply tell it to dose 120 ml and it does all the math for you:

 

[miasreeftank]

I know many people who use the Apex on smaller tanks. What it's worth is up to you.

Any doser can be used with the Apex. The difference between a Neptune DOS and any other brand dosing pump is that the Apex gives you very simple graphical tools to control the DOS, but other brands you need to program the output to turn on and off based on time and the pump's rate to ensure you're dosing the correct volume. For example, if you have a 1.1 ml per minute dosing pump and want to dose 120 ml per day spread out over the whole day, you'd need to use this programming code:

Fallback OFF
OSC 000:00/004:33/055:27 Then ON

These timers cause the pump to run once per hour for 4:33 minutes, so that's 1.1 ml x 4:33 = 5.005 ml per interval, x 24 intervals = 120.12 ml.

With the DOS, you simply tell it to dose 120 ml and it does all the math for you:

Amazing!! Thank you!! I think I'm going to go with the apex DOS.

 

[Philly Reefer]

You should be asking yourself, do you want to get the Apex or ApexEL.
I have the ApexEL and love it. I am only starting my 40 breeder tank and I won the apexEL through a livestream. If I didn't win it, I would probably wait until getting a controller.

But now since I have it, I don't think I can live without it. I am using 2 AI Prime HD light but after playing around with them in the apex, it kept disconnecting and turning off the light.
I am not sure why. So I just disconnect it from the apex and use their own app for it. I don't think you are missing much with the light. You are not changing the light settings everyday.

I also have Tunze ATO. I bought them before I won the apex. It still useful though to connect it to the apex since I can program it to turn off during feeding (my return pump shut down) and turned on automatically after 1 hour. I do that because everytime the tunze ato turned on, it will pump water to test its working.

Regarding the DOS, I heard they can be loud. very loud. I would probably get them in the future but I am thinking of using them as automatic water changer instead of dosing.
I am planning to get dosing through.... other dosing pump until I get a trident... then I would need to get a DOS with that

 

[miasreeftank]

You should be asking yourself, do you want to get the Apex or ApexEL.
I have the ApexEL and love it. I am only starting my 40 breeder tank and I won the apexEL through a livestream. If I didn't win it, I would probably wait until getting a controller.

But now since I have it, I don't think I can live without it. I am using 2 AI Prime HD light but after playing around with them in the apex, it kept disconnecting and turning off the light.
I am not sure why. So I just disconnect it from the apex and use their own app for it. I don't think you are missing much with the light. You are not changing the light settings everyday.

I also have Tunze ATO. I bought them before I won the apex. It still useful though to connect it to the apex since I can program it to turn off during feeding (my return pump shut down) and turned on automatically after 1 hour. I do that because everytime the tunze ato turned on, it will pump water to test its working.

Regarding the DOS, I heard they can be loud. very loud. I would probably get them in the future but I am thinking of using them as automatic water changer instead of dosing.
I am planning to get dosing through.... other dosing pump until I get a trident... then I would need to get a DOS with that

Good to know! Thank you! I'll have to check that out.