Neptune Users: IS IT WORTH IT?

[MichaelReefer]

So, I am largely on the fence right now. I am very close friends with my LFS owners and have the opportunity to get a Neptune at a very good price. I am however iffy if its worth the time and money? From what I've heard its somewhat difficult to use. I mainly was considering it for the 24/7 Alk, Cal and Mag watch, being able to always see where I'm out without constantly testing. My question is, IS IT WORTH IT for the price? Even though I will be getting it for about wholesale.

Thanks for the help!

 

[clifg]

I love it. Haven't had to manually test anything besides phosphate and nitrate since. After having the apex and trident for about 6 months I took a deep dive into Neptune's ecosystem and got the cor-15, atk, dos, and lsm. The way everything works together seamlessly has made my life so much easier. As for ease of use the system is pretty much set up with all the basic programming, which is all you need. It's nice to know that I do have the option down the line to get into more advanced programming if I want to.

 

[atomic081]

for 10 years ive been one who has said they are not needed. I swore I would never get one........

Then i got one and LOVE IT. The ability to check my ALK, MAG and CALC is 100% worth it. I check it daily and its already saved my tank in the first year from a crash!

 

[Montiman]

I am not a trident owner but I am a Neptune Apex owner. For me the Apex is all about notifications and redundancy increasing the chances of long term success.

I have had the Apex alert me to power failures, ATO failures, dosing pump failures, and clogged equipment. Had I not known about these problems and been able to react I could have lost a good amount of fish and coral. IMO this makes it worth it.

Let me clarify that I am not concerned with control. In fact I often work to decentralize control. I just want the Apex to detect a failure notify me and do something about it.

 

[reefinnewb]

I have one and couldn't imagine running with out it. Mostly monitoring and control of simple functions. Alerts me when my pH, temp, and power are all out of whack. I did build a button box for it to make one button feeding and maintenance switches. So much you can do. It's not limited to mag, alk, calc monitoring.

 

[MohH]

An apex for controlling and monitoring the state of your tank is great,...you have a great deal of control....even if you are on vacation adding a trident for monitoring parameters...well that depends on you and how good you are at checking those parameters... once... twice per week (the trident tests several times per day)... i used to think i can do my testing manually but soon realize between work and family i dont have the time nor want to spend time counting drops of chemicals and matching colours .so in my opinion an apex/trident is worth it.

 

[jphilip813]

I second everyone's comment...For me it is control, redundancy and the entire ecosystem. However, lets face it...they are not the only ones on the playing field. There are other brands and I would be lying to say that other brands do not have better features that the "Trident" currently supports...It only test for the Top 3, some would argue you mainly need to test for ALK...others would say Phosphate, and Nitrate...which if it goes wrong, can kill your entire system....But for ME...I LOVE the Entire APEX/NEPTUNE Brand...some tweaking and other features are needed in my opinion.

 

[Vested]

I second everyone's comment...For me it is control, redundancy and the entire ecosystem. However, lets face it...they are not the only ones on the playing field. There are other brands and I would be lying to say that others have better feature that the "Trident" doesn't support...It only test for the Top 3, some would argue you mainly need to test for ALK...others would say Phosphate, and Nitrate...which if it goes wrong, can kill your entire system....But for ME...I LOVE the Entire APEX/NEPTUNE Brand...some tweaking and other features are needed in my opinion.

Off topic but love that light cover on the kessil to your refugium, where can I find something like that?

 

[ADAM]

Yes worth every penny. I woundnt dream of having a tank without a controller again. However with any thing there will be a learning curve and possibly some moments when you’re red faced and ready to throw it out the window, but ultimately worth every silver schilling!

 

[jphilip813]

Off topic but love that light cover on the kessil to your refugium, where can I find something like that?

I had it customized by an online 3D fellow Reefer last year during my Reef Renovation...Once i get his name, I will send it to you via PM..I had several protypes done...This one worked the BEST for my set.

 

[JaykS]

I love mine, really busy with work and it just makes life easier

 

[Gogol_frag]

So, I am largely on the fence right now. I am very close friends with my LFS owners and have the opportunity to get a Neptune at a very good price. I am however iffy if its worth the time and money? From what I've heard its somewhat difficult to use. I mainly was considering it for the 24/7 Alk, Cal and Mag watch, being able to always see where I'm out without constantly testing. My question is, IS IT WORTH IT for the price? Even though I will be getting it for about wholesale.

Thanks for the help!

I was in the exact same space as you Michael. But having had the Apex for the past 2 months, a similar level of automation to my Major Element testing felt enticing. So I got the Trident

One word of caution: Per Neptune, your tank can siphon out through the Trident if you are not setting it up based on their recommendation (and frankly since Neptune is neither the master of Earth's gravitational force nor my tank-water's surface-tension, there is always a non-zero probability of a siphon happening).


I am scared to death of empty tanks, so I have created a DIY acrylic shelf to have the Trident above my water-level. However, I am still worried that it may get unperched from that shelf, and siphon out my tank.

It's a trade-off. But I will be really mad at myself for having introduced a siphon in my system due to the allure of automated testing.

 

[MichaelReefer]

Is it as complicated to set up as I was told?

 

[schuby]

I would say "Yes!" it is worth it. I would also say that years of experience with a reef tank with no automation greatly contributed to my first statement. Putting in a controller and any other automation when you are new can prevent you from understanding "why" some people choose to spend their hard-earned money on them. I have a lot of Neptune Apex-related hardware for my second reef tank and all of it has a purpose and fills a need, in my mind. I don't have anything just because someone else has it (this used to be called "Keeping up with the Jones").

As far as complicated, nothing is as complex as a reef-tank's ecosystem! And there are people on here who can help you properly setup any reef-tank hardware, Neptune or other.

 

[MohH]

Not complicated at all 15-20 mins and setup is done

 

[Gogol_frag]

Is it as complicated to set up as I was told?

To provide a direct answer to your question - I found the instructions extremely simple to follow.

But you can judge that by yourself, and here's how : I am assuming that you have an Apex (newer Model) and a Fusion, since you are considering the Trident. If so, then go to the "Tasks" function for your Fusion's app/website, and search "Trident Initial Setup" (see attached screenshot). There, you will find step-by-step video instructions by Neptune's finest.

The instructions are detailed and very easy to follow. They are way better than the Apex setup instructions, and definitely beats trying to install Tunze 3155 ATO or the Tunze 3168 Com Filter where the instruction booklet felt like solving a cruel-puzzle, and you had to rely on Farm Boy Reef's youtube videos - God bless him and his Hulk Tank.

 

[ReefBeta]

Is it as complicated to set up as I was told?

I assume you're new to any kind of aquarium controller. In this case, don't use it as a controller at the start. Set it up and use it only as monitoring and outlet timer, and continue to run the tank the way you were. Just the additional monitoring capability will be worth the cost, and it's by far the most important perspective, to help you understand your tank's behavior. After you got comfortable with the system, you can then decide whether to add in more complex controlling logic.

 

[MichaelReefer]

I assume you're new to any kind of aquarium controller. In this case, don't use it as a controller at the start. Set it up and use it only as monitoring and outlet timer, and continue to run the tank the way you were. Just the additional monitoring capability will be worth the cost, and it's by far the most important perspective, to help you understand your tank's behavior. After you got comfortable with the system, you can then decide whether to add in more complex controlling logic.

Yeah, about three years doing saltwater and never really took the leap into any kind of controller. Again my main focus is to get hourly updates on Alk, Cal and Mag and go from there. I recently started to focus more on SPS.

 

[ReefBeta]

Yeah, about three years doing saltwater and never really took the leap into any kind of controller. Again my main focus is to get hourly updates on Alk, Cal and Mag and go from there. I recently started to focus more on SPS.

sounds like you're in the right path. so you're getting the Apex + Trident for the Alk/Ca/Mg testing, right? The setup is not hard in my opinion, since it's all app based with walkthrough tutorial in the app. Just follow the instruction and you will be fine. Also Apex's customer service is legit if you run into road blocks.

 

[jphilip813]

sounds like you're in the right path. so you're getting the Apex + Trident for the Alk/Ca/Mg testing, right? The setup is not hard in my opinion, since it's all app based with walkthrough tutorial in the app. Just follow the instruction and you will be fine. Also Apex's customer service is legit if you run into road blocks.

I would second the Neptune Customer service... REALLY Good....Having my Trident Serviced/Replaced as we speak...They will send one out for me to use while they fix mine...