New Reef Aquarium Build

[chaseraider85]

Hi All,

I'm am not new to the hobby by any means and am coming back from a hiatus which saw me sell my previous reef aquarium off to the highest bidder (having kids will do that). Fast forward to last week where I made the huge mistake of walking into my local Aquarium store and fell in love with the new Waterbox Aquariums. Long story short I begged and pleaded with my wife and now am the proud owner of the Waterbox 70.2 Reef Plus. Now I haven't been out of the game for that long 3 years to be exact but there sure are a lot of new tech items on the market that were not around or were much more expensive just a short time ago. I wanted to run my current equipment list by everyone to get thoughts and opinions on what else I might need to make sure this reef build is a successful one.

Current Equipment
Waterbox 70.2 Reef Tank with stand
Waterbox Sump
AI Hydra TwentySix HD
AI HMS Single Arm Kit
Reef Octopus 150 SS Protein Skimmer (Previously owned not sure why I never sold it)
EcoTech Marine Vectra S2 DC Return Pump
Osmolator Universal 3155 Auto Top Off - Tunze
JBJ 300W - True Temp Titanium Heating System
Vortech MP40WQD Powerhead

Once the tank arrives I will get the salt, sand and live rock figured out but I wanted to get everything set up and situated first as far as the equipment goes. I have gone back and forth with whether or not I should get the Apex controller but seeing as how all of my current equipment has individual controllers I have decided if it is really necessary at this point. Any thoughts on whether I should get the Apex Controller would be greatly appreciated as well as opinions on current equipment and anything else I might need.

 

[lapin]

While a controller like an apex is not needed it can provide some useful functions.
I use mine to control my heaters on/off. While my heaters controllers are fine I like to have back up.
I use the apex for a lot of other automated things. Filling my ATO barrel. Turning my skimmer and other things on and off .

 

[Billldg]

I agree with @lapin , a controller isn't needed to have a successful tank, but it does allow you to control certain things and to see patterns with your tank. I also have a Apex and I use it to control my Ecotech pumps and lights, it controls my T5 lighting schedule, and soon it will be monitoring my parameters when my Trident arrives this week. It is also the primary control of my heaters and I use the t-stats of the heaters as secondary back ups. It has also saved my tank a time or two by showing when parameters are out of wack. Oh, and it also controls my dosing of 2-part.

Your list looks solid to me.

 

[chaseraider85]

Thanks for the feedback. After doing a little more research I am becoming more intrigued by the idea of getting the base Apex controller system and adding the Apex Doser with Automatic feeder. After reading through the site it show that I can set up schedules that control when feeding occurs and have the Skimmer, return pump etc. shut off during feeding. My questions with this would be that my return pump is the Vectra S2 which has its own control module. Im assuming if the Apex cuts power to the pump then whatever settings I have the Vectra on will be lost correct? This worries me because this pump is much more powerful than is needed for my size tank so I wouldn't want the apex to shut off the pump and it to come back on at 1,400 GPH.