Please walk me through heater/apex setup.

[bevo5]

I have a 220g tank currently heated with 2x Ebo 300watt heaters that share one outlet on my APEX. I was thinking about moving over to a BRS Titanium heater, but I see a lot of people opting to use an inkbird controller with those?

I like having the shut-off & alert capabilities of the APEX, so is there a reason why people prefer the inkbird to just running through the APEX? Or, would I ever run the inkbird through the APEX as well - and get double backup safety?

What is the optimum setup if I want: safety (obviously), control, and alerts?

 

[Biglew11]

most run the inkbird, or any external controller through the apex. double redundancy. brs recommends using inkbird controller to turn heater on off, then apex as the back up. saves the outlet from the ware of cycling on off.
set the controller to the temp you want to keep the tank at then set the apex to turn on 1-2 degrees lower and off 1-2 degrees higher. that way the apex outlet is almost always on but if temp goes outside of range it shuts the heater off.

i set my controller for 78

apex code looks like this

default off
set on
if temp < 76 then on
if temp > 80 then off

 

[bevo5]

most run the inkbird, or any external controller through the apex. double redundancy. brs recommends using inkbird controller to turn heater on off, then apex as the back up. saves the outlet from the ware of cycling on off.
set the controller to the temp you want to keep the tank at then set the apex to turn on 1-2 degrees lower and off 1-2 degrees higher. that way the apex outlet is almost always on but if temp goes outside of range it shuts the heater off.

i set my controller for 78

apex code looks like this

default off
set on
if temp < 76 then on
if temp > 80 then off

Awesome. Thank you. And why do ink birds have two outlets? Is that for a chiller option or just to control two heaters? I’m thinking I’ll just get one 500w.

 

[Biglew11]

they make them in both styles. a heater only set up will be a single stage, if it's for heater and chiller it will be a dual stage.

 

[Mical]

they make them in both styles. a heater only set up will be a single stage, if it's for heater and chiller it will be a dual stage.

They have the Inkbird 306A which dual heater control with dual temp sensors..

 

[Billldg]

I have a 220g tank currently heated with 2x Ebo 300watt heaters that share one outlet on my APEX. I was thinking about moving over to a BRS Titanium heater, but I see a lot of people opting to use an inkbird controller with those?

I like having the shut-off & alert capabilities of the APEX, so is there a reason why people prefer the inkbird to just running through the APEX? Or, would I ever run the inkbird through the APEX as well - and get double backup safety?

What is the optimum setup if I want: safety (obviously), control, and alerts?

I feel that @SuncrestReef did the best job of explaining everything about Apex programming in this article. I constantly go to it to learn more.

Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials

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...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[schuby]

I have two heaters on two different APEX-controlled outlets. Similar settings to what @Biglew11 has, each outlet turns on when the temp is below a specific temperature such as 76.5. One heater is set to a temp around 76 and the other around 75. My idea is that I don't want both heaters running at the same time (less wear and tear on both). The second, lower-temp heater is really a backup for the first one. APEX is used to prevent a runaway heater from over-heating my tank: it does not turn the heater itself on-and-off to control tank temp (less wear and tear on outlets). When temps fall in the winter, my heater outlets typically stay on for months and then stay off for months for most of the rest of the year. To me, heaters are cheaper to replace than Apex power strips and I don't trust any heater not to fail in an "On" state.