ReefKeeper Elite w/net or APEX w/Net

[lemonyx]

Reefkeeper Elite w/Net or Apex w/Net

Trying to decide which way to go and stuck on these two to replace my old Aquacontroller II, hate

those X-10 modules.

Anyone using the RKE w/Net? Whose using the Apex w/Net?

I'm kind of leaning toward the RKE with the new Salinity Probe, one less test to check

oh, and add an ORP probe

Tell me what you think ​

 

[swannyson7]

The Apex tends to be more popular, but both will do pretty much anything you need. Personally, I use the Apex and prefer Neptune over DA in terms of customer support and ease of programming. The DA units come with no directions whatsoever and you have to search their forum for programming help. HTH

 

[lemonyx]

Thanks swannyson7 good to know about the customer support

 

[kattz]

I had a RKL and it was OK. When I upgraded to the RKE, it took DA 3 tries and a dead tank before I said, "Screw this", and got a Neptune Apex. I gave DA plenty of opportunity to make things right, and there wasn't even so much as a "We're sorry our untested firmware update caused you to lose a thousand dollars in fish and corals." It takes 6 modules and substantially more $ to do with an RKE what the box-stock Apex can do. Eric at Neptune is great people and very helpful. My opinion, go with the Apex.

Kev

 

[eastamherstbias]

I agree. I have an apex and apex jr.

 

[Braves Fan]

The Apex tends to be more popular, but both will do pretty much anything you need. Personally, I use the Apex and prefer Neptune over DA in terms of customer support and ease of programming. The DA units come with no directions whatsoever and you have to search their forum for programming help. HTH

Comes with no directions whatsoever, didn't know that, whose bright idea is this. I am going to make a product, I want you to buy it, but I am not going to send you any info on how to use it, and my competitor has better customer support than I do. Whose running this company Ex Fannie Mae executives. I just bought one of these units :squigglemouth: at best I figured I would have problems setting this thing up with the instructions, now I find out there aren't any, I'm dead meat :cry:

 

[swannyson7]

Comes with no directions whatsoever, didn't know that, whose bright idea is this. I am going to make a product, I want you to buy it, but I am not going to send you any info on how to use it, and my competitor has better customer support than I do. Whose running this company Ex Fannie Mae executives. I just bought one of these units :squigglemouth: at best I figured I would have problems setting this thing up with the instructions, now I find out there aren't any, I'm dead meat :cry:

Maybe things have changed, but when I bought a RKL years ago it came with a 3 page pamphlet with more info about the warranty than about setting it up. Digital Aquatics has a forum which can be helpful, but you have to do some searching. The Apex came with more thorough documentation, but it was still lacking. However, the Apex has the advantage of the "unofficial Apex user guide," a 100+ page .pdf that breaks down everything into baby steps and can be found on Google in about 5 seconds.

 

[Cyber-Burn]

First I want to say that I have a Reefkeeper Elite and I have been very satisfied with it. My RKE came with at least a 50 page user manual that detailed each screen. It was very easy to setup and I had my whole tank up and running on it in about two hours. The only thing I've had to refer to the forum for is advanced programming and it was readily available off a link off their website. The one time I had a proble with a temp probe I received a quick response and had a part sent to me the next day. The 2.0 firmware is a step above the old firmware, and the problem several people had was that the downloaded and installed the 2.0 firmware while it was in a public beta test (clearly labeled that as well) and ran into bugs on the controller. Since I have upgraded to the final release of 2.0 and used myreef it has worked flawlessly. My only complaint is that myreef is not available for the Mac, but I can also understand development costs being in the computer industry. So a PC running Windows is required to program the controller using a computer. I do wish that Digitial Aquatics had a wireless controller for the Vortechs, but that is not enough for me to change controllers.

Now that said, each controller has its advantages and it's disadvantages. The Reefkeepers have Salinity probes and moonlight controllers, the Apex has built in web controller and a wireless module to control Vortech pumps. If I had to choose again I would have to weigh if the Salinity probe and the moonlights were more important than the Vortech controller.

Either one will do the Basics. The cheaper version of the Reefkeeper Elite will allow you to monitor PH, the base Apex does not come with a PH probe. Just be sure to look at all of these things before buying.

 

[dallas reefer]

I got the Apex. Full blown version and an extra ph probe. And I don't know how to program it. Im just not that versed in programming language. But I'm not going to change my mind about it. Besides someone has a manual on line about the apex.

 

[CJO]

The Reefkeepers have Salinity probes and moonlight controllers, the Apex has built in web controller and a wireless module to control Vortech pumps. If I had to choose again I would have to weigh if the Salinity probe and the moonlights were more important than the Vortech controller.

Are you saying that the Reefkeeper comes with a salinity probe and moonlight controller? You can add thse to the Apex with additional modules. I'm using the moonlight controller on mine and it even varies the moonrise and moonset daily (with the lunar calendar).

CJ

 

[CJO]

I got the Apex. Full blown version and an extra ph probe. And I don't know how to program it. Im just not that versed in programming language. But I'm not going to change my mind about it. Besides someone has a manual on line about the apex.

If you have any questions, just ask. We can help you out.

CJ

 

[swannyson7]

Are you saying that the Reefkeeper comes with a salinity probe and moonlight controller? You can add thse to the Apex with additional modules. I'm using the moonlight controller on mine and it even varies the moonrise and moonset daily (with the lunar calendar).

CJ

+1 on those attachments being available for the Apex. You can get the LSM for adding moonlights and you can use a conductivity probe to measure salinity. Conductivity probes measure in units called milliSeimens and 53mS is roughly equivelant to 35ppt or 1.026sg.

 

[ReefLEDLights]

Now that said, each controller has its advantages and it's disadvantages. The Reefkeepers have Salinity probes and moonlight controllers, the Apex has built in web controller and a wireless module to control Vortech pumps. If I had to choose again I would have to weigh if the Salinity probe and the moonlights were more important than the Vortech controller.

Either one will do the Basics. The cheaper version of the Reefkeeper Elite will allow you to monitor PH, the base Apex does not come with a PH probe. Just be sure to look at all of these things before buying.

The reefkeeper does not come with salinity nor moonlights in their standard packages, same as the apex.
I didn't want people getting confused by that. The apex same as digital aquatics has expansion modules for moonlights and conductivity/salinity sensing. Now, the apex does have WXM control for vortechs that DA does not. DAquatics does not have the best dimming module as it can only support up to 3-4 LED drivers whereas the apex can drive up to 24 drivers thru its 4 banks.

Plus with all the extended programming you can do with the apex is far superior to DA. Not bashing, just saying that DA is a mac that is simple for anyone to pick up on it. Apex is a PC, you can do so much more custom stuff with it.


office tank is DA

Apex

Apex

(+2 since others made same comment )

 

[kattz]

I respect the fact that you've had good luck with your RKE and I will freely admit that my RKL was bulletproof. DA let me down when I switched to the RKE. Before that, I was a loyal customer. As an engineer first and a hobbyist second, I maintain that you get a more flexible platform with the Apex out of the box. I have had an Apex base module fail, which was repaired by Neptune without hassle. What saved my tank was the fallback (or programmable default) mode that the Apex allows you to program into any outlet and it stays resident even when the base fails or power is lost. This saved my tank and my livestock, whereas when the firmware update from DA failed, my tank just died. I was gone for two days and came home to death. The response from DA, AND I QUOTE, " THERE ISN'T ANY ACTUAL WARRANTY OR GUARANTEE THAT OUR FIRMWARE WILL WORK, SO SORRY FOR YOUR LOSS, BUT THAT KIND OF THING JUST HAPPENS."

I guess losing a loyal customer just happens, too.

 

[kattz]

If you have any questions, just ask. We can help you out.

CJ

Ditto.

 

[Cyber-Burn]

I retract my previous statements about the moonlight controller on the Apex I didn't see that when I was writing the post. As everyone else has said there are several knowledgable people on here to help you with whichever you choose.