Reeflink or WXM?
- Thread starter adw
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fab
Active Member
If you have your Apex controller then why would you want to use any non-Apex controller for lighting? Is there an advantage to doing so? I know of none. You will loose ability to coordinate other things with respect to your lighting and to control lighting in coordination with other things you monitor and control in your aquarium system.
You would be reverting from a coherent scheme of aquarium processing and activity control to a less coherent scheme and you would be going "eclectic" on yourself. I see no advantages in switching control away from Apex.
If you do not already have your Apex control you face a larger question. Do you want to go with Reeflink or with Apex for all of monitoring and control of your aquarium system.
Right now no one can touch even the tailfeathers of Apex"s features and proven capabilities, or its tech support by the company and by the highly active (inclusive, generous and polite) user community forum. Maybe Reeflink plans to overtake Apex someday but it is nowhere close now.
So in my view this question boils down to whether you want certain excellence now or would rather gamble on uncertain capabilities and what will probably end up being very good quality from "son of reeflink", but in the uncertain future.
Btw, my reeflink still sits in its unopened box. I originally bought it as an insurance hedge against possible problems that might have come up with Apex integration which never materialized, thereby having wasted my good cash.
You would be reverting from a coherent scheme of aquarium processing and activity control to a less coherent scheme and you would be going "eclectic" on yourself. I see no advantages in switching control away from Apex.
If you do not already have your Apex control you face a larger question. Do you want to go with Reeflink or with Apex for all of monitoring and control of your aquarium system.
Right now no one can touch even the tailfeathers of Apex"s features and proven capabilities, or its tech support by the company and by the highly active (inclusive, generous and polite) user community forum. Maybe Reeflink plans to overtake Apex someday but it is nowhere close now.
So in my view this question boils down to whether you want certain excellence now or would rather gamble on uncertain capabilities and what will probably end up being very good quality from "son of reeflink", but in the uncertain future.
Btw, my reeflink still sits in its unopened box. I originally bought it as an insurance hedge against possible problems that might have come up with Apex integration which never materialized, thereby having wasted my good cash.
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From what I read you loose some capabilities controlling the radions with the Apex. I also see people complaining about not being able to shares graphs. If the reeflink was the better option I would be happy to control the lights and flow with the reeflink and everything else with my apex. If it isn't a better option then I would agree having everything in one place would be better.
hybridazn
Acro killer.....
I have an apex and love it. I use the wxm module to control my vortechs. I used to have radions and at that time I was going to get the reeflink. But I sold the radions so a reeflink isn't needed. But if I had radions still I def would have gotten the reeflink and run it along with my apex
Salt It Away
Community Member
Even though I struggled up front eliminating the "missing" status, I deleted and reinstalled the WXM and it works flawlessly. Like other posters, I also have a Reef Link new in the box as backup. Hopefully will never need it.
pugcrush
Well-Known Member
Though you can control the vortechs/radions with the WXM, I think this is a good read I saw the other day. http://reef2reef.com/threads/vectra-and-neptune-apex.235822/ I know I've bought different equipment thru the years for an eventual upgrade & I'm a disappointed when I read this. This could just be the start of bigger things to come. Just in case you were looking at adding the Vectra pump for down the road.
I personally have both and only use my apex now. If it was not for my Vectra pump I would dump reef link all together. When apex DC pump comes out I will!
fab
Active Member
If EcoTech Marine would make the Vectra pumps Apex ready, as are their wonderful powerheads and lights, I would not need to encourage Neptune Systems to produce a good DC pump. I would be very happy with the M1 amd L1 pumps.
Unfortunately EcoTech shot itself in the foot. They have made it so their Vectra pumps will not interface with Apex, so now I have no use for Vectra pumps. Now I need Neptune Systems to build its COR pumps. It is that simple. I will not split up the monitoring and control of my aquarium system just because of EcoTech's stupidity.
Unfortunately EcoTech shot itself in the foot. They have made it so their Vectra pumps will not interface with Apex, so now I have no use for Vectra pumps. Now I need Neptune Systems to build its COR pumps. It is that simple. I will not split up the monitoring and control of my aquarium system just because of EcoTech's stupidity.
djbetterly
Well-Known Member
I switched my radions over to the wxm last night and I'm perfectly content with it. In fact I find it easier to control than the reeflink...neptune even has preset inputs for certain desired looks such as 10k, 20k, all blue, deep blue, etc...
Kungpaoshizi
Valuable Member
Yes.
WXM:
No acclimation mode (this is HUGE; it eliminates the daily/weekly nuisance of changing percents)
No lightning percentages
No cloud percentages
No sunrise
No sunset
No power display for the profile
No color display for the profile
No importing a profile
No exporting a profile
The color temperature profiles are jacked up
I know there's stuff missing for the vortech's but it doesn't come to mind
Absolutely no customer service. I called more than once, they always said "we're working on it!" and then finally after complaining for the 20th time, the VP of sales said they're not adding any of that because they don't want to 'confuse the customers with those functions'.
Reeflink:
Supports it all
Don't get me wrong, it is possible to replicate a lot in Apex Fusion, but then for some things you have to use their fragmented system and go code in the classic control panel they said they were working to get rid of about 2 years ago. (and it's still there, and Fusion is not done yet; this is the same response I got about acclimation mode and other functionality)
Do not believe Neptune is working on it, they're not. And in itself, Acclimation mode makes the reeflink worth it. And the WXM is more expensive, and has LESS functionality.
I'm always surprised by the blind faith in Neptune.
dbrewsky
Active Member
I went with the reeflink because of the lack of support for the vectra with my apex. Plain and simple. IF the vectra is ever enabled for use with the apex i would consider buying the wxm. My concern with the wxm in the eventuality of this happening would be that the advanced features such as the vectra self-diagnostics and power reporting would not be available with the WXM. So why use a system that cant support the most useful features of this pump?
I like the redundancy of knowing that another controller platform through the reeflink can help monitor and alert me in the case the pumps go down or the vectra isnt acting right. I will still have the vortechs and vectra plugged into my apex for power control, however only reeflink will tell me if it looses connection with the pump or some other alert. This can potentially tell me way ahead of time that the vectra is clogged or dead, even when the apex says that power is on and should be good.
I also like that I can control my xr15 fw freshwater led on my planted tank without having to mess with additional apex modules and wiring.
I think the integration of the APEX and Reeflink is a good solution because of these reasons and lets be honest, how often are you figgiting with pump schedules and lighting temps that would make logging into reeflink that big of a deal? Besides its actually easier to use the reeflink app if you want to "show off" when people come over. Also, as these products become even more advanced, we are getting to a stage where the features and technology are getting beyond a level were simple programming integration between platforms will provide the same control and features, just like stated above with the advantages of the reef link over the apex wxm. I am a die hard apex guy dont get me wrong, but I also can see that the reeflink has advantages over the APEX and will integrate both systems to work together as best as possible.
I like the redundancy of knowing that another controller platform through the reeflink can help monitor and alert me in the case the pumps go down or the vectra isnt acting right. I will still have the vortechs and vectra plugged into my apex for power control, however only reeflink will tell me if it looses connection with the pump or some other alert. This can potentially tell me way ahead of time that the vectra is clogged or dead, even when the apex says that power is on and should be good.
I also like that I can control my xr15 fw freshwater led on my planted tank without having to mess with additional apex modules and wiring.
I think the integration of the APEX and Reeflink is a good solution because of these reasons and lets be honest, how often are you figgiting with pump schedules and lighting temps that would make logging into reeflink that big of a deal? Besides its actually easier to use the reeflink app if you want to "show off" when people come over. Also, as these products become even more advanced, we are getting to a stage where the features and technology are getting beyond a level were simple programming integration between platforms will provide the same control and features, just like stated above with the advantages of the reef link over the apex wxm. I am a die hard apex guy dont get me wrong, but I also can see that the reeflink has advantages over the APEX and will integrate both systems to work together as best as possible.
