What’s next from Apex? (After Trident)

[rkpetersen]

I live in the industrial automation world. We have these types of services and they are $$$$$$$. I’d put it at less than 10% of apex users would ever pay a premium for this type of service.

Of course that's right. Someone would definitely have to run the spreadsheets to see if it's worthwhile. They could even cater it to a different segment of the market; people who aren't hobbyists per se but want an absolutely foolproof automated reef in their home, for example. (Apex is already used by aquarium services for this, to some extent.)

 

[Flameback Pair]

How about an affordable Dissolved Oxygen probe?

 

[Amoo]

I know refinement doesn't sell as well as new product, but I do feel updating some of the headaches for everyone like the Salinity probes...etc would go a long ways.

 

[GK3]

Of course that's right. Someone would definitely have to run the spreadsheets to see if it's worthwhile. They could even cater it to a different segment of the market; people who aren't hobbyists per se but want an absolutely foolproof automated reef in their home, for example. (Apex is already used by aquarium services for this, to some extent.)

While I agree with that, it doesn’t seem like Neptune is targeting that market with apex. I always remind myself, this is a hobby. So there is a limited amount of customers out there and I suspect they are going to focus on products that the bulk of the hobby is going to want.

 

[GK3]

I know refinement doesn't sell as well as new product, but I do feel updating some of the headaches for everyone like the Salinity probes...etc would go a long ways.

What is everyone’s complaint with the salinity probe? Mine works fine.

 

[Amoo]

What is everyone’s complaint with the salinity probe? Mine works fine.

My graph recently. I clean my salinity probe once every 2 weeks since it's in my fuge area in my sump and this is the most consistent it gets.

 

[grassy_noel]

Surprised no one has said a camera that actually works reliably with Fusion and doesn’t require a certificate in Network Engineering to set up. I would pay $99 for that.

 

[Breadman03]

Here is a super simple way to get your Apex/DOS set up for happy Triton dosing.

I’m not sure what was going on with my images before.

 

[GK3]

My graph recently. I clean my salinity probe once every 2 weeks since it's in my fuge area in my sump and this is the most consistent it gets.

This is probably going to annoy you more than anything, but your probe looks fundamentally flawed. 1 you have two giant spikes that look like asymptotes, these should not be there unless you pulled them out of your tank. The variation is also super high, almost like it’s not calibrated right or there is noise in it. My graph is far more consistent. I just looked and all day today mine is between 34.2 and 34.6

 

[Rakie]

That laser tank cleaner from finding nemo.

 

[GK3]

This is probably going to annoy you more than anything, but your probe looks fundamentally flawed. 1 you have two giant spikes that look like asymptotes, these should not be there unless you pulled them out of your tank. The variation is also super high, almost like it’s not calibrated right or there is noise in it. My graph is far more consistent. I just looked and all day today mine is between 34.2 and 34.6

One thing I did do on mine, i stopped using Neptune apex calibration fluid and ordered my own lab grade on amazon.

 

[laverda]

I’d like to see a dedicated battery backup module. It would take any generic battery (say a car battery) as an input, and would power the Apex "brain" and run routines for outlets specific to a power outage. I think this could manage limited battery backup power much better than existing systems that power just one dedicated piece of equipment, like a pump. For instance, I'd like to:

1. Turn the lights, dosing pumps, reactors, etc. off (can live without them for 2-3 days).

2. Keep the return pump at low speed for say 3-5 turnovers per hour (assuming DC controllable). This will keep the heater and probes supplied with tank water as well.

3. Keep one heater running as normal. Surely this would be the biggest power draw.

4. Run wavemakers only when the heater isn't running (limit peak draw), and at only 10%.

5. When remaining battery charge drops to 10%, turn everything off and turn on an airstone that is always installed in the main tank.

I could imagine with a system like this you might get 24-48 hours of quality life support (depending on how cold it is outside), and maybe another 48 hours of emergency life support (air stone only) off a car battery.

This module could also have a cellular device built in (for a monthly fee, I'm sure) that could continue to give you notifications and updates even when the power was out.

sigh...dreaming...

All this can be done very easily now. A UPS battery back is all you need. The programming capability is already there, including alarms. You will need you have your router and modem or a UPS as well. How long it runs, depends on the battery capacity. You can get more life out of the batteries by running DC pumps directly off the batteries instead of converting to AC and back to DC. Depending on the back up the will run on 12volts or 24 volts. Your going to need a very big one to run a heater for very long at all. I can run my Tunze 6105 near the surface for 744 min at 50%. Longer when I get around to wiring them to the battery’s directly via the Tunze safety switch. A 300 watt heater would run for 75 minuets or less as it would probably overload the system or destroy the batteries from drawing too much current for too long. I personally see no advantage to running the apex in a power outage of more than a few min. Long enough to send an alarm is really plenty. I would prefer to keep my circulation pump running longer. For that purpose you could just run a small 12 volt battery to the aux power port instead of a wall wart.
My UPS (APC1500 with additional battery pack) has the batteries hooked up for 24volt DC, with 6 batteries, 4 of which are hot swapable. I have a second battery pack with 2 batteries if I should need a bit more time.
If Neptune were to sell it they would put in an ugly orange weird shape and charge 3 times as much for it! No thanks.

 

[Itsander]

Frozen feeder for sure and please a smaller doser, we all know that little by little we loose room down there by the sump and that doser it's way to big just for two products, I might be wrong but at least that's what I think

 

[Amoo]

This is probably going to annoy you more than anything, but your probe looks fundamentally flawed. 1 you have two giant spikes that look like asymptotes, these should not be there unless you pulled them out of your tank. The variation is also super high, almost like it’s not calibrated right or there is noise in it. My graph is far more consistent. I just looked and all day today mine is between 34.2 and 34.6

Just an example of one of the things I have found frustrating about it. It will give intermittent drop outs for no reason where it spikes down to 0 like that then comes back up fine. I can try separating it from my other probes to eliminate noise, but outside of that ???

 

[Val Shebeko]

I’m sorry, but I FIND THIS LAUGHABLE. The system cannot measure salinity reliably, Ph is not accurate at all, well kinda but I end up checking behind it with a Hanna, the only thing thst I can trust is the tempurature probe, it tracks pretty much with an outside sensor. ORP has no meaning at all. Sometimes up, sometimes down.

I Have checked for stray voltages, made sure the probes are seperated, not totally immersed, that they are clean, calibrated and still there is no consistency

And now they have a way of doing the rest of this reliably ? I wish they would fix the basics.

When I check the tank from someplace else it sure would be nice to reliably know that the salinity stayed, the ph has not wandered off, ORP has not crashed and the tempurature is not making fish stew. But that is not possable

So call me grumpy or cursed by the gods but....

 

[Forsaken77]

A reliable, fully automated RO/DI unit that can connect directly to the tank without worries of failure along the way. Direct-connect Wifi to the head unit for programming and to monitor filters and pressure and membrane life.

More standalone products, like the COR20 pump, that can operate independent of an Apex, but you get more features with an Apex.

A dream of course

 

[Reefpuck]

Nitrate & phosphate testing...which corresponds to being able to control/dose parameters through Apex.

Maybe notification reminders for when it's time to change bulbs/etc.

Log to keep track of when fish are purchased, equipment added, etc.

 

[rui.manuel.gaspar]

Hello,
I would love to see improved functionalities on the current products ...
Some where mentioned here like DOS but there are others that could benefit.
Fusion to five columns and the customization of the Closed Open names in switches to something more meaningful

 

[Reefpuck]

So...how do we go about tagging Neptune on this thread?

 

[rkpetersen]

What is everyone’s complaint with the salinity probe? Mine works fine.

It is often finicky to calibrate, tends to accumulate air bubbles which can dramatically throw off the reading, and the cable is highly susceptible to interference from other cables and cords running alongside it back to the controller. That said, I'm personally ok with the design, it works well enough if you know its limitations. Would probably want something better with the Apex Mil Spec, though.