What to buy first

[Sjhoppes]

Trying to decide what I should get first. I currently am running 2 of the powerheads in the link below in a 60g cube (fish only for a while as it’s a new tank). Bought a icecap 3k for my wife to give me for Christmas to upgrade the pumps. However I came across an apex classic with the following:
2 - Energy Bar 4's QTy 2
1 - Classic Base Unit 1- AFS - Auto Feed Never Opened
1-PM2 - Salinity Module
1- Display Panel
2 - Temp Probes
1- PH Probe - Lab Grade
1-Conductivity / Salinity Probe
1 - ORP Probe
1 - LSM Module
1- PM 1 PH / ORP Module 1- Breakout Box (new)

All that for $300. I want to do what’s best for the tank. Looking for opinions! Thanks!

 

[Sjhoppes]

Also should mention that the icecap is unopened so I can still return it, which is why I wanted to see what everyone’s thought!

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Depends on what you want. Apex is awesome and having a controller makes running a reef tank that much easier but not needed for a successful tank. Good water flow is however a must for a reef tank and some Gyres will be a huge upgrade to what you have now.

 

[Sjhoppes]

Depends on what you want. Apex is awesome and having a controller makes running a reef tank that much easier but not needed for a successful tank. Good water flow is however a must for a reef tank and some Gyres will be a huge upgrade to what you have now.

For sure. Just wasn’t sure if that was too good of deal to pass up on with the apex. If I could hold out a few more months on the powerhead I could buy used was my thought instead of new like I did. So I guess maybe the question is, is that deal too good to pass up?

 

[User]

If you send me a link to the apex, I’ll check it out for you and see if it’s worth the $300...

 

[Sjhoppes]

If you send me a link to the apex, I’ll check it out for you and see if it’s worth the $300...

I’ll take it that means it’s a good deal eh?

 

[User]

I’ll take it that means it’s a good deal eh?

Put it this way...

If I literally just hadn’t dropped $200 on a new classic head unit to replace my busted lite, I’d be scouring the selling section looking for this ad.

As it is, if I see all that stuff going for $300, I’ll likely cry


Edit: no, that’s an awful deal. Don’t do it. But still send me the link. But don’t buy it

 

[Cjud7982]

My thoughts. Apex is not a necessity by any means at all. Flow is, lighting is, filtration is. Those things should be where the effort is most important. Once you have everything else dialed in and happy with how the tank looks, then consider adding some tank automation stuff. I've been running 4 tanks for the last few years and just a few weeks ago got an Apex classic and eb8 on trade. I hooked it up and to be honest, it's convenient, makes things easier to manage. But truthfully I don't see why people drop thousands of dollars on it. For me half the fun of the hobby is being interactive with the tank. Not to downplay the Apex stuff, it's truly amazing. But I think it should come after the major tank equipment is set then use it to manage timers dosing, alarms, and whatever else you would like it to do for ya.

And yeah that's a darn good deal in my opinion.

 

[Sjhoppes]

My thoughts. Apex is not a necessity by any means at all. Flow is, lighting is, filtration is. Those things should be where the effort is most important. Once you have everything else dialed in and happy with how the tank looks, then consider adding some tank automation stuff. I've been running 4 tanks for the last few years and just a few weeks ago got an Apex classic and eb8 on trade. I hooked it up and to be honest, it's convenient, makes things easier to manage. But truthfully I don't see why people drop thousands of dollars on it. For me half the fun of the hobby is being interactive with the tank. Not to downplay the Apex stuff, it's truly amazing. But I think it should come after the major tank equipment is set then use it to manage timers dosing, alarms, and whatever else you would like it to do for ya

I’m kind of a tech geek, which is making it tough to resist. At this point I would only use some of the package and sell the rest. Figured I could use that money elsewhere? Thoughts for that price?

 

[Cjud7982]

I’m kind of a tech geek, which is making it tough to resist. At this point I would only use some of the package and sell the rest. Figured I could use that money elsewhere? Thoughts for that price?

Lol if playing with logic controlled relays for outlets is of interest to you than that's great a lot of us are that way too which means you'll enjoy the purchase! And fyi the one I traded for was for around 180 in equipment. So that was just for the eb8 and classic. No probes, no modules. So for that price, it's tough to pass up, especially with two eb8s and the other modules and probes as long as they can calibrate.

 

[Sjhoppes]

Lol if playing with logic controlled relays for outlets is of interest to you than that's great a lot of us are that way too which means you'll enjoy the purchase! And fyi the one I traded for was for around 180 in equipment. So that was just for the eb8 and classic. No probes, no modules. So for that price, it's tough to pass up, especially with two eb8s and the other modules and probes as long as they can calibrate.

Claim everything was working when system came down. I figured I could sell the auto feeder, LSM, and maybe another to recoup quite a bit of the money. I dunno though.

 

[Cjud7982]

So do you have some more info with your plans for the tank? You say it is new and fish only right now. I didn't find the link for your system. With it being a fish only tank I am afraid you will not really see any of the real meat and potatoes of the Apex tech. If you plan on going with corals, mixed reef with any sps, flow is absolutely essential and will need to be in place, but like you said they go secondhand pretty reasonably, usually.

 

[Sjhoppes]

So do you have some more info with your plans for the tank? You say it is new and fish only right now. I didn't find the link for your system. With it being a fish only tank I am afraid you will not really see any of the real meat and potatoes of the Apex tech. If you plan on going with corals, mixed reef with any sps, flow is absolutely essential and will need to be in place, but like you said they go secondhand pretty reasonably, usually.

No build thread unfortunately. I am planning on doing some corals, just the easier corals though. I started the tank at the end of October and won’t put any coral until I know the tank is mature enough to handle it. So I’m thinking probably 3-4 more months until I introduce coral. I figured to start with on the apex I would monitor parameters, setup some feed codes (tired of unplugging stuff), and some random items like that. Let me know if I’m offbase with any of this.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Trying to decide what I should get first. I currently am running 2 of the powerheads in the link below in a 60g cube (fish only for a while as it’s a new tank). Bought a icecap 3k for my wife to give me for Christmas to upgrade the pumps. However I came across an apex classic with the following:
2 - Energy Bar 4's QTy 2
1 - Classic Base Unit 1- AFS - Auto Feed Never Opened
1-PM2 - Salinity Module
1- Display Panel
2 - Temp Probes
1- PH Probe - Lab Grade
1-Conductivity / Salinity Probe
1 - ORP Probe
1 - LSM Module
1- PM 1 PH / ORP Module 1- Breakout Box (new)

All that for $300. I want to do what’s best for the tank. Looking for opinions! Thanks!

Don't buy the $15.99 pumps, I did, never again.

 

[Sjhoppes]

Don't buy the $15.99 pumps, I did, never again.

Stray voltage?

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Also should mention that the icecap is unopened so I can still return it, which is why I wanted to see what everyone’s thought!

I have two iced Capp 3K, good for minimum size tank 25 gallon. Great warranty and I love them.

 

[Cjud7982]

They're just cheap, they fails, and the suction cups dont hold. Don't move that much water with any sort of good flow pattern

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Stray voltage?

Not stray, I try to control them off/on, they go backwards at times.

 

[Sjhoppes]

They're just cheap, they fails, and the suction cups dont hold. Don't move that much water with any sort of good flow pattern

I’ve had good luck with the suction cups. They were meant to just get me by until I needed something more. Do you think it would be possible to trade items like the LSM, Breakout box, auto feeder for powerheads? I wasn’t sure if that’s something people would do. Could get the best of both worlds.

 

[Cjud7982]

So my advice.
1) establish a plan for what you expect your tank to be. This will determine what equipment you need. A lot of fish means a lot of skimmer and a lot of filtration. A lot of coral generally means a lot of flow, good lighting and stable parameters.
2) focus on the equipment that will make your goals possible first. When you want to buy corals you do not want to be fussing with lighting and flow still.
3) make sure your filtration is working the way it should, good live rock, sand, clean up crew. Make sure your skimmer is dialed in and if you have any macro algea, make sure it's doing it's job.
4) get your tank maintance habitual so you can do it on your sleep. Get familiar with your testing and what your tank is telling you what it needs.
5) once you have all of this established then you can use an apex or something to assist you and make the tank more automated.

For me, my prioties on new setups are.
1) good stand, good plumbing, no leaks
2) lighting
3) flow
4) fully cycled and strong clean up crew
5) start adding livestock and corals and getting stuff that I want in the tank going.
6) from there do what the system tells me to keep the livestock alive and thriving
7) consider automating.

And lastly, I think many others on here will vouch for those suction cups randomly letting go and making a nasty mess of the sand and stuff in the tank.

Others may agree or disagree with this, but this sort of approach had worked for me. At least until I leaned about quarantining absolutely everything haha but that's a different topic.

Bottom line is, it's up to you, it's a good deal for the Apex stuff. You can probably sell the stuff you don't need later on for money towards a solid pump. I agree with you that plugging things in and out all the time isn't fun, but they sell some nice power strips with individual switches to alleviate that.