- Location
- Forked River, New Jersey
Controllers, lets chat here!!!
- Thread starter motortrendz
- Start date
- Location
- Albany, NY
The other thing that I didn't mention about the Apex controller is that you can program it to send you email messages if something happens. This can be almost anything that the controller can identify. It takes a little bit to get the email working and to program it since the only complaint I have about the system is that the documentation is a little lacking. They make up for it on technical assistance and service, we all of my questions being answered either on the phone or in emails that took less than hours. The fact that the Apex is software update-able is another great feature which made me buy it over the RKE.
- Location
- Albany, NY
What I did when I was shopping for a system, was that I asked both sales departments to help me choose, letting them know that I was looking at both systems. I have to say I was blown away by the Apex folks who in my opinion had a lot more to offer. My analysis was that the overall outfitting of the Apex was a little more expensive, but its design allowed for a lifetime of upgrades without purchase of a new system. The fact that the operating system on the Apex was online upgrade-able also made a huge difference for me. Also if you are going to use the network functions, the Apex has a faster internal clock and bus so that it operates faster. I also have to say that I was also impressed with the responsiveness of the Apex folks who typically responded to a lot of questions I had much faster than the RK folks. I was also able to find a HUGE community of Apex users that helped with advise on programming things like the routines for my pumps to cycle creating the currents i desired.
- Location
- Forked River, New Jersey
awesome allen... thanks.. i think my RKL is gonna go on my frag system and im gonna look into the apex for the main system
OK Here we go, for some people a controller is a luxury and for others it's a necessity. I have owned the RK1,RK2,RKL,RKE,ACjr,Apex. For those of you who need a controller for basic functions, the RKL or the ACjr would be just fine. For those of you that need it for advance controls Forget the RKE, It's a piece of junk. For a controller to come out with a high end device that you pay top dollar for (compared to The Apex) and does not come even close to doing what the apex can do plus updates and upgrades on the controller take forever to come out with. Networking and true remote controlling as well as live monitoring feed on the RKE was not available and from what i understand to this date is very limited. For you to have to take each device apart to have to update the the firmware on each device on this controller is outrages. For the power strip to have only four outlets compared the the apex EB8 for almost the same price is ridiculous (almost double the money). I have 5 EB8's with 40 controllable outlets, I would need 10 power strips to do the same.. It's true that for any high end controller it takes a little getting used to, to operate,But apex customer support is incredible (just like tunze) which makes this a great buy.. Once you have your network capabilities going which comes with the controller not like the RKE that did not have one. Then if you had purchased it before it came out you had to spend more money on the Ethernet device which still did not even give you remote access to the controller. Neptune could log on to your controller if need to and fix any issue's that you are having remotely. You never need to take your device off line to update(which is great). I know there are some of you that say that a controller is nothing but a fancy switch, That is an opinion which is totally understandable, But it's not a fact. I have this controller on 5 tanks in my house and the things it does for me are endless, Live monitoring 24/7 remotely from my iphone. I can controller every single device on all tanks from my phone or any computer in the world. Live updates if my temperature is too high or too low. Ph issue's, power outage and more via Email. Then there's others always looking for a reason to state why its best not to have a controller. quote "Another interesting controller malfunction." every electrical device will malfunction eventually. whether it's a high end controller or a 5 dollar timer it's going to go bad eventually. The important thing to know is that you have to create redundancies in the most important areas of your setup. For example, I do not allow the system to control my temperature completely on it's own. Everyone that has owned a controller knows that probes go bad, so i have the temperature controls on multiple redundancies. first the controller, then a ranco device i had laying around then the device itself. an example.
my controller should shut off my heaters at 80 degree, if it fails the ranco will shout it off at 80.5 if that fails the heaters themselves will shut off at 81. I know that's a lot of controllers. But when you have a system as large as mine you need to be sure.. Smaller systems can do just with the controller and the heaters controls. Just like with the chiller. I would not buy one that does not have it's own controller to create the same redundancy. I know it's more money. But when your not home to watch your system 24/7 you need to find a way to make it as crash proof as possible.
I truely Feel that this controller gives me as much piece of mind as possible when im not home and i have done everything possible that i can to keep my tank crash proof. I've had a crash in the past due to a tampered item i bought at a LFs.. It's not the best feeling and the world.. I just saw it as god's will.. and moved on..
Hope this helps anyone with controller questions and please feel free to ask anything, i would try and help as much as i can..
Please understand that this is just my opinion to the experiences I've had with controllers in the past and in no way am i stating that these are actual facts.
by the way, i have a friend that put his RKE on a 12 nano and put a Apex on the 140gal he had the RKE On.
Ask Dl919
my controller should shut off my heaters at 80 degree, if it fails the ranco will shout it off at 80.5 if that fails the heaters themselves will shut off at 81. I know that's a lot of controllers. But when you have a system as large as mine you need to be sure.. Smaller systems can do just with the controller and the heaters controls. Just like with the chiller. I would not buy one that does not have it's own controller to create the same redundancy. I know it's more money. But when your not home to watch your system 24/7 you need to find a way to make it as crash proof as possible.
I truely Feel that this controller gives me as much piece of mind as possible when im not home and i have done everything possible that i can to keep my tank crash proof. I've had a crash in the past due to a tampered item i bought at a LFs.. It's not the best feeling and the world.. I just saw it as god's will.. and moved on..
Hope this helps anyone with controller questions and please feel free to ask anything, i would try and help as much as i can..
Please understand that this is just my opinion to the experiences I've had with controllers in the past and in no way am i stating that these are actual facts.
by the way, i have a friend that put his RKE on a 12 nano and put a Apex on the 140gal he had the RKE On.
Ask Dl919
Killerdrgn
Advanced Reefer
- Location
- Park Ridge, NJ
I never said it's best to not have a controller, I've been maintaining the fact that I don't believe it's absolutely necessary to have a controller even before you put any livestock into the tank. I only added that link to show that controllers, like you stated in your post, weren't bulletproof either.
- Location
- Flushing, NY
I really like how the Apex is network ready. No more pulling out the serial cable for my ACjr! Serial ports are getting hard to find on new computers these days.
- Location
- New York
Ok. My fault. Between reading the thread and my reply (pretty tired) . I might have misunderstood what you were stating.Killerdrgn said:
Dace
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Killerdrgn
Advanced Reefer
- Location
- Park Ridge, NJ
Heck! If you give me an Apex controller for free i'll gladly accept it and use it.
- Location
- Forked River, New Jersey
are the apex units expensive? do you have to add alot of modules to do different things like the RK models?
- Location
- Albany, NY
Many of the Apex units perform multi-functions and the fact that they have 8 controlled outlets instead of four cuts down on the costs. The one function that I added was a wireless bridge, so that I did not have to run network cable to the Apex controller. This was ceap from best buy (like $50). Since its modular, you can spend what you can now and add modules as time and money also permit.
- Location
- Forked River, New Jersey
yea i think my RKL is gonna go on my frag system.. and im gonna go with the apex on my display system, since it has 2 displays with 8 light plugs by itself..
- Location
- Western NC
Thanks to this thread I decided to go with the apex and just set it up today on my 125 and 150. It was a pretty easy setup. Thank you guys.
- Location
- Albany, NY
Good luck with it
If you have any questions about it, give a shout. There are a couple of things that I thought took some figuring out till someone else told me. Am happy to help as others helped me.
If you have any questions about it, give a shout. There are a couple of things that I thought took some figuring out till someone else told me. Am happy to help as others helped me.
- Location
- Flushing, NY
Apex Unoffical User Guide
Much more informative then the standard User Guide
http://reeftech.webs.com/
Much more informative then the standard User Guide
http://reeftech.webs.com/
- Location
- New York
Your welcome. You won't regret it.
- Location
- Union Square, NY
I need a volunteer with a network connected Apex. Please PM me.
- Location
- Union Square, NY
I need a volunteer with a network connected Apex. Please PM me.
- Location
- Brooklyn, NY
I'm pretty sure sanjay has a network connected apex.
Sent from my iPhone using Reefs
Sent from my iPhone using Reefs
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