Apex Neptune ATO & Sky problems

Yeshuwah777 · May 2, 2022

ATO and Sky light problem
Bought 2 complete apex systems one for my 120gallon tank and the other for my 50gallon tank. The probes for both are inaccurate always (fact check them with commercial water test equipment); ATO on both don’t work even though the status light on the FMM shows green. Also I bought 3 apex sky lights (2 for 120gallon and one for 50gallon) and the one for 50gallon when plugged in is always on green and orange LED lights independent of whether the usb is plugged in. Customer support is a joke. Called about 50 times in the past month and left 9 messages. I only get emails about “attach all your serial numbers to the email and we’ll get back with you”. Any suggestions on ATO and Sky light problem.

blaxsun · May 2, 2022

There's not really a lot to go on here... The probes on my Apex are reasonable accurate (occasionally you do need to recalibrate one every 6 months or so, but it's not that much of a hassle). By ATO I'm assuming you mean the ATK kit with the PMUP v2? I just installed one on Thursday with the FMM and it's been awesome. I actually installed a third optical sensor and a leak detection probe and both of those are working flawlessly as well.

You could check the probe connections - if they're not in all the way you'll get a misread. Did you run the setup task for the FMM and double-check to see if the right sensors were selected in the module?

As for the SKY lights, unfortunately I can't help you there as I run Radions (sorry). You should fill out a support ticket with Neptune. And yes, attach your serial numbers so they can verify the product is registered and still under warranty. They always get back to me within 24 hours and they've setup several callbacks within a very short time to resolve anything.

Jon's Reef · May 4, 2022

Start with the lights...

First, I would recommend a factory reset of all 3 lights. Unplug the aquabus cables before you do the reset.

Once all 3 are reset, try setting them up as stand alone to confirm they are working first.

If that works, then you can reset them again and set them up as part of the APEX.

If you encounter a problem, then post what step you were at when it is not working like in the videos. I recently changed tanks with my lights... so I ran them stand alone for a bit, then added them to my apex. I used the above videos and it worked as shown. The only thing was that if the light does not light up after the reset, just press the button on the top of the fixture.

For the ATO...

Did you use the task in APEX to set it up (Clipboard icon in the upper left... then find the auto top off setup)? When you plug the sensors into the FMM, you need to push them in hard. They will click in. If you use the FMM 24V port for the PMUP power, the FMM needs to be plugged into power (the aquabus USB is only for communication).

Here is a video... if you continue to have issues then post what part of the video

For the probes...

There are several thread on here for probe setup from @SuncrestReef . He is the Apex Guru! A few tips.

Temperature should be fairly straight forward... just determine your actual tank temp then use the temperature probe task to set it.

Orp is a precalibrated probe. Nothing to do. The absolute number does not matter as much as the trends. Lower number can indicate "dirtier" water and higher "cleaner" water... but generally 200-400 is fine. There is a nice article by @Randy Holmes-Farley about ORP.

PH calibration requires the packets. Use the task to do the calibration.

Salinity is the sensor most struggle with. Check out the post by Suncrest on the salinity probe for tips. Two important points is that there is a temperature compensation function which is disabled by default, follow the instructions in the post to set it up. Other point is bubbles.... The salinity probe is strongly effected by the presence of microbubbles. It helps to have it in strong flow to clear any bubbles that my accumulate. VCA makes a little nozzle to help with this issues (called the SPS (Salinity Probe Stabilization kit)

If your probes start giving odd results over time, check them for any accumulation of gunk. You can soak them in citric acid for 30 min to clean them. Eventually probes wear out... so you may need to replace them in a few years.