Pros vs Cons: Apex AquaController vs ReefKeeper Elite Controller

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Ok let's talk about controllers. More specifically let's talk about the pros and cons of the Neptune Apex AquaController and the Digital Aquatics ReefKeeper Elite.

These questions are for those who have used or currently use one or more of these specific controllers.

1. Which one of these controller do you currently use?

2. Why did you choose your particular controller?

3. What do you think are the pros (good) of your controller?

4. What do you think are the cons (bad) of your controller?

5. If you could change something what would it be?

 

[LGangway]

Ok let's talk about controllers. More specifically let's talk about the pros and cons of the Neptune Apex AquaController and the Digital Aquatics ReefKeeper Elite.

These questions are for those who have used or currently use one or more of these specific controllers.

1. Which one of these controller do you currently use? Digital Aquatics RKE w/ NET

2. Why did you choose your particular controller? Pricing, good deal from a fellow reefer.

3. What do you think are the pros (good) of your controller? Expandability, Controllablity, Hundreds of options for set up.

4. What do you think are the cons (bad) of your controller? Firmware updates, Lack of iOS campatiablilty

5. If you could change something what would it be? More user friendly setup, had to surf forums for hours to figure out how to access my NET from outside my network. You would assume it could just be much easier.

I think after I get everything setup just how I want it I'll be please... it's getting there that's tricky.

 

[jerwin]

1. Which one of these controller do you currently use? Apex

2. Why did you choose your particular controller? bundled package, Called service to ask some questions and a human picked up after the second ring and was knowledgable to answer the questions

3. What do you think are the pros (good) of your controller? There are many extra features that can be added on as your knowledge grows. Firmware updates, no issues after running for 1 1/4 years. logging of data and graphs

4. What do you think are the cons (bad) of your controller? Interface for setting up pumps can be a little difficult to understand the timing formula

5. If you could change something what would it be? would like to see a better interface for controlling LEDs and multiple colors, A random function for the LEDs, better interface for setting up dosing pumps and time intervals

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Bump!

 

[dh350twin]

Reef keeper has good customer service as well......it is a very easy unit to use and very reasonable on the wallet.Apex probably has more options if you can figure them out.

 

[lsaint88]

1. Which one of these controller do you currently use? Reef Keeper Lite

2. Why did you choose your particular controller? It was the only one that my LFS had.

3. What do you think are the pros (good) of your controller?My Reef is really cool to use and helps out a lot when first programing and all the modules they offer.

4. What do you think are the cons (bad) of your controller? on the lite you only can have 4 modules.

5. If you could change something what would it be? a extra spot to have the SID pluged in all the time. You have to unplug something like the iTemp to plug in the SID

 

[MBG75]

1. Which one of these controller do you currently use?

Apex lite

2. Why did you choose your particular controller?

Net ready, great support, can make changes and operate outlets from outside of home network

3. What do you think are the pros (good) of your controller?

Easy to use. Great customer service. Incredible iPhone app

4. What do you think are the cons (bad) of your controller?

Price

5. If you could change something what would it be?

Add built in wireless to router. Couldn't run an Ethernet cable. Added a wireless gaming adapter and works flawless.

 

[tonythefish]

1. Which one of these controller do you currently use?
APEX

2. Why did you choose your particular controller?
Can run 3 meanwell drivers on each VDM port for home made LED lighting . Driving 10 drivers via 4 ports on VDM

3. What do you think are the pros (good) of your controller?
Like the charting feature and customer support.

4. What do you think are the cons (bad) of your controller?
Adding more devices sometimes mess up addresses.

5. If you could change something what would it be?
Add enhancements and capability to the software more frequent.

TonytheFish

 

[mdlnewman]

1. Which one of these controller do you currently use? Apex Jr

2. Why did you choose your particular controller? Built in Network capability

3. What do you think are the pros (good) of your controller? Easy to program via web, no need for expensive display, easy expandability

4. What do you think are the cons (bad) of your controller? No Android app

5. If you could change something what would it be? Android app, there are more android users than iphone users in the world.

 

[CJO]

4. What do you think are the cons (bad) of your controller? No Android app

There is an Android app. Fairly appropriately, it's called the Apex App. It looks like the developer, Henry, pulled it off of the market, but you can still find it:
Apex - Android

1. Which one of these controller do you currently use?
APEX

2. Why did you choose your particular controller?
At the time I purchased it, it was further advanced than the ReefKeeper. I had also heard a lot of horror stories about ReefKeeper's customer service.

3. What do you think are the pros (good) of your controller?
Excellent customer support. Very configurable. Allows sunrise, sunset, temperature and moon to vary with the seasons based off of the historical conditions in the Caribbean.

4. What do you think are the cons (bad) of your controller?
It is not the easiest thing to program.

5. If you could change something what would it be?
Add more feed timers. Change programming language to be easier.

CJ

 

[dogum99]

1. Which one of these controller do you currently use? Apex Lite

2. Why did you choose your particular controller? DIY LED controlling

3. What do you think are the pros (good) of your controller? Much more programable

4. What do you think are the cons (bad) of your controller? Learing curve for advanced programing.

5. If you could change something what would it be? So far nothing

I had a RK elite for 1-2 years. I just sold it and bought an apex lite. I switched for many reasons. First and foremost was the ability to control my diy leds. Digital Aquatics customer service is horrible. Response time for troubleshooting problems is days. RK is so basic compared to Apex. You can do so much more with apex. Yeah the RK lite is cheap but you get what you pay for. This is just my opinion but switching from RK to Apex was the best decision I made about a controller.

 

[CJO]

There is an Android app. Fairly appropriately, it's called the Apex App. It looks like the developer, Henry, pulled it off of the market, but you can still find it:
Apex - Android

After further reading, it looks like he has released a new version to the Play Store called Aquanotes.

CJ

 

[Steelerfan747]

Ok let's talk about controllers. More specifically let's talk about the pros and cons of the Neptune Apex AquaController and the Digital Aquatics ReefKeeper Elite.

These questions are for those who have used or currently use one or more of these specific controllers.

1. Which one of these controller do you currently use?

2. Why did you choose your particular controller?

3. What do you think are the pros (good) of your controller?

4. What do you think are the cons (bad) of your controller?

5. If you could change something what would it be?

I own an Apex, I picked it after doing a lot of research and hearing what good things Apex owners had to say and all the bad things that Reefkeeper owners said ( about customer service) I made my decision based upon that But I chose to get a controller to be able to automate my system.

I love the Apex as it has made my life a lot simpler and has saved my tank.

The cons are it is a bit confusing to set up initially (I still do not know everything about programming it) and I hate that sometimes if the lights/electricity goes out, it will reset to a different date and time so my lights and dosers may not be working properly.

If I could change something about it, I would add a calcium probe.

 

[LegoZ81]

Ok let's talk about controllers. More specifically let's talk about the pros and cons of the Neptune Apex AquaController and the Digital Aquatics ReefKeeper Elite.

These questions are for those who have used or currently use one or more of these specific controllers.

1. Which one of these controller do you currently use?
Adding an Apex this week.
I currently am running on a RK2 and the Aqua Controller JR (ACJr)

2. Why did you choose your particular controller?
RK2 lacked the logging abilities I wanted and remote control ability the ACJr combined with the Genius of ACSerial2Web


3. What do you think are the pros (good) of your controller?
The ability to program with conditions makes it very flexible and powerful.

4. What do you think are the cons (bad) of your controller?
The ability to program with conditions makes it very flexible and powerful. It also can make it difficult to unlock its full potential.

5. If you could change something what would it be?

More stable and a faster processor, the integrated web server is a bit slow because of this. Also I would have 2 temp probe sockets on the main base unit, and a temperature expansion module.

 

[MadMax]

I personally own and use both (I have an ACIII Pro on one tank and a Reef Keeper on the other) and I find the Digital Aquatics units to be much more user friendly and reliable at the hobbyist level. Some people may not know that Digital Aquatics eminates from an aircraft avionics firm, DA of which is merely one small division compared to the larger and very innovative parent company, Dynon Instruments, Inc.

Curt/Neptune, while an electrical engineer himself, simply does not have the corporate backing and/or R&D dollars that DA has available to them, so you can only surmise who has the tactical advantage over the long term. The more obvious difference is in their programming. Neptune's coding somewhat reminds me of the old DOS commands of years past while DA is no more difficult than programming a DVD player (practically dummy proof). That being said, I suppose the right-brained computer nerds will prefer Neptune's approach whilst the rest of us would be more comfortable punching buttons in DA lingo

Both companies are competent in what they do, but in my experience and humble opinion, the DA units hold an edge over Neptune's controllers.

Kevin T. Adams
President and CEO
Sunset Promotional Services, Inc.

 

[ThaBeast]

I had a RK elite for 1-2 years. I just sold it and bought an apex lite. I switched for many reasons. First and foremost was the ability to control my diy leds. Digital Aquatics customer service is horrible. Response time for troubleshooting problems is days. RK is so basic compared to Apex. You can do so much more with apex. Yeah the RK lite is cheap but you get what you pay for. This is just my opinion but switching from RK to Apex was the best decision I made about a controller.

My experience as well, customer service is horrible with Digital Aquatics, sometimes even rude. Top notch customer service from Neptune.
I only wish I would have used my rk gear for target practice instead of selling it!

 

[Steelerfan747]

My experience as well, customer service is horrible with Digital Aquatics, sometimes even rude. Top notch customer service from Neptune.
I only wish I would have used my rk gear for target practice instead of selling it!

Hahaha, wow dude they must have really been rude to you

Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk 2

 

[MadMax]

My experience as well, customer service is horrible with Digital Aquatics, sometimes even rude. Top notch customer service from Neptune.
I only wish I would have used my rk gear for target practice instead of selling it!

Digital Aquatics has gone through a complete change of management just this past month, so perhaps this is one of the issues that they are rectifying as we speak. I don't know, I haven't heard from too many people claiming to have received bad customer service. I am sure yours was an isolated incident. One that I DO know about are units that were sold by a particular black market dealer out here (Tom) The man had received units under false pretenses and then sold them at a loss, FAR below MAP pricing, seemingly out of spite. As mentioned earlier, this was a very isolated incident I'm sure. I am more optomistic with the new personnel.

 

[ReeferBee]

I'm new to the controller world. I've had my apex about a month now and, I really like it. I opted out of the display screen because of the app and web interface and I could always buy the display later. The fact that is Internet ready right out of the box was a big selling point to me. It was also inexpensive and easy to set it up wirelessly too. I also can say they're customer service is top notch.

 

[Reefer4Life]

I have older models of both: Neptune's AC JR & DA's RK2!

I loved my RK2 simplicity in programing, and customer service. DA answered my call within the first couple of rings, answered my questions, offered me a discount if I purchased the newer version because the RK2 is un-fixable.

Did not like the AC JR, I am not technically savvy, and the controller was not simple to program. Sent them an email that took 2 weeks for a response with the excuse that my email had ended up in their spam folder. AC JR could not be fixed, no discount offers to purchase the newer model.

What I would like would be for a controller that is easy to program like DA's controllers. Have at least 16 programmable outlets for all my LEDs, heaters, fans, and sump light like the Neptune's controller, and truly WIFI (meaning no need to connect via an ethernet cable).