Apex Horror stories

[Battlecorals]

BOk so going on a month and all I can say is I love the thing.

I have five ebars running almost all my lights and even picked up 50 ft of aquabus cable so if could run another to my display on the first floor.

In an eerie coincidence I had to spend a few unexpected days in MN to attend a funeral. Now normally this sort if thing would put me in the brink of paranoia having to leave pretty suddenly and such. I had the most worry free time I believe I have ever spent away from my system. Ever. It was liberating.

I should add that I got a couple up cams running as well:)


So. As long as these gizmos do what they are supposed to. I'd say its about as good an investment as you can get.

It's hard to put a value on peace of mind but as the worrying type i couldn't be happier

 

[o2manyfish]

Your original post asked for Horror stories regarding the Apex.

2.5 Weeks ago my system crashed. I used a two float safety system for topoff and both floats stuck at the same time. I pumped Kalk into my system for 7.5 hours straight.

This wasn't an Apex issue, this was my lack of programming. The Apex was emailing me to tell me things were awry but I was sound asleep.

I had turned off the audible alarms, because they always go off when I do tank maintenance.

But the critical error was that I programmed my Topoff for the dual float switches. But did not have it programmed to shut off for Salinity or pH swings.

So please make sure you add a couple of lines in your topoff outlet code to shut down if pH or Salinity go out of range.

Once you have your programming dialed in make sure to export and save your configuration.

And now that you have everything tied into the Apex, it's easy to become very dependent upon it. You can purchase a back up Apex Brain pretty inexpensively from Neptune or your local Neptune dealer. And it is also helpful to have a spare EB8 sitting in a cabinet as well.

With Neptunes great technical support, should an EB8 malfunction they can help you swap the EB8 and get you back up and running in just a few minutes.

Dave B

 

[IBEW41]

my display went blank then readings on computer went wild then lights stopped working all over a weeks time.I sent apex controller back under warrenty was told water must have got into controller when I said the controller is on a bench near my basement sump (about 5' away) they said humidity must have come into an unused port so warrenty void I was charged $150 to repair and told dimming option will never work on mine (the port where the humitity got in).When I was told all this I asked if you are building a device for a saltwater tank wouldent you have rubber plugs or plastis covering all the ports then the owner can take off the ones they want to use? was told that s a good idea then he hung up.the sad thing is it's still the best controller out there

 

[RKLion]

Well I got to say that my Apex is the best investment ever also...still working out the coding but it has worked great for over a year.

 

[MattL22]

Would a computer novice be able to use an apex or need good computer skills?

 

[RacinRevo0818]

Would a computer novice be able to use an apex or need good computer skills?

I would say once you get the hang of it, it becomes easier. There awesome tech support is more then willing to help you out and fix the more complicated problems for you. Programming the outlets with the right code can be a little tricky using only the right commands but we'll worth the slight difficulty to be able to check your parameters on your phone while not at home. Best investment yet!!!

 

[o2manyfish]

Would a computer novice be able to use an apex or need good computer skills?

The most 'computer' part of the process is getting the Apex viewable from the internet. Once you plug it into your home network, you can start using and programming it. But getting the internet access for some and the email to work can take a little bit of time. There are lots of people out there willing to help and walk you through the steps, and most of them are posted multiple times that you can find with a search.

Programming it is pretty simple. You use your mouse to pick the outlet you want to program, there are some basic settings programmed for you to control lights, heat, chiller.

And then if you want Advanced programming then you click that box when you are ready and write your own code for the outlet.

The Code is simple english statements "IF Temp > 82 Then OFF"

Dave B