APEX Like System

[mbrown009]

Hey everyone. I found this site via just doing some searching for salt water forums. That being said as an IT guy and a data analysis lover I am curious to see what everyone else's idea on this is and if any of you have suggestions.

I have a nano tank that I have had fish in for approximately 1 month. It is going fairly well. That being said I am looking for a system like APEX but at this time all I want it to do is to provide the data like pH, alkalinity, salinity, nitrites, nitrates, temp, etc and enter it into a database. I am using the ELASTICSEARCH stack to be able to graph everything and manipulate the data as I want to show to some friends or some of my other hobbyists in the area.

The thing with APEX is the price tag. I like dosing myself and I do not to lean on an automated system to do that for me while it is my responsibility to maintain my tank. I just want a system to provide me the metrics so I can base what I need to dose on that.

Hopefully this makes sense.

 

[link81]

you want a system to be able to measure all of that and provide automated export capability?
or do you want to manually enter test data into a DB?

Not completely sure of what exactly you're looking for. Automated testing, by nature, is going to be expensive.

 

[mbrown009]

link81

Thank you for your reply. Ideally I would like it to be able to be able to auto check the values and I can enter it manually Is the APEX the best bet?

 

[lapin]

I have a nano tank that I have had fish in for approximately 1 month. It is going fairly well. That being said I am looking for a system like APEX but at this time all I want it to do is to provide the data like pH, alkalinity, salinity, nitrites, nitrates, temp, etc and enter it into a database.

My ipinion
Things like alkalinity, salinity, nitrites, nitrates, phosphate calcium, magneisum are best measured with test kits. Some being better and easier than others.
Some probes like Temp and Ph will work pretty well, others seem to have issues.

 

[mbrown009]

Lapin, thank you. I am looking at test kits now. Strips or the liquid test kits. I might do this multiple times during a day if something goes out of awake and I will soon have 4 tanks. Not all are saltwater are still tanks I will have to check.

 

[SliceGolfer]

Purchase reliable test kits like Salifert and Red Sea. Use online calculators like those offered at BRS website. Track your data in a spreadsheet, then manipulate it in a data visualization tool (PowerBI comes to mind), or use online DB tools like Aquaticlog.

 

[ZoWhat]

In photographic equipment the industry standard is Canon

In video editing the industry standard is Adobe Premier

In biz operating systems the industry standard is Microsoft Windows

In the Graphics Design world the industry standard is Apple

In the Online Ordering world the industry standard is Amazon

In Aquarium Automation and Monitoring (love it or hate it) the industry standard is Neptune Apex

Catch my drift? All Aquatic Mfgrs during their product development looks to see if they can integrate into an Apex system.

Apex is the industry standard.....
.