Apex vs Hydros

[Kathy Floyd]

Well, I am now on the Hydro side. I had an Apex that quit in under a year. It's been almost three months waiting for a replacement.

 

[CBonito]

Well, I am now on the Hydro side. I had an Apex that quit in under a year. It's been almost three months waiting for a replacement.

You mean, you couldn't wait three months? Come on now, don't you think you're being a little impatient?

If it's one thing I take no stock in anymore, it's warranties. They create this "warranty", advertise it and then spend millions in man-hours making every effort with a call center full of "dissuaders" to not cover things under it. It's like a mirage..."I think I see food and drinks man!!!"...oh no you don't...you're just dying.

"We're sorry sir... the warranty doesn't cover the pump after it's been immersed in water...Is there anything else I can help you with today?"

How do you like the Hydros and what's good or better about it?

 

[YOYOYOReefer]

I went cole Parmer brains and hydros xp8 for outlet control. So far so good

 

[BigTimeIssues]

i like apex programming and versatility. but my last unit lasted 13 months.. now i have hydros and neptune actually fixed my stuff but i think that is a rarity right now. maybe they get better soon. ive had my fuge light die, cor 20 controller die, head unit die, sky died, .. maybe thats it.. pretty abismal.

 

[CBonito]

i like apex programming and versatility. but my last unit lasted 13 months.. now i have hydros and neptune actually fixed my stuff but i think that is a rarity right now. maybe they get better soon. ive had my fuge light die, cor 20 controller die, head unit die, sky died, .. maybe thats it.. pretty abismal.

I think the unit needs to be ventilated. It probably gets hot.

 

[xtianGEO]

Ha! Same reason why I contemplated running from Neptune. Their support appears to be overwhelmed. I guess as expected once it went mainstream.

 

[Mikeltee]

You can get an Apex Classic with an EB8 and a display for $150. Unless you want a trident, one would be throwing money out the window if they chose anything else. Mines been under my wet sump since 2010. Not even an outlet has failed and I used to pull 15a before I swapped to LED.

 

[Naekuh]

I was in this boat about 2 weeks ago.
I went with Apex because of Trident.

But yeah mostly because of trident i am on apex, as you need a apex for trident and auto Dosing with DoS.

 

[BR260354]

I control the lights with 0-10v outputs 6 to be exact. Then I setup a schedule and I use the latitude light mode so they come around sunrise and go off around sunset. The light gradually increases to max then slowly decreases till off. The 2 screenshots of the schedule are below. It was too long to fit on one screen but on the iPad you can scroll up and down to the different settings in the schedule. I did also select El Salvador for the location since it is in the central time zone and keep daylight savings time from changing the schedule an hour. That also keeps all the other timers on their original non daylight times.

Danny, what lights do you use? Wondering if I can take advantage of the 0-10v also.

 

[n2585722]

Danny, what lights do you use? Wondering if I can take advantage of the 0-10v also.

I have DIY lighting so it was no issue for me. Any lighting that has 0-10v control inputs can be controlled using the 0-10v outputs with the proper cables. You would need one of the Hydros controllers with 0-10v outputs to do this.

 

[BR260354]

I have two of those - X4 and WEv2. However, I don't have lights that support that. Kessil A360X on the refugium and Radion XR16 G6 Pro. Not so much concerned on the Radion....that was set in the Mobius app. Kessil - no controls. I just schedule power on the XP8.

Thanks!

 

[YOYOYOReefer]

None of them make power outlets properly that can handle typical lights on/ off surge very well. Maybe if they spent a couple bucks on the power strip part. I went with just the hydros stand alone 8 outlet and it’s ok, but I don’t expect it to last more than a few years, it’s just not built very heavy duty

 

[AquaLogic]

I have two of those - X4 and WEv2. However, I don't have lights that support that. Kessil A360X on the refugium and Radion XR16 G6 Pro. Not so much concerned on the Radion....that was set in the Mobius app. Kessil - no controls. I just schedule power on the XP8.

Thanks!

I have the Kessil wifi dongle on my a500x and it works flawlessly. I think most of the reported problems with it are from the non tech-savvy struggling with their wifi and blaming it on the dongle.

 

[Adamc13o3]

I have been using both on ,y tank for the past few weeks. I wish that ecotech and a few other products would work with Hydros, specifically vortech pumps. The apex fusion dashboard is a lot nicer and cleaner. Although I can see how the actual programming may be easier on Hydros. Running pump modes and scheduled on apex is also a much nicer layout, and way more simple to adjust and understand (not that hydros is bad but apex has it beat in that department for sure). I do however feel from looking at and touching the hydros products that they are built of way better quality. The add on modules are a lot cheaper and the barrier of entry seems to cost less. In addition the wifi plugs and strips are a game changer. I run my RODO outside. There's no way that I want to run an Aquarius cable to it. With the hydros a random outlet does the trick, thats huge! I have been having major problems with the IV tester, it's been two weeks and I spent so much money trying to get it to work. I am already on my 3rd bottle of reagent. I will mention that the customer care is the best that I have ever dealt with on any product. Other than that everything is fine. See below for a comparison of both dashboards. Yes, I can program both, but we're in 2024. The hydros looks like Visual Basic or C++ which I learned in school 25 years ago lol. This is similar to what Apex once looked like though before fusion when we would connect to our local network to access it. Another thing to mention is that the Hydros wireless connection is solid, apex constantly gives me issues.

 

[n2585722]

I have been using both on ,y tank for the past few weeks. I wish that ecotech and a few other products would work with Hydros, specifically vortech pumps. The apex fusion dashboard is a lot nicer and cleaner. Although I can see how the actual programming may be easier on Hydros. Running pump modes and scheduled on apex is also a much nicer layout, and way more simple to adjust and understand (not that hydros is bad but apex has it beat in that department for sure). I do however feel from looking at and touching the hydros products that they are built of way better quality. The add on modules are a lot cheaper and the barrier of entry seems to cost less. In addition the wifi plugs and strips are a game changer. I run my RODO outside. There's no way that I want to run an Aquarius cable to it. With the hydros a random outlet does the trick, thats huge! I have been having major problems with the IV tester, it's been two weeks and I spent so much money trying to get it to work. I am already on my 3rd bottle of reagent. I will mention that the customer care is the best that I have ever dealt with on any product. Other than that everything is fine. See below for a comparison of both dashboards. Yes, I can program both, but we're in 2024. The hydros looks like Visual Basic or C++ which I learned in school 25 years ago lol. This is similar to what Apex once looked like though before fusion when we would connect to our local network to access it. Another thing to mention is that the Hydros wireless connection is solid, apex constantly gives me issues.

You have it in text mode instead of tile mode. Here is my hex tank page on my Hydros collective.It took four screenshots to get the whole page. I do control my 2 MP10's and my Sicce SDC3.0 return pump with my Hydros. The MP10's are controlled with my WEv2 with the RF module from my ReefLink installed in the WEv2. They have to be pre Mobuis pumps though. At the time of the screenshot my daytime lighting was off and only the refugium lighting was on.

 

[Adamc13o3]

I know I can change it. Still isn’t as clean looking in my opinion. Regarding the Vortech I would have to source an older wave engine and then source older vortech pumps. I don’t blame hydros for that, that all ecotech.

 

[n2585722]

I know I can change it. Still isn’t as clean looking in my opinion. Regarding the Vortech I would have to source an older wave engine and then source older vortech pumps. I don’t blame hydros for that, that all ecotech.

The wave engine lite cannot control the MP series pumps but the WEv2 can by adding the RF module to it which I did. I don't have the older wave engine, but you are right the newer pumps will not work with the WEv2 since they cannot be downgraded from Mobius.

 

[AquaLogic]

My only disappointment so far with Hydros is lack of good nano wavemaker options. I wish they supported Jebao, or made their own nano/pico sized tiny power head like a Jebao elw-3 or Hygger mini.

 

[Connor At CoralVue]

My only disappointment so far with Hydros is lack of good nano wavemaker options. I wish they supported Jebao, or made their own nano/pico sized tiny power head like a Jebao elw-3 or Hygger mini.

It's not that we don't want to support other brands of pumps, we will only Make compatible pumps from manufacturers who extend their warranty to our pump controller.

The brands of pumps already compatible, have authorized warranty, we don't want to leave our users out to dry something happens.

For Pico tanks... Yeah that can be hard, but remember you can take a Gyre 2K, and only run half of it, it comes with the cap too!

As well, there is the Reef Octopulse 2, again, a little big for a small tank, but we can always throttle it down.

Not saying we're not working on anything nano, but not confirming we are either. We're always looking at options to make our users live easier!

 

[xtianGEO]

I have been using both on ,y tank for the past few weeks. I wish that ecotech and a few other products would work with Hydros, specifically vortech pumps. The apex fusion dashboard is a lot nicer and cleaner. Although I can see how the actual programming may be easier on Hydros. Running pump modes and scheduled on apex is also a much nicer layout, and way more simple to adjust and understand (not that hydros is bad but apex has it beat in that department for sure). I do however feel from looking at and touching the hydros products that they are built of way better quality. The add on modules are a lot cheaper and the barrier of entry seems to cost less. In addition the wifi plugs and strips are a game changer. I run my RODO outside. There's no way that I want to run an Aquarius cable to it. With the hydros a random outlet does the trick, thats huge! I have been having major problems with the IV tester, it's been two weeks and I spent so much money trying to get it to work. I am already on my 3rd bottle of reagent. I will mention that the customer care is the best that I have ever dealt with on any product. Other than that everything is fine. See below for a comparison of both dashboards. Yes, I can program both, but we're in 2024. The hydros looks like Visual Basic or C++ which I learned in school 25 years ago lol. This is similar to what Apex once looked like though before fusion when we would connect to our local network to access it. Another thing to mention is that the Hydros wireless connection is solid, apex constantly gives me issues.

Thanks for the image links.Neptune really ticked me off with their MXM module. I realized that sync and anti sync aren't yet available for ecotech+apex. SCAM!