Convince me!!

MattRudd

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Setting up a “New to me” 150 gallon reef tank with 55 gallon sump. I’m trying to decide on a controller now so I can then decide on all the power heads, pumps, lighting, etc... I’ll be resealing and building a new stand so I have time and I’m not in a rush. The end result is going to be a mixed reef. My choices are:
1) Felix Smart
2) Hydros
3) Neptune Apex

Convince me which is best or atleast reasons to run away from certain ones.
 

am3gross

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My 1st question would be your experience level, and I say this because I think people should know how to do everything manually before you start adding stuff to do it your self. I am sure there is nothing worse then getting a controller, have your reef going for a year and then something happens and you don't know how to do the dosing to keep things happy.

With that being said, I myself just got the Apex, I promise you that everyone will have there reason as to why one is better then the other. The reason I went with Neptune is because they have been doing the controller thing longer then the other 2, but the other 2 most definitely have great functions as well. My best advice would be to watch all the YOUTUBE videos you can and make a decision from there. You might also go to your local fish stores and see what they use as they will give a review on what they have, not to mention they may be able to help you out when it comes time to ask questions.


Hope this helps!!

Mike
 

lapin

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I run an apex. Maybe 8 years now. I dont do a lot of fancy shmancy stuff with it. It could do a lot more but I like to force my self to look at my stuff every day. Its great when im on vacation. My tank sitter just has to feed and change socks
 

Duffer

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i went with the hydros myself for:

Its simplicity and ease of setting up.
Right now it does everything i asked for
No coding on imputs
The price is insane compared to apex
Neptune has over 20 yrs, hydros is brand new
Add on features forthcoming based on website and forum for hydros is pretty exciting
add ons right now is cheaper than apex. For example another wifi strip (4 plug) is $40, compared to apex 8 plug which is over $200.
There is alot features on the hydros that i'm probably not using but will in the future.
Love the feature where i turn off with a button for water change, stays off the time i want, turn back on with a single button, but delays start up on my gyros and than my skimmer is also delayed

right now i love my hydros and real happy with my decision.
 
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garbled

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I picked Neptune because I want the insane level of control where I can do highly complex tasks with it. I don't want "turn pump off when I hit feed". Anything can do that. I want "when the surge bucket hasn't run for 20 minutes, reset it hard by stopping the feed pump to it for 3 minutes, and then turning it back on, and then reset the counter and see if that worked"

I don't want an alert when something is broken. I want it to self heal, and alert me if it fails to self-heal.

If programming is not your thing though, it might be a bit much. If you just want the feed button and a heater control, then eh, all of them are the same.
 
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MattRudd

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My 1st question would be your experience level, and I say this because I think people should know how to do everything manually before you start adding stuff to do it your self. I am sure there is nothing worse then getting a controller, have your reef going for a year and then something happens and you don't know how to do the dosing to keep things happy.

With that being said, I myself just got the Apex, I promise you that everyone will have there reason as to why one is better then the other. The reason I went with Neptune is because they have been doing the controller thing longer then the other 2, but the other 2 most definitely have great functions as well. My best advice would be to watch all the YOUTUBE videos you can and make a decision from there. You might also go to your local fish stores and see what they use as they will give a review on what they have, not to mention they may be able to help you out when it comes time to ask questions.


Hope this helps!!

Mike
I’m new saltwater but have kept tanks my whole life from 10 gallon to 300 gallon. Most of them being fully planted tanks that were either Neo shrimp or heavily stocked with fish.
 
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MattRudd

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I picked Neptune because I want the insane level of control where I can do highly complex tasks with it. I don't want "turn pump off when I hit feed". Anything can do that. I want "when the surge bucket hasn't run for 20 minutes, reset it hard by stopping the feed pump to it for 3 minutes, and then turning it back on, and then reset the counter and see if that worked"

I don't want an alert when something is broken. I want it to self heal, and alert me if it fails to self-heal.

If programming is not your thing though, it might be a bit much. If you just want the feed button and a heater control, then eh, all of them are the same.
Yea the programming isn’t an issue. My background is PLC and industrial automation/electrical. Are you saying that the other two aren’t capable of multi line/variable programming control?
 

robbyg

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My suggestion is pretty much like @am3gross.
Run the tank manually for at least 6 months so that you know how it all works together and what are its needs and the solutions needed to automate those needs. When you have mastered that you will be in a much better position to buy and use the right controller.
As to which model to get, I would go with reliability over features any day of the week.
 

garbled

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I haven't owned the other two, so maybe others can chime in, but the more "intuitive" the interface, the less likely it is to let you do something highly complex and super custom. I just know the Apex does let me do that. Mind you, as a real programmer, it sometimes frustrates me, because you can't write anything approaching C-level complexity, but you can use a few tricks to do more or less complex things.

Also, the reason I run an Apex, and not something thats just bone-custom like reef-pi, is I want the stability. The Apex has been rock solid for me. It doesn't reset and set all my lights to blink or anything crazy. I think the reef-pi is probably getting close to that, but I just don't want to fiddle with it and have it beta-explode on me. Historically I had problems with the Apex Classic, but the new one has been just 100% rock solid no matter what.
 

SuncrestReef

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I'm an Apex fan, but I have nothing against GHL, HYDROS, or other platforms. I simply don't have experience with them to make direct comparisons. Take a look at my Apex Tutorial series here on R2R to get an idea of how the Apex works and what it can do:
 

MONTANTK

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I’m a big Apex fan and I dearly miss mine. There’s so many extra add ons for it that most other controllers just don’t have. You will pay for that though. With that being said, the Hydros isn’t much cheaper than the ApexEL and doesn’t have as many options, although I’m sure they will come in the future. Hydros is definitely a solid entry level control though
 

Lucas815

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Look into GHL ! I was just about to pull the trigger on a Hydros, and someone introduced me to GHL.
I haven't bought anything yet, but I'm almost certain it'll be a GHL Profilux 4.
 

josephxsxn

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