Jumping from Apex to hydros, suggestions

[OutColdCRNA]

After beating my head against the wall with my apex A3 I’m thinking of jumping ship completely and moving to hydros. I have another thread about all the connection issues that I have had with the apex so I don’t want to get into that here.
I would like to hear pros and cons of the hydros vs apex as well as what equipment from hydros I would need to gain the functionality I have with apex. Trying to decide if I should go about replacing individual apex modules or scrap the whole thing and start over.
Here is what I’m running.

DOS
Trident
Optical sensor x3

Eb832
-return pump
-heater
-kalk reactor
-skimmer
-ATO pump

Eb832
-return pump
-heater
-quanta helix x4

 

[areefer01]

Copy the info above and send CoralVue an email and see what they recommend. There are some here who made the transition and can probably help but if I was you I would reach out to CV and get their take in parallel.

 

[OutColdCRNA]

Copy the info above and send CoralVue an email and see what they recommend. There are some here who made the transition and can probably help but if I was you I would reach out to CV and get their take in parallel.

I did just that when I finished the post. Hoping to get some real user incite on making the transition.

 

[purpfish]

I did just that when I finished the post. Hoping to get some real user incite on making the transition.

I feel like after you get it setup apex is better but I don’t really have the same hydros equivalent as an A3 just ph and temp

 

[Jasonak]

After beating my head against the wall with my apex A3 I’m thinking of jumping ship completely and moving to hydros. I have another thread about all the connection issues that I have had with the apex so I don’t want to get into that here.
I would like to hear pros and cons of the hydros vs apex as well as what equipment from hydros I would need to gain the functionality I have with apex. Trying to decide if I should go about replacing individual apex modules or scrap the whole thing and start over.
Here is what I’m running.

DOS
Trident
Optical sensor x3

Eb832
-return pump
-heater
-kalk reactor
-skimmer
-ATO pump

Eb832
-return pump
-heater
-quanta helix x4

A few months ago I would have said chuck your Apex and go full throttle Hydros !
BUT after having both systems for awhile now(apex for a decade). I dont feel that way anymore. Not impressed AT ALL with hydros customer service and your kind of on your own or searching around in here for setting them up as Hydros you tube videos are mostly them just telling you how awesome there products are and not how to setup them up or use them :rolleyes:
The build quality seems way better than APEX but the setup programing is not simpler and you dont have the large amount of users like you do with Apex so harder to find info.
The customer service aspect of it was super disappointing from hydros.
So no longer would I recommend them over apex, maybe they'll get there act together but until then I would just switch over one piece at a time and see how you like it.
If you do your whole lot in one shot you will not be happy.

Im running everything under the sun in apex
2 A2,DOS, 2 tridents, lots of sensors etc

For Hydros im using there
X10 and X2 with many attachments and sensors also wireless power strips, (1 outlet failed on one of these, its just over a year old)

 

[BryanM]

Unlike Jason above, I have had fantastic experiences w/hydros support.

You could start with this page: https://www.coralvuehydros.com/cust...y6ON79ysfadPKsIjyqIW7ZVSfzzICAjMaAi8cEALw_wcB

 

[OutColdCRNA]

I was impressed that within about 30 minutes I received an email from coralvue to set up a call to figure out what I would need. On the flip side I have been running my apex for two years. Started a support ticket more than 24 hours ago and have yet to receive a response from Neptune.

 

[SPS2020]

I was impressed that within about 30 minutes I received an email from coralvue to set up a call to figure out what I would need. On the flip side I have been running my apex for two years. Started a support ticket more than 24 hours ago and have yet to receive a response from Neptune.

Remember that Sales and Support are two entirely different departments. I've never been held up by a salesperson when I want to buy their product(s).

 

[JeffB418]

Remember that Sales and Support are two entirely different departments. I've never been held up by a salesperson when I want to buy their product(s).

This is not true, the Hydros support dept handles these types of calls. Sales dept at coralvue is focused on wholesale accounts since they do not directly sell to the public (with the exception of the small amount of product on the outlet store)

 

[Dragen Fiend]

Biggest con right now is no Maven for testing yet. Other than that it has everything you can need.

For you:

To transition with current equipment

Hydro launch, XP8 bar and either the hydros minnow for dosing or 2 separate dosers. I'd do the hydros minnow.

The reason why I don't recommend the X10 is simply because of the nature of Hydros for redundancy and high availability. You don't want everything on a single board.

 

[Jasonak]

You will still need your Apex to run your trident.

 

[JeffB418]

After beating my head against the wall with my apex A3 I’m thinking of jumping ship completely and moving to hydros. I have another thread about all the connection issues that I have had with the apex so I don’t want to get into that here.
I would like to hear pros and cons of the hydros vs apex as well as what equipment from hydros I would need to gain the functionality I have with apex. Trying to decide if I should go about replacing individual apex modules or scrap the whole thing and start over.
Here is what I’m running.

DOS
Trident
Optical sensor x3

Eb832
-return pump
-heater
-kalk reactor
-skimmer
-ATO pump

Eb832
-return pump
-heater
-quanta helix x4

A few questions:
what do you use the optical sensors for?
what do you use the dos for? precision dosing? ato? water changes?
For the trident, are you primarily concerned about alkalinity? Do you use trident controlled dosing?

 

[JeffB418]

Biggest con right now is no Maven for testing yet. Other than that it has everything you can need.

For you:

To transition with current equipment

Hydro launch, XP8 bar and either the hydros minnow for dosing or 2 separate dosers. I'd do the hydros minnow.

The reason why I don't recommend the X10 is simply because of the nature of Hydros for redundancy and high availability. You don't want everything on a single board.

Yeah the Minnow will do most generic dosing applications. If you want to dose very small amounts (like under 3ml per dose), then you might want to look at the AC doser on a launch or XP8 port instead. If you are looking to do water changes and larger amounts, you will want to look at the SOLE. this is a good comparison to show you of all the current Hydros dosers.

 

[areefer01]

This is not true, the Hydros support dept handles these types of calls. Sales dept at coralvue is focused on wholesale accounts since they do not directly sell to the public (with the exception of the small amount of product on the outlet store)

It is their opinion. They are not saying how the company runs their operation so don't read into it.

 

[Dragen Fiend]

Yeah the Minnow will do most generic dosing applications. If you want to dose very small amounts (like under 3ml per dose), then you might want to look at the AC doser on a launch or XP8 port instead. If you are looking to do water changes and larger amounts, you will want to look at the SOLE. this is a good comparison to show you of all the current Hydros dosers.

Yea definitely depends on how much your pumping. For the minnow I'm only doing 1 gallon weekly for such a small tank. So it works. Otherwise SOLE would be the only choice for big tanks.

 

[JeffB418]

It is their opinion. They are not saying how the company runs their operation so don't read into it.

I was just clarifying for those who don't know.

 

[OutColdCRNA]

A few questions:
what do you use the optical sensors for?
what do you use the dos for? precision dosing? ato? water changes?
For the trident, are you primarily concerned about alkalinity? Do you use trident controlled dosing?

I use the optical sensors for the ATO. A high and low sensor. The third sensor is in my ATO reservoir to tell me when to refill. My DOS is pushing RO through my kalk reactor, about 3000 ml/day, and the other pump is adding a small amount of alkalinity as the Kalk was pushing my PH too high. No trident controlled dosing.

 

[OutColdCRNA]

Biggest con right now is no Maven for testing yet. Other than that it has everything you can need.

For you:

To transition with current equipment

Hydro launch, XP8 bar and either the hydros minnow for dosing or 2 separate dosers. I'd do the hydros minnow.

The reason why I don't recommend the X10 is simply because of the nature of Hydros for redundancy and high availability. You don't want everything on a single board.

Thank you for the reply. I’m currently running 13 outlets on my eb8s but could convert my two jebao powerheads to the wave engine. Currently just using the jebao controller and not plugged into apex.

 

[areefer01]

Thank you for the reply. I’m currently running 13 outlets on my eb8s but could convert my two jebao powerheads to the wave engine. Currently just using the jebao controller and not plugged into apex.

One thing to consider when using the wave engine is that you may be limited to a set motor speed. For example my Maxspect Gyres using their native controller could have a .5 second reaction time but with the Wave Engine it was limited to 2 seconds.

This may, or may not, be a big deal to your setup. However, to support a variety of pumps there are some limitations they had to make.

 

[JeffB418]

I use the optical sensors for the ATO. A high and low sensor. The third sensor is in my ATO reservoir to tell me when to refill. My DOS is pushing RO through my kalk reactor, about 3000 ml/day, and the other pump is adding a small amount of alkalinity as the Kalk was pushing my PH too high. No trident controlled dosing.

For the kalk reactor I highly recommend the SOLE, its heavy duty and rated for continuous duty. I use one on each of my kalk reactors and they work well. The minnow is likely undersized for that application. For the alkalinity, you could get away with a minnow or just a hydros simple doser on a drive port.

I would suggest:
Launch (4 AC, 4 Drive, 4 Sense ports, pH/Salinity)
XP8 (8 more AC outlets)
Sole (1 doser for kalk)
Hydros simple doser for alkalinity off the Launch Drive Port
3 optical sensors off the launch

If you wanted to do alkalinity testing, you could add a iV tester to the launch:
- need 1x iV
- 1 2ml/min hydros AC doser (reagent pump)
- 2 hydros simple dosers (drain/fill pump)
- use 1 pH port on the Launch for the iV pH probe, 2 drive ports on the launch for fill/drain doser, 1 AC port on the Launch for reagent doser, 1 drive port on the launch for the stir bar

Could also ditch the 3 hydros simple dosers and just add on a minnow instead as well and pickup 4 more sense ports. If you went with the minnow, you could switch the Launch out for the X4 as well, but you need to make sure only 8AC ports is enough. This would give you 2 pH ports so you could do pH in tank and pH for the iV.

Theres many ways to slice this pie.