What’s next from Apex? (After Trident)

[CMO]

A feature to update all dosing periods in a single update would be nice. With dosing 4 Triton solution 4 times a day I have to update 16 individual DOS profiles to manage my alk. This is getting tedious since I'd say I have to tweak it every two days or so minimum.

 

[Breadman03]

A feature to update all dosing periods in a single update would be nice. With dosing 4 Triton solution 4 times a day I have to update 16 individual DOS profiles to manage my alk. This is getting tedious since I'd say I have to tweak it every two days or so minimum.

I had that set up with profiles. I can post up my code when I get home.

 

[CMO]

I had that set up with profiles. I can post up my code when I get home.

Didn't realize it was possible. That would be great. Thank you!

 

[ca1ore]

I'd like to see a more obvious visual clue on fusion that an alert is triggered. Maybe the entire slider in red rather that just a difficult to see 'on'. I would also love to see a replacement for the triggered outlet that they used to have. I'd like to be able to use apex as a backup control for my challenge, but the latter is big and draws over 15 amps.

 

[zack801]

IMO, this would be the next holy grail advancement after auto alk testing / management. Feeding frozen thawed is last thing preventing my tank from being truly self sustaining for long vacations. Boy would that be nice. Seems very doable too.

I know a guy locally that has basically this exact thing set up and it apparently works great

 

[Mrx7899]

IMO, this would be the next holy grail advancement after auto alk testing / management. Feeding frozen thawed is last thing preventing my tank from being truly self sustaining for long vacations. Boy would that be nice. Seems very doable too.

I know if they can make a trident I think they can make a frozen food feeder

 

[Mrx7899]

Both are possible now.

I didn't know that that's cool

 

[Devaji]

yeah lots of cool possibilities out there!
I am surprised that they dont have a few simple things if ppl in there garage are DIY cool modules then one would think apex could rock it.

 

[GK3]

Auto frozen feeder would be amazing. There are a few challenges here, biggest one I can think of: what frozen food does it support? Frozen food now days comes in flat sheets, cubes, big chunks, etc. I don’t see Neptune becoming a frozen food maker just to support one piece of hardware. Although they did make crossover diet for the AFS (likely a relabel if I were to guess).

I would hate to see Neptune build a light. It seems like everyone now days builds a tank and a light. I am not sure what they could bring to the light game that would set them apart from all the others out there. People pay a premium for apex because no on else can do what they have done, I don’t see this being true in the lighting world. What feature in lights is missing that apex could implement?

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have a good answer,,,,,,, Something a little cheaper than the Trident unit. Many useful tools we can use in the hobby, But they're just priced outrageously.

 

[Breadman03]

Didn't realize it was possible. That would be great. Thank you!

Here is a super simple way to get your Apex/DOS set up for happy Triton dosing. Note that I only screenshot my part 1 and part 1 timer. Each pump should reference its own timer with the OSC code modified to offset it by 5 minutes from the previous element dosed. ATOE is my emergency high float for my ATO, suggesting something is wrong. A Blueline is my return pump. If it’s off, something is wrong.

Note that I have the dosing shut down from 1[emoji646]pm to 1159am. That allows my timers to create 1[emoji646] doses on each channel for easy math. To dose 1[emoji646]ml per day, simply set the dose size to 1ml. 482 ml per day? Set it to 48.2.

 

[rkpetersen]

Automatic frozen food feeder that would hold like a week's worth of food

Wouldn't this be something. I would be all over this, and yes I'm sure it would be expensive.

 

[rkpetersen]

Honestly, even though I have two fairly complex Apex systems, which I think are fantastic and haven't had an inordinate amount of problems with, more than anything else I would like to see them bulletproof everything. Upgrade all hardware components, upgrade all software. Market it as the Apex Pro or the Apex Mil Spec or something like that (or just start a new product line.) Include immediate 24/7 support if anything does go wrong, and overnight shipment of replacement components.

 

[radiata]

I'd like to be able to put comments into Fusion code, and the I'd like the ability to put some demarcation lines on the dashboard screen.

 

[rkpetersen]

Auto frozen feeder would be amazing. There are a few challenges here, biggest one I can think of: what frozen food does it support? Frozen food now days comes in flat sheets, cubes, big chunks, etc.

That wouldn't be a big problem though! They could ask you to prethaw. The feeder would have to have a small refrigerated hopper, and for something that size, it wouldn't be too difficult to keep it at 34F, for example; colder and more uniformly cold than your refrigerator. I would guess this could be built with a peltier chip or similar technology pretty easily. I don't think something like this would be battery operated though; probably need a DC power supply, but that's no big deal. OK now, someone with skills, please design this and present it to Neptune!

Agree with you about the Neptune lights.

 

[tiggs]

I'm sure there are patents that prevent them from doing this, but I would have loved if Apex released a MOAI-type device (although, preferably smaller) that's a robotic glass cleaner and doubles as an in-tank web cam. How nice would it be to schedule glass cleanings and have it automatically pump HD video of the inside of your tank directly to the Fusion tile.

I'm also onboard with the frozen feeder and customization of switch labels on Fusion. Most importantly, I think they need to put some time into adding additional drop-down options, tasks, wizards, and conditional statements into the Fusion interface. For example, a few of the things listed by others are possible right now, but you have to write code (or really, pseudo-code) to accomplish it. For someone that's used to writing scripts to automate tasks, this is second nature because some of us do this for a living. For others, it may not be as straight-forward. Keep in mind, these additions to Fusion are very easy to implement for them, so I'd really like to see them focus on that, so all Apex users get the most out of their controller.

 

[rkpetersen]

You know, back when we had 'books', someone would have already written 'Apex for Dummies', with tons of amazing tips and tricks.

 

[GK3]

That wouldn't be a big problem though! They could ask you to prethaw. The feeder would have to have a small refrigerated hopper, and for something that size, it wouldn't be too difficult to keep it at 34F, for example; colder and more uniformly cold than your refrigerator. I would guess this could be built with a peltier chip or similar technology pretty easily. I don't think something like this would be battery operated though; probably need a DC power supply, but that's no big deal. OK now, someone with skills, please design this and present it to Neptune!

Agree with you about the Neptune lights.

That’s true. Disagree on the DC part tho, crazy inefficient in my mind. Just make it AC.

 

[GK3]

I'm sure there are patents that prevent them from doing this, but I would have loved if Apex released a MOAI-type device (although, preferably smaller) that's a robotic glass cleaner and doubles as an in-tank web cam. How nice would it be to schedule glass cleanings and have it automatically pump HD video of the inside of your tank directly to the Fusion tile.

I'm also onboard with the frozen feeder and customization of switch labels on Fusion. Most importantly, I think they need to put some time into adding additional drop-down options, tasks, wizards, and conditional statements into the Fusion interface. For example, a few of the things listed by others are possible right now, but you have to write code (or really, pseudo-code) to accomplish it. For someone that's used to writing scripts to automate tasks, this is second nature because some of us do this for a living. For others, it may not be as straight-forward. Keep in mind, these additions to Fusion are very easy to implement for them, so I'd really like to see them focus on that, so all Apex users get the most out of their controller.

Did the MAOI ever launch or did it die? Totally agree that an Apex glass cleaner and CAM would be sweet. I was thinking frozen food feeder was my #1 ask after hearing others comments but this is right next to it.

 

[GK3]

Honestly, even though I have two fairly complex Apex systems, which I think are fantastic and haven't had an inordinate amount of problems with, more than anything else I would like to see them bulletproof everything. Upgrade all hardware components, upgrade all software. Market it as the Apex Pro or the Apex Mil Spec or something like that (or just start a new product line.) Include immediate 24/7 support if anything does go wrong, and overnight shipment of replacement components.

I live in the industrial automation world. We have these types of services and they are $$$$$$$. I’d put it at less than 10% of apex users would ever pay a premium for this type of service.

In my mind - what on my tank could break that I couldn’t go without for 2 days? Lights, no. Pump? No I have power heads. Heater? Only if I am in the north during winter but everyone knows they should have two heaters. Power heads? No most have multiple and a return pump. I’ll take a lower price point and a 1 year warranty and run with it. Something goes wrong, I can have it fixed in 1-2 days tops, or at least a temporary, life preserving solution.

Example - I have been out of town for 5 days and on day 2 my FMM went disconnected. Only way to fix this is to pull the aquabus cables and reconnect. This has my ATO on it so that stopped working. I have a second FMM with a switch right by the ATO one. All I did was reprogram the ATO to look at that switch. Problem solved until I am home.

Just my 2 cents