Neptune Apex Trident Etc

[Jason Bell]

Maybe I am just venting here, but I miss my Reef Keeper. I have diligently been setting up my Apex and the various pieces one step at a time. For the basics, sure PH and Temp are good. Salinity is way out to lunch and that is with a fresh clean just calibrated probe. I tested with my refractometer and 1.026 then to be sure went and purchased a Milwaukee and sure enough 1.026. I am thinking there should be a way to self calibrate, so that I can set it to what it actually is, of course I get everything from stray voltage could be the issue to dirt etc...NEW probe should work.

The ATK is a POS...stick with Tunze, simple and compact compared to the ATK and works forever.

Open up my first DOS and hear a rattle, that is not good nor what I expect from a dosing pump, pop the tabs on the back for mounting and sure enough tiny screw comes out....extra?? spare?? JUNK

I go through the setup with the Trident, easy enough to setup, says calibrated from the factory...sure sure my first several readings are way way way out...then as I read some more information from their forum it does specify doing a calibration every time one changes regents as they are from different batches etc. lends me to believe that factory calibration does not relate to the batch of regents one receives with the unit. It does say wait 72 hrs and at least 1 week before allowing Trident to control dosing.....no way ever would I do that based off of my personal experience to date. I figure I will wait another couple days then calibrate with the fluid included with the regents and see where it is at.

There are some things that I like about the system, however many I just scratch my head with and wonder why. Same goes with Mobius, all of a sudden decided to forget my time zone and pumps were running random programs not setup by me. I do have a reef link, so perhaps I will switch back to that and give it a whirl. While venting myAI is terrible too.

I feel better now, I love my Apex, Ecotech and AI stuff......

 

[Cliff]

I hear ya. If I wasn’t so invested into Neptune I would’ve went to GHL for sure

 

[Salty Cracker]

Same. I like the core unit (although I've had 3 displays go out on my so far), but I stayed away from neptune for ATO, dosing, etc etc. If/when this apex fails I'll likely go with something else. I don't know as if I'd go to a $ GHL, I might actually slide back to a simple reefkeeper or put something together with an arduino.

I love it because it takes care of my tank, but I certainly don't have anything nice to say about neptune quality control.

 

[teebone110]

A good reminder about why I am the controller for my tank- the Apex should just be the monitor

 

[Salty Cracker]

A good reminder about why I am the controller for my tank- the Apex should just be the monitor

Didn't you inadvertently convert your tank to freshwater?

 

[Matt1997]

The salinity probe is junk. Well known fact. I bought the EL on my second setup for that same reason. I found the ATK better then the tunze personally. Haven’t had an issue with it other than an optical sensor becoming blocked following a chemicleam treatment from excessive foam. Wiping it down solved the issue.

DOS is bulky but works just as well as any other dosing pump with a much simpler way to program.

Trident alkalinity is spot on, calcium tends to vary by about 50 from manual tests (but what is the accuracy of a manual test) and magnesium as far as I know is a back calculation from calcium. Most use it to monitor trends. I would personally trust a calibrated trident over manual test kits. But to each their own.

 

[Dr. Zoos]

So I used to run a reefkeeper in one of my old systems and loved it. With my new 100gal I’ve been considering how to get back into the controller scene but Neptune seems to have cornered the market but at a cost. I’ve yet to pull the plug on any new controller but threads like this definitely lead me to question. My seneye will tell me 90% of what I want to know at a glance of the app but it isn’t cheap for a monthly fee which when I add into other monthly expenses quickly drives up operating costs.
What are the options we have? Apex? Reefkeeper? And??

 

[Matt1997]

Hydros and GHL

 

[Matt1997]

Then there’s stand alone controllers for individual uses.

 

[Jason Bell]

Raspberry PI controller.

 

[Jason Bell]

The salinity probe is junk. Well known fact. I bought the EL on my second setup for that same reason. I found the ATK better then the tunze personally. Haven’t had an issue with it other than an optical sensor becoming blocked following a chemicleam treatment from excessive foam. Wiping it down solved the issue.

DOS is bulky but works just as well as any other dosing pump with a much simpler way to program.

Trident alkalinity is spot on, calcium tends to vary by about 50 from manual tests (but what is the accuracy of a manual test) and magnesium as far as I know is a back calculation from calcium. Most use it to monitor trends. I would personally trust a calibrated trident over manual test kits. But to each their own.

Found the salinity to need adjusting, now is good for how long who knows. Apparently the trident will and in my case does need calibration as it is based on the proximity of the unit to the source line.

DOS, well we will see, I've never had a pump come with a rattling screw before.

Just not at all what I was expecting with the dollars spent, GHL certainly next time, looked long and hard this time, but just couldn't find a place to get hands on.

 

[teebone110]

Didn't you inadvertently convert your tank to freshwater?

that one was on me- wasn't any fault of my apex. I clicked the wrong button to "auto" and not "off" -

Initially thought an alarm from a salinity probe would have prevented this- but from whatever continue to hear- it likely would not have helped either

 

[Jason Bell]

that one was on me- wasn't any fault of my apex. I clicked the wrong button to "auto" and not "off" -

Initially thought an alarm from a salinity probe would have prevented this- but from whatever continue to hear- it likely would not have helped either

The only that would have helped is the run time. But only if it was consistent.

 

[TORX]

Same. I like the core unit (although I've had 3 displays go out on my so far), but I stayed away from neptune for ATO, dosing, etc etc. If/when this apex fails I'll likely go with something else. I don't know as if I'd go to a $ GHL, I might actually slide back to a simple reefkeeper or put something together with an arduino.

I love it because it takes care of my tank, but I certainly don't have anything nice to say about neptune quality control.

Hate to break it to you but reefkeeper is no more, unless you find a used one. Also hate to point it out, but I will, GHL ProfiLux 4e Starter Set 6E - $1,014.99 and the Neptune Apex - $1055.97.

@Jason Bell - I am with you on the quality questions. There is no reason why you should have to wait a week to trust results, nor should you have to calibrate between the different fluids. That definitely puts a spot light on the quality control of the product. I am not shy about my displeasure about Apex. I personally never suggest them to anyone. Especially now that GHL is the same price point. The programming for GHL has also improved over any reviews you may find.

 

[teebone110]

I am very interested in the GHL director and Ion- however there aren’t a lot of local users.
Not sure about customer support with GHL?

Ive always had top notch customer support with Neptune- they usually are very responsive and willing to help.

 

[TORX]

I am very interested in the GHL director and Ion- however there aren’t a lot of local users.
Not sure about customer support with GHL?

Ive always had top notch customer support with Neptune- they usually are very responsive and willing to help.

Never had an issue with support with GHL. Then again I only had 1 issue in the years I had my P4 and KHD. The NA support group is growing quickly and they are actively helping people on their FB pages and forums. KHD was awesome with auto correction on my doser. Near perfect alk every day.

Sent from my SM-G988W using Tapatalk

 

[Jason Bell]

I would like to grab a new reefbot just to try it out, tests all kinds of things.

I was able to get salinity sorted out last night, so that is a start. Maybe it is just me and hopefully with the long weekend I will have enough down time to spend and get things going how they should be. True there is plenty of support for Neptune and everyone is very responsive.

 

[Cliff]

this was a great surprise yesterday. You would think for the $ of these thinks they would be sealed a bit!

 

[TORX]

this was a great surprise yesterday. You would think for the $ of these thinks they would be sealed a bit!

Wowser.

 

[Salty Cracker]

That's terrible. Good thing neptune doesn't give TFT money to suppress that.

I'll admit that I am still using the old black apex units. I bought 2 compete units because I wanted extra outlets and a backup unit. I looked at the new line of stuff coming out of neptune and right away thought they looked like kid's toys. Now it looks like the internals are built like kid's toys too. That's honestly a shame. Looks like they went to china, and just sourced the cheapest internal components.