dangles
Valuable Member
A bit of a long story, but bear with me....
I'm a new reefer. I started my tank in December/January. So far it's doing great! Fish-only right now (check out my build thread) but I plan to start introducing corals at some point soon!
Anyway that's not what this is about.
As the title implies, I had a controller failure last week. I had set up a Neptune Apex Jr with an EB832, a couple of DOS pumps, an ATK and a few other peripherals. I work a pretty unconventional schedule that keeps me away from home for big chunks of time, so remote monitoring and control were a MUST in my reefing philosophy. Like I'm sure most new reefers do (and probably many experienced ones too!) I found myself CONSTANTLY opening up my Fusion app and looking through it. I was also constantly rearranging all the tiles until the layout made sense to me. I would check my temp and pH every few hours (sometimes much much more). I was also diving into the programming side of things and setting up all kinds of programs for how I wanted my system to run and what I wanted notified of. I also had all kinds of reminder notifications set up (change the filter, check the dKH, check the calcium/mag/NO3/PO4, etc, and on and on and on). I think I had maybe 30 reminders between checking parameters and a variety of other short, medium and longterm maintenance items.
My system was working wonderfully for me, but I decided I needed to clean up all the cords and cables that had started to get out of control in my cabinet. So I disconnected EVERYTHING, laid it all out, labeled ALL THE THINGS, made a DIY controller board, and put it all back together even neater than before.
Everything turned back on, but the Jr wouldn't connect to the Fusion UI. What's worse, the programming within the modules started to act screwy. My controller and all the modules/peripherals were effectively bricked.
If you're not familiar with the Neptune world, the Apex A3 Jr is wifi-only. No ethernet port. For some reason, my controller wasn't connecting to my wifi. I double checked my other IoT devices at home and they were all working fine. I tried a soft reset. Still just the orange light (no connection). I found that if I hit the "refresh" button on the error screen repeatedly, I would sometimes reconnect for about 10 seconds, then drop the connection again. And because it wasn't connecting to Fusion, I couldn't check the issues with all the modules that were not working right anymore. I also lost ALL my reminders.
So I called Neptune customer support. They were very helpful and knowledgable. He was able to (through my computer) connect directly to the unit and do a bunch of wizardry to try to diagnose the issue. He thought he got it fixed, but when we got off the phone, it immediately stopped working again! I called back and the engineer working with me said he would have to bring in some other engineers for some help. After a little while he confessed that I was the first customer he had dealt with to stump 3 engineers at the same time. They didn't have any idea what the issue could be. He arranged for me to send my unit back in, and get a replacement.
That's where I am now. Waiting for my new A3 base unit (I upgraded from the Jr so I could have a freaking ethernet port!).
But all that brings me to my point... I was WAY too reliant on my smart aquarium gadgets! I was practically crippled without them, and I didn't have a backup plan in place. All this happened the night before my work shift, meaning I would be without remote monitoring and control for 24 hours.
Thankfully, I still had the wifi-controllable smart power strips I started with before I became overly reliant on my Apex. I disconnected everything from the Apex Jr and EB832, and went back to the "Stone Age" just using my wifi power strip. Fortunately this was an easy task because all my plugs and cords and such were labeled, organized, and easily accessed. I just unplugged my return pump, power head, lights, heaters, etc and plugged them into the wifi power strip. Quick and relatively painless thanks to my organization! No harm came to my tank inhabitants when this was all going down. But it reinforced a couple of REALLY important points:
If you use a controller, you should REALLY have a backup plan that DOESN'T involve any of it in case for some reason it craps out on you. Also, when things stop working (or just simply need upgraded), it pays DIVIDENDS to have your cord management and label game ON POINT.
Table-top all the different "oh sh ! t scenarios" and know how you'll deal with each of the major ones at least.
In my line of work we often have PACE plans. Primary, Alternate, Contingency, Emergency. Know what you'll do when something fails, and have backup plans of backup plans!
Controllers are fantastic tools, but be sure you know what to do if you're suddenly without that tool. I'm glad it happened to me early on, before the stakes got REALLY high.
I'm a new reefer. I started my tank in December/January. So far it's doing great! Fish-only right now (check out my build thread) but I plan to start introducing corals at some point soon!
Anyway that's not what this is about.
As the title implies, I had a controller failure last week. I had set up a Neptune Apex Jr with an EB832, a couple of DOS pumps, an ATK and a few other peripherals. I work a pretty unconventional schedule that keeps me away from home for big chunks of time, so remote monitoring and control were a MUST in my reefing philosophy. Like I'm sure most new reefers do (and probably many experienced ones too!) I found myself CONSTANTLY opening up my Fusion app and looking through it. I was also constantly rearranging all the tiles until the layout made sense to me. I would check my temp and pH every few hours (sometimes much much more). I was also diving into the programming side of things and setting up all kinds of programs for how I wanted my system to run and what I wanted notified of. I also had all kinds of reminder notifications set up (change the filter, check the dKH, check the calcium/mag/NO3/PO4, etc, and on and on and on). I think I had maybe 30 reminders between checking parameters and a variety of other short, medium and longterm maintenance items.
My system was working wonderfully for me, but I decided I needed to clean up all the cords and cables that had started to get out of control in my cabinet. So I disconnected EVERYTHING, laid it all out, labeled ALL THE THINGS, made a DIY controller board, and put it all back together even neater than before.
Everything turned back on, but the Jr wouldn't connect to the Fusion UI. What's worse, the programming within the modules started to act screwy. My controller and all the modules/peripherals were effectively bricked.
If you're not familiar with the Neptune world, the Apex A3 Jr is wifi-only. No ethernet port. For some reason, my controller wasn't connecting to my wifi. I double checked my other IoT devices at home and they were all working fine. I tried a soft reset. Still just the orange light (no connection). I found that if I hit the "refresh" button on the error screen repeatedly, I would sometimes reconnect for about 10 seconds, then drop the connection again. And because it wasn't connecting to Fusion, I couldn't check the issues with all the modules that were not working right anymore. I also lost ALL my reminders.
So I called Neptune customer support. They were very helpful and knowledgable. He was able to (through my computer) connect directly to the unit and do a bunch of wizardry to try to diagnose the issue. He thought he got it fixed, but when we got off the phone, it immediately stopped working again! I called back and the engineer working with me said he would have to bring in some other engineers for some help. After a little while he confessed that I was the first customer he had dealt with to stump 3 engineers at the same time. They didn't have any idea what the issue could be. He arranged for me to send my unit back in, and get a replacement.
That's where I am now. Waiting for my new A3 base unit (I upgraded from the Jr so I could have a freaking ethernet port!).
But all that brings me to my point... I was WAY too reliant on my smart aquarium gadgets! I was practically crippled without them, and I didn't have a backup plan in place. All this happened the night before my work shift, meaning I would be without remote monitoring and control for 24 hours.
Thankfully, I still had the wifi-controllable smart power strips I started with before I became overly reliant on my Apex. I disconnected everything from the Apex Jr and EB832, and went back to the "Stone Age" just using my wifi power strip. Fortunately this was an easy task because all my plugs and cords and such were labeled, organized, and easily accessed. I just unplugged my return pump, power head, lights, heaters, etc and plugged them into the wifi power strip. Quick and relatively painless thanks to my organization! No harm came to my tank inhabitants when this was all going down. But it reinforced a couple of REALLY important points:
If you use a controller, you should REALLY have a backup plan that DOESN'T involve any of it in case for some reason it craps out on you. Also, when things stop working (or just simply need upgraded), it pays DIVIDENDS to have your cord management and label game ON POINT.
Table-top all the different "oh sh ! t scenarios" and know how you'll deal with each of the major ones at least.
In my line of work we often have PACE plans. Primary, Alternate, Contingency, Emergency. Know what you'll do when something fails, and have backup plans of backup plans!
Controllers are fantastic tools, but be sure you know what to do if you're suddenly without that tool. I'm glad it happened to me early on, before the stakes got REALLY high.
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