WetPringleChip
Active Member
I wanted to make this just because I was fed Apex Apex Apex ever since I started keeping reef tanks. As a newbie I was fed tiers of equipment and goals to achieve for even just basic softies and lps. It seems like the hobby validates the need for over shooting equipment to run sps dominated tanks on a softies budget.
So as I got along and my bioload of coral increased. My tank used more and more elements and I got tired of playing around and dosing in a nano constantly. I wanted to see a level and them poof a quick squirt of 2 part and run out for the day.
I decided to pick up a Apex system and a Trident. Sick right? Dang thing set me back about 1000 dollars and that really hurts thinking back on it. Also the customer service phone line is useless, I never used it after the first time I called during business hours and was on hold for 1.5 hours.
Now lets discuss it working. Its great. It has a bunch of little things to tinker with and I love it. Now lets discuss the battle to even get it running, the quality control, the lack of assistance over the phone to clear a quick issue, etc. (btw the Trident is still not working due to multiple missing parts ((everything was bought brand new from BRS and SaltWaterAquarium.com)))
Now lets shoot. If you have early 2000’s crappy wifi. This system IS PERFECT for you. Connecting to the apex is easy. Now we are talking the A3 the newest versions (i have no idea on the previous iterations). Now connecting the apex to the fusion app… if you have new wifi or anything that is over about 20megabytes per second. Good luck brother. I spent approximately 2 hours making accounts, resetting the apex, unplugging it, doing things in different orders… that moved to about 4 hours on the phone with my wifi provider learning to manually split my bands of wifi to be able to connect the apex to the 2.4 ghz band. (Most wifis now come with the 2.4 and 5 connected in the same wifi). Now youd think that is a major issue right? Nah. Turns out that doesnt matter at all because I couldnt stand the slow wifi and the fast but smaller area wifi being separate so I connected it back together and was about to send back the apex… the apex does work with both bands combined. Why did I need to do all this just for it to work on my original settings. Great engineering and worth 500 bucks right? Cool… next issue.
The Trident, oh man. The pentacle of lazy reefer syndrome. Toss a DOS connected to it and wham. Maintenance free element control if you trust the apex system. Woot. Im second guessing that one. So i started my procedure and mind you there are 5 things to pack in this box and its labeled at 674.99 dollars. I got it during the BRS sale for 12% off. Now this very well could be a repackaged return which is fine in some circumstances right? Ya know like 600 dollar products that are able to be run as the back ground of your tank and can eliminate most testing. That sounds like a good product to trust someone else with messing up and then sending it to the next customer at full price with no communication on previous ownership. Anywho, off that tangent. The thing came missing the sample line, waste line and guess what runs the Trident. The reagent… ya know the 50 dollar for 2 months worth. Yeah all gone. There are 5 things to pack in this 675 dollar box. 5. I know 2 year olds that can count to 20. So back to the drawing boards I guess. Lets pop in the email and wait 2-3 days for a response or sit in the call line for 2-3 hours. I hope they fix this issue and I dont have to shell out more money. Its quite disappointing after hearing for years of the Apex’s legend and how useful and great it can be.
Im off my tangent, now. To be honest Im not too mad just dumbfounded that I’ve run my tanks off the cheapest Chinese “junk” for years and Ive never gotten half of my equipment from a 15 dollar heater or 50 dollar amazon light. Then I moved up slowly until Im here and realized, why Jake Adam used pages of apps vs a controller. He was the epitome of finding not only cheap or reasonable gear but honest and quality gear.
So as I got along and my bioload of coral increased. My tank used more and more elements and I got tired of playing around and dosing in a nano constantly. I wanted to see a level and them poof a quick squirt of 2 part and run out for the day.
I decided to pick up a Apex system and a Trident. Sick right? Dang thing set me back about 1000 dollars and that really hurts thinking back on it. Also the customer service phone line is useless, I never used it after the first time I called during business hours and was on hold for 1.5 hours.
Now lets discuss it working. Its great. It has a bunch of little things to tinker with and I love it. Now lets discuss the battle to even get it running, the quality control, the lack of assistance over the phone to clear a quick issue, etc. (btw the Trident is still not working due to multiple missing parts ((everything was bought brand new from BRS and SaltWaterAquarium.com)))
Now lets shoot. If you have early 2000’s crappy wifi. This system IS PERFECT for you. Connecting to the apex is easy. Now we are talking the A3 the newest versions (i have no idea on the previous iterations). Now connecting the apex to the fusion app… if you have new wifi or anything that is over about 20megabytes per second. Good luck brother. I spent approximately 2 hours making accounts, resetting the apex, unplugging it, doing things in different orders… that moved to about 4 hours on the phone with my wifi provider learning to manually split my bands of wifi to be able to connect the apex to the 2.4 ghz band. (Most wifis now come with the 2.4 and 5 connected in the same wifi). Now youd think that is a major issue right? Nah. Turns out that doesnt matter at all because I couldnt stand the slow wifi and the fast but smaller area wifi being separate so I connected it back together and was about to send back the apex… the apex does work with both bands combined. Why did I need to do all this just for it to work on my original settings. Great engineering and worth 500 bucks right? Cool… next issue.
The Trident, oh man. The pentacle of lazy reefer syndrome. Toss a DOS connected to it and wham. Maintenance free element control if you trust the apex system. Woot. Im second guessing that one. So i started my procedure and mind you there are 5 things to pack in this box and its labeled at 674.99 dollars. I got it during the BRS sale for 12% off. Now this very well could be a repackaged return which is fine in some circumstances right? Ya know like 600 dollar products that are able to be run as the back ground of your tank and can eliminate most testing. That sounds like a good product to trust someone else with messing up and then sending it to the next customer at full price with no communication on previous ownership. Anywho, off that tangent. The thing came missing the sample line, waste line and guess what runs the Trident. The reagent… ya know the 50 dollar for 2 months worth. Yeah all gone. There are 5 things to pack in this 675 dollar box. 5. I know 2 year olds that can count to 20. So back to the drawing boards I guess. Lets pop in the email and wait 2-3 days for a response or sit in the call line for 2-3 hours. I hope they fix this issue and I dont have to shell out more money. Its quite disappointing after hearing for years of the Apex’s legend and how useful and great it can be.
Im off my tangent, now. To be honest Im not too mad just dumbfounded that I’ve run my tanks off the cheapest Chinese “junk” for years and Ive never gotten half of my equipment from a 15 dollar heater or 50 dollar amazon light. Then I moved up slowly until Im here and realized, why Jake Adam used pages of apps vs a controller. He was the epitome of finding not only cheap or reasonable gear but honest and quality gear.
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lucky me.
