Why do I need an Apex (controller)?

[loicvin]

I'm a newbie and I love my apex, for temp safety hot or cold, notifications and now I understand better how to stabilize my parameters and understand better the rootcause of my actions. If you have the money, go for it

 

[shoelaceike]

Agreed. However if my controller ever were to fail and go off I get an instant text/email alert notifying me of the same. So in essence it is no different from any other component failing with the added security that if any one component were to fail independently I would get the same alert.

For example whenever my return pump goes off (either intentionally, or due to malfunction, or power outage) I get the alert immediately. Likewise when it turns back on I get another alert. So I can take stock of the situation and figure out how long stuff isn't working before I can mobilize help if I am not able to tend to it myself sooner. Same with heater, ATO etc. anything that is plugged in to the controller sends me an alert when certain criteria are met (on, off, eclipsing certain levels etc).

The only situation that I can think of that would be catastrophic would be if no one is able to get to the tank to fix the issue for more than a day, and the controller power bar is what goes out, turning off my return, powerheads or heater.

What if the failure is the alerts? What if the whole controller fails? My point is not that a controller is bad, only I don't see why you are afraid of a heater failing but not the controller that runs everything. I personally don't have one as I really would not have any use for it except as a fail safe. I would consider it if I traveled a lot but I don't.

I know they can be very handy with people that like to automate everything but I like to do things by hand. I dose and water change by hand. When I want to power something off, I unplug it. It seems like almost every crash I read about is an overdose or something else tech related....lol

 

[BlueDevil]

What if the failure is the alerts? What if the whole controller fails? My point is not that a controller is bad, only I don't see why you are afraid of a heater failing but not the controller that runs everything. I personally don't have one as I really would not have any use for it except as a fail safe. I would consider it if I traveled a lot but I don't.

I know they can be very handy with people that like to automate everything but I like to do things by hand. I dose and water change by hand. When I want to power something off, I unplug it. It seems like almost every crash I read about is an overdose or something else tech related....lol

As with every single thing in this hobby what works or is valued by someone doesn't for others or they think it's redundant.

Just to play devils advocate - how often do you dose your tank? Everyday? Every few days? Once a week? Likewise do you test at the same intervals? If so, and if you don't mind doing it more power to you. I don't have the time to test and dose daily. Depending on the load of your system, it could deplete the additives quite fast. I'd rather figure out my tank's usage over a week and have the dosers dose daily to keep the parameters consistent day over day.

How about when you're on vacation for a week? Unless you have someone reliable and there to match the same routine as you, your tank could see some swings that an automated system would not result in. What if said guest was to make a mistake with the dosing? Could that not cause a mess in your tank?

What I'm trying to get at is there's inherent risks with everything in this hobby. You may be getting along just fine without automation. I personally know quite a few people who are in the same boat as you. Likewise there's several people in my boat as well [emoji4]

 

[shoelaceike]

As with every single thing in this hobby what works or is valued by someone doesn't for others or they think it's redundant.

Just to play devils advocate - how often do you dose your tank? Everyday? Every few days? Once a week? Likewise do you test at the same intervals? If so, and if you don't mind doing it more power to you. I don't have the time to test and dose daily. Depending on the load of your system, it could deplete the additives quite fast. I'd rather figure out my tank's usage over a week and have the dosers dose daily to keep the parameters consistent day over day.

How about when you're on vacation for a week? Unless you have someone reliable and there to match the same routine as you, your tank could see some swings that an automated system would not result in. What if said guest was to mess with the dosing? Could that not cause a mess in your tank?

What I'm trying to get at is there's inherent risks with everything in this hobby. You may be getting along just fine without automation. I personally know quite a few people who are in the same boat as you. Likewise there's several people in my boat as well [emoji4]

Exactly. Like I said it's great for some and likely not worth it for others. I dose everyday, takes about 20 seconds. I've missed multiple days without any Ill effect. I think it would be worse to dose too much. If I go on vacation, I'll slowly raise levels higher over a few days and then not dose at all while gone.

I would use a doser but I don't trust the cheaper ones and the better ones are ridiculously expensive. I would prefer to hand dose and spend on livestock.

I do like the Apex text alerts. I hope one day it will read alk, mag, and cal. Then I will get it. I may even before that if I decide it's worth it. I'm even considering the gold now that it's $600 but that's still an awful lot of money from what I use it for. My lights are controlled with the reef link and my Gyre is not externally controlled. I have a feeling Ecotech will be coming out with a controller , I'm curious to see what that will have.

 

[BlueDevil]

With Tuze now having released a full fledged controller Ecotech can't be that far behind.

 

[CastAway]

In the same boat. My lights are programmable in and of themselves. I have a temperature controller for my heaters and fan. My power heads are programmable. And, everything is already on two eight channel fused power strips.

I like the fancy graphs and all, internet connectivity, but except for continuous pH monitoring and additional dosing equipment to even respond to the pH, I can't justify it.

 

[Steve Dillon]

I bought mine because I wanted to watch my ph and temp to see if there is a swing I'm not seeing by testing manually. I still haven't installed it. My lights are programmable as well but I intend to add some of the other modules like salinity. I don't think you will be disappointed with the purchase. I want to some day keep sps and I hope mine will help me narrow don't the problem I'm having. Jmo

 

[Reeflogic]

I've kept reefs for years without one, then picked up an Aqua Controller Jr in 2010, it's still running, never failed and has done what it's supposed to do. I picked up an Apex 2 years ago, still running, never failed and does what it supposed to do. I am on the road now and have my tank fully operational and monitored, where my wife only has to feed and fill the ATO, worth every penny, IMO.

In all of these posts I didn't read a single "con" only opinions from folks who like to reef like they like to reef, that's because there are no cons. I personally will not run another system without one and I still monitor my corals, fish and other parameters just as much as I would without a controller, in fact, I have more time to watch my corals and fish because I'm doing less maintenance.

Worrying about saving a few bucks in this hobby is hilarious.

 

[Jeeper]

I have 2 digital aquatics reef keepers basic plus. I bought one used for $100. I'm home every night and don't want need the internet connectivity aspect. Mine monitor temp and ph and control the heater (had one fail on and it saved me already). I also use them for dosing control timers. My lights and power heads are programmable so the basics work great for me. I spent the money I saved on icecap battery backups for my powerheads . I looked at the apex but didn't see the need to spend that much as I don't need that many bells and whistles.

 

[tonto95]

Having a controller is just an additional way of monitoring the tank from remote locations and having some ability to control the system from there,if you have backups as part of your system.

 

[BlueDevil]

I think we're beating a dead horse at this point. None of the proponents of controllers in this thread said that it's a must have or the next best thing since sliced bread. What it is is a way to automate certain things and add a certain bit of a secondary failsafe option, which you can never have enough of in this hobby. Could the controller as a whole fail? Sure! But something could similarly go wrong with manual dosing say when you're away for an extended period of time (without a reliable backup). Everything in this hobby had its potential positives and negatives. It's a matter of what floats your boat. If you are willing to spend the money and make use of some automation options go for it. If the benefits a controller provides don't tickle your fancy, you have your answer.

 

[cale0721]

Today I had a perfect instance of why a controller could have saved the day. I had a heater go bad in my sump and tripped a breaker to my tank around 5 am and I didn't wake up and see it until 10am. There was zero flow in the tank and the temp was 71.9 - I was in full panic mode. It's been a rough day, a lot of my SPS look awful. Luckily I didn't lose any fish or lps corals. Not sure on SPS yet. The tank is cloudy and I'm trying to wait 24/48 hours before I make decisions on deaths of SPS.

It's hard bc I know if I would of had a controller once the temp drop 1 degree I could of saved my tank so much stress. To me 600 dollars to save $3000 worth of fish and coral is a no brainer.

I will be purchasing an apex as soon as financially possible.

 

[BlueDevil]

Sorry to hear about the unfortunate incident, Caleb! I agree - this is the perfect example of how a controller (with its text message alert) helps.

Thanks for providing a real life example of some of the benefits we have discussed and once again sorry you had to go through it. I'm not rubbing salt in your wounds by any means!

 

[Steve Dillon]

Today I had a perfect instance of why a controller could have saved the day. I had a heater go bad in my sump and tripped a breaker to my tank around 5 am and I didn't wake up and see it until 10am. There was zero flow in the tank and the temp was 71.9 - I was in full panic mode. It's been a rough day, a lot of my SPS look awful. Luckily I didn't lose any fish or lps corals. Not sure on SPS yet. The tank is cloudy and I'm trying to wait 24/48 hours before I make decisions on deaths of SPS.

It's hard bc I know if I would of had a controller once the temp drop 1 degree I could of saved my tank so much stress. To me 600 dollars to save $3000 worth of fish and coral is a no brainer.

I will be purchasing an apex as soon as financially possible.

Sorry man if there is anything I can do don't hesitate to ask

 

[Reeflogic]

I didn't want to go into specifics in my earlier post, but heaters are or were the exact reason I originally wanted to get a controller. The heaters we have access to are usually off +-4 degrees and as you found out the hard way, fail pretty easily. I've had more heaters fail over the last 30 years than any other piece of equipment owned. Being able to run 2 heaters through a single controller outlet will prevent a total failure because you have a backup! If one fails, you can catch it by looking at the temp graph and see an obvious difference in heating patterns when compared to pre-failure. So you will or should be able to catch that one heater has stopped working, hopefully before the second one fails, allowing you to safely correct the problem without losing $3k in corals! Also, it works in reverse, heaters are notorious for sticking on and cooking tanks... Not with a controller

Sorry for your situation Caleb, hopefully, you don't lose any corals, but thanks for sharing your experience and thoughts!!

 

[shoelaceike]

Today I had a perfect instance of why a controller could have saved the day. I had a heater go bad in my sump and tripped a breaker to my tank around 5 am and I didn't wake up and see it until 10am. There was zero flow in the tank and the temp was 71.9 - I was in full panic mode. It's been a rough day, a lot of my SPS look awful. Luckily I didn't lose any fish or lps corals. Not sure on SPS yet. The tank is cloudy and I'm trying to wait 24/48 hours before I make decisions on deaths of SPS.

It's hard bc I know if I would of had a controller once the temp drop 1 degree I could of saved my tank so much stress. To me 600 dollars to save $3000 worth of fish and coral is a no brainer.

I will be purchasing an apex as soon as financially possible.

You leave your phone with the sound on overnight?

 

[Reeflogic]

You leave your phone with the sound on overnight?

I do. Emergencies don't sleep.

 

[shoelaceike]

I dont lol. I don't want to be woken up by every email.

 

[BlueDevil]

You leave your phone with the sound on overnight?

Do you sit in front of your tank all day to monitor it? What if this were to happen during the day when you would have your phone on?

 

[reefwiser]

Apex recommends use a Ranco controller instead of their unit for actually control of the heater. You would use a controller to monitor the temp itself.
I work with PLC controls of packaging machines an we never connect a heater to a output of a PLC the solenoid state relays just can not handle the draw of a heating element. We use special controllers made to run heaters with special solid state relays. The Ranco controller is made to control heating elements and works great for aquariums. An it is only 50 bucks.
One should always design an aquarium setup to solve all the stupid issues with an aquarium.