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So I was the type to resist the tank controller for many years- never wanting to put my money into a gizmo that would help me 'automate' my tank.

 

I finally broke down - when the summer months were approaching- and purchased a reefkeeper lite plus system.

 

I bought it specifically to turn off my heater when it got hot- i.e. Redundancy- and also to turn on two fans I had set up over the waters surface when the tank was hitting high temps.

 

Honestly after a few hours of messing around with the reefkeeper I was really upset at my purchase. It was really a pain to use and program... but after many YouTube videos and lots of internet searches I figured I finally had most of it programmed. The PH probe was the last thing to do. I found a video about calibration on the ph probe and went thru the process.... and it came out reeding my tanks ph at 4.5... so... I reacibrated... and again the readout was absurd. So... another recalibration... and a third incorrect reading... So I gave up on the probe and felt well enough about having a little computer that would keep my tank from over heating.

 

Then while I was working my wife called in a panic. The tank was at 83 degrees and climbing and the fans were all off. The system was so counter intuitive I couldn't even talk her through manually turning on he fans with the reefkeeper setup- and she ended up just dragging a box fan into my office and wrapping my sump in ice packs.

 

The tank made it through, fine.

 

That said I think I hate the reefkeeper. It's been nothing but frustrating and now it's also not actually doing what I thought I'd programmed it to do. The ph probe is a total waste of time and... well... I don't know...

 

 

What are people's experiences with tank controllers? Is the reefkeeper just junk?- as I feel it is... is the Apex the way to go? Did I just waste my time and money? Should I just have skipped the whole controller thing all together? Did i just get a bad controller? Does anyone actually use any of these things at all? I wanna know? I'm cool with returning the reefkeeper and throwing some money at a better controller- if it actually is worth it?

 

Lemme know. Whatcha got? Is it cool? Not worth it? Talk to me about it...

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Love my Apex! I have been using it for a couple years now and don't think I would ever go without one again. Currently run temp, cond, pH, ALD, BOB, PMK and will be adding a WXM. My temp, cond & pH always seem to  be right on the spot though this PMK module has me really wondering. I have never personally owned a reefKeeper but when investing in my current controller I spent hours scouring google on reviews and the consensus i found was Apex was the way to go with many disappointing reviews for the reefKeeper. 

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First issue you'll run into is DA likely won't let you return it just because you don't like it.

 

when you were programming it, were you using a computer or doing it all through the head unit? I remember being really frustrated programming manually but it was much easier with the PC (MyReef software) using a SID. If I wasn't in the middle of moving I'd get mine out for you.

 

The pH probe calibration takes a LONG time. Like put the probe in the calibration fluid for 20-30 mins to get the right reading to input on both ends of the scale. It's a pain but that's the only way I got an accurate reading.

 

overall I think the reefkeeper is a great controller for simple things but more advanced/larger scale users will be happier with Apex.

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BRS will let me return it for a stocking fee- which I think is reasonable.

I did program it with the computer and I loathed every second of it. The daisy chaining module effect means you can't actually just plug all of it in to program it- you have to dink around and unplug some things to program parts of it and so on. Oh and all that was after I figured out that everything needed a firmware update and had to be plugged in one unit at a time. Then the head unit wouldn't recognize the slx module. Oh and I did leave the ph probe in the two solutions for a very long time- as the video online told me to.

Maybe I just am not a target market for controllers. Honestly if the apex is a more complex version of the reefkeeper I'll probably just end up even more frustrated. Though I feel my biggest issue is that the reefkeeper programming actually failed.

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That does actually sound reasonable of BRS. You might be right, a full on controller setup might not be the best solution for you, Just keep in mind we haven't had controllers for all that long and most people are still perfectly fine and successful without them. They simply add peace of mind for some of us.

I do truly think when it comes to products such as these you get what you pay for, but I wouldn't go out purchasing a full apex system at this point seeing your frustrations with the reefKeeper. Also keep in mind with the apex there is light programming involved, and if this isn't your expertise while there is plenty of help available its 99.9% user error when something goes wrong, and things can get bad depending upon what your trying to achieve.

I would suggest if your still interested maybe looking here, R2R or Nano-Reef for a used apex jr. This would give you a temp probe to control your heater and 3 sockets left to play around with and get the hang of. I have seen the classic Jr. Models sell for as little as $125 so if you decide its not a good fit , you wont be out too much money, otherwise you could slowly add modules that you might want and the Jr. now supports up to 7.

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I think I might just spend some time messing with the reefkeeper. I mean... it's aleady all bolted into my cabinet and with all the cables all tidy and I just don't want to go through pulling it all apart again just yet. Maybe I'll see about getting a new ph probe and just spend some more time attempting to get the programming set. I know it's controlling the heater and light timers just work. I suppose the fan programming is likely user error.

I really just want the remote access function and alerts. The fact that I literally couldn't do anything about the heatwave when I'd so specifically set it up to prevent the issue drove me bananas.

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I started with a Reefkeeper lite plus and now have the Elite. I agree with programming frustration but finally wrapped my head around most of it. DA was actually very helpful even though I was upfront about buying my units used.  They were more than willing to walk me through issues. I also spent a few hours on the interwebs to supliment my knowledge.

I now have mine controlling everything during feeding, water changes, heater off/on, PH reading, temp, wave maker alternating off/on with two power heads, three dosing pumps that are dosing at various preset times, etc. The controller really simplified many things, but yes, it was a bit rough to get going/programmed. Once set up though - I am happy and would not go back to no controller.

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