Finally Joining the Smart Kids

[Tandor69]

The last month or so I have been seriously considering an apex and trident. I love my reef-pi but it doesn't do the testing. Well lo and behold Neptune goes on sale! I had been telling myself I should have bought one when they were on sale last time. So I went ahead and pulled the trigger. So glad to have the Neptune guru @SuncrestReefhere on these forums!

[obrien.david.j]

I love my Trident!  Congrats

[SuncrestReef]

11 hours ago, Tandor69 said:

The last month or so I have been seriously considering an apex and trident. I love my reef-pi but it doesn't do the testing. Well lo and behold Neptune goes on sale! I had been telling myself I should have bought one when they were on sale last time. So I went ahead and pulled the trigger. So glad to have the Neptune guru @SuncrestReefhere on these forums!

Congrats!  Be sure to read through my Apex tutorials:

https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/authors/suncrestreef.93940/

[pdxmonkeyboy]

once you get it set up and running and are comfortable. I would advise digging a little deeper and setting up various controls and alarms and what not that are not as obvious. 

[Tandor69]

19 hours ago, pdxmonkeyboy said:

once you get it set up and running and are comfortable. I would advise digging a little deeper and setting up various controls and alarms and what not that are not as obvious. 

Oh I plan on going off the deep end lol. It arrives today! Unfortunately everyone is out of the DOS.

[obrien.david.j]

1 hour ago, Tandor69 said:

Oh I plan on going off the deep end lol. It arrives today! Unfortunately everyone is out of the DOS.

Oh Good!   Let's see a sketch out of your system and what your thoughts are.   Rough layout, is it classic tank+sump or more, how many heaters/chillers/feeders/CaReactor/KalkReactor/pumps/powerheads/lights - which you're thinking of Apex Control.   Setting up Auto Water Change?  Auto Water Top Off?   Level sensors placement thoughts.   Flow pattern thoughts, Feed cycle thoughts, Lighting cycles and special override modes.  

Let's go off the Deep End!   

@SuncrestReef - What topics have I forgotten about?   

[Emerald525]

49 minutes ago, obrien.david.j said:

Oh Good!   Let's see a sketch out of your system and what your thoughts are.   Rough layout, is it classic tank+sump or more, how many heaters/chillers/feeders/CaReactor/KalkReactor/pumps/powerheads/lights - which you're thinking of Apex Control.   Setting up Auto Water Change?  Auto Water Top Off?   Level sensors placement thoughts.   Flow pattern thoughts, Feed cycle thoughts, Lighting cycles and special override modes.  

Let's go off the Deep End!   

@SuncrestReef - What topics have I forgotten about?   

You’re making my head hurt.  

[obrien.david.j]

That's why you map it out!

[Tandor69]

1 minute ago, obrien.david.j said:

That's why you map it out!

That is a good idea. Especially since the tank has been running for 6 months. That way I can make sure as I switch everting from Reef-pi to Apex I get it set up right.

[Tandor69]

My current controller cabinet 

 

[obrien.david.j]

Good Cabinet.   Have you acquired a used WXM module to control your MP's with yet?

I'm kind of a heavy WXM user, and I really like the integration into Apex and what I can do with it.

I've got feed cycles and Feedstorm setup, manual override on/offs, Apex controlled flow patterns (but that's not unique).  I've got color temperature overrides setup on the lights.   They go off if temp is too high as manual form of alarm, ...   

-David J. O'Brien

 

[Tandor69]

42 minutes ago, obrien.david.j said:

Good Cabinet.   Have you acquired a used WXM module to control your MP's with yet?

I'm kind of a heavy WXM user, and I really like the integration into Apex and what I can do with it.

I've got feed cycles and Feedstorm setup, manual override on/offs, Apex controlled flow patterns (but that's not unique).  I've got color temperature overrides setup on the lights.   They go off if temp is too high as manual form of alarm, ...   

-David J. O'Brien

 

I haven’t as of yet. It would be nice to do, but my MP40s are the newer ones and my vague understanding is it takes some finagling to get them to be controlled by the apex. 

[obrien.david.j]

8 minutes ago, Tandor69 said:

I haven’t as of yet. It would be nice to do, but my MP40s are the newer ones and my vague understanding is it takes some finagling to get them to be controlled by the apex. 

My two MP60's are new.  I "finagled" them back to the previous firmware rev, following provided instructions.  And I'm good to go with WXM.   

But it's a personal choice.  If you like what you've got, use it.    And they're no time pressure, used WXM's will continue to be available.   Both of mine were used.

[Tandor69]

14 minutes ago, obrien.david.j said:

My two MP60's are new.  I "finagled" them back to the previous firmware rev, following provided instructions.  And I'm good to go with WXM.   

But it's a personal choice.  If you like what you've got, use it.    And they're no time pressure, used WXM's will continue to be available.   Both of mine were used.

Good to know it isn't to difficult. Does the WXM supply power and control or just control? Looking at ways to save outlets on the power bar. Even if I don't do it right away, I may try to get one now.

[SuncrestReef]

17 minutes ago, Tandor69 said:

Good to know it isn't to difficult. Does the WXM supply power and control or just control? Looking at ways to save outlets on the power bar. Even if I don't do it right away, I may try to get one now.

The WXM only provides wireless control for speed and On/Off control.  But there's no need to waste your EnergyBar outlets for the MP40's if the WXM is controlling them.  Think of the WXM like the remote control for your TV. The TV can remain powered through the wall outlet at all times, but the remote control turns it on and off.  Just plug your MP40 power supply into a normal power strip.

[obrien.david.j]

Even if you never connect the MP's to your Apex, there's no requirement to use an EB832 outlet for them.  You can turn them on/off with their "remote control."  Either WXM based, or Movidius based.

[Tandor69]

9 minutes ago, SuncrestReef said:

The WXM only provides wireless control for speed and On/Off control.  But there's no need to waste your EnergyBar outlets for the MP40's if the WXM is controlling them.  Think of the WXM like the remote control for your TV. The TV can remain powered through the wall outlet at all times, but the remote control turns it on and off.  Just plug your MP40 power supply into a normal power strip.

 

3 minutes ago, obrien.david.j said:

Even if you never connect the MP's to your Apex, there's no requirement to use an EB832 outlet for them.  You can turn them on/off with their "remote control."  Either WXM based, or Movidius based.

Gotcha. I wasn't thinking about it in the correct way which is funny because that is how my reef-fi lights are.

[Tandor69]

Another question: Right now I am using LED stick on light strips that I had left over from another project as my cabinet lights. The RoboTank has 12v ports that I am using to power the leds, so no power supply and no taking up a plug on the power bar. Does the APEX have anything like that?

[obrien.david.j]

I'm aware of two 24v ports coming off the EB832 power bar.   

I've got one of these on order for my system:   (amazon)  Noctua NF-F12 iPPC-24V-2000 Q100 IP67 PWM, Heavy Duty Cooling Fan, 4-Pin, 2000 RPM, 24V Version (120mm, Black)

 

[Tandor69]

Louie approves. 
 

[Tandor69]

DOS back in stock so I pulled the trigger on that and a breakout box. Also ordered 24v LED strips off Amazon to do my cabinet. I have magnetic switches so I can set it up to turn the cabinet lights on when the door opens. Got the apex and powerbar up and running. Now to read through suncrestreef's articles to really get things going. 

[SuncrestReef]

1 minute ago, Tandor69 said:

DOS back in stock so I pulled the trigger on that and a breakout box. Also ordered 24v LED strips off Amazon to do my cabinet. I have magnetic switches so I can set it up to turn the cabinet lights on when the door opens. Got the apex and powerbar up and running. Now to read through suncrestreef's articles to really get things going. 

Congrats on the new gear!

Be sure to follow Neptune's Getting Started Guides for each of your modules before you start trying the things in my tutorials.  A lot of people just connect everything and try to wing it, but that usually leads to a lot of confusion and re-work.  For example, you are not supposed to connect the Trident until a certain point in the setup instruction video.  

Start here:  https://www.neptunesystems.com/getstarted/

[SuncrestReef]

One more tip:  Do yourself a favor by renaming all of your Outputs and Inputs so they have more meaningful names than the default Sw1, Sw2, Sw3, etc.  This will make your programming easier to understand, and avoid the common mistake of using the wrong sensor in your code.  Outputs can be up to 12 characters long, but Inputs can only be up to 6 characters long.  And they are Case Sensitive.  And be sure there are no duplicate names anywhere across the whole system.  Any duplicates can cause the Apex to malfunction in random ways.  I recently helped someone who had an output named "FMM" on a module named "FMM".  That duplicate caused some of the programming logic to be ignored.  Another example is people naming empty outlets on the EnergyBar "Unused", again creating duplicate names.

[Tandor69]

30 minutes ago, SuncrestReef said:

One more tip:  Do yourself a favor by renaming all of your Outputs and Inputs so they have more meaningful names than the default Sw1, Sw2, Sw3, etc.  This will make your programming easier to understand, and avoid the common mistake of using the wrong sensor in your code.  Outputs can be up to 12 characters long, but Inputs can only be up to 6 characters long.  And they are Case Sensitive.  And be sure there are no duplicate names anywhere across the whole system.  Any duplicates can cause the Apex to malfunction in random ways.  I recently helped someone who had an output named "FMM" on a module named "FMM".  That duplicate caused some of the programming logic to be ignored.  Another example is people naming empty outlets on the EnergyBar "Unused", again creating duplicate names.

Good advice. The outlets actually had names and basic controls, but I had to plug in my stuff in different outlets due to bricks and cord lengths so I had to rename them all. I am definitely a RTFM first kinda person so I have gone through Neptune's setup. I am (maybe) going to wait a day before setting up the Trident just to make sure everything else is behaving properly.

[SuncrestReef]

1 minute ago, Tandor69 said:

Good advice. The outlets actually had names and basic controls, but I had to plug in my stuff in different outlets due to bricks and cord lengths so I had to rename them all. I am definitely a RTFM first kinda person so I have gone through Neptune's setup. I am (maybe) going to wait a day before setting up the Trident just to make sure everything else is behaving properly.

You'll see what I mean about the default names when you go to hook up the cabinet switches to control your LED strips.  The breakout box default switch names are Sw1 - Sw6.