StayPuff

I have an Apex and I do like it. I have had it running about a year, but I have had tanks since 2001. It makes programming my tank a bit easier then it was before with all of my timers. My Apex replaced 11-12 timers for my system. I still have one timer (wp40 plugged into the white light power strip) for some randomness, but I got rid of 10 and that weird ticking sound. 

 

On a daily basis the best thing I like about the Apex is the one button feed mode. Pressing one button turns off my return pump, turns off my skimmer (because the sump water level rises), turns off the powerheads and then cascades things back on in an order I chose. It is convenient. 

 

The rest of the things it does besides making the whole target timer replacement thing better... not much really for how I run my reef. 

 

I empty my protein skimmer every morning, so I don't need a float for that. Installing my Apex with the pH probe I found out that my pH is dead on stable at 8.3. Hasn't changed by more then .1 in more then a year. So much so I thought the probe was broken, so tested that and found, my pH is good. 

 

I have a bunch of fail safes built in if the tank gets to hot, with the lights and equipment cascading off, but they have never kicked on. My heaters have their own on and off so the temperature probe is redundant for me. 

 

The conductivity probe is a good idea as it can tell you if you have a leak that your leak detector is not picking up. Basically if your salinity is dropping because an ATO is stuck on you might have a leak... or a couple of clever snails on the float valves. Having that is a good idea if you have an unrestricted ato reservoir. I use a 5g jug so that is not really an issue for me. 

 

In regards to the dosing pump, the Apex will turn the entire unit on or off. The Apex to the best of my knowledge does not have a way to monitor the amount of liquid a peristaltic pump is dispersing. So it is not any different then a wall outlet in safety for a dosing regiment. I suppose you could set it to turn off the peristaltic pumps if a leak was detected during an automated water change. I don't do water changes so that is not for me. I do run a peristaltic pump for carbon dosing through my Apex, the plug is just so close

 

If you are using a a Calcium Reactor you can set the pH probe to monitor the pH in the system and turn off your solenoid incase of a drop (which I have) but in the last year I never have had my systems pH drop. If I do it will be a good thing I have it in place. I did not set up a second probe to monitor the reactors pH, as Travis always told me to chase ALK, not pH. A lesson I learned and am glad he shared. 

 

I did have my Apex set to text me if I lost power, however when I lost power, I also lost internet. So no text or communication from the Apex. So the only "reefing disaster" I have had was a tree falling through my neighbors house and us loosing power. Nothing the Apex could do for me there... Had it texted me I could have saved it (I have a lithium battery that will run a pump for 12 hurs), but I slept 30 feet away instead. 

 

What the Apex is for me is another step of redundancy in the protection of my system. It's not magic. It doesn't fix or protect everything. 

 

In December I got a phone call of a family emergency and was on a plane two hours later, and away from home for 3 weeks.  It was reassuring to see the tank was O.K. through the software, but my back up plan was a good friend who knows as much or more about reefing then I do. 

 

If you are using 2 0z of 2 part a day you might want to look at a reactor. It does make a huge difference IME in coral growth, and it is less expensive as well. Last time I ran out of C02 I had to dose 7oz of 2 part a day. The cost of the 2 part I used in 3 days would run my reactor for a couple of months. I don't know if that helps you or not. 

 

JME

Hey that's a great write up some things I didn't think about.  Can you explain the battery back up power? If you lose power how do you have this battery to where you can wire it to get power to run the tank that just isn't clicking for me.

I have been trying to think of ideas that I can do if my power goes out.  I'm in a apartment btw so a compressor wont exactly work

Good tips here.

I got a nikon 3300 otw looking forward to getting better pics my phone just dont cut it. Used to have the D3300 so looking forward to getting it again always took good pics while hiking and taking fish pics.

Does anyone even look at my thread LMAO

Ok these are the same things only with the blue lights on.  The Torch still dont show the nice color ill get more pics of the actual look on them someday but man all these sure bring life and excitement to the tank i hope you enjoy as i build and add to my tank.

Torch golden and some other kind

Frogspawn purple tip

Frogspawn again

EDIT:

So what do ya think? The pic on the right on the torch shows green its a bright golden with purple tips it does not show it on the pic.. 

The torch on the left is green with purple tips.. Still  it does not show how beautiful they are coming out of the camera. 

I use these, they fit on my metal shelving. I put a bulkhead in it and reduced it down to a 1/4" push fitting that accepts the hose from my RO/DI.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001B1C4G0/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?qid=1454274117&sr=8-3π=SY200_QL40&keywords=rubbermaid+tote&dpPl=1&dpID=41uT2oDRwFL&ref=plSrch

 

Not as large as the one you are looking at but might work if you can't find those.

Hey that's what I use   Home depot 15 bucks at least that's the price 3 weeks ago when I grabbed 2

Welcome to the forum you will love it and LOL @ the screen name thats great

Question on the dosing pumps if I got 3 BRS 2 Part Doser – 1.1 mL per minute could I use 1 for water change 1 for alk and 1 for calcium  I do it my self but I want to have the option there if I change my mind and have not ruled that out 100%

Or could I got with the T11 Dosing Pump System - Bubble Magus I think has 3 motors for either dose food and alk and calc or alk and calcium and then has a extra?  This is my first time diving into dosers so I'm asking away.  My end goal is what I want to be able to do is dose alk calcium and still have option to have one set up for water change. With the apex

Ok below is a list of new goodies

Frogspawn neon green tip 2 heads 

Ding dangs

Golden Torch there are 2 kinds here 12 heads total

Also a couple other things if anyone knows what they are let me know

EDIT ::  I wanted to say                         Please feel free to like or add any advice or comments to my build

I did buy one off amazon, they are $9 shipped 2 day prime, so it's a cheap tool!

 

Here's my pros/cons

 

Pros:

-Great for hard to reach areas and need a quick scrub.

 

-good at cleaning out scratches in glass tanks that get algae growth, these usually don't come up with algae mags and are difficult even with razor blades.

 

-unit appears to be staying sealed fine with oring in battery compartment.

 

Cons:

-Hard to clean larger areas, is definitely more of a spot or hard to reach cleaner, may help with the 1" head they sell vs 1/2" they come with. I still use my mag cleaner for getting a majority of the work done

 

- not the best at coralline, does ok but needs a lot of scrubbing. Razor blades work best for this IMO

 

- kinda loud, scares the fish LOL

_____________

 

Overall I think it's a great tool to add to the cleaning arsenal especially for the price.

 

One promising thing I'm experimenting with that would put this tool over the top for all reefers is for majano/aptaisa removal. I have a ton of majanos that I can never seem to get rid of due to their location. I took this and scrubbed on them, which is amazing. What happens is if you keep scrubbing on them and it obliterates their whole top half. I am hoping that they will die off from this due to inability to feed. Some of them that o scrubbed on are reduced to a little blob, so I'm keeping an eye on them to see if they come back or not. Fingers crossed!

Sweet write up thank you for sharing.

Also I do have both heads for this as well now so if you do get the other head you will be able to do a little more so thanks for pointing that out.

Wonderful tool for the price and I would say grab the other head with it to.

One of these units seems to last me about a year then I just toss it because there so cheap and I have mine in the water once a week.

So far i think im liking the middle one and now i think there are like 4 other type of dosing pumps out there?

I will using mine i think mainly for constant water change.  I have not ruled out dosing with one but I do like to do it myself so I may stay that way.

Nice to meet you guys today and the dog of course

I got everything in the tank and will post pics in my thread in a bit. Thanks for the deals and your tank is sweet and didnt even make a dent in there with all the sweet stuff you got thanks again

Yes, you can run anything trough your apex. You don't need to use Neptune gear. You simply just plug the doser into one of the outlets and set it on a timer through the apex. Like mine is set to (turn on) or dose every half hour for a minuet.

 

 

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oh well then I'm liking the apex even more than 1 more point for it ty

i use the old drews doser. They were a super cheap buy from a friend so I got them:) when they die on me I will probably upgrade the the BRS 1.1 mL dozers. Been thinking of even using there 50mL doser for auto water changes.

Having high calcium is not a bad thing in my opinion. The one to worry about is alk. If that gets to high bad things happen.

 

 

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would the BRS 1.1 Run on the apex? 

I'm just leaning away from them dang DOS because of how loud they are

I wonder does the Bubble Magus dosing pump run with this apex? I have heard they are silent better than the DOS but don't know if it would run with the apex  Or the T11 Dosing Pump System - Bubble Magus if you get the slave you can go 11 channels on this one I also hear its quiet  would these run on the apex?

i use the old drews doser. They were a super cheap buy from a friend so I got them:) when they die on me I will probably upgrade the the BRS 1.1 mL dozers. Been thinking of even using there 50mL doser for auto water changes.

Having high calcium is not a bad thing in my opinion. The one to worry about is alk. If that gets to high bad things happen.

 

 

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Ya my alk I dose 2 oz a day and calc like I said I check it like twice a day like wow to make sure I'm seeing it right and the tank is live as can be and yep it stays right there. Alk I keep at 9.5 and tank loves it at that.

If you can't justify the cost but want to still monitor your parameters, there are monitors out there. They just don't control anything. Such as this guy I just saw on Craigslist.

 

http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/for/5416747340.html

Ya no

I'm interested in Apex but I do massive research before I buy anything out there..

I'm to the point now I'm just wanting to know what unit people have here and what all you hook up to it?

What does this do for you. 

Do I have to only use the DOS they sell for the apex or are there other dosing systems out there that I can run that are cheaper with the apex?

Or another type of motor that is more quiet that I can use for water changes I like the DOS for water changes but I do not enjoy how loud it is and every I have read says its loud

ORP is a super fancy thing ha. It's way over my head in the world of reefing but I believe that it measures dissolved organics in the water. Like if a fish died, your ORP would start to go up as fish decomposes. It's just another thing to monitor haha.

The DOS unit is a little spend for dosing in my opinion. If you have the time to hand dose then that would be he best route because you know exactly what's going on in the tank. I use these super cheep dosing pumps I bought off a fellow reefer on here. I run them through the apex with zero fear. The apex doses every half hour so it's nice and steady for my SPS all day long. I don't worry about over doing because if my calcium going up to much not to much happens, it just goes high and can irritate coral. For example the calcium in my dads tank naturally sits at 600 ppm(been established 10 years) and everything is super happy and healthy. I also don't worry to much about my alk because I dose soda ash which causes the pH to increase. So if for some reason it got stuck on, my pH would climb up and my back up safety feature would cut power off at 8.45 pH. Ive got safety feature on top of safety feature. Along with the apex texting me when the pH increases.

Anyways long story short, dosing is super easy with the apex. I would recommend the middle unit because if you get the jr you will be wanting to upgrade soon and for example, the 8 bars are $150.

 

 

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Well not sure I need the fancy one when I can go the middle one and save 200 bucks I knew ORP wasn't something I have heard before

what dosing pumps do you use and run through the apex? 

My calcium stays at 540 and I don't dose no matter what it stays there.  I check it with 2 checkers and its correct. But my tank is loving it and things are growing amazing inside there

 A lot of salts out there will keep your Calcium at a nice level.

Also what all do you all have your apex running id like to know that.  Do you have the gold the middle the jr? Tell me what you run and what you have im curious

Im leaning away now from the DOS because if i use it to change the water i hear its loud and not big fan of that but my water changes take less than 15 mins as i mentioned so dont much care about that .

Also what all do you all have your apex running id like to know that.  Do you have the gold the middle the jr? Tell me what you run and what you have im curious

Im leaning away now from the DOS because if i use it to change the water i hear its loud and not big fan of that but my water changes take less than 15 mins as i mentioned so dont much care about that .

BTW Does anyone actually have the DOS for this system??  The more i think about it the major complaints i hear is how dang loud it is.  If this is the case its not something i would be real happy about.

 Im getting away from wanting to dose but use for water changes and i hear these things are loud ..

Just trying to get a judge and other peoples ideas on that if you have one

I'm so excited! I went a whole 2 days with one less tank in the house Hubby just shook his head .

lol

I have the middle one. I have a 120 gallon total water volume frag tank that I keep it on and it's plenty. The difference with Gold is that you get the Ph probe, Temp prob, and the stuff for monitoring Salinity and ORP. The middle one just comes with ph and Temp. The apex jr comes with the salinity and pH but only has four plug ins(the other two have 8).

Those are the only real differences. The rest of the stuff is all standard and you'll get it with any of the apex set ups. It's fancy words for the basic stuff to run an apex. you can run DOS on any of them. hope that helps.

 

 

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Thanks this is what I was wondering I'm drawing blank what is ORP?

I don't care about salinity  I like my digital reader so don't care about that stuff. 

One thing I do like is the DOS is for water changes just put a bucket down let it drain into and have it do water changes for me. Then again my water changes take me 15 mins to do every 2 weeks so that works ok.. I know its good for dosing but I'm leaning away from that now I like dosing myself so easy and lets me interact and check on things.

So you guys got your tool in and have tried it yet?    I come back to this thread because just got done touching up my tank for about 2 mins with mine

Still no? Come on guys you have all this so explain to me lol im leaning back to the forget it on getting this lol i dont know which one would be more suitable

I want the DOS like i said and the DOS upgrade with the 2 canisters for dosing it comes seperate add on to the DOS

But as far as the whole system i dont know which one i would need for my 100 gallon there are 3 or 4 types i posted above

Said it before say it again i love the look of them 40b

Looking great

BTW here is my tank build and the tank we was looking at today with the auto top off already built into the system nice unit the reef 350

Look around tons of info like I was telling you about and good deals here and there

  http://www.pnwmas.org/topic/36437-my-90-gallon-tank-build/