Best Controller

E

explorer22

Member
Looking for input on controllers. Looking to only have to do it one. Want it to be able to control LED lights, will be my next purchase also would take recomendations on those as well.

Thanks
 
APEX here. I have no complaints and the custoemr service has been awesome. I was getting emails from them a month or so ago when I was having problems. I think it was a Sunday night and we were going back and forth every few minutes by email.
 
Profilux is one of most reliable controller on the market.

I would advise the op and any others to research the answer themselves.
People get too attach to what they brought and over look so much about their own investment they made.

The controller is the watchdog of your system no more or less.
Yes it controls lights and turns things on and off. But the main job is to watch over system when your not around.

If you cannot trust or always is dealing with some form of a bug then the controller is junk.
Its like a guard dog that lets people in, lol. Whats the point in having one then.


People biggest complain about the Profilux that it cost to much.
If you really look in to it, does not cost that much more now with their new prices.
There is alot of hidden features within that controller.

To answer the op, if you want the best controller in the market its the Profilux.
It has the most features of any of them, and some only exclusive to Profilux line of controllers.
Is it the cheapest, no is not.
 
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The apex aquacontroller is pretty good. Only other experience is with a reef keeper a friend owned and the limited time I had to play with it, and what he had to say about it.. I would not even consider it. Love my apex and would not change if that says anything but am interested in checking out any other controllers.
 
I am trying to decide on one myself. Have been using a rk2 for years. This subject seems worse then vortech vs tunze. I was going to go apex then a profilux user told me he wouldn't take an apex if it was free. Might try rke since I've had mostly good lychee out of the rk2... Want a profilux and in the ends its probably what ill end up with.

I am giving serious thought to the reef Angel as well.
 
off topic, but wouldn't it be great if a industry standard "bus" system was established like usb ...and "system components" like lights, powerheads and heaters communicated with any "industry standard" controller....

I know a lil about manufacturing processes and changing products is costly even with off the shelf circut boards, but I think mostly the resistance would be from manufactures to keep things proprietary on purpose
 
that would be sweet. The reef angel could probably pull it off rather easily.

All it would take would essentially be a relay in each piece of equipment. Would be nice because your controller would never see a heavy load.
 
If you want reliability and expandability take a look at the Aquatronica also, it has firmware that has been running for years with no problems, it can do things most of the other units can't and it has a salinity probe that just about never needs calibrating.
 
My vote is for the reef angel controller. I just installed one...half the price of the others and it lets you custom program it to what you want it to do. Also has a wifi attachment for iphone and andriod apps...
 
08TRDOFFROAD said:
How hard is it to get the Reef angel to control dimmable meanwell 48D drivers?
Click to expand...

Do not know about Reef Angel.

But Profilux has the most advance 0-10v Outputs of any controller.

Each Output can be 0-10v or be set for pvm.
Not only that, it also has a relay output with each of the 0-10 v signal, to not confuse these with the sockets, these are extra relays, that I think even GHL forget they had.

These relays turn off when the dimming goes 0% anything above that the relay turns on.
I would get the board add on they have, so you can connect everything together neatly, cost around $30.

The software behind those outputs are crazy too. They can ramp up or down, create sunrise, sunsets, and moon lights with lunar cycle to match any area, anything is possible.
 
Alright I have a question. Everyone says the Profilux is better and is capable of doing more. What can it do that the Apex can't? Also curious as to if both are user friendly and have great customer service? It seems my local club is more all about the apex than any controller and I haven't gotten any yet and am trying to decide which one I should go about.

Thanks
Conrad
 
Conrad25 said:
Alright I have a question. Everyone says the Profilux is better and is capable of doing more. What can it do that the Apex can't? Also curious as to if both are user friendly and have great customer service? It seems my local club is more all about the apex than any controller and I haven't gotten any yet and am trying to decide which one I should go about.

Thanks
Conrad
Click to expand...

For most of us, there is nothing really that the Profilux can do that the Apex can't....Lights, dosing, heating/cooling, email, text, web/PC program, ph, orp, conductivity,all sorts of control, etc. There are some more advanced programming that can be done with the Profilux, and more integrated equipment like dosers and light bars. The quality is higher, but the Apex is also excellent quality.

Both are user friendly. The Profilux has a programmming menu that has more "options" on it, the Neptune can be a little more complicated as you get into the advanced programming, but the learning curve is small. Both have premade programs fro lighting, heaters, chillers, etc that you just plug the numbers you want into. One thing I liked about the Profilux when I briefly owned a used one was the random Tunze flow. IE it just ramps it up and down at all varying amounts throughtout the day. With the Apex, you are a bit more limited, though the timings and flow ranges are pretty limitless.

Cannot speak for Profilux service personally, though I have never seen a complaint that I can recall. Neptune has been great the 2 times i needed repair in the 7 years I have owned their equipment. One was actually a recall on a DC8 in 2005 IIRC, and the other was a module fried on me and they fixed it and returned in less than a week. Emails to Neptune are answered always withing the day, most of mine with small questions have been within the hour.

The quality on the Profilux is most of its cost, if that is an absolute must then go for it. There are far more Apex users, and I rarely see anyone that is not happy with Neptune, its performance, quality, or service. Would I own a Profilux if money was no object....maybe. I dont really need that complicated a controller to run a fish tank. The integrated equipment is cool, but nowhere near a must. The touchscreen is cool ( alot cheaper than i thought it would be!), but the Vertex Cerebra coming out looks even more interesting.

Im currently using an Apexjr, as it has all the control I really need. I have owned the full Apex, Apexjr, Aquacontroller jr, ReefKeeper Elite and Lite, and the Profilux IIex.
 
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