Controller Faceoff: Reefkeeper vs Neptune Apex

I had and RKL and ill never go back, over six months my head unit lost my pm4s 5 or 6 times which caused my lights and heater to stay on way past what they supposed cranking my temp up and haveing no night cycle and it always happened when i was away the only way to fix it was to reset everything. I switched to an apex lite but because I run a radion and a mp10s I don't need any of the dimming capabilities. Have had no problems since.
 
I was looking into a RKL a while back & read a lot of comments about how ppl had problems with equipment going bad. So I decided to go apex like most others. But I bought a used one from someone taking a tank down. It's really nice having the water on floor sensor.
 
I've had a reefkeeper lite for almost 5 years doing the basics, lights, heater, wavemaker, etc. I've not had any problems other than when my final lights go out the temperature jumps by .4 F on the headunit. I don't have any complaints with the software. Mostly point and click.

I do want to move to internet access and internet controllability. So as soon as the apex fusion software is out and I'm convinced there are no bugs I'm probably jumping to apex to skip the networking/portforwarding/email setup hassle.

DA always gets a bad rap compared to apex I think because of delays and problems associated with the salinity probe, but it's not something I use. I'd skip the jr or lite due to the module limitation. I've got three power bars and an ALC on mine and that's the max. Can't add networking or anything else unless I got the elite headunit. On the other hand $99 was a bargain for the base unit that's been rock solid.
 
I had a RKE with all the options for about 1.5 years.

I found the programming annoying (Couldn't do it from the web page) and the programming for the 'wave maker' very limited. I have 4 Tune pumps in my aquarium and found the wave maker to be useless.

I now have a full on Apex system, and I have a beautiful swell going in my tank. I am able to graph anything against anything. Earlier today I wanted to confirm my little jumps in pH were from my kalk reactor running. with 4 clicks (graphs, check ph and kalk, click update) I was able to confirm this.

Neptunes support is great (I had my controller fail, they got it sorted quickly) and they've answered more than a couple stupid questions I've had.

The community support for apex is also superb. There are published snippets of code out there to do anything you'd want. There's also the very well written comprehensive user manual.

I wish I hadn't spent my money on the RKE, and am now trying to offload it for pennys on the dollar.
 
For those who followed MACNA, Apex is about to release a fully customizable GUI that will be in the cloud and readily accessible (no more DNS/port forwarding) from any where. Rather than programing ramp code and on off commands etc, it will be OS based user interface plug and play. You will even be able to just drag and drop light intensity and spectrum to points across a graph that represents the hours of the day. You can find it if you youtube.

I got mine just last week and personally, now that i have figured out the code..i like the manual code just fine but the added ease of getting a cloud based plug and based GUI is going to put it over the top for many IMO.
 
I had a Reefkeeper Lite for 3 years or so and I used it for my lights, heaters and dosing pumps and never had one problem with it. I recently sold it when I upgraded to the Reefkeeper Elite.
Never tried the Apex.
 
Don't even think about a DA. Nothing but small problems. I had two tank crashes, (one was major) both linked to the RKE.
 
Okay folks, I tot a Full Apex with an extra EB8 due to an awesome local seller.

I've updated the firmware and got it to go. I might be imagining it but it seems faster and more responsive than the Apex Jr for sure. I'm pretty sure the APEX JR was running a lower end CPU or something.

I think the RKL at $120 though is a killer deal.

When I think about it, I've easily spent $80 on timers and thermometers.
 
Okay folks, I tot a Full Apex with an extra EB8 due to an awesome local seller.

I've updated the firmware and got it to go. I might be imagining it but it seems faster and more responsive than the Apex Jr for sure. I'm pretty sure the APEX JR was running a lower end CPU or something.

I think the RKL at $120 though is a killer deal.

When I think about it, I've easily spent $80 on timers and thermometers.

I agree that for the budget conscious, the Reefkeeper Lite presents a better value than the Apex Jr. -- but the advantage pretty much ends there. You might add one or two modules to a RKL and still some value, but if you are planning on going for a larger controllable setup, the Apex full setup wins the day.

Now, thay said, there are a HELLUVA LOT of hobbyists who will never go balls to the wall with their controller setup -and simply cannot afford it even if they wanted to. Given the cost savings in timers and the very low expense of the RKL base unit, there is no good reason NOT to get a RKL.

I think most beginning reefers should start with the base assumption of getting an RKL simply as a solid power bar + timer setup with pump options.
If you want more than that, go full on Apex controller.

In either case, there does not seem to be any compelling reason to get a Reefkeeper Elite.

It's RKL for a cool power bar with nice add-on features vs. an Apex for those serious about it.
 
apex not working

apex not working

This has been a nightmare since I first purchased it. The unit that was sent to me was defective. You tried for weeks to fix it and then decided it was the unit and you replaced it.Finally got it to work. worked for a couple of months. Now the same thing. It took a couple of I T guys to finally set it up on my computer and phone so I could program my lights and chiller. NOW here I go again. My tank is looking sad this is taking to long Holiday and weekend. PLEASE HELP OKeefes reef the fish and corals need HELP ASAP.
 
This has been a nightmare since I first purchased it. The unit that was sent to me was defective. You tried for weeks to fix it and then decided it was the unit and you replaced it.Finally got it to work. worked for a couple of months. Now the same thing. It took a couple of I T guys to finally set it up on my computer and phone so I could program my lights and chiller. NOW here I go again. My tank is looking sad this is taking to long Holiday and weekend. PLEASE HELP OKeefes reef the fish and corals need HELP ASAP.

Start a thread in Neptune's section...but for now I would go old school and bypass the Apex for critical functions. With the Holiday they may not get back to you very quickly.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=368&order=desc&daysprune=30

Your case is exactly why I don't use an aquarium controller, they are great when they work and horrid when they don't.
 
If you want to check out C/S post a couple of questions in each forum and see if they get answered. C/S is not buy this. That is fanboy.
 
RKL running my diy led's, dosing pumps, heater, pumps, etc.... For 3-4 years without a single hiccup. Customer service is not great, and it can be a little less than user friendly to setup, but I seriously wonder how many of the people blaming problems on the rk products did not set things up properly or test the functionality before going hands off. They work just fine....
 
I started with a RKL and eventually switched over to the Apex Lite. I switched mainly because I wanted full control when not at home and the Apex iphone was greatly welcomed. Overall I find the Apex much easier to work with then the RK, and any help I needed I got quickly either here or on the forums on the Apex website. Would never think about going back to RK after using my Apex!
 
My Reefkeeper Lite may not be as fancy as an Apex, but it works well and does everything I need it to do. My main reasons going with it was to A.) control my lights and keep my MHs from hot starting after a power failure B.) control my power heads, which it does quite well. C.) control my temp. It runs a fan if the temp gets to a certain point and shuts my MHs off at another point. I use a heater that runs off it's own temp control. I may get another power bar for it later to incorporate control for it as well but for now it's working great.

Personally I thought it was a breeze to set up.
 
I want a Reef Keeper Lite or Elite that can run reef controller dimmable led fixtures in order to do some testing. You'd think with all the bad things people have said about them there would be used ones for sale all over the place. But I can't find on anywhere. I may have to buy one new. If anybody has one they want to sell, feel free to send me a PM.
 
OP here, I got both. My main tank is running a full apex with a couple add ons. My LPS tank is running a RKL.

The Apex unit itself is better built, has generally better parts and awesome support based in the US who will call you and control your computer for you to help out with some problems. The Apex units are a PAIN to update though.

The RKL main thing going for it is that it's a lot easier to get started to do basic functions. My temperature probe failed the first day.

The Apex in general seems a bit more advanced in what you can program if you're willing to put the time into it.
 
With a little ingenuity you can do some different programming with the timers on the RK as well. I haven't tried any yet but their have been a few different things I have read people doing on their forum. You can run a heap of stuff like water on floor monitors and ATOs off of the modules as well. I did experience a cable short on one of my moon light controller lights, but they are so cheap it wasn't much to worry with.

The downside of the RKL to me is the limitation to modules, but changing out the head unit fixes that so you can upgrade a little at a time as you go. For just over the cost of a Hydor wave maker or advanced timer power strip you have a controller that can do everything that both of those things will do, plus monitor and control the tempature. It may not be the fanciest thing out there but it works well for what it is.
 
So if you could create your own controller, what would you have? what inputs and outputs would you have, how many, what functions . . go all out here guys . .just wondering what is most popular these days. I've run several tanks and have never had an actual controller on it, everything was discrete control via timers and such. If you could set up 1 controller to handle everything about your tank except staring at it for you, what all would you have it do?
 
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