Not sure what controller I need for my upgrade

M

musicman1968

New member
I started out with a 55g reef tank. I've been slowly upgrading to a bigger tank. I now have a 110g that I am restarting up due to a hair algae problem I couldn't seem to correct that wiped out my corals. Luckily most of them were frags, but dishearting none the less. I've been running an Apex jr, which I had problems with right from the start, but I won it as an auction prize in my local fish club. Display would not and still won't keep accurate time despite the leap second feature. And I started having problems with DC-8 as well. 2 plugs started out deciding when they wanted to turn on/off despite programming. I contacted Neptune regarding this and they said it was like $50 for first plug and $10 I believe for each additional plug to fix. Now with that being said, I've normally hear great things about Neptune and the Apex line. I am not sure whether to give them another chance or if I should go with Reefkeeper or what. I would love to view tank specs from my phone (android if that matters) and to be able to turn things on and off as well from my phone. Basically I'm just not sure of what my needs are in terms of what package to buy. I don't understand I guess what breakout boxes, director etc do, so I am not sure what I need. Here is a run down of my gear:

110g with a Herbie/bean animal overflow
40g breeder sump (20g long right now)
SWC Mini S skimmer
DIY LED from rapid LED
Jebao WP40
Reef Octopus calcium reactor
Milwaukee sms100 ph controller
300 watt heater x 2 (failsafe)
Mag 18 return
ATO from Aquahub
Aqua Jr with DC-8 (what I am replacing)
Phosban 150 reactor x 2 (GFO and carbon)
5 stage RO/DI from Kent Marine

I basically don't want to spend $500 for a controller system when $200 setup will do what I need. Basically the JR is doing everything I want as far as controlling things, but don't have the option for using your phone with it.
Thanks in advance. :hmm4:
 
I've been happy with my reef angel.. $269 (pwm dimming) or $289 (analog dimming)

But in reality there is nothing in your setup that can't run just fine without a "reef controller" ..
 
+1 on the reef angel

My previous controller was an Apex Jr.

It was fine but had problems with the DC8 as well. I had it for years but the DC8 gave me problems after year 2. I was going to go with the full Apex kit but decided on the RA and no regrets. Out of the box it's configured for most everything you will need. The set up wizard is easy and if you decide you want to customize and add code for other functions you will get great support through the RA portal. I have the $99 wi fi module and love the fact that I can monitor and control everything from that. The RA is a little daunting at first because of the initial downloads and the need to follow instructions but after that it's easy peazy. The display on my RA is always in sleep mode because I just use my phone for everything and never look at the actual controller.
 
reeftivo said:
+1 on the reef angel

My previous controller was an Apex Jr.

It was fine but had problems with the DC8 as well. I had it for years but the DC8 gave me problems after year 2. I was going to go with the full Apex kit but decided on the RA and no regrets. Out of the box it's configured for most everything you will need. The set up wizard is easy and if you decide you want to customize and add code for other functions you will get great support through the RA portal. I have the $99 wi fi module and love the fact that I can monitor and control everything from that. The RA is a little daunting at first because of the initial downloads and the need to follow instructions but after that it's easy peazy. The display on my RA is always in sleep mode because I just use my phone for everything and never look at the actual controller.
Click to expand...

The unit was new, but I figured at the time that by the time I pay for shipping both ways for an exchange, I would just live with clock being off slightly and reprogram it once a month. The DC-8 started giving me trouble about the 2 year mark as well.
 
Last edited:
So looking at the Reef Angel. Has anyone had any problems with them and what's the difference for pwm dimming versus analog?
 
If you have an LED fixture that accepts a PWM dimming signal you pick PWM..
If you have an LED fixture that accepts an analog dimming signal you pick analog.
Simple as that.
Other than that they are identical systems.
 
I will recommend apex. I've had DA products and dealt with their customer service. I know little about reefangel except I felt it was more complicated to program than apex. I believe it's very much more customizable also. It just depends on your needs. Do u like to program? I don't. So I bought an apex. Controls temp, dosing pumps, and that's it for now.
 
+1 ReefAngel. Have had mine for two and a half years NO problems at all...the forums get you almost instant help for whatever you want help with. And new things keep being added...I am gonna get a humidity module to drive a fan to air out my fish room when it gets musty.
 
If you didn't like your apex you definitely won't like a reefkeeper. I've had both and the apex runs circles around the reefkeeper, myReef software is a joke, it doesn't work and the advanced light controller is not plug and play.
 
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