thinking about reef keeper

[Newsalth2o]

My Ranco temperature controller on my chiller failed to a high temperature and ran my chiller for some time. When I got home the tank was at 73! The heater was unplugged since my last water change. I unplugged the controller and left it for a while and now its reading normal again. So I was thinking maybe time for a real controller. Tell me some success stories... I want to run chiller and heater and have a temperature alarm. Then maybe add some other devices..

 

[danfeig]

I have had both the Reef Keeper controller and now the Apex. I have to tell you... I am in love with my Apex unit.

Whenever my temperature gets hot or cold, I get both a text message and an email letting me know that my temperature either went below 75 or greater than 79. If I accidentally leave water running from my storage tank or have a pipe break, my flood detectors shut off pumps and I get an immediate text message, plus an alarm goes off in the fish room. If any of the float switches are triggered in my sumps or QT's I get alerted.

I am in Amherst, Massachusetts right now on vacation. Earlier, Justin was out at my house cleaning and checking on everything for me. He informed me that my Calcium was running a little low from where I like to keep it. Off my iPhone I was able to increase the time and frequency of my dosing pumps.

My Apex controls everything and the controllability from my phone, iPad or computer anywhere makes it something I really can't live without. If I am not going to make it home one evening to feed, off my phone, I am able to turn on my Super Feeder and have Danichi pellets fed into the tank. Just another great example of how it works for me.

 

[aquaph8]

If you want something at will do everything and be more user friendly go with the Apex but if your looking for just the basics on a budget you can't beat the $90 reef keeper lite.

 

[carmexx]

Well I have the reefkeeper elite package. Just got it about 2 weeks ago. Due to my inexperience with controllers, as this is my first one, I have found it difficult to do the things I want. There is a forum for DA reefkeeper owners which has helped me alot. I really can't give a rating yet....I think I would have rather bought the
Apex. The primary reason i got a controller was for the heater...like you said. I wanted to go the ranco route but i talked myself out of it. Second I have AI lighting and DA has a module specifically for the AI blue to control the intensity and ramp. Well what they don't tell you is that you have to cut and splice the AI cable to the module. I didn't like that. It also only controls the blues as one color....they only support 2 channels instead of 3 (royal blue, Blue, Cool white).

 

[Breadman03]

Just figured that I'd mention that BRS has a 1000 point bonus on Apex or Reefkeeper right now, equal to a $100 discount on a future order.

 

[phenom5]

I have a Reefkeeper Lite. Everything I've heard the Apex is great, but the price on the RKL is really good.

I use(d) it for pretty basic stuff...heater, dosing pumps, lights...definitely one of the biggest "how did I every get by without one" purchases for my tank.

 

[dahay78]

reefkeeper

reefkeeper

i have the rkl, and i am getting rid of it! my reason it is the fact that its not user friendly, when i bought the unit i went to set it up and it was worst than setting up those things from the past called VHS to record! i had to call RKL maker customer support a few times,they told me to flip this, flip that, do this and do that! i prefer something that when I open the box, read the instructions and set it up and it works! No not the RKL, i wanted to toss it! but i kept at it finally got it working. just recently i went to set my timers my RKL so that i can control my dosers, and a few other things , so i break out my lap top and try to do it, and bam another problem, so i gave up on the RKL, i am going to be ordering the Apex very soon, i would say that if you have the time and the patence to tinker around with RKL it may be worth it for you, but for me, i am done with RKL.
i would seriously consider going with the Apex!

 

[evo_2679]

I have a RKL - for the basic functions and price you can't beat it. Yeah it does take some time getting use to and setting up the functions / features or alarms you want it to control. Also best advise I can give you is when and if you get one update all the PC4's and head unit to the latest firmware that way it should not give you to many issues once you have it installed. But that being said I do wish I would of bought an Apex just cause I do travel a lot for work and it would be nice to be able to control / check up on the tank with my iPhone..

 

[Newsalth2o]

Great comments keep them coming, its sure looking strong for the Apex..

 

[super_v13tnam]

I have heard great things about about APEX! For example if you have the iPhone they do have an app where you can control just about anything you have you APEX set for (lighting, pumps, heater, etc.) Apex is more expensive but looking at some videos on Youtube it seems much more user friendly. I have the RKL and after about 10 mins of tinkering with it I got it down but for someone that is new to aquarium controllers it might take them longer because Reefkeeper has a complicated menu setup and has very few instructions that come with in the pamphlet. I was also not so happy when I found out that Reefkeeper's software My Reef 2.0 is not compatible with my iMac. Overall for the price that I got the RKL I am satisfied with it because it does protect me from many of the common equipment failures. Hope this helps!

 

[Breadman03]

Just figured that I'd mention that BRS has a 1000 point bonus on Apex or Reefkeeper right now, equal to a $10 discount on a future order.

Fixed my math. That's what I get for being up so late.

 

[danfeig]

If you would like to come to my house and check out my Apex, send me a PM.

 

[scubabum1983]

I have the elite, I have also owned several lites. The net module is a complete pain. That said they will do what you tell them to do. They remind me of a graphing calculator. You have to tell it how and when to do things as functions. The new pc interface is much easier to use than the old one. My elite, pc4s system lab 1, and lunar module work very well. But you need to spend time playing with them to understand them. If you are willing to invest time, they are a worthwhile investment.