# Apex controller thoughts



## badmedicine (Oct 27, 2012)

A couple of years ago, my tank developed a slow leak and ruined my wood floors. I repaired everything and put a water leak detector on the platform the fish stand is on (platform used to contain any future water leaks, distribute weight of the 180 gallon). The thought being in the event of a leak it would activate the 94db alarm.

A couple of weeks ago I came home to the sound of the alarm going off (it worked flawlessly) but my family not doing anything about it. Like a smoke detector, it is only effective if someone reacts to the sound.

I bought the Apex Controller so that in the event that this occurs again, the micro computer will react by doing a shut down, and (more importantly) notifying me of the situation. I went a little overboard with the programming (not hard to do), but it has added a whole new element to the pleasure of the reef system we have.

The controller is not perfect and has a few quirks that others should know....
1. You don't have to plug EVERYTHING into the EB8 controller box. If it is controlled by a module (lighting, pump, water detector....) it can be plugged into the wall or separate circuit. This is good to know because APEX JR. has only 4 plugs (which might be all you need).

2. Initial setup must be done via hard wire to a router. I have it wireless now but the controller needs to be hard wired initially. PITA if your tank is on the other side of the house. Some people buy/"rent" 100 foot Cat5 wire, but I just brought the main module over to the router for its initial update, and left the other modules at the tank.

3. WXM (module) for Radion lights and ecotech lights is not as plug and play as they make it out to be. Fortunately there is a forum site from the manufacturer that answers most questions and has administrators that view questions/answer promptly. 

Don't get me wrong.... this is more beneficial than a problem. It monitors my tank better than I can, and reacts quicker. Being able to monitor my salinity,PH, Temperature, and power consumption gives me peace of mind when I am not at home.
...I am still shaking my head why my family heard the water detector alarm go off and did nothing.....


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## ruckuss (Jan 11, 2015)

I like mine.. no issues setting it up.. works as expected.

I also had the Reefkeeper Elite which was a great unit.. it worked.. the web interface was not very good.. What made me to go the Apex is the Fusion... I can access anywhere with the AI Cloud.. I rather this then opening up holes in my firewall at home.


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## twobytwo (Oct 25, 2014)

I have one... at the moment it's primarily used for monitoring temp, ph automatically and recording/tracking my water chemistry results. It gets used as a single button to shut down pumps/skimmer etc for feedings.

I picked up the ALD module and one sensor for the same reason - to be notified of a leak and be able to shut things down when away from the home.

I'm getting the hang of text notifications but not really using them at the moment.

Does anyone here use it with a camera?


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## htjunkie (Jul 20, 2012)

I have my tank cameras attached to Apex, to be honest it's very limited but it gives a snapshot of what's going on from the same interface. Otherwise I love it as it gives me peace of mind as I know it's monitoring my tank and alert if something goes out off controls.

Sent from my SM-T700 using Tapatalk


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## wtac (Mar 17, 2006)

In line of work, the APEX is a tool to do "X" if "Y" occurs. Seam failure, fitting popps off, not much help an APEX can be other than tell you that there is water exfiltration .

A good example is when the skimmer over skims. You will need a float switch in the skimmer cup wired to the I/O Breakout box.You want to orient the float switch when it is closed, the outlet of the EB the skimmer pump is plugged into shuts off.

I'm not what scenario the water leak occurred but you may be able to configure the APEX to help address it.


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