Apex Jr. or Full Apex

[Ryandragon]

Anybody have or had a Apex system? Either the junior or the full. What are your experience? Should I get the junior and save some money? or do I really need the full system? I currently have a 65gallon SPS tank.

 

[anarchy]

Comes down to how many modules you really want to run. The Jr only runs 5. I think the full runs 250. I have the full and love it. Think about future upgrades.

 

[Ryandragon]

All I want to do is control my heater, pH controller and ATO. Probably dosing later on but for right now apex junior with a Ph probe should be good ?

 

[anarchy]

For what you want yes the Jr will work but everywhere I've read when people start trying to fully automate, the ones who bought the Jr wish they had bought the full

 

[Ryandragon]

I was thinking the same thing. I guess I should just save up some money and get 1 fully function unit and not have to buy extra add-ons.

 

[anarchy]

I was thinking the same thing. I guess I should just save up some money and get 1 fully function unit and not have to buy extra add-ons.

You'll still have to buy extra modules down the road as you expand but the real difference is the 5 modules you can control with the Jr compared to the 250 with the full

 

[JDP1988]

Just my input

As mentioned above already, it comes down to user needs.

What I mean from user needs, as an example:

I have the Jr. running on a 45g cube mixed reef. My main use is for the heater and temp probe, turning off certain equipment during feeding or water changes all at once rather than manually unplugging or using different methods like timers, switchboard, etc... I used one outlet on the Apex with a good standard surge protector for all pumps, skimmer, wavemaker, ato etc... they all go off during feed mode or water changes. My radion is plugged into the Jr just for the safe factor of the apex turning it off if temp reaches above the set point. My tank is in the basement so it won't ever reach temps above 81 degrees. That is an outlet I can later use for something else rather than the radion taking it up at the moment. The Radion is already self animated via programming from the ecosmart program. That leaves me with 2 controllable outlets out of 4, that I can play with. That is not mentioning later adding an 8 bar.

If you have any equipment with its own controller, imo no need to plug them into the Apex. Unless you want to or just have the Reefer's Itch meaning it just needs be a certain way or the high-way.

I like interacting with my tank, so I don't mind manually feeding the fish or getting dirty on a water change. I went with the simple route.

If you are on a busy schedule or want nothing to do with the tank. Go with the full system and have everything automated to the point where water changes can start by a swipe of the finger.

In the end of it all depends on the user and that is you.

 

[Ryandragon]

Just my input

As mentioned above already, it comes down to user needs.

What I mean from user needs, as an example:

I have the Jr. running on a 45g cube mixed reef. My main use is for the heater and temp probe, turning off certain equipment during feeding or water changes all at once rather than manually unplugging or using different methods like timers, switchboard, etc... I used one outlet on the Apex with a good standard surge protector for all pumps, skimmer, wavemaker, ato etc... they all go off during feed mode or water changes. My radion is plugged into the Jr just for the safe factor of the apex turning it off if temp reaches above the set point. My tank is in the basement so it won't ever reach temps above 81 degrees. That is an outlet I can later use for something else rather than the radion taking it up at the moment. The Radion is already self animated via programming from the ecosmart program. That leaves me with 2 controllable outlets out of 4, that I can play with. That is not mentioning later adding an 8 bar.

If you have any equipment with its own controller, imo no need to plug them into the Apex. Unless you want to or just have the Reefer's Itch meaning it just needs be a certain way or the high-way.

I like interacting with my tank, so I don't mind manually feeding the fish or getting dirty on a water change. I went with the simple route.

If you are on a busy schedule or want nothing to do with the tank. Go with the full system and have everything automated to the point where water changes can start by a swipe of the finger.

In the end of it all depends on the user and that is you.

That is what i was looking for. I don't want automatic waterchanges. Just ATO, temp control, and Possibly dosing 2 parts later on. My lights already have it own controller. I think I will go with the jr and add on a energy bar 8 on it if needed down the road!

 

[PhysicsPhD]

Will you want any more probes? Like salinity or Ph? Basically it controls 5 things. It's not expandable beyond that (the regular is). If you think you MIGHT want to expand later, go with the full. If you're SURE you don't, go with the Jr.

 

[Sawdonkey]

I don't use an apex, but I use a reefkeeper. I can tell you that I probably wouldn't buy either if I had to do it again. I only use it to control my heater and my sump light. My lights and ato are controlled internally and I just use my DJ powerstrip to turn everything else on/off.

I have powerbar with four slots on my reefkeeper, and I have two that are unused.