Reef Controllers?

So im looking to automate some of my system and give it some extra added protection when i move. I have been looking at reef controllers but dont know what the diff is between one or the other i.e. Reef Angel or Reef Keeper anyone here have experiances with both?

I see that one has a controller for the LED drivers but no mention on the other.

 

Reef Angel is an open source controller. You come up with all the programing. Fine isuppose if you are a programer. Not so great if you are new to controllers and just want to plug it in and it works. So far not much support. But I'll admit, I'm not keeping up on it much.

Reek Keeper is from Digital Aquatics. Those that have them are happy with them. They are not really the same thing. RK is "plug and play" and Reef Angel is all up to you.

Apex is by Neptune Sytems. Talking to those that have had RK and Neptune Neptune was a little easier to program... but both are probably close. Right now, while I have not heard anyone complain about their Reef Keeper and owners seem pretty happy, Neptune is dominating the market. They have better support, better functionality, and better products and features. Seems those that go for Reef Keeper do so based on price.... yet everything you add to a RK costs. So when you actually compare price for a bag of apples from Reek Keeper and a bag of apples from Apex... there is no savings. At least that has been my experience.

Apex and RK all have different packages with different functions to meet various price points. Most times it will come down to how expandable it is, what probes if any can it run, and what type of controllable outlets it has. (Read variable voltage outlets to run dimmable things such as pumps and lights) Yopu will have to determine what functionality you want, and what you want to spend.

 

the apex i just bought and is very easy to set up right from the display. i am having an issue with the ph probe on it. but have to check into that. maybe the probe it self is bad? or a user error? it should be easy but it made the display bug out and lost all my input. and i had to re set it up. but as i said setting it up is easy once you use it. the apex is very user friendly and very well made.

i have had the reef angel and if your not a programmer or do not have the time or the want to learn programming codes and such, stay away from it.
i also can tell you the quality of the RA does not come close to the apex. this is something i didnt realize till having them both. but the RA is a cheaper unit that is supposed to do all kinds of things ....if you know how to program that is.( which i hadnt a clue) i can say Roberto who sells the RA is always willing to help and gets right back to you. he goes out of his way to help with any programming issue you may have.
also one more thing i didnt care for is with the RA all the probes and such are connected to the display unit, which would be ok if your only accessing it threw your computer, but makes it a pain to use the display to change settings. the apex has a small wire going to the box that all the probes and such are plugged into. so you can grab it standing up and go threw and change things with out crawling down to its level. i can sit on a near by chair even if i wanted to with the apex display.

 

I have a BA in computer science with some programming but dont wanna spend my time programming lol So Apex sounds like it would be the way to go do they have a way that I could monitor it from the web cause I will be leaven in like 6-8months for 1 1/2 years just wanna monitor my tank while my gf cares for it.

 

yes they do have internet access, you can either hook it up threw ethernet cable or get a gaming adapter and make it wireless.

http://www.neptunesys.com/ApexManual_rev4.0A.pdf that should help answer some questions about the unit

 

^^ did you spend $500 or more on yours?

 

i bought the lite from tbaquatics they were giving a free ph probe ( i think still are) with it, it was 366.00 shipped to my door. they have the full apex for 456.00? i think it was. i didnt need the extra things the full apex has so the lite was best for me, and they are the same unit other than that.

 

You will spend over $500 on an Apex and close to it for a Reef Keeper.

I have the RA and it is easy to program with tools created by the community. Roberto is very helpful as are others in the community.

From what I have researched the Apex has the most powerful and easy to use programming and can handle much more equipment than the Reef Keeper along with having more utility and options. Neptune's service appears to be much faster also.

 

actually just to make the RA internet accessible you have to by the wifi box so add another 99.00 to your RA cost of 220.00 that puts you at 319.00 close to the apex lite cost.

 

Not only can you monitor it you can control it via web. Like was said it has ethernet but you have to get an adapter to make it wireless. Apex has a droid and iphone app that you can controll everything from. Even widgets for easy viewing.

I had the full Apex. The lite controlls less probes and does not have 4 controllable outlets. I got the Apex with PH and bought another EB8 energy bar. 16 outlets ran everything I had to plug into it.

First thing is you need to count up how many things you want to plug into it to see how many outlets you need. Heaters lights and dosing pumps for sure. But look at return pumps.... well it just runs 24/7 you don't really need to control it. However, if you want to turn it off for feeding or maintenance you can do that too. Skimmer is the same thing. 24/7. However.... if power is lost.... everything kicks back on. But so will the skimmer and if it is sitting in a flooded sump it will overflow all the skimmate. So my simmer was on an outlet and if power was ever lost it would come on 2 minutes after power was restored and the sump was at normal level. Stuff like that.