Apex or Reefkeeper?

[Laddair]

I'm trying to decide which controller to buy. I have done a little looking around and people seem to like the Apex better. Just want a little input from everyone. Thanks!

[jasonp87]

If you get a chance you should go to the February meeting. They are going to be going over both controllers and I bet you could get a lot of info as well as some hands on time. Plus I think they are raffling one so if you won that could decide it for you as well.

[specvjeff]

I've owned both and here is my take on both controllers.

My first buy was the Reef Keeper. I never had any issues with it but Digital Aquatics never addressed many issues that other people had nor did they update things like myreef until recently. The Reef Keeper is very easy to set up. The head unit is very user friendly and it's not very complicated to program the individual channels. Digital Aquatics lacks innovation and is very disconnected from it's users though. If you chose to connect your controller to the internet, you need to purchase a net module. Setting it all up was a complete pain in the butt. You have to download a bin file and go through their forum to get help doing it. It drove me crazy the first couple times I did it. If you don't want to spend a lot of money and don't mind a company that isn't going to come out with new products there's nothing wrong with a Reef Keeper.

I got very lucky at MACNA in August and won a full Apex. I had been considering switching to the Apex for awhile due to the lack of innovation at Digital Aquatics. The Apex was very easy to get connected to the internet. It came with a link to videos done by Mr. Saltwater Tank on how to connect to the internet and the basics of programming it. It even came with a CD that had an application to find the private IP address of your controller. There is an application for the Reef Keeper but you have to find it on their forum. Programming the channels is easy if you are just doing basic things. They have Wizards to program your lights, heater, chiller, pumps and other basic things like that. If you want to program something like a dosing pump, you need to rely on someone else that's figured it out. Fortunately we have someone just like that on here who runs a website called reeftronics. The controller is definitely more expensive. A friend did a cost comparison to what I had with the Reef Keeper and it was going to set me back about $1000. The energy bars for the Apex are $159 but they have 8 plugs vs. 4 with the Reef Keeper so there is some cost saving there. There's just so much you can do with the Apex that it's easy to spend a lot of money.

Given my experience with the two products, I would go with an Apex. You are getting a controller from a company that is very innovative, and in touch with it's users. Neptune is also supposed to release Fusion very soon. They are advertising it as a much easier way to set up the controller, and gives you a lot of different features.

[specvjeff]

If you get a chance you should go to the February meeting. They are going to be going over both controllers and I bet you could get a lot of info as well as some hands on time. Plus I think they are raffling one so if you won that could decide it for you as well.

I would definitely recommend you come to the meeting! Dave will be talking about the Reef Keeper and I will be going over the Apex. I think you'll get a chance to learn a lot more about each controller and it will help you make a decision.

[Laddair]

Thanks for the input guys. I love coming to the meetings. However, my new job requires me to work from 4 PM to 12:30 AM. So I won't be attending them for a while till I earn some vacation time. I might have my Fiancée go and video tape it. I,m thinking on getting the regular set with the 8 bar and PH probe. I think If I get the Jr I will out grow it quickly.

[DaveMorris]

As a beta tester for Digital Aquatics, I have had over five years of experience with the Reefkeeper Elite, Reefkeeper Lite, and LifeGuard Monitor. The RKE and RKL work great, but as Jeff pointed out, it has been quite some time since DA has put out any new modules or software updates for the system. The company has been going through many personnel changes and they just don't seem to be in tune with what their customer base wants. They are great controllers so I wouldn't run out and dump the unit if you own one, but if I was buying a new controller today, I would buy an Apex.

All that being said, for a simple system, the RKL is very hard to beat at $119 for a basic system. If you only have a few things to control and monitor, I would buy an RKL. For a bigger system or one that will need to be expanded, I would get an Apex.

[SaltCube]

Apex. +1