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Joys of DIY project
- Thread starter njtiger24 aquariums
- Start date
Well, if i had the knowhow i'd be building a controller just for the fun of it, but my view from an apex owner standpoint, njtiger hit a lot on it with the clean loon as well as how the outlets work. I'm a big fan of it, i control what happens and when, the biggest bonus for me is the controllable outlets, on and off at set times, feed modes, all kinds of different options. Second, the add ons. While ph is nice to know, temp is a large help for controlling different things, then theres my wav pumps, easy to set up, i have it run through a cycle of 4 different styles during the day, and two pumps were less than two mp 40's, they move a lot of water, and all controlled from my fusion dashboard. Second item i picked up was the DOS, while other dosing pumps work fine, the ease of control as well as the precision of the amount to me gives it an edge. What you get with the apex is a user friendly interface and anything you add is plug and play, and the ability to control everything from your mobile device or computer, as well as the screen.
@art13 that's good to hear from someone who owns an Apex. Now just wondering is there something you don't like or wish the Apex had?
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well, the cost is high for me, lol. The programming for pump on off cycles for dosing pumps besides the DOS unit can be difficult until you really understand it, i just used an online calculator for it. There's not much you can't program into it. I could fully automate my system so all i would have to do is refill the saltwater storage for the auto water changes and refill the two part as needed. Of course all of that requires money and time and some diy the breakout box. I have the DIY knowhow, just not the cash to pull that off yet. I'm sure theres a few things it doesn't have i wish it did, but none off the top of my head at the moment. They would probably fair nicely with a packaged ato product, not the DIY breakout box version most people do with an apex, and price it right around a tunze osmolator and they would have everyone who has an apex unit buying that instead. The biggest complaint from tunze owners is the cycle that drops in more water when the unit is powered down and then back on, like a power outage. I suppose more items like that instead of doing the DIY projects with the break out box is preferred, so that it is on the interface of the apex.
Nice. I been looking at dosing pumps and wondering if I could build one into my dyi controller but like you said it's all about money.
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Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
You can hook up something like a brs dosing pump to it, and make sure you can have a port that can handle low voltage off on cycles without getting stuck in the on position, and you just set it to turn on for a set amount of time, i still have a few dosing pumps this way. Their other pump is fully integrated, the DOS, and i control it from the dashboard. Easiest way to explain it is a few screenshots i'll post, thats the part about the apex i like. also, i just put the dosage in for the dos and it spreads it out in a 24 hour period for me.
nice. Without using it I find the UI a little busy at first but still nice and clean.
Well with this storm I might get a chance to see if my system will recover correctly after a power failure. Now I hope the power doesn't go out but it be nice to see my system at work.
We didn't lose power. I'm sure it will work cause I have rebooted the system (updates and new code) and everything worked
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Been making some minor tweaks to my system. I hope to have an update this weekend. As of now the new touch screen is working great and system been running solid.
So today I discovered some bugs. Came home from my girl's swimming lessons and noticed my blue Kessils lights where not on. I looked at my relay controller and noticed that my lights should be on. I right away thought the lights took a dump. I traced the cable and found the power brick. The brick felt fine to me, not hot or anything. I then checked in my stand and discovered my skimmer and reactor were not going either (both connected to my controller). I discovered that my cats decided to turn off the power stripe which feeds the power to my controller's relays. After turning that back on it seem like everything would be good. Lights came on, reactor came on, skimmer .... didn't. So I tried and "kick" the skimmer by running the "feeding mode" on my controller. This mode turns off the reactor and skimmer for 10mins and then turn the reactor on waits 5 mins then turn the skimmer on. Without thinking I hit the feed button twice which cause my system to go nuts (bug in the code). After some choice words in my head (girls were at the table eating lunch), reboots, and digging into the code I figured out my issue was a bug. Skimmer is now working and the bug is listed on my sheet or features/bugs.
Here are some of the settings I have been working on:
Water Level Page:
I have it so I can hide/show columns and graphs of only the areas I am testing.
Admin Page:
I am working on a 'report' section with will have different reports and maybe add an option to export/print the reports. Right now focusing on the temperature report.
Here are some of the settings I have been working on:
Water Level Page:
I have it so I can hide/show columns and graphs of only the areas I am testing.
Admin Page:
I am working on a 'report' section with will have different reports and maybe add an option to export/print the reports. Right now focusing on the temperature report.
thanks man.
So been awhile since I updated this thread.
My bug, of clicking the feed button twice causing the system to go nuts, has been fix.
I also got the chart working for the temp report. Next step is to work on a date/time picked and have the chart header look cleaner.
The filter is working but I have to type in the date/time range.
I had a co-worker suggest a different chart package with might look nicer and have better options. I am going to check that out but as of right now the package I am using is doing ok.
My bug, of clicking the feed button twice causing the system to go nuts, has been fix.
I also got the chart working for the temp report. Next step is to work on a date/time picked and have the chart header look cleaner.
The filter is working but I have to type in the date/time range.
I had a co-worker suggest a different chart package with might look nicer and have better options. I am going to check that out but as of right now the package I am using is doing ok.
Edwardw771
NJRC Member
looks sweet. Let me know if you need beta testers.
@Edwardw771 funny that you mentioned that. I have been thinking about beta testers. I do want it a little more polished plus not sure how I truly feel about having something like this out in beta. I would be very upset if something went wrong and messed up someone's tank/home (God forbid it catches on fire)
I also thinking of looking at adding a way to "connect" units together. I have a 10g tank which I am getting going for my girls and my Cichlid tank which would be nice to have controls at the tank (touch screen and all) but also be able to see everything from one web interface. Just trying not to spend too much money right now.
well tonight decided to tackle my "bug/option" list for my project. Decided to work on a small issue of the graph showing an error message when there less than two data points. I knew this would be a simple fix so I pushed it low on my list. At least one item down but more to go. Thinking I might have a message in the blank space or something.
Before Fix:
After Fix:
Before Fix:
After Fix: