- Oh yeah.
So if you've been thinking to yourself,
you know what would be awesome?
If I actually had a button near my tank
that I could just press to turn my skimmer off
for ten or 15 minutes so I can go dump out
that skimmer cup and then come back with it.
Instead of having to whip out my phone,
and open the app, and log in,
and then find the skimmer,
and then turn it off there.
Or have to unplug is from my energy bar.
Then you're gonna love these.
And there's also alarms.
Aquarium controllers are incredible
for a lot of reasons,
but they do have one tiny inconvenience attached to them.
Most often all actions are done through
the controller's respective app on a smart device
or through a web portal
which, don't get my wrong,
absolutely works,
but if I'm standing right in front of my tank
and I just happen to leave my smartphone
in another room
or my smartphone died and it's charging
I'm kinda stuck there
just waiting for it to finish charging
so I can get into the app
or going to get it first,
or having to go to a computer
to sit down and do it that way.
When all I want to do is turn off my skimmer
for a few minutes
so I can dump the cup out.
You see how that's less convenient
than it should be.
AdaptiveReef's controller accessories are
a great way to adding more tactile
and convenient experience your Neptune system's apex
while also adding redundancy through
audible and visual alarms
that can get your attention whether or not
your phone is in your pocket.
These accessory boxes are exactly what
the aquarium controller scene has been missing.
And naturally, AdaptiveReef has done what they do best
and created some really slick looking add-ons
that bring a whole new way for us to interact with
and utilize our aquarium controllers.
In each box you will find the AdaptiveReef
controller accessory
as well as the cables,
the instructions,
and some adhesive velcro mounting strips.
There are currently three different
controller accessories available.
A switch toggle box,
a dual light status indicator,
and and audible and visual alarm box.
They all share the same compact
five inch, by three inch, by one and three quarter inch
acrylic boxes.
With an eight foot cable and heavy duty
double sided velcro tape for mounting to your stand,
wall, or controller board.
The toggle box connects to your apexe's head unit
using a mini den 8 port.
While the dual light status indicator and alarm boxes
connect to the 24 volt ports on your EB832,
Fmm, or one link modules.
All three of these accessories are going to be useful
in different situations
and this is certainly not a which one of these is best.
And a lot more of a how can each one of these
individually help elevate my aquarium controller experience.
And once you start looking at them individually,
it starts to make a whole lot of sense.
For example, the dual light status indicator
is able to give you information on
what is happening in your reef system
at a quick glance.
Both of the red and the green LED lights
have separate 24 volt cables
and can be programmed individually.
So not only can you have it switch
between the red and the green
to let you know the status of
one particular piece of equipment.
Like for example, green means it's running
and red means it's off.
But you can also have them separately indicate
the status of two individual pieces of gear
by having either light being on or off respectively.
Like if my doser is currently running,
the red light is on
and when the doser stops running
the red light goes off.
They're also great for acting as an indicator
for reminders or active notifications
or even as a simple tank status indicator
for tank sitters that are watching the tank
while you're away.
Just tell them hey,
if the light's green everything's good,
if the light turns red call me immediately.
A few other simple examples for utilizing
this accessory are
the green LED is on when a particular feed mode is active
and then turns off when that feed mode is finished.
And then separately, the red LED can come on
when the skimmer cup sensor is tripped
indicating the cup needs a cleaning
and turns back off once the cup is cleaned.
Now the audio visual alarm is a great way
to add a layer of redundancy to your system
so that you have a primary alarm
for any events that could be catastrophic
for your reef tank.
The last thing you want is your smartphone
charging in another room or
tucked away while you're busy at work
and missing a notification from fusion
that a leak detector has come into contact with water.
Having a loud alarm with a red light going off in your home
can quickly draw attention to the aquarium,
and therefor to the problem.
Then anyone at home can either get your attention
or start addressing the issue at hand themselves
immediately,
which can make a massive difference
if something is going south fast.
I will say, it is definitely an accessory
I would reserve for catastrophic events.
I personally wouldn't want an alarm like this
going off every time my ATO reservoir was empty.
Because that would get annoying pretty dang quickly.
Which I guess is me admitting
I always forget to top off my ATO reservoir.
Oh well.
That's I guess, public knowledge now.
Some pretty good examples for utilizing this alarm are
a return pump failure,
a leak detector sensing water,
major pH or Alkalinity spikes,
and major temperature spikes or swings.
The six switch toggle box is a really convenient
add-on for any reefers who don't always
want to whip out a smart device
to trigger an event with their controller.
Or to turn a particular piece of equipment on or off.
And also don't want to have to otherwise
unplug a piece of gear to turn it on or off.
It provides two on off toggle switches with safety covers
and four momentary switches in the form of push buttons.
I really enjoy the tactile experience,
being able to walk up to a tank
and just press a button
or flip a switch whenever possible.
Don't get me wrong,
apps are great, but if I just want to turn off my skimmer
so I can empty the cup,
flicking a switch is a lot faster
and just way easier than just logging into
the app on my phone,
finding the skimmer in the list of outlets,
and then sliding it over to the off position.
This switch box just opens up a lot of possibilities.
Something as simple as triggering a change in your
light or pump settings for a set period of time
for something like photos.
You could slow the pumps down and dim the lights.
You could also shut down your protein skimmer
for a set time so you can clean out the collection cup.
The toggle switches are gonna be great for things like
triggering an emergency shut down
that turns off all of the equipment
without powering down the equipment or peripherals.
And you can also link it to the audio visual alarm
so that if you leave it off for too long,
that it'll go off to let you know
you gotta flip that switch back over.
You could also use it to turn on or off lighting
like in your stand so you can see what you're doing
while you're doing maintenance.
You can even set the toggle switch
to flip between two different pump schedules.
Toggle up could be softies and lps
and toggle down could be sps
which would be great for frag systems
that don't always have the same quarrels in them.
You could even use the switch to trigger
vacation mode so while it is
say flipped in the up position,
it'll set your feeder an auto water change
and other elements in your reef
to better suit your absence.
You can also use these controller accessories
in conjunction with one another.
For example, if you use one of the toggle switches
as a way to shut down your return pump,
skimmer, and other gear during maintenance,
you can then also use your audio visual
alarm to make sure you remember to flip that toggle back
when you're done with your maintenance
by setting your alarm to trip
if the toggle isn't returned to the on position.
After a set period of time, like an hour or two
which I would certainly do
because I have an absolute terrible habit of
getting distracted by anything and then walking away
and forgetting all about what I was doing before.
Which isn't good for reefing.
As I'm sure a lot of people have experienced,
a good example is flooding your basement
with RDI water.
If you're not super savvy with writing your own
custom code in apex fusion
all of the controller accessories come with
a great set of instructions
with examples to get you started.
Plus you can always reach out to the wealth of knowledgeable
reefers at #askbrstv on Facebook
or the official neptune systems forums.
Or even Randy's videos on getting the most out of your apex.
If these here controller accessories
from AdaptiveReef match your tactile reefing mantra
you can go ahead and pick up a set for yourself
by clicking right here.