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Post by jasonandsarah on May 22, 2014 9:59:18 GMT -5
Actually after jogging my memory I believe total cost for his arduino was closer to $200? And I'm pretty sure as he wants to do more with it that price will go up just a bit.
Either way to reach there own. I'm not able to build a arduino and certainly can't write my own codes so I think for me(and probably most reef hobbyist) a diy arudino is far fetched and an apex is the best all around controller for the everyday reefers. Imo, please don't tear me apart all the Ra,Rk and arduino fans it's just my opinion.
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Post by gotareef on May 22, 2014 10:12:49 GMT -5
I was just stating to each there own... and for a ato with the fail safes the aqua smart has, it is worth the piece of mind.
my reefkeeper cost $150 and for another $100(net) it will do just about everything a apex will (without the diy features of course)
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Post by jasonandsarah on May 22, 2014 10:20:18 GMT -5
Agree to disagree I looked into the rk and almost bought one. Had it in the cart. Glad I didn't. I'm very happy that yours works for you but I've heard allot of people on many forums say the customer service has completely vanished with the rk. Amongst other issues and I'm not sure it'll do the same things.
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Post by jasonandsarah on May 22, 2014 10:22:05 GMT -5
I and for a ato with the fail safes the aqua smart has, it is worth the piece of mind. Completely agree with this it looks awesome and if I didn't have my apex I'd love to have one of these very sleek and tons of features worth every penny imo |
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Post by Pokahpolice on May 22, 2014 11:25:00 GMT -5
Dosing pump was $150. I was thinking about building that as well but it would have cost at least half that to build and taken a month to get the pumps from china. If you buy the pumps stateside the cost to build would have been almost the same.
I have over $1500 in a 10 gallon tank so I wouldn't look to me as an example of how to save money. I don't mind spending money on my tank. The only reason I went with the Arduino was because I was interested in the challenge. Now that I'm into it, I think it's more work and hassle than its worth to continue adding on.
Go with whatever you think is best. For me this smart ATO was perfect...small, very few parts, and easy. It cost about $40 more than a cheap ATO with a pump. $40 is a drop in the bucket on this build.
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Post by Pokahpolice on May 22, 2014 12:08:08 GMT -5
Honestly is $150 a lot of money for a pivotal piece of equipment when none of us blink an eye at spending $50 on a half inch frag? Hah......50 bucks on a frag..... I have a hard time paying more then $10.. I've been in this hobby for about 8 years and I've paid $10 or less for a coral only a handful of times. Let's be realistic, if you're into softies you can buy frags for $10 but pretty much everything else is more...much more! |
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Post by jasonandsarah on May 22, 2014 12:42:24 GMT -5
Hah......50 bucks on a frag..... I have a hard time paying more then $10.. I've been in this hobby for about 8 years and I've paid $10 or less for a coral only a handful of times. Let's be realistic, if you're into softies you can buy frags for $10 but pretty much everything else is more...much more! Most definitely agree! When I first got into this hobby I'd try to get the cheapest frags possible 5-10$ frags but I quickly started to notice I wasn't really happy with what I had or at the very least it wasn't what I really wanted. I've learned I'd much rather pay 50-75$ for a frag or mini colony for an awesome beautiful piece then get 5 brown frags for 50$. Your not gonna walk out of someone's house with a frag of red Dragon;) or rainbow acro for 5$ unless it's like this · big haha |
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Post by BriMc on May 23, 2014 9:38:37 GMT -5
I was just stating to each there own... and for a ato with the fail safes the aqua smart has, it is worth the piece of mind. Jogging my memory it seems that optical was used by another manufacturer years ago and dropped because there were issues with the optical eye getting blocked with salt spray, calcium build up, salt creep and algae. As for fail safes, my top off has a fail safe that over rides the delivery system and prevents over fills. |
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Post by oceangirl2009 on Jun 5, 2014 12:36:19 GMT -5
I picked up one of these when marine depot was running a 15% off coupon, haven't had a chance to set it up yet (I need to get a holding container), but the reviews on other sites are excellent as well.
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Post by Pokahpolice on Mar 3, 2015 14:30:12 GMT -5
If any of you bought one of these please check the wet side. Looks like it's a common problem. The magnet swells and cracks the plastic housing, rusts, and contaminates your tank.   |
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