I got this unit instead of a used legacy model specifically because it has WIFI, because I didn't want to run an ethernet cable across my entire house. The WIFI, however, DOES NOT work with 5g. The description says that ethernet is best, but doesn't mention that you have to have 10 year old wifi routers to use it. I still love the features of it, but the wifi conundrum is frustrating.

I love my apex. My dad is the one that purchased it for me and help me set it up but I don't know if I would run a tank without out. When my friends come over its always cool to show them my apex with all the flashing lights and the controller board and to turn things on and off. It alerts me when something is wrong like when I need to fill the ATO.

I got a couple of years out of it before it bit the bullet. Went back to timers.

Amazing system, knowing I'm away from home I can trust this to control my aquarium at a tap of a button on my phone

After over 10 years in the hobby I finally setup an Apex, I wish I hadn't waited so long! Having remote monitoring and control has been a game changer; it's already saved me from needing to call a friends for help while traveling. I'm looking forward to adding more equipment in the future so I can automate even more.

I really enjoy using the apex, some people may need a little help understanding everything an apex can do for you, thankfully there is a ton of support via Neptune and the community.

Have been running this for over a year and super satisfied. I am away from home a lot so it gives me peace of mind to have access remotely. Had worked seamlessly and programming is endless. Highly recommended!

I have total buyer’s remorse with this one. After several months, I really wish I had gone with the Hydros. The Neptune system is incredibly confusing to set up or program. The interface is clunky and unintuitive, the wiring IS cheap, and I’m already replacing cables after just a few months of use. It’s a nightmare if you encounter any Wi-Fi connection issues. The scattered forums and outdated YouTube tutorials only add to the frustration. I’ve had to take time out of my workday just to troubleshoot and schedule calls with Neptune support to find out why my modules and energy bars won’t connect properly. My auto water change system has completely shut off, and basic functions—like getting the skimmer to turn on—don’t work despite the app saying they are already on. This system is so poorly designed. For the thousands of dollars I’ve spent, it feels like junk. I consider myself good at following detailed instructions, but Neptune’s guides are hard to find and even harder to follow.

You can’t beat the Black Friday pricing and this system is amazing for keeping an eye on your reef tank that you’ve put thousands into.

I have recently decided to usr tje Apex system to help in my day to day maintenance, Until then I used to do testing and monitoring manually..The Apex had freed up so much time and given me piece of mind while at work as I can now check on my tank anytime. The set up was as easy as 123,the product itself isnt too big and still leaves plenty of space in my cabinet for other equipment..Wish I had got one ages ago ...

the a3 pro system has allowed me to monitor my system seamlessly and do maintenance so much easier with being able to automate and turn things off easier than locating a plug with the fusion app

I have recently joined the Apex users and I have no complaints. Excellent customer support and excellent products. Highly recommended

Definitely the go to if you want to automate your reef aquarium.

I use this system on both of my reef tanks and it’s fantastic. Looking forward to upgrades as they come out.

It took me hours to wire this thing into by new controller cabinet, get all of the sensors hooked up and calibrated, purchased the Salinity probe separate for another $200. The controller never worked, out of the box it was dead, Neptune had to send me a new one. Hooked that up and it worked, then came the probes that are so far off of reality it's almost comical. Everything was calibrated multiple times, I gave it weeks to adjust, it's simple wrong in every category. I've already returned the entire system now. All that time wasted.

Great experience and love there prices will be back soon to the website

User since 2017 Reliable, great customer support, I have all their equipment in use no complaints.

I have come back to the hobby after a 8 year absence and what a game changer from when I first got into the hobby. I am looking forward to expanding this system for my upgraded tank.

I have been an apex customer basically since they started. I have had my newer apex for a few years and it has had a lot of problems and when it has problems you can’t get in touch with anyone. When I first started buying their equipment they answered the phone and walked you through any issues you were having. I am very unsatisfied with their customer service and their newer products. I will not be buying any more apex equipment!

Never had an issue with any Neptune equipment. Both have saved me multiple times!!

I've owned apex system for 2 years April 29 2024. Anyways. Since March 4th I've been having issues with my unit disconnecting 2 to 3 times aday and I have to disconnect power and reboot it. Took 2 weeks for the lady at apex who'd only email me once a day. To then set up an appointment 2 weeks out for the tech (was good) said they no one fixed my (2year old) unit but I'd have to buy a brand new one. What ever I'll let it slide won't buy anymore apex stuff now but it's April 17th and they've only just made the shipping label for my unit. So since March my apex system has been down and erratic. Pretty much useless. Tired to kill my tank with the failure of the failsafe back ups. Really unhappy with the customer service. Will not be staying in the apex eco system after this event. Don't expect my new unit to last longer then 2 years so I'll prob move to Kasa or something more reasonable.

Ive read reviews from several people claiming Neptunes System has poor customer service. This cannot be further from the truth. I've owned these products for several years now. They have gone above and beyond for me whenever I needed help. I can comfortably own these products knowing they will come to aid whenever needed.

I loved the idea this was a plug and play unit when buying. I'm not at a year old and the level sensor fails to register. The ORP Reads zero with no easy way to calibrate. This unit regularly goes offline and needs to be manually reconnected. I do like the ability to play with the programming of outlets and lighting, I'm getting really good at it since i have to redo it every time it disconnects.

an apex is like a seatbelt. Although u may not need it every time when u do it sure did work. Seatbelts save lives, and so do apex

Has saved my tank on numerous occasions. I won’t live without it again

The peace of mind it offers makes it more than worth the investment.

I can't even list all of the times the APEX has saved my rear from catastrophe.... The ecosystem has evolved so much over the years and only continues to get better. Highly recommend for everyone!

Had this weekend to setup new $900 purchase and it will not activate and makes a grinding noise. Now have to wait and see if anyone responds to help request.

Has not happened yet but when you consider what this thing controls this has the potential to be as bad as an exploding red sea. I'm on my 2nd failed unit and about to play the RMA return game for #3. BRS/Neptune/Bercham should be reaching out to owners and addressing proactively but instead want this quiet including no discussion on any forums they control. If you depend on keeping this thing from cooking off your tank or to stop flooding get a backup before that orange turd dies on you.

When I purchased the A3 Apex pro I had no idea how much I would appreciate this piece of equipment. I am new to the hobby of reef aquariums and let me tell you, being that I work 10 to 12 hours a day. This equipment has helped me so much at staying on top of my water parameters, and so many other things that the Apex offer. I started the hobby around January 2022, but I did not purchase that Apex until September 2022. If I were to give you three things, I like most about the A3 Apex pro controller system. It would be… 1. The Liquid Leveler Sensor that monitors the water level and my auto top off bucket. 2. The Fusion app which has remarkable features. 3. But what I love the most is the notification the Apex would send to my phone or email instantly letting me know if something is wrong or correct. That’s priceless when a person like us have invested in things that we enjoy. PS. This review on my Apex controller system isn’t even scratching the surface on what this equipment can do. I encourage you try it for yourself and see how it can’t be beneficial to you. You will not be disappointed.

could use an easier to find system, I added an extra energy bar and then an ATK and finding out how and where to hook that up to the apex was a no go.. lots of info on initial set up but nothing on a system add on like I have. Currently using a Neptune Apex, x2 energy bars, ATX and the Neptune for testing.

The Apex system is just great. Indispensable and recommended for everyone.

had an apex for over 10 years, and this one is just as great as ever with even more functionality

This is a must have for all reefers. The peace of mind it gives you is enough alone to warrant the purchase.

I love my Apex and all the expansions. I don't know how people reef without it!

Do I need a controller? Maybe not… but do you want the reassurance of knowing what’s going on when you aren’t in the same room? Alerts on your mobile device when there is trouble? Yes, please. My job as an aquatic service tech requires knowledge to keep my clients tanks thriving, the more info I have the better my chance of heading off a disaster. I service almost a dozen large tanks that have an Apex on them. If there are problems on any of them I know very quickly and can assess the problems offsite before even heading that way. It is possible to look at logs of everything and see if there was a power outage, pH spike, temperature fluctuations, flow velocity, turn on/off RODI units, schedule auto water changes… and so much more. There is a learning curve, but it’s totally worth it in my eyes. Saved my behind more than a few times…

In a previous job these controllers were an absolute must. We used many of them in the facility and they streamlined a lot of our maintenance. I would highly recommend for the controllability as well as the customer service. When we had issues Neptune was always available and helped us trouble shoot quickly.

Purchased my Apex 2016 about 5 years ago, and the unit is still going to strong. Have had issues with the Display module glitching up the head unit, but besides that its a good system. A bit too much money for a new hobbyist to jump right into it, but in the long run its worth it.

I Have always been a techy and loved automation. Most of my tank is automated. (Both tanks!) now having a newborn the Alex has really shined! It would be much harder to keep up multiple tanks with out apexes keeping things in check and automated for me! Great ecosystem with tons of expand ability and piece of mind

My experience upto now is minimal but very happy with the quality of the product.I have only recently got the Apex pro. I decided to go for the pro as I know being a tech geek I would want all the add ons eventually. I recently lost my entire tank contents which had been running for over 16 years after a heater stuck on.. I lost fish that I'd had for over 18 years and in hindsight shoul have got one of these years ago. I'm hoping to up my game and try to get corals to spawn so with the Apex Pro I will have everything covered and monitored that you can need.. Setting up was a little bit harder than I thought but it's so versatile that I think this is something that the more I play around with it the easier it's gets . Overall very impressed and look forward to hopefully grow amazing corals again with piece of mind .

All reef tanks should have these gives you piece of mind

The apex system is one of the best I've had a tank for 6 years and my first year I didn't have the apex and when I got it back I run almost everything apex it's really is am amazing system

Ive been using an apex in some capacity on all my reefs for over 8 years. This version is just as amazing as all those before it, I will continue to use and trust the Neptune apex to monitor and safeguard my tanks!

I wish I had a great review to write. I really do. I've used APEX controllers for nearly 10 years now, and up till now I've loved and trusted them. I've currently got 2 APEX controllers, 2 DOS, 2 AFS, all the probes, etc.. I purchased this one, the Pro, roughly 6 months ago. The first issue I had was that it kept falling off the network. I worked around it by isolating it onto a separate network, with less traffic, which seemed to solve the problem. Odd, but okay, I worked around it. It worked great for ~3 months after that, till last week. It died. I'm guessing the internal storage failed. It stopped logging. Then it stopped taking configuration changes. So Neptune sent a refurbished replacement. Great! I hooked it up, and loaded my old config onto it. It rebooted, and then didn't come back, even after waiting nearly 15 minutes. Meanwhile, before I noticed, it also turned on one of my DOS pumps full blast. It would have dumped tons more All For Reef into my tank if the bottle wasn't almost empty, thankfully! As it is, I'm doing lots of water changes and hoping nothing dies, but it's looking okay so far. To get the APEX working again, I had to factory reset it. I tried loading in the old config again. This reliably kills it. After another factory reset, I redid my config manually. I have tons of custom scripting, so this took some time. Even after the factory reset, and manual reload, the new unit has web page rendering issues. I can use it, but it doesn't look right, and the drop downs and buttons aren't in the right places. Finally, after e-mailing support with these new issues, they called. Unfortunately, I didn't answer because I didn't recognize the number. I tried calling back. After waiting 20 minutes without talking to a single human, I gave up. They sent an e-mail asking me to setup an appointment. Fine. The _earliest_ I can talk to someone in their schedule is a whole week out! Very very very disappointing. I love my APEXs. I have a lot of APEX gear. I love the flexibility. I love the scripting, the logging, the features, options, etc.. I rely on them, but today, today I feel totally let down. Hardware failed. Loading backup configs kills the software. Support is going to take a week to actually talk to someone. Neptune, what happened?!?!

Very happy with my APEX. Everything is working as it should and never had any problems so far. Thanks to apex my reef is running smooth and stable.

I have been using my APEX for almost three and half years now and I will say, that I will never SETUP another tank without a APEX Controller. Since I travel a lot for work the controller allows me to stay connected with all my three tanks. I have a 220, a 25 AIO and the 5 gallon DeskMate and yes I have a APEX and El Mad Jr on all my tanks. I also have tridents on my 220 and 25 gallon AIO. Best investment I made keeping in mind what’s the cost of all the LIVE STOCK I have in there. This is fraction of that and it’s the best decision I’ve made in this hobby. I would buy more if I were to setup another tank and all my fellow reef keeping buddies have also setup APEX because I look over their tanks as well.

This controller has given me so much peace of mind. It nice being able to check on my tank when im away and adjust heaters/pumps etc if needed. Love my APEX!!

Been using the Apex since the Classic Gold. Love the improvements and advancements over all these years.

Wouldn’t run an aquarium without one now it’s the backbone, control, monitor and Wi-Fi access it’s a must for every reefer.

Owned reef tank for the past 10 years This is the third generation that I have bought and used Controlling Possibilities are endless but for me the redundancy and the emergency response is the selling point Saving your tank inhabitants from human error or material malfunction is priceless

I've used a few other controllers in the past and the Neptune Apex has been the easiest to setup and use. Definitely saved my reef a few times. Definitely a must for those who travel and are away from their tank for extended periods.

I cant live without a controller and neptune makes a decent system. I recently had the system restart from a power failure and detect every module as new including the lights. This essentially threw all of my programing out the window. I reached out to neptune it took them 4 days to get back to me and they wanted me to schedule a call with the nearest appointment 13 days later. Everything would be dead by then as I have no lights, ATO etc. So I essentially have to start the programming over from scratch. You spend alot of money on something like this and you expect to get support.

So far it is awesome. Has helped me troubleshoot my failing heating system and has helped dial in my system overall. Wi-Fi works great, has never disconnected. WARNING! Do not plug anything other than an Apex product into the Aquabus (USB) ports on the Energy Bar! I fried a brand-new energy bar and learned the hard way. Fortunately, BRS is awesome and understanding, and helped me get back on track. System is working great. Keep it simple and protect your reef!