APEX ATO

musclebenz

musclebenz

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How has people experience been with the APEX ATK/ATO? I purchased one around a year ago and finally decided to hook it up since I am redoing my tank. it should be pretty straight forward using the task sequence, but I have been communication with tech support over email for the past three days to get this unit working. The tech's are super helpful. Now I am trying to decide if I should just scrap getting this hooked up and just go with a Tunze ATO which sets up in a snap. I
 
musclebenz said:
How has people experience been with the APEX ATK/ATO? I purchased one around a year ago and finally decided to hook it up since I am redoing my tank. it should be pretty straight forward using the task sequence, but I have been communication with tech support over email for the past three days to get this unit working. The tech's are super helpful. Now I am trying to decide if I should just scrap getting this hooked up and just go with a Tunze ATO which sets up in a snap. I
Click to expand...
Send me your ticket number please.
 
I've been using it as well for about 8 months, I clean my sensors every few weeks. Why do people not like it?
 
I’ve had Apex ATO running for two years. It is at the backbone of my automation handling a reservoir of 40 to 80 liters of top-off. I can leave tank for weeks if I want.

But handle with great care.

I’ve had two incidents with the ATK falling off-line.

The support team and engineer I worked with with incident #1 were excellent. The resolution was to add a ferrite insulator to the sensor leads where they plug into the module. Everything worked fine until …

Happened again last week after adding a flow sensor. I’m still observing and trying to reproduce the source. I’ve been manually topping-off the tank and figuring out corrective steps.

I’ll be adding a redundant physical float shut-off. Which might explain my embarrassment and not posting anything about this until now.
 
Just to be clear my comment was based on my experience which was with the ATK when it was literally just introduced. Neptune (represented by Vincent) gave one away at a member swap that year. There were a lot of issues from what I read in that first year, but I have also heard they were worked out. It probably wasn't fair of me to make that post in retrospect since I don't see complaints online like I used to. I suspect it's a great product now.
 
Squist said:
I’ve had Apex ATO running for two years. It is at the backbone of my automation handling a reservoir of 40 to 80 liters of top-off. I can leave tank for weeks if I want.

But handle with great care.

I’ve had two incidents with the ATK falling off-line.

The support team and engineer I worked with with incident #1 were excellent. The resolution was to add a ferrite insulator to the sensor leads where they plug into the module. Everything worked fine until …

Happened again last week after adding a flow sensor. I’m still observing and trying to reproduce the source. I’ve been manually topping-off the tank and figuring out corrective steps.

I’ll be adding a redundant physical float shut-off. Which might explain my embarrassment and not posting anything about this until now.
Click to expand...
The new ATO has a physical float shut-off.
 
I have the ATK on my frag tank and it worked well (for me). However I find that anything FMM related can be finicky and can take a bit to get setup. Often times the sensors aren't recongized properly or at all etc.

I got mine setup after successfully but it took a couple "tricks" (not really tricks):
  1. Make sure the jacks are completely plugged into the FMM. It can feel like there plugged in but are not
  2. you might have to go to the FMM's configuration and manually set the ports to "optical". Sometimes the auto-detect just doesn't auto-detect
  3. don't forget to plug the power into the FMM as the PMUP needs power
Its worked great for me but it did take about 45 minutes of messing around till it really, really worked. it felt like it should have been a 5 minute task but definitely required some unforeseen TLC
 
phatduckk said:
I have the ATK on my frag tank and it worked well (for me). However I find that anything FMM related can be finicky and can take a bit to get setup. Often times the sensors aren't recongized properly or at all etc.

I got mine setup after successfully but it took a couple "tricks" (not really tricks):
  1. Make sure the jacks are completely plugged into the FMM. It can feel like there plugged in but are not
  2. you might have to go to the FMM's configuration and manually set the ports to "optical". Sometimes the auto-detect just doesn't auto-detect
  3. don't forget to plug the power into the FMM as the PMUP needs power
Its worked great for me but it did take about 45 minutes of messing around till it really, really worked. it felt like it should have been a 5 minute task but definitely required some unforeseen TLC
Click to expand...
If the auto-detect is not 'autodetecting' the sensor, chances are it is not fully seated. There is a ring of plastic surrounding the port and somethimes the plug gets hung up on it, giving you the feeling that it is fully seated when its not. I find that a slight twisting motion as I am seating the plug in helps.
 
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