New equipment Felix Smart

tailgamerllc

New Member
Has anyone seen this and or tried this yet? A smart aquarium controller and its cheaper than an Apex. It also comes with an 360° camera. Please let me know if you have heard about this , good or bad. I was going to purchase another apex neptune power bar, but this may be a better option.

https://get.felixsmart.com/pre-order-special/
21c3f9c2f8b9774c086685718dbd3b72.jpg


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DaveK

Well-Known Member
I looked at it online. It seems to be a decent controller, but I see one red flag. It's "pre-order". This means that no one has really run this on a long term basis. Often new systems have some issues, sometimes major ones. While it is nice to have something new, latest and greatest ans so on, I find it's better to wait for awhile until others have used and evaluated any new equipment.

I hate to count the number of times I have bought some new product only to find out it wasn't that much better than existing products, or wasn't very good at all. This makes me very reluctant to get a new, untested product.

Now on controllers in general, here is my take on them. I have posted this before -

DaveK's Standard Lecture #5 - Controllers

Controllers are at best an optional item. They can do a lot of nice things, but you don't really need one to have a fantastic reef. There are many things you can do with a controller that can be done just as well with a timer or two or a float switch.

Before even considering a controller, make sure the rest of your system is up to par. There is no point investing in a controller if your lighting, or filtration is substandard. Many people would get much better results upgrading something else in their system compared to adding a controller.

Just like lighting and filtration, controllers have parts that need periodic replacement. Expect to replace pH and/or ORP probes about every 12 - 18 months, and you need the stuff to recalibrate them too.

Also, with a controller, a lot of your equipment is operated by the controller. This represents a single point of failure for everything connected to it. I recommend that you do not connect your main critical pump to a controller.

Lastly, when your dealing with any products that use software and/or firmware, don't compare any of the features that are "in the latest version" many of them will not work or work marginally at best. It almost always takes a company about 3 versions of a product, software, or firmware to get it right.

I've found the best feature of a controller is that it can monitor things like pH, ORP, O2, temp, and so on long term. This lets you see if your system is doing better or worse over a period of time. It also lets you spot some problems while they are minor and easy to fix.
 
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