Midnight

So yesterday I got my shipment of the new MP60 and the Apex wireless module. I needed to upgrade the firmware and the web pages from apex as I was behind one update. Those of you that have not updated recently may want to becase the new pages are live and look like the ones Curt had at MACNA 2012. Here is my status screen as an example:




As you can tell that is quite different than the old. It is customizable and you can even add a tank cam.

The Wireless Apex Module does two main things for Vorteech users. It allows you to use a GUI to set them up and you can set schedules for them to change modes at different times of day or other events like feeding. This took me a minute to figure out because you have to setup Profiles for the different modes first.

When you go to the Profiles tab you you have to create a profile for each mode that you would like to use. i created one for reefcrest, lagoon, and pulse. I have mixed pump sizes, so I opted to create three profiles for each pump size. The reason to have one for each size, is that 20 percent on a MP40 is quite different than on a MP60. Here is how the profile looks:




As you can tell from the picture above, I named this profile Crest40, which allows for easy memory when coding the outlet. You can also see that this is Reef Crest mode and max pump speed is capped at 60 percent.

Next you have to go into Outlet setup. When you configured and added the pumps to the Wireless Module, it automatically creates an outlet for each pump. This is where you have to tell the outlet what profile you want it to run. This is also where you can set up a schedule for it to change modes depending on time or events. The example shows how I set mine up. This may change or get tweaked, but this was the first go at it, and it works.



You notice I setup a pretty simple schedule without too many statements.

Some thoughts on the feed modes:

The Apex has four feed modes which are just virtual buttons. These can be set up to do different things to different outlets. More like you would want to have the pump go to a slow constant flow for 10 minutes when you drop the food in and then run nutrient export for five or ten minutes next. Then return back to the regular schedule. I will probably do something like this in the future. You may ask why you would want the option to tun off the pumps like the above picture shows. This could be useful when adding corals to the display or taking pictures.

In closing, I am really glad I got the Wireless Module, though it does take some work to set up.