+KimP Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 So I have an apex I'm working on setting up and I only have 8 outlets. Which of these things would you choose to have connected to the apex vs a regular power strip? 4 apex controllable lights 2 apex controllable powerheads Return pump Skimmer UV Sterilizer ATO Possibly a heater Maybe get another apex power strip? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 Neither the lights nor the powerheads need to be plugged in to the EB8. You can "dim" them off via the VDM. Problem solved! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mitch Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 I like to have everything plugged in to my EB8s as you can monitor energy usage on the Apex UI. I only have one vortech that is not plugged in as it's goes thru the UPS. If your lights are LEDs, then you could use a power Y cable to combine the plugs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Monnat Jr Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 Even though my LEDs are dimmed by their own controllers, I have them plugged into my Apex to shut them off based on temperature. I have the lights, fans and heaters all controlled by the Apex for temperature management. I definitely had the ATO on the Apex for the float switches and for pH since I added pickling lime to the ATO (for limewater/kalkwasser). My return pump was/is just on a UPS, and my UV sterilizer and circulation pump were/are on a plain ol' power strip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 I like to have everything plugged in to my EB8s as you can monitor energy usage on the Apex UI. I only have one vortech that is not plugged in as it's goes thru the UPS. If your lights are LEDs, then you could use a power Y cable to combine the plugs. You could run them all into a single strip, which plugs into the EB8. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mitch Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 If your lights are LEDs, then you could use a power Y cable to combine the plugs. You could run them all into a single strip, which plugs into the EB8. That works too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 Heater, return pump, skimmer, and ATO for sure. This way you can setup feeding and water change cycles without flooding your skimmer collection cup or sucking the food through the overflow before the fish can eat it or dumping topoff water into the sump if you water change from it instead of the DT. Heater obviously so you can use the Apex to control the temp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juiceman Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 Yeah I have my blue channels plugged into one port on the EB8 and my white channels plugged into one. 6 power cords into 2 outlets. they pull nearly enough juice to overload the switches. I have my heater, my ALK and CA dosers plugged in as well. I don't have my skimmer, return pump, or reactors/chiller running on the eb8, I have them on an american dj power strip so I can switch them off with ease if need be. Otherwise they run 24/7 so what's the point of using eb8 ports for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 Yeah I have my blue channels plugged into one port on the EB8 and my which channels plugged into one. 6 power cords into 2 outlets. they pull nearly enough juice to overload the switches. I have my heater, my ALK and CA dosers plugged in as well. I don't have my skimmer, return pump, or reactors/chiller running on the eb8, I have them on an american dj power strip so I can switch them off with ease if need be. Otherwise they run 24/7 so what's the point of using eb8 ports for them. I like to be able to control *everything* remotely. If you have the capability and the available ports, why not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 I don't have my skimmer, return pump, or reactors/chiller running on the eb8, I have them on an american dj power strip so I can switch them off with ease if need be. Otherwise they run 24/7 so what's the point of using eb8 ports for them.I didn't have enough ports on my EB8 so I'm doing the exact same thing, probably with the same switch. I water change from a spare pump in my sump so I have to manually flip off the return pump, skimmer and ATO. If I had the space I would definitely prefer to run them from the Apex. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted June 14, 2013 Author Share Posted June 14, 2013 Neither the lights nor the powerheads need to be plugged in to the EB8. You can "dim" them off via the VDM. Problem solved! I see! That makes sense especially for the lights. They turn off when fully dimmed, these a360's don't do that moonlight setting when fully dimmed like the a350's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 like mitch was saying, one of the neat features of the EB8 is that you'll see power consumption charted. If you want to use that feature, you'd have to plug them in, either individually or via a powerstrip plugged in to the EB8. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wizardx322 Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 i used a power strip to plug my lights and used one outlet from my eb8 i was running 2 mh at that time seem to work find for me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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