Nate's "Oceanfront Bar" Mixed Reef Build!

[NastayNatron]

Alright I've had my Vertex Cerebra Controller up and running on my tank for a little while now so I think its time I post a review. This won't be super in-depth, but for anyone considering eventually buying this controller, it could be helpful.

What I have:

Vertex Cerebra Controller
6 outlet multi bar
6 outlet power bar
Temperature Probe
Dual Junction PH Probe (Neptune not Vertex)

First impressions: As with all Vertex products, the Cerebra came packaged very well and looked great. You could probably drop the box off a building and I'm sure everything would still be in tact! As for initial setup, it wasn't too bad. Mounting the multi-bar was a bit of a pain. In order to get the mounting hardware installed, you must remove the end cap off of the bar. This isn't a big deal, but being instructions for this are not included, it took me a few minutes to figure it out. One thing that was a hurdle for me was the size of the power bars. The multi bar includes 6 outlets along with a good selection of other inputs for probes, floats, etc. The power bar contains just 6 outlets. I am using one of each. These power bars are 20" long. Having a nano, it was tricky to fit two of them in. I would hope that eventually Vertex will release a small 3-6 outlet power bar for nano setups.

Initial programming was fairly straightforward. I just used the touch screen with the stylist provided and that worked well enough for me. You can plug a mouse and keyboard directly into the display to speed things up. You can also remote into the screen if you use the VNC server option. I found it a little simpler to set up than my Apex I had last, although that was about 5 years ago. The Apex functionality is probably a lot different now. The controller has "rules" built into its programming. They are pre-built programs and make things easy to setup. I won't go into detail on them - if you are interested, BRS did a full review on the controller and it contains all of this info.

The Wifi has worked seamlessly for me. I have been doing roughly bi-weekly updates as they come out with no real issues. Vertex is quick to act on any issues that come up. My temperature probe did not work when it arrived and they were quick to help me out. I had it shipped back to vertex with shipping labels they provided and received it back in working order within good time.

The one complaint I do have is the speed at which Vertex is developing the Cloud functionality. The cloud currently is just a preview for everyone to see the layout, but that's about it. Even e-mail and text notifications haven't gone live yet. I am hoping they are up and running by my Christmas holiday, but more than likely it will be sometime in the new year. Once the cloud comes out in full swing, I'll post a review on that side of things.

All in all, so far I am happy I went with this controller. The large, customizable screen is awesome for checking things over at a glance and commanding things on and off is quick and easy. I am not overly bothered not having notifications and the cloud functionality available yet, although with vacations coming up it is starting to bother me more. Hopefully by the summer everything will be 100%! If anyone is considering this controller and wants to know anything specific, ill try and answer as best I can!