It’s been three and a half years since we covered Xepta’s water testing machine but the Abex is now available to complete and accompany the Xepta Autobalance. The Autobalance alone is one of the more complete KH monitors and controllers. It comes with three dosing heads built in, so it can monitor KH throughout the day but also administer three separate liquids, like the Balling Method, to remedy it. The Abex however (no, not the Apex,) adds additional testing capability for calcium, magnesium, potassium, nitrate, chloride, and bromine. It also does this using calibrated probes instead of reagents, so it uses just a small amount of aquarium water and can return it, unaltered, to the aquarium afterward.
Although we welcome no fewer than six new parameters with the big three (KH, calcium, and magnesium,) being taken care of we would prefer the holy grail that is KH, calcium, magnesium, nitrate, and phosphate, and that would better equip it against its rivals and for what the mainstay of reef aquarists are crying out for from a complete monitoring and dosing solution. Unlike the Autobalance, the abex is not autonomous and needs to be connected to the Autobalance in order to function. The box has also seen a facelift since its conception in 2019 and it now matches the current Autobalance in looks and both are controlled wirelessly via the same app. Although we haven’t seen the same market penetration as the Alkatronic/Mastertronic and Apex/Trident combinations now that Xepta Autobalance/abex can monitor KH, Calcium, Magnesium, and Nitrate without reagents, may win it some new customers in this ever more crowded monitoring market.
