Almost tank crash , check your equipment!

[LEOreefer]

For tonight's update we cover how to crash your tank!
The last few day I realized the my corals looked off. I've been neglecting to test my parameters so I figured my calcium was off since I have my alk on a doser. Sure enough my calcium was at 290. So I corrected the issue and prepared to do a water change. The water change was planned for 2 days in advance. The day of my water change I realized my corals still didn't look good and it made me scratch my head.

Upon further investigation I saw via my Apex that my temp was sitting at 68 degrees! I then looked back on my graph and found it was at the temp for about 3 days! For some reason my Apex failed to notify me that my temp dropped out of limits!

My heater had failed and almost crashed my tank! Fortunately I caught it and corrected the issue and knock on wood so far haven't lost anything even thought my goni was real ******. Moral of the story always check your equipment! I contacted Apex support and they found the issue and will be calling me Monday to help me correct it.

Here is a pic after a fresh water change with moon lights.

Also he's a FTS of my tank and what I could have lost. It's not a huge system but the most successful system I have ever kept!

 

[Taxus812]

I hit like but it not something anyone likes happening to anyone . Hope all is well and thanks for sharing.

 

[LEOreefer]

I hit like but it not something anyone likes happening to anyone . Hope all is well and thanks for sharing.

all is well , just keeping an eye on one goni that is still ticked off put hopefully he pulls through. !

 

[Flippers4pups]

I would keep any heater you get off the Apex to you figure out it out. I would suggest two smaller heaters for redundancy.

 

[LEOreefer]

I would keep any heater you get off the Apex to you figure out it out. I would suggest two smaller heaters for redundancy.

Right now I have email alerts working well. So until we have a support session I feel comfortable enough. The support session is on Monday afternoon

 

[Mattman1977]

Oh man good thing you figured it out before anything died. You must be up north as down in the south I’m fighting keeping my tank cool enough already lol. My wife is cold blooded and keeps it warm in the house so there’s times my tank hits 81 during the summer. Keep telling her I’m gonna get a chiller she keeps it up.

I’ve used ranco etc-111000 controllers on my tanks with 2 smaller heaters without thermostats plugged into it with no issues then use apex to alert if it gets out of temp range. Seems the built in controls are a weak point in tank heaters. Just a though.

Matt

 

[LEOreefer]

Oh man good thing you figured it out before anything died. You must be up north as down in the south I’m fighting keeping my tank cool enough already lol. My wife is cold blooded and keeps it warm in the house so there’s times my tank hits 81 during the summer. Keep telling her I’m gonna get a chiller she keeps it up.

I’ve used ranco etc-111000 controllers on my tanks with 2 smaller heaters without thermostats plugged into it with no issues then use apex to alert if it gets out of temp range. Seems the built in controls are a weak point in tank heaters. Just a though.

Matt

Thanks for the reply Matt! Yes I'm located on Long island NY so it's still chilly up here. On another note if I threatened my wife with a chiller she would probably tell me go scratch. BRS is 10x points all month hahahaha

 

[ca1ore]

Yes, redundancy is your friend.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Yes, redundancy is your friend.

Yes it is!

 

[Saveafish]

You can't beat ranco controllers. You might not get the phone beeps cool gizmo. They are rock solid and proven.

 

[Mattman1977]

You can't beat ranco controllers. You might not get the phone beeps cool gizmo. They are rock solid and proven.

Yeah I’m pretty new to saltwater 1.5 years, but been using ranco for years on my freshwater tanks. Dang heaters are the weakest links in our $$$$$$ aquariums but found the heaters without controllers built in last longest, i think there finnex brand ones that brs sells seem to last the longest. Will continue to use them forever but use the apex to give myself the nifty phone beeps if something gets out of hand

Matt

 

[NS Mike D]

I can't imagine running a reef tank without 2 heaters connected to a controller given that they are the weakest link in the equipment chain. My opinion was formed after my initial lone heater failed.