Feeling Hopeless

[jd371]

So, I get to work sit down at my desk and turn on my computer and pull up the security app like I always do so I can keep an eye on my house. Just noticed that there is no water movement from the tank on the camera. Ughhhh! I have to wait until I get home later today to find the problem. The PH's are both connected to a UPS so that may be were the problem lies.
The pump is still working because I can see the lights on the Ecotech controller are on so that's a relief otherwise I'd be racing home already. I have the return head pointed to the surface so there is plenty of aeration. As the title says, just feeling hopeless watching the tank from work and nothing I can do.

 

[Crabs McJones]

So, I get to work sit down at my desk and turn on my computer and pull up the security app like I always do so I can keep an eye on my house. Just noticed that there is no water movement from the tank on the camera. Ughhhh! I have to wait until I get home later today to find the problem. The PH's are both connected to a UPS so that may be were the problem lies.
The pump is still working because I can see the lights on the Ecotech controller are on so that's a relief otherwise I'd be racing home already. I have the return head pointed to the surface so there is plenty of aeration. As the title says, just feeling hopeless watching the tank from work and nothing I can do.

There's no worse feeling then knowing what needs to be done but not being able to do it Sorry this is happening to you. But it sounds like the tank should hold over until you can make it home to correct it. Keep us posted

 

[theMeat]

If the return pump is on you’r fine

 

[JasonK84]

That is a very uneasy feeling. I was at work about a month ago when I got an alert about an outage in my area. I don't have any battery backup systems yet but am hoping I get one for Christmas! I felt that way all day then got home and nothing had ever shut off. Outage in my area but my house was unaffected!

Glad to hear you still have the return pump going.

 

[pickupman66]

This past July the family and I were on vacation about 4 hours away. My MIL was house and pet sitting for us. She wanted to change the setting on our programmable thermostat but since we have a smart one (honeywell) she could not figure it out (ID10T error). instead of asking, she starts pushing buttons and somehow turned off the AC and disconnected the thermostat from our wifi. July in TN can get pretty hot and I was completely helpless watching the temperature on my tank creep into the 80's. Fortunately we were able to resolve it when we got home and did not have losses.

 

[Ocelaris]

I feel your pain, I got on the plane coming home from Texas to New York and everything on the Apex was fine. We got off the plane and my phone lit up with texts, emails etc... Power was out. This was after a 4 hour flight, so who knows how long things had been off and I was at least an hour and a half from home. Got home and the circuit had tripped and temps were dropping, but only to about 73 and everything ended being all right. Hope everything ends up turning out all right.

 

[Brew12]

If the return pump is on you’r fine

+1 on this.

If your return pump is on, your system is getting aerated and heated. Tank will be just fine when you get home. Nothing to worry about.

 

[Hammer100]

I feel your pain, I got on the plane coming home from Texas to New York and everything on the Apex was fine. We got off the plane and my phone lit up with texts, emails etc... Power was out. This was after a 4 hour flight, so who knows how long things had been off and I was at least an hour and a half from home. Got home and the circuit had tripped and temps were dropping, but only to about 73 and everything ended being all right. Hope everything ends up turning out all right.

Same thing...was traveling and wake up to phone buzzing in hotel room. Power went out in the middle of the night. called the tank sitter who lives close to me and said her power had been out about 4 hours. I thought i had lost everything but all fish and corals were still alive the next morning.

 

[jd371]

Yeah, I'm glad I have a clear view of the Ecotech controller so I know the pump is still working. Just sitting here watching the RBTA's, Gorgonians and corals listless when they should be swaying in the current is driving me nuts! Lol

 

[Dennis Begley]

A few years ago we had straight line winds here in Minneapolis. It took out power lines for miles around. I lost power for almost a week. I ended up buying a generator which were in HUGE demand. While I was waiting for Home Depot to get in a new supply, I got a converter and ran power to my tank from my car. I had to buy about 100 feet of extension cords to get the power to my basement where my tank is. My tank survived but that was a panic situation for sure.

 

[reefwiser]

Always good to have fish keeping friends who can come over when you need to and fix something on while you are on the phone. Relying on people who have know idea how an aquarium works always leads to disaster.

 

[jd371]

Well it turned out it was the UPS after all, it must have died after I fed the fish this morning. Don't really need it though, because I now have a generator in case of a blackout.

Always good to have fish keeping friends who can come over when you need to and fix something on while you are on the phone. Relying on people who have know idea how an aquarium works always leads to disaster.

My best friend passed away last year and he was the person I would call if I needed help with anything like this, he wasn't into the hobby but took direction well and I could count on him. The only other person close enough is my sister who lives 15 min. away, always too busy though.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Had a power outage about a month ago with no power to the house for a little over 9 hours. The tanks only dropped 4-5 degrees and 2 had no backup, the big tank did. Not a thing was lost or distressed as at minimum- the power heads were running under a battery backup.