Here's what an alk disaster looks like!

[North Borders]

Hey all! Thought I would share my learning experience. I was in the process of moving and had someone watching my tank. I had an Apex on it and figured "what could go wrong?"

I happened to drive back to my old apartment on a whim to check out the tank and walked in to this. My Apex somehow corrupted it's firmware and was turning itself on and off for 5 mins at a time. My temp was down to 73 and that's almost an entire gallon of alkalinity supplement in the sump! I received no warnings from the Apex. I lucked out and walked in in time and was able to quickly rescue almost everyone. Another 8 hrs and I think the entire tank would have been a goner. Everyone is now moved in to my wet for only 2 days new Reefer 250.

 

[North Borders]

I should add, the Reefer 250 has been online for 2 weeks now and is stabilized.

 

[neuwave]

Been there. My apex software screwed up and dosed a couple hundred milliliters of carbonate in 8ish hours. I had a little loss with some corals and after a nearly 100% water change things came back to normal. After backforth emails they finally resorted to connect to my Apex and noticed some crazy software issues. I didn't let them off the phone until it was fixed correctly. Luckily after that it has worked without issue.

 

[North Borders]

I never called Apex, but wound up having to do a complete wipe on the module and a fresh firmware install. Seems to be working OK again. (fingers crossed)

 

[Vaughn17]

This is why I dose manually.

 

[neuwave]

This is why I dose manually.

Yes and No. Due to the amount of sps in the tank they consume a considerable amount of Alk and Ca daily. For instance if a new frag or colony is introduced to the system it may have been weakened from transport and other stresses. If Ca and Alk are not properly maintained during recovery you may as loose it just the same since it doesn't have the needed components to recover. Especially if I don't make it home for a day or two. There are positives and negatives to both scenarios.

I never called Apex, but wound up having to do a complete wipe on the module and a fresh firmware install. Seems to be working OK again. (fingers crossed)

Doesn't hurt to call and check.

 

[North Borders]

I might have to do that!

I WAS running out of date firmware, so that may have been part of my issue.

 

[will424]

Wow that's insane good thing you saved them in time

 

[solitude127]

WOW, that's my biggest fear about depending on a controller

 

[Vaughn17]

Yes and No. Due to the amount of sps in the tank they consume a considerable amount of Alk and Ca daily. For instance if a new frag or colony is introduced to the system it may have been weakened from transport and other stresses. If Ca and Alk are not properly maintained during recovery you may as loose it just the same since it doesn't have the needed components to recover. Especially if I don't make it home for a day or two. There are positives and negatives to both scenarios.

I dose twice a day and have never lost any corals due to Alk or CA issues. Obviously, failing to dose on a regular schedule is likely going to cause problems.

Doesn't hurt to call and check.

 

[neuwave]

That's great you haven't loss a coral due to Alk or Ca. Means your a dedicated hobbyist to keeping your Ca and Alk in check by being able to dose by hand twice a day. Doesn't mean it can't or hasn't happen. I've seen plenty of other reefers who have had it happen to while dosing by hand. Just like you said "Obviously, failing to dosent a regular schedule is likely to cause problems." So each person has to decide for themselves how to dose properly on a regular schedule. Depending on your lifestyle/personal schedule each person has to weigh the pros and cons.

 

[Flippers4pups]

As with any technology, things can and do go wrong. I personally wouldn't trust dosing to a controller for these reasons. If I had a controller, it would only monitor my tank and give me the ability to turn off heaters, lights etc..... email me an alert. Other than that, nothing else.

Glad you caught it when you did. Make me cringe to think it would have gone rouge while on vacation!

 

[MockandRoll]

As with any technology, things can and do go wrong. I personally wouldn't trust dosing to a controller for these reasons. If I had a controller, it would only monitor my tank and give me the ability to turn off heaters, lights etc..... email me an alert. Other than that, nothing else.

Glad you caught it when you did. Make me cringe to think it would have gone rouge while on vacation!

Then how do you ever go on a vacation?

 

[Flippers4pups]

Tank sitter, of course.

 

[Jeremy Luke]

Ever consider GHL?

 

[ReeferMaddness843]

Just got back from a little vacation. Been topping off with kalkwasser and between that and water changes haven't had to dose manually in over a month or two. Had a tank sitter while I was gone. She was great! Never had a tank of her own, but knows what mine looked like and sent pics just to keep me updated. Told her she needed a tank as she did a better job than me apparently. My 4 BBEB zoas grew to 7 while I was gone. Not a single head in the weeks I had them prior. Lol.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Apex or GHL, same. Just monitoring only.

 

[Jeremy Luke]

I just think the GHL has a pretty good track record. Extremely reliable.

 

[oh207]

I would definitely recommend that you open a ticket. It may very well had been a corrupt firmware, but what if it was just bad equipment that might cause the issue again?
And just another thought, old firmware doesn't necessarily means that the firmware was buggy, it was at one point considered to be relatively stable. Better to be safe.

Lastly, you can add a statement to your email alarm outlet (If Power EB8_x Off 000 Then ON) or to fusion to notify you of power loss. So if the apex reboots, it will send a notification, but this will happen only after the reboot.

 

[pelphrey]

If you haven't already make sure the Neptune heartbeat feature is turned on. If the apex goes offline (forgot the time limit) it will notify you.