FishyFishFish
Valuable Member
So, there I was, on holiday in another country, and I get a notification that one of my sensors on my Hydros has alarmed.
The sensor was a water level sensor that was placed below the ATO, but above the return pump, in my AIO chamber.
As I live in apartment, I asked the apartment complex receptionist to go and have a look to make sure there were no leaks and that the pump wasn’t running dry. They emailed me some photos and I was able to ascertain that the ATO was turned off; I told them how to turn it back on and the problem was resolved. It turns out that, in my rush to clean and water change before I went away, I forgot to turn the ATO on again afterwards.
Had I been using the wifi power strip I would have been able to turn the ATO on from my phone. With a water change mode the ATO would have turned itself back on anyway. Unfortunately, due to problems I had been having with the Wi-Fi power strip, that wasn’t in use at the time.
Lessons learned:
1) Before going away, triple check that everything is on and working!
2) If you leave your tank for more than a day or 2, some form of monitor can save the day (as long as you are monitoring the correct things).
3) Have a way of correcting problems whilst away. Ideally a person you can call on to help, but if that’s not possible then at least be able to turn things on and off remotely to be able to make the tank safe.
I consider myself extremely lucky here. The sensor did its job and I managed to get someone to fix the issue. The pump didn’t run dry so the only issue ended up being a slight salinity swing.
The sensor was a water level sensor that was placed below the ATO, but above the return pump, in my AIO chamber.
As I live in apartment, I asked the apartment complex receptionist to go and have a look to make sure there were no leaks and that the pump wasn’t running dry. They emailed me some photos and I was able to ascertain that the ATO was turned off; I told them how to turn it back on and the problem was resolved. It turns out that, in my rush to clean and water change before I went away, I forgot to turn the ATO on again afterwards.
Had I been using the wifi power strip I would have been able to turn the ATO on from my phone. With a water change mode the ATO would have turned itself back on anyway. Unfortunately, due to problems I had been having with the Wi-Fi power strip, that wasn’t in use at the time.
Lessons learned:
1) Before going away, triple check that everything is on and working!
2) If you leave your tank for more than a day or 2, some form of monitor can save the day (as long as you are monitoring the correct things).
3) Have a way of correcting problems whilst away. Ideally a person you can call on to help, but if that’s not possible then at least be able to turn things on and off remotely to be able to make the tank safe.
I consider myself extremely lucky here. The sensor did its job and I managed to get someone to fix the issue. The pump didn’t run dry so the only issue ended up being a slight salinity swing.
