So I'm reconsidering my stance on controllers...

Coastie Reefer · Dec 11, 2016

Went out of town for an awesome weekend of highschool football state championships. Did a water change, made sure ato was filled, fed fish, everything I could do to ensure the tank and it's inhabitants would be good for a couple nights on their own. In the process of the water change the pumps and heater were turned off. Problem is the power to the heater was never turned back on. Tank had no he's for 2.5 days and dropped to below 60. I'm slowly bringing the temp up and hoping that it's not a total crash. Loses so far are a purple firefish, Hollywood stunner, birdsnest and maybe a green acro. My red cap is very pale so I'm not sure how it's going to fare, frogspawn is showing signs of shedding flesh on the skeletal base, cyphastrea is a little bleached, candy canes are producing a ton of mucous, and every zoa is closed and shriveled.

If a had a controller it would have warned me before we left or at the very least allowed me to have a friend check the issue. In this case it was something as simple as a cord not being completely plugged in...

Sick to my stomach

nervousmonkey · Dec 11, 2016

Man, so sorry to hear that Coastie.. It is a terrible loss. Controllers are good at preventing this stuff.

JMLewis · Dec 11, 2016

Hopefully you can turn everything around sorry to hear that. I've had my Apex about 8 years now and would never setup another tank without one.

Lionfish Lair · Dec 11, 2016

I remember when I came home one morning to a tank in the 50s. Didn't latch the patio door all the way closed when I went to work that night. It was warm out, so I didn't have a heater on. The first cold front of the season blew in and blew my patio door wide open.... my fish and dogs were freezing by the time I got home the next day. O.O I lost a couple of corals and things looked bad for a bit, but the rest eventually came back around.

Duke4Life · Dec 11, 2016

Sorry to hear this man! Good luck with this.

ReeferMaddness843 · Dec 11, 2016

Best wishes on the recovery. Sorry to hear.

Idoc · Dec 11, 2016

Coastie Reefer said:
Went out of town for an awesome weekend of highschool football state championships. Did a water change, made sure ato was filled, fed fish, everything I could do to ensure the tank and it's inhabitants would be good for a couple nights on their own. In the process of the water change the pumps and heater were turned off. Problem is the power to the heater was never turned back on. Tank had no he's for 2.5 days and dropped to below 60. I'm slowly bringing the temp up and hoping that it's not a total crash. Loses so far are a purple firefish, Hollywood stunner, birdsnest and maybe a green acro. My red cap is very pale so I'm not sure how it's going to fare, frogspawn is

Coastie Reefer said:
Went out of town for an awesome weekend of highschool football state championships. Did a water change, made sure ato was filled, fed fish, everything I could do to ensure the tank and it's inhabitants would be good for a couple nights on their own. In the process of the water change the pumps and heater were turned off. Problem is the power to the heater was never turned back on. Tank had no he's for 2.5 days and dropped to below 60. I'm slowly bringing the temp up and hoping that it's not a total crash. Loses so far are a purple firefish, Hollywood stunner, birdsnest and maybe a green acro. My red cap is very pale so I'm not sure how it's going to fare, frogspawn is showing signs of shedding flesh on the skeletal base, cyphastrea is a little bleached, candy canes are producing a ton of mucous, and every zoa is closed and shriveled.

If a had a controller it would have warned me before we left or at the very least allowed me to have a friend check the issue. In this case it was something as simple as a cord not being completely plugged in...

Sick to my stomach

That's terrible news! Controllers are nice to help automate and warm you off those problems. I have an extra Apex Jr that came with a system I bought from someone and only holding as a back up. If you could use it, let me know.

azbigjohn · Dec 11, 2016

Sorry to hear that!

Give the corals a chance; as you bring the temp up some may come back, as being cold slows down the metabolism a little...

Sorry about the fish, though...

helen ann · Dec 11, 2016

Awwwww, sorry about your fish

gcrawford · Dec 11, 2016

Yep, controller could have emailed you and you could have turned the heater back on with your cell phone. Sorry for your loss...

Triggreef · Dec 11, 2016

Apex is undoubtedly the most important piece of equipment i have. I recently had a mishap with some valves that quickly caused an overflow that took out my apex that runs 3 systems. There was no question about replacing it asap, but between finding one and getting it here overnight it took about 3 days. It was miserable having to do everything the controller does for me.

Reaffirmation that without apex, i would have left the hobby long ago.

reefwiser · Dec 11, 2016

What I do is set up a water change button on my Ghl it turns off what I want for a set number of minutes then turns it back on. Sort of like a feed mode on power heads.

Coastie Reefer · Dec 12, 2016

Thanks for all the encouragement. Tank is back up to temp, and looks like it could have been much worse. As of now everything seems to be in recovery mode. So far the only confirmed casualties are my purple firefish, green birdsnest (lost all flesh and is solid white but has a couple polyps hanging in there), and hollywood stunner. The frogspawn is in bad shape, but will likely make a recovery over the next month or two. Time will tell on the monti cap, but I think it'll pull through too. I was extremely worried about my clowns as they were laying on sand and not doing much. They're swimming about and even eating so I think they're going to be okay too. Still feel bad, a sense of guilt really, but I'm doing everything I can to get it back on track.

Hard lesson, but those are the ones we learn the most from... right?

rock_lobster · Dec 12, 2016

Never without a controller. It can be a very cheap investment a used apex Jr for 100$ could easily prevent so many problems.

revhtree · Dec 12, 2016

Sorry about the losses and good word of advice for people!

ShellSea · Dec 12, 2016

sorry about the loss. Hope everything else recovers. Sounds like you have done all you can, after the fact. I have the Archon and have been thankful for the e -mail alerts sends me. I also can turn equipment on or off when out of town. Speaking of which, I am going to MACNA in N.O. next year. I can bring you a nice size frag of green bird nest as a replacement!!!!

rock_lobster · Dec 12, 2016

One of my favorite things is the fact that it sends both a text message and email. That way I get the message very quickly.

Coastie Reefer · Dec 12, 2016

Well I'm new to the whole idea of controllers. I see the Apex Jr needs to plugged into the internet via an ethernet connection. Are there any types of adapters that will allow this to be done wireless? I'd have to run a cable from another room, and will definitely not be Wife Approved...

Bakedpwn · Dec 12, 2016

when is jabeo gonna knock off apex and make one thats more affordable?

rock_lobster · Dec 12, 2016

Coastie Reefer said:
Well I'm new to the whole idea of controllers. I see the Apex Jr needs to plugged into the internet via an ethernet connection. Are there any types of adapters that will allow this to be done wireless? I'd have to run a cable from another room, and will definitely not be Wife Approved...

Yes you get another router and set it up as a bridge to connect to your network.