Well guys, I just had a major tank crash. I came home yesterday afternoon to find out that the power had flickered this weekend while I was away (I left on Saturday at 4 pm to go to a picnic and then to my dad's) which tripped the GFCI I have on my tank.
So I come home and the tanks are dark, the niger trigger is floating at the top of the tank, and the maroon clown and mandarin are both dead at the bottom of the tank, the featherdusters have jumped out of their tubes and are lying at the bottom of the tank. Little dead amphipods were all around.
I got everything going again and started massive waterchanges, and it looks like 3/4 of the corals are going to make it -- my precious cespitularia melted, the plate monti died, the beautiful stylophora went, and a few others, but the Duncan, the GSP, the zoos, the Montipora Digitata, Red/pink Trachyphilliam and the GBTA (now twins) look like they will make it.
It just sucks -- I work at home all the time, and the power has never flickered once when I was here, and as soon as I leave it goes out and leaves the tank dark two days.
On the plus side, I found a way to rid a tank of montipora nudis. (which was another lesson).
Does anyone know of good GFCI's that won't just trip on a brief power outage, or do I need to put them on a UPS of some type? I am glad the tanks won't burn down the house, but I need the system to survive a power flicker.
Or do I get the fancy reef computer system to email me anytime a parameter is out, or a webcam so I can watch my tanks like a suspicious mother?
I think I am going to go the planted tank route -- watching my expensive and precious babies go like that is really tough. That mandarin was a female that I wanted to get a mate for, and I can't justify raiding the oceans for them (they are getting rare) if they will just die in my tanks like that.
What do you guys recommend?
So I come home and the tanks are dark, the niger trigger is floating at the top of the tank, and the maroon clown and mandarin are both dead at the bottom of the tank, the featherdusters have jumped out of their tubes and are lying at the bottom of the tank. Little dead amphipods were all around.
I got everything going again and started massive waterchanges, and it looks like 3/4 of the corals are going to make it -- my precious cespitularia melted, the plate monti died, the beautiful stylophora went, and a few others, but the Duncan, the GSP, the zoos, the Montipora Digitata, Red/pink Trachyphilliam and the GBTA (now twins) look like they will make it.
It just sucks -- I work at home all the time, and the power has never flickered once when I was here, and as soon as I leave it goes out and leaves the tank dark two days.
On the plus side, I found a way to rid a tank of montipora nudis. (which was another lesson).
Does anyone know of good GFCI's that won't just trip on a brief power outage, or do I need to put them on a UPS of some type? I am glad the tanks won't burn down the house, but I need the system to survive a power flicker.
Or do I get the fancy reef computer system to email me anytime a parameter is out, or a webcam so I can watch my tanks like a suspicious mother?
I think I am going to go the planted tank route -- watching my expensive and precious babies go like that is really tough. That mandarin was a female that I wanted to get a mate for, and I can't justify raiding the oceans for them (they are getting rare) if they will just die in my tanks like that.
What do you guys recommend?
