Almost crashed my tank...

FutureInterest

FutureInterest

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Wow this was a close one... Sometime during the night my return pump stopped functioning from a jam. Since the temperature controller probe is in the sump, and the heat from the pumps in the sump was closed... the fans on the display were going nuts since the controller thought it was 80+ in the system. Anyways I wake up to find that that the tank is at 69 freaking degrees!!! :doh:

Fortunately it doesn't appear that anything perished... I'm kinda amazed... these critters are stronger than we give them credit for.
 
Wooh! I am surprised that your corals survived such cold temps! How long do you think they were that low?

Regardless, I am very happy for you that you did not loose anything! :)

Bob
 
usually its high temperatures, not low temps that kill corals and fish. even high temps 85-88 could be acceptable provided you had like 5 airstones oxygenating the water lol. glad everything worked out okay
 
So the real question is "how do you (and we) prevent this from happening in the future?" Put an emergency back-up heater in the display? Is there a better option?
 
No the answer is to always have your measurement device in the same location as your heating/cooling device; i.e. have your temperature controller in the main display or move your fans to the sump. It was having them located in different parts of the tank that was the problem.
 
Or fix the real problem.....and setup two returns. Then run one of those on a backup power supply!
 
Thanks for the suggestions and concern! I think I've solved the root of the problem by providing some meager debris filtration for the return pump with the use of some carefully positioned rubble rock. The culprit turned out to be a stray mangrove root in conjunction with massive calcium deposits.

As per your suggestions, I also put the temp probe in the overflow which should help correct the problem if this occurs again. The return pump is on a battery backup, but having 2 return pumps is just overkill on this small system :p.

I'm estimating that the tank was at 69 or near it for almost the entire night. There was quite a bit of visible evaporation lines in the display by morning. One of my zoa colonies appears to have lost a bit of color, but otherwise everything is accounted for and is recovering nicely.
 
Yah they're pretty indestructable, but this colony of purple people eaters is definately a shade or two lighter. More pinkish now than purple.
 
Redundant systems (heaters, chillers, return pumps, etc) are a good solution to "crashes" however they are not always practical. Protecting your return pumps intake from snails, rubble LR, crabs, etc is smart because it is easily fouled up and can stop working. Another idea is some type of temperature alert device in the display. A siren in the middle of the night, although not appreciated by your wife, could have alerted you to the problem of the stuck pump. They can be cheaply purchased. Good lesson learned. Thank you for sharing with everyone! :)
 
I know its not really relevant but I have one of those Coralife Screamers, it is a siren when the probe detects water on the floor. I us it for my RO/DI in case the Float Switch breaks. Works GREAT
 
Maroons15;36465 wrote: I know its not really relevant but I have one of those Coralife Screamers, it is a siren when the probe detects water on the floor. I us it for my RO/DI in case the Float Switch breaks. Works GREAT
Click to expand...

Where'd you get it?
 
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