What's the worst thing that can happen to your tank ?

[gp2700]

Just wanna know from experienced reefers - what is your worst fear for your reef tank ? And how do you prevent it from happening ?

i.e main pump failure, chiller failure, tank overflow etc etc ?

[gp2700]

Argh. Must have been too tired. Sorry for that guys.

My return pump connection came loose last week, when i woke up abt 50% of my tank died. !@#$%^ Now it's secured with a hose ring.

Just thinking what else could possibly happen; I rather prevent incidents than to cure any.

[pokmingsheng]

Argh. Must have been too tired. Sorry for that guys.

My return pump connection came loose last week, when i woke up abt 50% of my tank died. !@#$%^ Now it's secured with a hose ring.

Just thinking what else could possibly happen; I rather prevent incidents than to cure any.

it happened to me before...

my house ran out of hose ring...

and thank god it happened right in front of me...

i turned off the pump immediately,

but my floor was already very wet and.... house blacked out... hahaha...

[Solo77]

power failure - UPS and separate distribution board

Chokage of pipe - ensure no object can enter the pipe opening. Filtering for your overflow and double returns, etc.

Loose Connection - Fastener and regular check.

Faulty Equipment - Standby equipment

Flood - can cause by chokage, faulty equipment, loose connection, etc. Plan your sump and ensure when everthing stopped, your sump can manage. For your return pipe, drip hole to prevent flooding due to back siphon of water from your return pump.

Death - sea cucumber, coral such as anemon, etc can be sucked by wave maker, causing water to be contaminated

Overdosage of supplement - equipment such as CR, dosing pump, etc.

Temperature increase due to breakdown of chiller and lighting(especially MH) turned on.

Murphy law - anything can happen, leakage of tank, etc.

Just do regular check and be prepare for worst case. In reefing, there are systems available to prevent this and that but there is no 100% assurance. Regular check and maintenance helps.

[gp2700]

Wow Solo77, thanks for the details.

Will check thru my setup based on your list when i get back home later tonight.

power failure - UPS and separate distribution board

Chokage of pipe - ensure no object can enter the pipe opening. Filtering for your overflow and double returns, etc.

Loose Connection - Fastener and regular check.

Faulty Equipment - Standby equipment

Flood - can cause by chokage, faulty equipment, loose connection, etc. Plan your sump and ensure when everthing stopped, your sump can manage. For your return pipe, drip hole to prevent flooding due to back siphon of water from your return pump.

Death - sea cucumber, coral such as anemon, etc can be sucked by wave maker, causing water to be contaminated

Overdosage of supplement - equipment such as CR, dosing pump, etc.

Temperature increase due to breakdown of chiller and lighting(especially MH) turned on.

Murphy law - anything can happen, leakage of tank, etc.

Just do regular check and be prepare for worst case. In reefing, there are systems available to prevent this and that but there is no 100% assurance. Regular check and maintenance helps.

[thomas_lim]

Flooding for me.. many times in my old place.

Using the redsea berlin venturi skimmer those days. Everything I add some addictives... the skimmer goes mad and skimmed out tons of water!!!

Good to know if u had a external skimmer which had a small skimmer cup or no external drainage for the skimmate.

[Solo77]

haha, so now you know who to seek help when u encounter flood, call bro thomas, he is experienced. Maybe he is doing free lance in helping ppl to clean up flood incident....hehe

[zorden]

Death of reefer. Some years ago. very long liao. one reefer actually fell down when he is cleaning or maintaining the tank. He injured his head and passed away. Nothing beat termination of Life.

Thomas.. how much you charge for clearning FLOOD... bukit timah need u

[TFMANIAC]

an anemone death that was discovered too late.

[jyoon]

My tank on "fire" in 2006!!!! Due to electrical cable short cct on my UV. Lucky the water intake burst and extinguish the fire. House flooded with more then 100 litres of water.

If I were to know Thomas earlier, will definite engage him.

[stevenkoh08]

seem like this discussion is more on flood.... Which i myself also face before cause of block black out and way back 6mths, which i have a very shallow sump.........

So now back to thomas, how much for cleaning ha ha

[Underwater]

Long ago, hand itchy, got an anemone, then it went into the wavemaker while l was at work, got blended, poisoned & killed all LS (except 2 clownfishes), and I was so depressed that nearly gave up reefing. Next, power failure at home and somehow skimmer pump air inlet tube dunno why started to draw water out from the sump and flooded the house. Had a hard time cleaning the house.

Also got 2 reefer friends who had their chiller pumps malfunctioned while they were at work, and their MH lights cooked the whole tank, esp their SPS and expensive fishes. Hence, l guess one of the worst thing that can happen is something wrong happened when you are not at home.

[arcanehacker]

Its good to have 2 returns.. I have had pump stuck for a whole day because a damn eel climbed in there. With a second return, it guarantees a return flow.

Also I had times where the return breaks down (inevitable).. like recent bloated OR6500 impeller. At least I have my second return to depend on that day.

UPS for wavemakers is a good idea.. in case of a major trip and no ones at home, water will still have a decent flow for that few hours.. This is more of prolonging the 'life' of your unattended tank before it crashes.. Even if you have never experienced trips at your home before, though not frequent, HDB does occasional power maintenance. Power shutdown usually span few hours. Or worst, like many years back where a whole area in Singapore power failure.. I believe many people's tank crashed that day..

[arcanehacker]

Actually a good rule of thumb in setting up is to make it as self sustained as possible..

Eg If you use MH lights, get a temp control on it, Auto water top-up if possible, Auto feeder, 2 returns, UPS(es) on wavemaker(s) (UPS on return is not quiet sustainable unless you got a big a*s UPS ), Denitrator, etc..

It will somehow give you an ease of mind even if you leave unattended for a week or two.