chiller ext controller

[[V]tEc]

Not sure this is the right place to post this topic, but i juz wan to share this very sad thing that i encountered on sun afternoon. I guess some of u may already know that i lost some very beautiful fishes which include the lineatus n flame wrasse. mystery wrasse still unknown yet.... what causes the temp of my tank to raise to 35 degree is my ext chiller controller failing to activate my chiller to kick in... not sure why it failed as the night b4 when i was checking on the tank b4 i slp, chiller still running as per normal. however when i wake up, was totally shocked to c the 35 degree on the controller, 1st tot was that the chiller died. but when i plug the chiller direct to the power pt, it was working fine. i do not know how long was my tank temp in 35 degree, but it was long enuff to kill the 2 beautiful wrasses. most corals r surprising still okie except for been stress at the moment. coral i lost so far is a japanese supersun and a bubble. so far i have not read abt this controller failing so i tot is good to share as i dun wan anyone else to encounter this painful thing.

[sherman]

Sori to hear that.

But I think you are not the first one to meet this.

My Ext control also go off 2 months ago and i lost some fishes and

corals.

I still cannot undertand how it happen.

But just have to accept it sometime

Cheers up bro and continue the hobby

[stevenkoh08]

sorry to hear that of what happen, but for equipment to fail is still possible like others electronic parts.

[loowk]

Most likely is the relay within that broke down. Do note that this could happen from time to time due to extended exposure to moisture.

[[V]tEc]

i guess this is parts n parcel of reefing...no matter how careful we r, we still will lose some of our loved fishes n corals. this morning reach hm after work c the tank make my heart ache.....the aussie "prata" also goner.... some sps frags i think dying....very big pc of monti gone too.....4 mths of hard work gone within a day. may take a break from reefing as i m too tired to restart the tank..... planning to sell my black tang if there is someone who love that fish.....

[Solo77]

Bro, yr black tang is also one of your loved fishes. Come back strong for this fellow.

tEc' date='03 May 2010 - 09:13 AM' timestamp='1272849181' post='906037']

i guess this is parts n parcel of reefing...no matter how careful we r, we still will lose some of our loved fishes n corals. this morning reach hm after work c the tank make my heart ache.....the aussie "prata" also goner.... some sps frags i think dying....very big pc of monti gone too.....4 mths of hard work gone within a day. may take a break from reefing as i m too tired to restart the tank..... planning to sell my black tang if there is someone who love that fish.....

[raydiative]

Sorry to hear that bro...

[[V]tEc]

Bro, yr black tang is also one of your loved fishes. Come back strong for this fellow.

i m now stucked inbetween. beside the blackie, there still my mystery (thank god he made it), my maldives leopard which was kept from my first tank till now, my cheapo brown tang which is with me for coming 3 yrs.... now the prob is i want to change to drop in coil chiller, but my sump no more space for it. so either i decom, change sump, reset up....or i build up a new system....

[Underwater]

Bro, thanks for your caution. I just bought a new external controller made by a shop and it works great so far. My chiller used to kick in every abt 3 hours, but now only abt 5 hours then kick in. Think i better monitor my set also.

Sorry to hear the loss of your beloved fishes and corals. I can understand the heartpain. Hope you'll stay on strong. How about changing MH to T5, or using lesser T5 so that in case anything happens again, the temp won't go up that high? But with SPS, maybe that is difficult to do.

Drop-in coil is most ideal, no noise and heat in the house also, esp during these days when weather is already so hot and humid. Just that the piping and trunking can be a headache if house is already renovated.

[[V]tEc]

Bro, thanks for your caution. I just bought a new external controller made by a shop and it works great so far. My chiller used to kick in every abt 3 hours, but now only abt 5 hours then kick in. Think i better monitor my set also.

Sorry to hear the loss of your beloved fishes and corals. I can understand the heartpain. Hope you'll stay on strong. How about changing MH to T5, or using lesser T5 so that in case anything happens again, the temp won't go up that high? But with SPS, maybe that is difficult to do.

Drop-in coil is most ideal, no noise and heat in the house also, esp during these days when weather is already so hot and humid. Just that the piping and trunking can be a headache if house is already renovated.

i m using 6 tubes of T5 as i m keeping some SPS. and still not enuff for SPS....ideal is 8 tubes n above. ur heatload is very low or ur place is very windy? even with ext controller, my chiller rest the most 2.5hrs.... in the afternoon, rest abt 1 hr + nia

[Underwater]

Maybe LED but will be very costly i think. I only got a Ehiem 1262 return pump (run externally), 2 wavemakers, 3 T5s, 2 15w lamps for algae scrubber and Rio chiller pump. I think could be my temp controller which is not set too low cos i dun have SPS. I only set to kick in at 28.5 and stop at 27.3 (1.5 degrees).

[[V]tEc]

i m running 2 1262 returns 1 of it feed into the chiller, 1 aquabee 5000 skimmer n 1 ehiem 2k compact for skimmer feeder, 1 aquabee 1000 for my FR, 1 ehiem 1000 compact for my denitrator, 1 24w light for my chaeto, 6 tubes of T5, 1 mp40w, 1 hydor k4 and 1 seio 620.....

[Underwater]

Wow bro, you have quite a bit of pumps though. But of course, you are into SPS, so there are minimum stuff you need to have.

Hope all is well with your other precious fishes and corals.

[[V]tEc]

juz do a check on my tank, most of my torch, true octos frog spawn melting....mystery n leopard wrasse missing.....sian

[BFG]

What brand is this external temperature probe? What chiller are you using? If you want to have a coil chiller and you can't use it in sump, then you need to customized a container to hold the coil in while having 2 connector to let water in and out. Seen it before on the net but can't remember where it was. Made of clear thick acrylic cylinder.

[Underwater]

tEc' date='03 May 2010 - 12:23 PM' timestamp='1272860620' post='906150']

juz do a check on my tank, most of my torch, true octos frog spawn melting....mystery n leopard wrasse missing.....sian

OMG...am sure there'll be tough ones around...hope your corals will recover quickly and leopard coming out from hiding in the sand.

[kanegan]

tEc' date='03 May 2010 - 12:23 PM' timestamp='1272860620' post='906150']

juz do a check on my tank, most of my torch, true octos frog spawn melting....mystery n leopard wrasse missing.....sian

Hi bro,

Sorry to hear about your loss. Don't give up! I will miss your avatar!

Maybe you can get one of those ext temp controller that cut off power to some of your lights and pumps at high temperature as a safeguard to prevent the tragedy from recurring?

[sun2000]

Tough to hear this news. Seen the same scenario when my chiller failed. Sometimes electronic components fail without warning. Was wondering if it was good to install an external temperature alarm (i.e. set at 30 Deg)to prevent these type of disaster. Hope you'll continue reefing.

[infinityex]

Very sad. Care to share more details about the external controller so we can be more wary in future of using these products?

[[V]tEc]

lastest update, 50% of corals dying, i think....threw away all true octo torch n frogspawn. will take a break n if i can put the drop in coil, i will restart n hopefully go full sps this time round since most of my lps dead.....tks for the kind words of everyone...

[zorden]

actually i wonder is it good or is there anyway we can use 2 of this temp controller to safeguard our tank? sorry for this really dumb question as i am not an electrican but contemplating of hooking my ghl and this fox thingy soon.

[peacemaker]

It can be used as an additional safety net should your main controller fail. Probably configured as such that when the temp exceeds a set limit, say 30^oC, it will trigger your lights (generate the most heat?) to switch off and fans (back up for chiller) to switch on to cool the tank. Of course, it is just another equipment that could fail too, but worth the extra 100+ bucks to save the thousands spent, not forgetting the effort and time involved.

[Underwater]

i would fully agree also, if tank temp is likely to go beyond 30oC during chiller problem, then a second controller to activate fan and disconnect lights when temp reaches beyond 30oC would seem important, esp when on holidays or even at work. But then must find a right temp (maybe 29oC?) when to disconnect the fan and activate the lights, if not the fan may run non-stop (dry out the return compartment) and lights never be activated (for corals) if that set temp cannot be reached, crucial when on long holidays.

[[V]tEc]

i like the quote of what bro solo said to me when he saw i kena this shit....our tank is like a time bomb.... u may find ways of preventing tank from overheating, but what if the controller nothing wrong, but chiller pump jam or main return pump jam, or filter too dirty causing overflowing of water or maybe something shorted in ur house causing power trip. from this issue i encounter, i guess if we wan to reef, we need to be prepare for such a day. anything on the tank can fail on us anytime....

[LaW]

tEc' date='06 May 2010 - 01:48 AM' timestamp='1273081722' post='907300']

i like the quote of what bro solo said to me when he saw i kena this shit....our tank is like a time bomb.... u may find ways of preventing tank from overheating, but what if the controller nothing wrong, but chiller pump jam or main return pump jam, or filter too dirty causing overflowing of water or maybe something shorted in ur house causing power trip. from this issue i encounter, i guess if we wan to reef, we need to be prepare for such a day. anything on the tank can fail on us anytime....

couldnt agree more, thats why we need a double safety most of the time to be good. like 2 return pump, using chiller to lower temperature and controller to shut off non-important equipments when temperature go wrong.