Funny story...I almost wiped my 235g system.

[King_Neptune]

Ok not so funny.
Just a real slice of humble pie.
I really hope my lesson can be passed on to someone who will remember this story:

I was flipping mislabeled switches in the garage circuit board couple weeks ago, and mistakenly cut the power to 2 sockets in the aquarium room w/out realizing it.
These two outlets were for the heaters. All my pumps and lights went on as usual, and in my complacency I never gave it any thought. The next day I see my corals aren't so perky.
I blew it off because the lights were just barely on.
Day 2, same thing but again same excuse.
Day 3...WTF lights have been on 8 hours...they perk up by now.
I stick my hand in...ICE!! OMG what have I done!!! 56 degrees(it was that cold frosty spell we had over thanksgiving)

How could I have done this to myself!
Ive been at this hobby since 07', this tank has been running over 9 months flawlessly.
The live stock I had cared for almost 3 years was on the brink of death. It was a tense week of counter measures, and in the end...I somehow got out of this all with (no BS)...just some dead Aptasia.
This isnt a pat on the back moment, I really messed up. I was so used to temps looking good, I dont know when I started slacking. Month or so I guess. Bottom line, I am back to my rigid schedule, I don't deserve to have my tank live. It defies what was supposed to happen. I should have lost everything but the fish. And even some of them. Nothing, not my inverts, my corals, my fish died. Nothing but the pests of the tank suffered. The hardest hit coral was an SPS that has browned(but still shows polyps and will probably pull through). Three days w/out any heat, at the mercy of a garage and concrete floor. Next to a window that has constant fan sucking any warm air outside to keep moisture down.

I ordered a reefkeeper lite the other day. I will have 1200w of heaters hooked up to it so they all turn on in unison now. I will have a battery backup alarm that will warn me if the temps dip below safe. I learned my lesson, and am ensuring I never do this again. I hope someone walks away shaking their head in amazement and understanding how stupid my mistake was. I hope this amazement translates to: I would never make that mistake. Good, then you got the moral of my story!

 

[trido]

Sorry to hear about your near misfortune.

Just a fair warning though........ I've had two temp probes go bad on my controller in the last five years so even an expensive controller can cause you problems if you get complacent.
FWIW, my Ranco dual stage controller has worked flawlessly for those same five years.

 

[King_Neptune]

Which model Ranco are you using? How many watts can it handle? Id eventually like to hook up a total of about 1500w of heating that will all fire up in unison. And I planned on getting something a little more "industrially reliable" eventually.

I can always put the RKL on something else like lights and water flow options ect. I have heard they can fail. But for now this was a reasonable solution to patch things up real fast.
$115 for a RKL that will do more than temp controls is still a favorable investment to me. Ill have a new toy that will be able to do other stuff as well ^^

 

[trido]

AFAIK the Ranco controllers are rated for 500 watts out of the box. I have heard of people custom ordering them for higher wattage ratings.

I am running 750 watts on mine and always have.
Can I ask? why do you feel the need for 1500 watts of heaters on a 300+ system. I have always ran 750 on my 210 even when there was a total of 500 gallons.
Even when my 150g sump and all other supporting tanks were in the tank room, the 750 watts kept up when Seattle temps were below freezing.

 

[trido]

Oh and BTW, I completely agree with your having the RK controller. I wont run a reef tank without one (I use Neptune but have no qualms with RK's either). I also like to use a Ranco for heating and a Milwaukee for reactor controls.
IME the Ranco has never failed and the Milwaukee has had very stable probe readings for up to a year. My controller has had two temp probes fail and a Ph probe get old and fail also. Also the Ph probes tend to be finicky on my Aqucontroller. By having secondary controllers, you arent putting all your eggs in one basket so to speak. Also, if one probe gets you a funky reading you quickly have a se
cond probe to cross reference it with. If only one probe read odd somethings wrong with a probe. If they both read off the norm, you have real problems.

 

[BigAl07]

SO glad you realized it when you did. You got very lucky but then again having healthy livestock goes a long way to being able to survive such an issue.

I've got everything running through my ProfiLux and due to their "Lab Grade" probes etc I've never had a temp probe issue even with one being in storage for 18 months un-covered. I go online and give everything a "Look" every day and have it set up with alarms and a daily "Status Email".

Good luck and Happy Reefing

 

[King_Neptune]

Can I ask? why do you feel the need for 1500 watts of heaters on a 300+ system.

Its a cold building. Basically a converted barn. There's no other heat, and its next to a window to allow lots of sunlight(actually pretty awesome in the summer!). I really do wear a coat when Im tending to my tank in the winter months.
I dont "need" much over 1000w to keep it safely in line. But honestly I would like to have some extra power just to keep a few as backup for when/if the inevitable failure happens.
Im at 1200(well give or take 50w... I cant really remember exactly). 1500 just means that they wont have to be running as long to get the temps back up. Ill probably get a whole brand new set of heaters.
Right now I got a rainbow package of who knows what. JBL,Stealth,Marine land to name a few. They range from 150-300w. Thats sloppy as well.

I plan to consolidate my base by summer and have it to just 2 primary and two smaller backups. Something around the 1500 total mark, but not past 1600 though.

 

[King_Neptune]

I've got everything running through my ProfiLux and due to their "Lab Grade" probes etc I've never had a temp probe issue even with one being in storage for 18 months un-covered. I go online and give everything a "Look" every day and have it set up with alarms and a daily "Status Email".

So many wonderful controllers out there! I just went with the noob choice and got the RKL with only basic research. I knew there had to be better ones out there, but for a relatively small investment, I got something that will definitely work as a patch till I finalize a nice reliable model for a permanent addition.

 

[str8juizy]

Oooh, I'm so glad your tank was ok! I had a heater go out about a month after I set my tank up. At that point I was all over the tank checking levels daily. I caught it as soon as it dropped. Could have been a mess! I DID however make a BIG mistake the other night that could have cost me my tank... My 9yr old daughter woke up in the middle of the night sick and instead of heading for the bathroom she walked down the hallway into the living room, throwing up all over the walls & floors. I spent the next 2 hours SPRAYING cleaners all over the place... floors, walls... same room as my tank. I was 1/2 asleep when I was doing this and it did not even enter my mind that the chemicals from the sprays might get into my tank! I think the only thing that saved me was the fact that my cooling fan was off and I was not using any aerosal spray cleaners. I almost gave myself a heart attack when I realized what I was doing! My house is full of girls (my poor hubby is the only man) & I even have a sign at the end of the hall that says "No Perfume or Hairspray Past this Point!"... he he he. Anyways, I think we have all had our OMG moments of stupidity! Maybe we should start a new thread entitled that to tell our horror stories??? I'm gonna do it!

 

[King_Neptune]

Ya, normally id probably be embarrassed to admit to something like that. Most people dont like to admit the dumb stuff they do in this hobby. But I just got a real bug up my shirt to fess up in hopes others will learn. Honestly I have a "Wall of shame" in my aquarium room. I keep the remains of every coral Ive ever killed ^_^. It lines the window sill when you walk into the room as a reminder to learn from my mistakes.