Let's Talk About Saltwater Emergencies

[Krish]

Here's something a lot people probably aren't prepared for or probably don't even consider...A "saltwater emergency!" What are some of the possible "saltwater emergencies" out there and what do you do to prevent them? For me, one was to always have alteast 2 spare aqualifter's on hand when I ran a CPR overflow. At first, I used a JBJ powerhead to keep the siphon, but came home one day to the powerhead swollen and ready to explode! I had to remove it and my sump was basically off until I was able to rush an aqualifter in. Then, I had the experience of an aqualifter going bad on me (once again sump was down where my skimmer was) so I made it a point to always have atleast 2 aqualifters on hand at all times. Me living in the Bahamas where a lot of these products aren't readily available at our LFS', I had to make sure I kept a good supply of back up equipment.

I had a few other pre-cautionary measures in place, but I'll hold off on them for a bit. I'd like to hear what you guys have experienced or what you have in place to prevent something from happening. Also, it may be helpful to others to hear your horror stories or the pre-cautionary measures you have in place to better prepare themselves because you never know when something will happen to you and you don't want to be one of those people that said, "If only I..."

 

[akunochi]

Emergencies-----

Heat- Apex controller turns light and heater off

Heater broken- I have 15 spare heaters

Broken Pumps- about 20 extra Maxi jets

Chemical problem- I have 55 gallons of pre mixed and heated saltwater and 55 gallons of rodi water both with heaters and circulation pumps.

Power outage- Battery backup on vortechs and soon a 3.5K generator

Accidental kalk mishap- 65 gallon hospital tank for fish and 2 40 breeder,1 50 breeder, and 2 180 gallon spare tanks that can be turned on.

MH bulb broken....1 spare bulb of same Kelvin

Any equipment malfunction Apex notification via email and text message as well as web accessible control and web cam to take action.

 

[Krish]

You have your own LFS huh? :lol:

Another thing I had in place was a generator. When my wife wanted to get one when our first child was expected I thought..."YES!!!" so we had one with an automatic transfer switch so it didn't matter if I was home or not, the tank would have full power.

Another back-up was fans/chiller. On two of my setups I ran both fans and chiller. One was a backup for the other (well mainly on my 75 gal). The tank could manage on either the fans alone or chiller alone, but had both connected. If one failed, the other was there for back-up.

I'll post pics in a sec of something else I did.

 

[Krish]

Here's another backup I had. My sump only allowed for just a slight bit of play for when the return pump was shut off. The back siphon was crazy from the sea-swirl so as a back-up, I extended my sump. We should always have more than enough play for back siphon. You just never know...


Before expansion






Chamber that was to be added. I connected the two via a bulkhead and weldon












Finished product

 

[Krish]

Last thing I had in place which I think is a good thing to have in place on any tank. Imagine not having and automatic top off system. You have to top off manually. You only have about 3 inches of play before your pump sucks air, but you are late one day at topping off or you evaporate more one day than you usually do. Here is what I do on all of my return pumps. I put an elbow (90 degree fitting) on the suction of the pump and have it suck like an inch off of the bottom of the sump. This way, your pump could be almost completely out of the water and still function just incase you don't get to top off or...Your ATO fails and water level drops too low.

 

[sandra6500]

I love the last idea about the elbows on the pumps!!! Great idea and one I will try.

That being said, other than my tank being nuked by my somewhat retarded sister while I was on vacation I set it up pretty much emergency proof. I dose everything manually. Hearing all the horror stories about equipment failure I figured I could spare the 5 minutes in the mornings. I also do my water top off manually. No biggie and there really is nothing on my tank (that I know of) that could break down/fail and cause instant doom. My return pump did fail once but my water levels and drains are set so as to not cause any overflow issues. Pretty much anything could fail on the tank and I would have about 24-48 hours to fix it without damage to the critters inside.

 

[Krish]

I prefer to do everything manually myself. I hate to rely on automatic equipment (like auto top off's, auto dosers etc) that can fail.

 

[spllbnd2]

Emergencies? What are those?

Okay, okay... well let's see... I've had the following emergencies,

• Heater malfuntion

• HOB filter clogged and started to overflow water. Wife noticed after tank was about 1/3 empty and called me home from work.

• Maxi-jet pump malfunctions

• Skimmer pump air tube malfunction allowing water to siphon out of tank. Dunno how it happened.

• Light Ballast water damage

• Bulb breakage

• Tank Leak

I am sure I am missing some things, but all in all, probably all the normal stuff that we as reefers go through in our reef keeping lives.

Cheers,
Alex