Blog Comments

  1. V's Avatar
    indeed.
  2. lReef lKeeper's Avatar
    hey V, yes the lower float switch activates the the top off pump, and the higher one disables it if the first one fails. so the water level can only get so high in the sump before the ATO is disabled by its design. i am really digging this design ... stickybeak. lmao
  3. V's Avatar
    Such a spectacular species bud.

    Geeze, mysteries macro shot is fantastic
  4. V's Avatar
    orsome.

    You know, im glad you know what your doing in our hobby. I think you might be the exception to the rule here - Surely its worth leaving your day job for..lol

  5. V's Avatar
    wow, overkill on italic bud. You might want to look at that IMO

    On your skimmer, its worth mentioning you can drill the cup and run a decent overflow line to another container for redundancy. If its a free standing model, aka, not in a wet area, in the worst case situation of course, when the overflow container continues to fill you can place a level switch to it so it kills the power going to the skimmer.

    I like you "hide the copper" statement
  6. V's Avatar
    nice bobby. interesting about the pressure sensor. Do you stagger your current float switches in the system?

    Hows your coral holiday going?
  7. lReef lKeeper's Avatar
    nope, that an internet picture

    im still looking, but right now money is a little tight for a $300 fish !!
  8. V's Avatar
    well once we both have more time, i'll add to your bits & tricks here, with good old fashion home grown wrong advice from Vster ok.

    I see you got the new fish shot happening, end up tracking it down or what?
  9. lReef lKeeper's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by lReef lKeeper
    11) If your power goes out all is not lost, necessarily. There are a lot of way to save your inhabitants. I recommend having a few battery powered air pumps available at all times. I try to keep at least 4 in my fish room, two for my 125 gallon display tank and two for my 100 gallon frag tank. Both of my tanks are plumbed together, so all of the air pumps are helping the same system, but in different areas. I only have a few fish, but am pretty heavily stocked with corals and frags.
    Another option is having a sort of DIY generator. You can go to Home Depot or Lowes and pick up a power inverter for $50 - $100 with enough amps to run your pumps for quiet a long time. To do this you will need a marine battery or two, a power inverter, and a surge protector. It is a pretty primitive way run a tank, but hey, it works. I have ran my return pump (Gen-X pcx40), two Hydor Koralia #4's, a Sieo 1500, and a modified Maxi-Jet for around 12 hours on one battery, I recommend two batteries for extended outages.
    You can also go “All Out” and supply your system with a natural gas backup generator that has to be connected to your homes gas line. When the power goes out, the generator kicks on after 5 minutes or so and will run EVERYTHING in your system (and house) for an unlimited amount of time. Where I am from, the power never goes out for more than a couple of hours, so I use the power inverter option.

    12)Lastly for this article ... introduce you sitter to Talkingreef or your local fish clubs web site forums, so they can post questions or concerns if something looks out of the ordinary. Web forums are an invaluable tool in our hobby. Everyone wants to help and be helped and the Internet is, in my opinion, the best place to get help in a hurry. When something just does not look right other hobbyists are far more likely to give the right advise if the correct description of the problem is givin to them. Sure a LFS can help, but I trust the answers givin by my fellow reefers than a school kid who has no experience in the hobby that I have spent so much of my blood, sweat, tears, time, and money building. It is nothing personal against the kid in the LFS, just my preference.

    I really hope this helps a lot of people to prepare for a vacation. This article will probably be updated in the coming months, to include the more advanced reefers needs, but this “basic” to do list will get anyone through a vacation, without the stress of thinking that your system is going to crash if you are not there every day to take care of it. There is a thread on Talkingreef titled “need help here (nothing serious)” here is a link ... need some help here (nothing serious) … where you can post anything else that you can thing of that might be helpful in an updated version of this guide. Until next time ... Happy Reefing !!