Vacation Problem

[Jeremevans]

So... I'm on vacation and I spent the wee hours of morning teaching my father in law about my setup over the phone.

 

I woke up at 4 am local time (Maui) thanks to my little monster (son)...And then I looked at my phone to find a string of Apex alarm emails.

 

 

The temp in my tank was falling and falling and falling. I have backup heaters and a second controller so I started to get concerned something catastrophic was happening. My setup is plumbed from the garage so lots of problems are possible.

 

After getting my father in law up and to my house I started to get him oriented. He used a meat thermometer from the kitchen to double check the temp. The reading was 84. Now my concerns switched to a running too high malfunction.

 

Back in the garage he checks the sump and it is also high. I send him to the bin of QT equipment and pull a different thermometer. It reads 77. Phew! I now know my kitchen meat thermometer isn't accurate.

 

Next thing he notices is that my Apex screen is blank...Yikes. trace the wire to the bus and disconnect and reconnect. Ok...It's fine now.

 

Now he's searching for probes to check because I can only figure the ATO has failed. I then remember I drew sharpie lines for high and low water on the sump. He looks and we are low and the temp probe is almost entirely out of the water.

 

Luckily I keep a brute garbage can full of rodi water for emergencies. He topped up the tank and the alarms turned off. But then the leak detector alarm went off. Not a big deal though just a spill while topping up.

 

So, there was no real crisis in the end. Why do these things always pop up when you go on vacation?

 

 

 

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[shaywood]

Couple of years ago we were in Maui and had a tank leak. Folks at Upscales helped out. Now I have Tom keep an eye on the tank when were out of town. 

[Emerald525]

Glad it all worked out. I usually lose one Coral for no reason at all whenever I travel. I don’t know why. Your tank simply knows when you’re gone. 

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

sooo. what was the final cause of the issue... apex top off fail?

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[TheClark]

Good deal, I figured it was temp probe outta water, been there done that.

I run a couple temp probes just for a second opinion.  One in overflow, one in ATO area.  The overflow one is always underwater.

Talk about Murphy's law!

 

[Jeremevans]

I'm using a smart ATO and it failed. I've had a buggy experience with it periodically being resets.

I've looked at the apex topoff kit but it seems to be getting mixed reviews. A second temp probe and a second topoff at a lower level might be what I need.


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[zondebok]

I switched from a smart ATO to the Apex ATK.  It is considerably more reliable, though I have had a couple of issues with it that I am working through with apex support.  The smart ATO was constantly beeping for one reason or another, it seemed like.

[pdxmonkeyboy]

for what its worth, with a break put box ($20) and $4 in float valves you can program a top off system.

Thats my plan anyways. I purchased the tunze and then realized it has a hard programmed 10 min max run time which wont work with my large top off needs.

with the BOB you could also create a backup ATO. just a single float switch placed lower than your ordinary ato float switch. so if your ATO fails, water evaporates and then triggers secondary ATO which is shut off by the highest float switch.. the one that is a failsafe that shuts the outlets for the primary and secondary off.

just thinking out loud.. but that is my plan anyways.

also.. if anyone wants some of those cheap chinese digital thermometers tell me and i will bring some to the december meeting. i have like 70 of them.

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[zondebok]

In my case I wanted to add leak sensors anyhow, and my wife wanted "official" leak sensors, so since the ATK came with the FMM module that the leak sensors plugged into, it was just easier.

[Exodus]

11 hours ago, Jeremevans said:

I'm using a smart ATO and it failed. I've had a buggy experience with it periodically being resets.

I've looked at the apex topoff kit but it seems to be getting mixed reviews. A second temp probe and a second topoff at a lower level might be what I need.


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There is in fact mix reviews as with anything else, the other side of it is the expense of purchasing one. Remember this is simply to move water from 1 place to another! I would suggest AutoTopOff.Com I have 2 setups that I have had for years they have never failed me, while they are primitive and basic, they do exactly what they are intended for. If you were to use a single switch you could then buy a seperate float switch to hook up to a break out box as a fail-safe and alarm, or add this in addition to a 2 Switch model. 

Edited November 29, 2017 by Exodus
Spelling errors

[TheClark]

8 hours ago, Exodus said:

There is in fact mix reviews as with anything else, the other side of it is the expense of purchasing one. Remember this is simply to move water from 1 place to another! I would suggest AutoTopOff.Com I have 2 setups that I have had for years they have never failed me, while they are primitive and basic, they do exactly what they are intended for. If you were to use a single switch you could then buy a seperate float switch to hook up to a break out box as a fail-safe and alarm, or add this in addition to a 2 Switch model. 

Autotopoff.com floats are amazing and reliable.

Run multiple floats, it promotes reliability, its easy and allows for things like APEX automated water changes

(love this guys automated water change, gonna swap out my program one of these days...)

 

[Jeremevans]

Adding float sensors with a breakout box sounds like a good plan. That ATO looks pretty decent too. Thanks for the good ideas!


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[pdxmonkeyboy]

if you want further options, there is aquahub.com there top off kit includes a relay that prevents your pump from cycling on and off but this can be programmed around if you are using apex.

BTW.. i have a tunze ATO that I am selling.

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