Apartment Reefing
- Thread starter Rocky2234
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Kellie in CA
Valuable Member
I rent a condo and have never gone bigger than 25 gallons. Landlords usually don't care about tanks in this range.
I made sure when I moved to be on the ground floor this time. At my last place, I had too many nightmares of the tank breaking and water seeping through to the downstairs unit and ruining their brand new hardwood floors. Renter's Insurance doesn't cover this, I checked! I live in earthquake country, gotta be careful!
I made sure when I moved to be on the ground floor this time. At my last place, I had too many nightmares of the tank breaking and water seeping through to the downstairs unit and ruining their brand new hardwood floors. Renter's Insurance doesn't cover this, I checked! I live in earthquake country, gotta be careful!
tiggs
Active Member
I do. I just run a 14G cube and am in the process of setting up a 50G low boy frag tank. Any time I've lived in an apartment and not on the ground floor, I've followed a few rules. Nothing larger than 75G (and that's even pushing it), try to place it against a load-bearing wall (if over 50G), and no sumps. While every part of me wants a full sump system, I simply can't run the risk of something going wrong and ruining my apartment, ruining my downstairs neighbor's apartment, or terminating my lease. I'm also huge on redundancy and safeguards, so I have numerous measures in place to prevent bad things from happening and alerting me ASAP.
Justin....#JAMAS
Valuable Member
ive got a 75 gallon mixed reef in my apartment in leeds! sorry my camera sucks but ya get the gist lol
Joel Franco
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I have an 80 gallon 4 foot tank with a 30 gallon sump on a second story apartment. I also have a IM Lagoon 25 gallon with a custome stand with no problems. Probably pushing it.
Rocky2234
Community Member
Do you have a sump? Does your landlord allow tanks over 40 gallons?ive got a 75 gallon mixed reef in my apartment in leeds! sorry my camera sucks but ya get the gist lol
Rocky2234
Community Member
I was thinking of getting a red sea reefer E-260 that has a sump on the back of the tank, what do you think about this arrangement?
Justin....#JAMAS
Valuable Member
Right now, I rigged up a small 15 gallon old trickler style sump that was free i got from a yard sale! It actually looks really ghetto but thinking about it now and by looking at it and how well it benefits my tank, it almost acts like a chaeto reactor with mechanical filtration! The chaeto groqs like wildfire and its in a very confined space down there with a plant lighy on it all day long!
I have this 20 gallon i bought and im slowly fixing it up as a DIY sump....slowly but surely! and yes my landlord allows whatever i want lol, she says that "its your place, i dont care what you do there! " lol heck id set up a 200gallon if i could afford it
I have this 20 gallon i bought and im slowly fixing it up as a DIY sump....slowly but surely! and yes my landlord allows whatever i want lol, she says that "its your place, i dont care what you do there! " lol heck id set up a 200gallon if i could afford it
Justin....#JAMAS
Valuable Member
pm me and il send you pics of the sump if youd like
tiggs
Active Member
An all-in-one setup would be great and there's a much lesser chance of causing an accidental flood. Sumps in apartments are definitely fine and I'm definitely being overly cautious and a bit paranoid with my personal rules, but I'd personally rather operate on the side of caution when there's more at stake than simply grabbing a mop and apologizing to the girl lol. The Reefer E-260 is a very nice tank and the AIO setup is a great middle ground between full sump and a tank full of HOB gear and wires everywhere.
Rocky2234
Community Member
Nice setup, if you wouldn't mind what insurance company do you use?
Rocky2234
Community Member
This site has not given me that option.
Rocky2234
Community Member
What types of redundancy and safeguards do you have? Also what type of alerts?
._Z_.
Active Member
I’ve got a 45 AIO in my apartment. As far as safe guards I’ve got a gfci adapter, and an ATO with plenty of redundancy. Also I’ve got renters insurance, but it only covers aquarium damages if I’m negligent. Statefarm doesn’t have any riders for additional aquarium coverage I’m told.
Hope that helps
Hope that helps
Rocky2234
Community Member
Thanks for the reply.
tiggs
Active Member
Apologies for the late reply on this one. I must have missed the last post.
For me, most of the redundancy is handled by my Apex. Since I don't run a sump, my biggest flood risk is my ATO getting stuck on. Tunze has a built-in mechanism that automatically stops the unit after running for a certain amount of time continuously, but I also control the power to the outlet it's plugged into. For this particular outlet, it only gets power for 30 seconds every half hour. This way, if by some horrendous luck, both the sensor and the built-in safety mechanism fail, it won't flood. Additionally, I have alerts setup for things like ORP dropping drastically (something dying/dead), salinity outside my typical range (ATO problems), etc. Another example is how temperature is controlled in my tank. Aside from my Apex programmed to kill power to the heater outlet and turn off the light if the temperature gets too high, I also use the built-in temperature sensor on the heater itself. This way, it would take both the sensor and the temp probe on the Apex to fail in order to fry my tank.
So long story short, my controller's primary purpose is slightly different than a lot of folks. While I'm all about the automation and control that it provides (and use this functionality a ton), the single biggest reason I have a controller is to provide failsafes and redundancy to devices that already control themselves. I feel that if you use your controller to act as the single point of control for your entire system, you're right back to a single point of failure in many respects.
For me, most of the redundancy is handled by my Apex. Since I don't run a sump, my biggest flood risk is my ATO getting stuck on. Tunze has a built-in mechanism that automatically stops the unit after running for a certain amount of time continuously, but I also control the power to the outlet it's plugged into. For this particular outlet, it only gets power for 30 seconds every half hour. This way, if by some horrendous luck, both the sensor and the built-in safety mechanism fail, it won't flood. Additionally, I have alerts setup for things like ORP dropping drastically (something dying/dead), salinity outside my typical range (ATO problems), etc. Another example is how temperature is controlled in my tank. Aside from my Apex programmed to kill power to the heater outlet and turn off the light if the temperature gets too high, I also use the built-in temperature sensor on the heater itself. This way, it would take both the sensor and the temp probe on the Apex to fail in order to fry my tank.
So long story short, my controller's primary purpose is slightly different than a lot of folks. While I'm all about the automation and control that it provides (and use this functionality a ton), the single biggest reason I have a controller is to provide failsafes and redundancy to devices that already control themselves. I feel that if you use your controller to act as the single point of control for your entire system, you're right back to a single point of failure in many respects.
Rocky2234
Community Member
Great reply - thank you
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