Is it inevitable that an SPS dominated reef tank will crash?

[Epic Aquaculture]

If we’re citing “murphy’s law” then this isn’t a question of whether an acropora (or other sps) tank is doomed to crash or not. It’s whether ANY tank is doomed to crash or not. I think the longer any tank is up and running, the more time passes and the more chances pop up for some fault to crash the tank. Odds are eventually the reefkeeper will not be there to stop it from happening. It’s a question of numerical probability just as if you were stay in one place for eons, odds are you’ll eventually get struck by a meteorite, which makes it pretty much a statistical certainty.

I agree. If you put an infinite number of monkeys in a room with an infinite number of typewriters, eventually one of them will type a Shakespearean play, however I don't think that is the spirit of the question, at least not as I'm interpreting it. I'm looking at it as if I set up and properly maintain an SPS dominant system does it have to crash at some point during my time maintaining it. My answer to that is no.

 

[maroun.c]

Been reefing since 20 years, in an unstable country where we had wars, power cuts on daily basis up to 24 hours a day in certain times, as well as periods where there were shortage of salt or additives....
Being a frequent traveler (2-3 weeks imo travel every month) with 2x3 years abroad assignments over last 10 years, where I kept my tank with help of the wife....and checked it every2-3 weeks when I came back.
The above was a recipe for a crash. Yet keeping the tank setup very simple, focus on quality equipment and having redundancy and backups at hand allowed me.to never be close to a crash. I've had issues like alk and temp spikes, contaminants... which led to major losses but believe i handled them the best I could to avoid major losses. I also strongly believe that corals u had for years slowly get used to a few changes or become more hardy, could also be that we slowly lose the less hardy ones which makes for a more resilient stick in the tank.
I've lost nice corals in the past but was able to recover a few from frags I had shared with friends and which they grew so that's also a great practice for backup.for corals u get attached to or.ones which are not easy to source in this side of the world....
Also believe we are developing better understanding and reef husbandry all the time, additives and dosing system are evolving which should help with longterm success. Automated testing will play a huge role in avoiding disasters same as controllers did. The opposite is true as well am afraid if we let automatic testing or controllers control critical things in our tanks .
I believe keeping it simple, not neglecting testing and looking at ur tank on daily basis to see early signs of an issue and learning how to handle issues is key for longterm success.
One thing I believe helps is not having perfect numbers at all times, which infeel makes the corals less tolerant for tiny drifts or maybe makes them more susceptible in nutrient starved tanks.

 

[BillFish Coral Lover]

Sorry, dude. I guess I gotta bite the bullet and at least buy a UPS. You'd have needed a generator and a lot of gas on storage!

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

I agree. If you put an infinite number of monkeys in a room with an infinite number of typewriters, eventually one of them will type a Shakespearean play, however I don't think that is the spirit of the question, at least not as I'm interpreting it. I'm looking at it as if I set up and properly maintain an SPS dominant system does it have to crash at some point during my time maintaining it. My answer to that is no.

I think what most people fail to realize is the opposing arguments they are making is NOT SPS tank specific. I understand the question just as you do, "is there an inevitable expiration date to a newly setup SPS tank?" Nothing that any one has proposed can be attributed to ONLY SPS dominant systems.

I think it's easier to tip the scales for an SPS dominant system but that wasn't the question. Differing levels of experience combined with proper setup, equipment, contingencies and husbandry will dictate success, not the count down timer from the day you add your first SPS.

 

[TheDragonsReef]

It really depends on youre setup. Your average hobbyist will most likely see a crash at some point. Ive been in the hobby for 15 years and my 265gallon has crashed twice. The first was the chiller broke while i was away and the second was the kalkwasser reactor for stuck on overnight and yeah.

Now why i think it depends on your setup is there are definitely ways to prevent this stuff and the biggest and easiest way is something like an apex that alerts you as soon as something is off. Too often the problems arent noticed until it's too late. No one tests their water every day or sits in front of the tank 24/7. You simply can't monitor when you're not there without a system. If a dosing pump gets stuck on the apex can tell you and shut it off before theres a problem.

The other big thing is to have backups. If a major life support system fails what will happen? You need that second heater with extra temp sensors, the spare chiller, a backup return pump, a generator, etc.

If you don't have all that, there's always a chance.

 

[nomsmon]

I have zero experience keeping SPS, but this thread did remind me of a few things from my line of work where risk management is a big focus.

As others have said, one is none and two is one. No backup is asking for a failure and a single backup is really the absolute minimum.

The above applies not just to equipment (heaters, chillers, powerheads), but also applies to sensors and measuring devices. A classic example is aircraft; some systems will have as many as 4 redundant sensors so that data can be compared and any errors from faulty sensors rejected. The osmolator ATO, with both an optical and backup mechanical sensor, incorporates that design principle.

One thing I haven't heard many people mention is monitoring. Problems will happen eventually; gear will fail, parameters will get misaligned due to changes in the system, etc. The question is not if, but when.

Knowing that a problem has occurred allows you to address it as fast as possible.
Knowing what problem has occurred allows you to perform the most effective remediation.

Having a plan for remediation and designing the system in such a way that it can be easily/reliably remediated when an issue inevitably occurs goes a long way as well.