Recommend back up equipment to always have on hand.

[vetteguy53081]

I keep the following spares:
heater
return pump
salt
bulbs
frozen food
controller system
Filter bags
Doser

 

[Erica-Renee]

For me its the Generator with lots of propane tanks (propane generator to me better)
Extra cords for generator.

Extra SALTWATER and rodi water . Return pump. heaters . and storage tank in case the TANK Breaks (yes this will happen to you ,its just a matter of when) Its not a bad idea to keep air pump and air stones . Ice water bottles or frozen buckets or jugs of ice in the summer (for the liquid swamp cooler) Lots of salt mix..

 

[JasonK84]

Ah bulkheads the part no one near me stocks! No that you said that I think I better order a set. Mine are at least 10 years old.

+1 on the whole I should keep some of those. Keep coming up with spare parts to keep on hand and pretty soon we will just need to have a hardware store in a room of our homes!! Lol

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Seems there has been a increase of “ this happened and it’s midnight so no one is open what do I do “ posts mainly over equipment issues so I thought I would start a post wil a list of equipment I personally recommend always having a spare of. I also thought we could all share a story on our own mishaps that are the reason why we/you keep a spare of a specific part now.
Personally I keep :
2 spare 500 watt heaters as they will fit in any of my tanks.
2 spare powerheads 1 - 1350 Hydors old one from a tank take down but work
4 Battery powered cheap air pumps Incase I lost power in a storm.
2 Spare T5 bulbs and a T5 fixture I bought off amazon strictly for a back up light so the cheapest I could find.

Sadly back in 1999 I learned the hard way to keep the spare parts I do all due to my ex-wife’s cat :mad:
We went out of town for a few days and returned late on a Friday night to find her cat chewed up the power cords to the powerheads, heater, and lights at some point. The tank was at approximately 70* most the fish were ok but the corals looked awful. In the small town we lived in there was nothing open till Monday and the nearest one open on a weekend was 2 hours away. No petco’s back then.
I did one of the dumbest things I’ve ever done in 22 years of reef keeping that night. Seeing I had zero spare parts I turn the water faucet on hot and started to make buckets of hot water. Yep you guessed it! I poured that hot water from old copper water pipes right into my tank thinking I was doing something to save my tank. Within a hour that 300 gallon tank had about 50% of the good water removed and 150 gallons of untreated hot water from our boiler dumped into the tank.
I sit back looking at my tank saying to myself well now what am I going to do about water movement and lights At this time my ex says what is that god awful smell? I look at our fish to see most are now dead others dieing and corals melting away. Our water had high levels of Ammonia, Chlorine, and lord knows what else in it and I knew it which is why I always bought water from my lfs then as they had filters that I as well as most in the early to mid 90’s couldn’t afford back then.
There’s nothing worse then a tank crash when it’s your foolish choices that caused the damage.
Lessons learned :
NEVER use hot tap water and keep a spare heater and Never use tap water from a old house with a boiler and copper pipes that can’t be filtered with a ro/di unit and has zero TDS in today’s standard. If I had a spare heater the tank would have heated back up slowly and safely. Most if not all my fish would have survived and possibly my corals too.

If I would have had a heater I still had nothing to creat water movement, now I keep spares. If you do upgrades with pumps / powerheads etc. seriously think about keeping at least one for a back up. As things can and do fail.

If I had a spare heater and powerheads I still was without lights for a few more days. You don’t have to keep anything fancy just something that would provide a bit of proper lighting is better then nothing at all.

Never get married to a woman with a cat! Just joking or am I

I hope my story on one of my biggest tank failures explains why I now keep what I do for spare parts/equipment.

I know there’s plenty of opps stories out there let’s share them!
One of these stories I’m sure will help out those that don’t want to ask the one dumb question. Well I say the only thing dumb about a dumb question is the thought that it’s dumb! Be the brave one and ask what others a scared to!

Let’s all share a story about what spares you keep and why you now keep them!

2 of each minimum
2 return pumps
2 chillers
2 wavemakers
2 or more dosing pumps
Hope get picture
From Backwoods Lab

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Ah bulkheads the part no one near me stocks! No that you said that I think I better order a set. Mine are at least 10 years old.

I just got some today qty-4, use one tonight

 

[JasonK84]

For me its the Generator with lots of propane tanks (propane generator to me better)
Extra cords for generator.

Extra SALTWATER and rodi water . Return pump. heaters . and storage tank in case the TANK Breaks (yes this will happen to you ,its just a matter of when) Its not a bad idea to keep air pump and air stones . Ice water bottles or frozen buckets or jugs of ice in the summer (for the liquid swamp cooler) Lots of salt mix..

How big of a generator would be good to run several tanks, a freezer, and the fridge? Considering getting one but wondering what size would get it done without going overboard.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

O' yea. Crazy glue, gel type 4 tubes, epoxy sticks, etc...

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

How big of a generator would be good to run several tanks, a freezer, and the fridge? Considering getting one but wondering what size would get it done without going overboard.

I have 6500 watts. Plenty

 

[Erica-Renee]

How big of a generator would be good to run several tanks, a freezer, and the fridge? Considering getting one but wondering what size would get it done without going overboard.

You need to calculate the Watts drawn by each item you want to run the generator with . All Electrical appliances and Devices either have AMPS or Watts draw or usage on a tag or sticker on them. This info is also easily found on the internet. Many Generator Manufactures have Calculators with general guidelines based on average or generic calculations of typical draw of a devices as well.
Once you calculate this in my opinion its best to get a Generator to handle twice your desired wattage draw.. If you want something for just basic emergency get a Generator with around 30 percent over head..
Remember there is Running watts and total watts .. The total watts is a burst output it can handle in a VERY SHORT Burst.. You do NOT Want to pay attention to this number . Its there way of calculating over head for two large appliances starting up at once. Most electrical devices Ie Fridge or Coffee maker Have a Super high start up requirement...

Hope this helps .. We have a 7500 W Propane.. its not automated but its semi wired to the house.. I just have to go out side turn on the propane tank and pull the cord . .

Good Luck

 

[JasonK84]

Great info, thanks. I think I might know what I want for Christmas!!

 

[Hitman]

Lowes has a Generac 10kvw I’ve been eyeballing for $1200 I’m going to ask the wife for that for Christmas this year

 

[Craigb350]

I always have battery powered air pumps at the ready for any power cuts, spare heaters in case of failure although I run more than one in my DT.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

My list of must have spares, none of which I have currently,.
1. Return pump
2. Powerhead
3. Heater
4. Bulb (s) if you run MH

 

[reefes pieces]

My must haves and do haves. Cuz if I find out something's wrong its gonna be after work when everything else is closed. So I keep what I can do right then and there for those oh schnaps moments. And oh schnaps moments for fellow hobbyist friends close to me that might need a hand for emergency.
1. Heater
2. Any kind of pump for flow
3. Salt (at least 50g worth) I usually have an extra 150g bucket on hand
4. 30-40g RODI water ready to be mixed unless I already have it mixed then it's saltwater ready to go
5. Spare tank for QT
6. battery powered air pump

 

[theKoolAidMan]

Spare heater, spare return pump, and a portable gasoline generator. With the amount of $$ we spend on equipment, the $300 for a 3,200 watt generator is a no brainer in my eyes. It will provide more than enough power to keep the tank fully powered during an outage. I don't bother keeping extra powerheads as the corals can go a day or two without the extra flow just fine. The LFSs around me all carry a wide selection and are open 7 days a week.

 

[txrdnk]

Bulkheads if you have a drilled tank.

Just had one spontaneously start leaking. Luckily I had a spare - had it replaced in 10 minutes and everything is back to normal - with no water on the floor.

I'm in my pre planning stages, this is a major concern for me. How do you perform a swap without having to drain the tank below the bulkhead level?

 

[MPS]

I never thought about buying a pump that will be dual purpose like that. I wonder if I can con the wife into a spare return pump now! I can see it now :
Me: hunny I need a new return pump.
Wife: why?
Me: well I just learned a great idea. I can use it to make water and if the one on the tank fails we have a spare to prevent any losses in one of the tanks.
Wife: makes sense just don’t spend much on it
Me: ok
Weeks later
Wife: what is this $2,500 BRS charge for on our credit card?
Me: that pump you said was ok to buy
Wife: Oh and I wasn’t able to get my nails done the last few weeks is this why???
Me: ummmmm
Wife: All your stuff has been moved next to that Abyzz pump in the basement while your looking for a new place to live!!!
Lol

The pain is real. I’ve had conversations close to this. Lol!

 

[Hitman]

The pain is real. I’ve had conversations close to this. Lol!

My buddies love telling stories about this Marine they once served with that was 6 foot 2 250 lbs and was the meanest Gunny they had ever served with, he was willing to step in the ring with King Kong, then one day he married a 5 foot Italian woman and would get chased around the house by her and her wooden spoon. As they drank their beer and laughed I just sat there with my head held low and looked over my shoulder before I stood up and said they were all lies! Till that one day I missed that 5 foot Italian wife of mine standing behind me and sure enough I got smacked in the back of the head with that dang spoon! God I love that woman! ( Yes it’s only because I’m scared of that spoon ) lol

 

[Stigigemla]

The most important thing to me is an extra return pump. I have an extra generator too.