Redundancy, why is it important? How has it saved you?

[reefbeard]

In my experience with reef keeping, redundancy has meant the difference between success and failure. Most of us who have been in the hobby long enough have experienced the power outages, heaters stuck on or off, sumps overflowing with top off water, return pumps failing, leaks, etc. The failsafes, backups and backups for my backups are directly responsible for my longevity in this hobby and they also help me sleep at night.

When has redundancy saved you? What would be your first recommendation(s) to someone starting a new reef aquarium?

 

[Sabellafella]

Grab a neptune apex thats for sure , my heaters failed on before and my float switches got stuck overflowing my sump

 

[reefbeard]

Grab a neptune apex thats for sure , my heaters failed on before and my float switches got stuck overflowing my sump

Yep, had a heater fail "ON" last night. Kinda what instigated the thread. I would definitely recommend some sort of controller.

 

[reefbeard]

Additional overflow drains such as the the Herbie or Bean Animal designs which are the standard these days. One drain doesn't cut it as the chances of clogging the main with algae, fish, snails, etc. are very high.

 

[Kaba]

I have an extra float switch in my sump to kill power to my ATO if the water getting that high. My doser is powered through the sump and will turn off if the pH gets too high and stays there.

 

[Mike in CT]

When I run my RODI, I always set a timer on my phone to remind me to check it, and I also have a battery powered water leak detector next to my pail in case I forget and it over flows. I also sometimes leave a loaf of bread on my pillow at night to remind one more time to shut it off before I go to bed. Lol. Crazy I know... Wife thinks so too.

 

[reefbeard]

I also sometimes leave a loaf of bread on my pillow at night to remind one more time to shut it off before I go to bed. Lol. Crazy I know... Wife thinks so too.

Hey, what ever works right! ;)