Small restart... What's the best thing you've added?

GeoffSLC

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Well, I had a small crash last week that resulted in my losing the majority of my SPS, some zoas and more than half of my fish. First attributed to low pH, then a spike in alk while raising the pH. Thankfully, I was paying attention and managed to keep all of my LPS alive as well as all CUC and a couple of large, long term resident fish.
I am interested in what everybody has added that gave them the best piece of mind, stability, etc. It could be a fish, an invert, a piece of equipment... whatever you feel has given you the warm, fuzzy feelings about your tank.

thanks!
 

EmdeReef

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Sorry to hear.

In terms of preventing crashes? Definitely a controller and a webcam in sump and one of the tank as I travel a lot.
 
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GeoffSLC

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thanks! A controller is on the short list, for sure. Not necessarily to prevent a crash, but if you were doing your tank over again, what would you do differently or add instead of?
 

EmdeReef

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I love gadgets, and that's partly why this hobby is so appealing but I often wish I kept things VERY simple. Sometimes it feels like whatever I do I'm trying to make it work around the gadgets I have instead of making the gadgets work for me, if that makes sense.
About 5-6yrs ago a friend who moved west left me his sumpless 75g tank with an undersized eshopps HOB and a couple of Koralias, I was super busy and taking a break from the hobby, had no time for testing, dosing, no ATO...and did a bad job with water changes. It was a mixed LPS and SPS and everything grew like mad. Yes I probably didn't have difficult sps... Fast forward to June last year I started a Reefer 350 and thousands later on gear, stable parameters, close to perfect multiple Triton and ATI tests, I have yet to be impressed honestly even though I reused all the rocks and waited months before adding any sps. There's growth and some nice colors but hardly better than the cheap setup, plus now every time i travel something fails...
 
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GeoffSLC

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controller and ATO, check! thanks guys. I should mention that this restart is being done on a Cadlights Artisan II 125 gallon.
 

cracker

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A T5 light fixture & ATO are the 2 best pieces of equipment Iv'e added .
 
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GeoffSLC

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I currently am running an ATI six bulb 48" T5 fixture. I love the dimming capability. At some point, i'd like to add a SB Reef actinic bar, but I've got to get the tank back on it's feet first.
 

Daltrey

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Have never lifted a single bucket of water.

20171107_172235.jpg
 

40B Knasty

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DIY flap that is on my T5 lights so everyone in the room is not blinded. Cut a black piece of marine vinyl that is flame retardant and mold proof. Took a metal rod and hand-stitched it to one side and then slit it down a cord hider that I covered with liquid spray rubber. Cut the cord Hider to fit within the seam of the lights and then pulled the adhesive sticky back off of it and pressed down. I can rest my split glass top on it when I lift them.

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lbacha

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+1 for an ATO and controller. I have a small tank and the controller gives me peace of mind that things aren't fluctuating too much. It also logs changes so I can go back and see what happened if the tank takes a turn.

Once the trident comes out that will be my next addition

Hanna checkers are another great addition I made
 

saltyfilmfolks

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Ato. Heater/temp controller. And I treat my Led like t5.
Less is more IMO.

The only thing I would like is a big battery backup.
 
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GeoffSLC

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I'm really impressed by the innovation that this hobby brings out in people! A lot of great feedback and suggestions. It seems that a controller is on the very short list, according to everyone. I've obviously thought about Apex as the best option, after reading a ton of posts. Do most of you go with the slimmed down Jr model, or should I just bite the bullet and go with the big one? Thanks again for all the input!
 

Daniel@R2R

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Have never lifted a single bucket of water.

20171107_172235.jpg
@Daltrey, do you have details posted in another thread on how you set this up (and if not, would you consider making one?)? This looks like exactly what I need to do. Also, where did you get those containers? I picked up a couple of plastic containers that are about 30g each, but those tanks look way better than what I've got.
 

shaggydoo

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Backup pumps give me the warm fuzzies. I lost a lot of fish and a few corals in my last 120g when a return pump failed and O2 levels crashed. I just watched it all die because I had no backup in the middle of the night. I now have backups on all equipment (except lights) sitting in a closet 30 feet from my tank.
 

Daltrey

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@Daltrey, do you have details posted in another thread on how you set this up (and if not, would you consider making one?)? This looks like exactly what I need to do. Also, where did you get those containers? I picked up a couple of plastic containers that are about 30g each, but those tanks look way better than what I've got.

I have everything posted toward the bottom of the first page of my build thread.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/daltreys-red-sea-reefer-750-xxl-build.351366/
 

lion king

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Plus on the ato and temp controller, but my fav an algae reactor on all my smaller tanks. The macros run on an opposite light cycle adds more than fantastic filtering.
 

TheKyle

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Two things for me come to mind that have prevented flooding/water damage. First is I used a shower pan liner to line the inside the stand where my sump is. Came in handy when my sump developed a slow leak of about 1/2 cup water per day. Without the liner I bet I would have never noticed until the stand or floor started rotting. Shower pan liner is cheap and effective

Second is zaya sos. This is a skimmer overflow stopper . I use an external skimmer collection cup. Early on my skimmer overflowed and filled my stand with an inch of water (again lucky I had the shower pan liner I mentioned and also didn’t have Kalk in the ato at the time) the zaya sos has two sensors that will shut the skimmer off if either the skimmer collection cup fills, or the sump water level rises (like when power comes back on after and outage)
 
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