I"m back, now time to clean up...

[Darryl_V]

Most of you probably didn't know I was gone last week for a vacation in Myrtle Beach.....no one to watch the tank.

Well I'm back and Murphy was fairly easy on me although he did play a few tricks.  Firstly the power went out early in the week.  I can tell because the skimmer has restart problems and there was no skimmate and a skimmer that wasnt working when I got home.  Also the SPS frag tanks' power heads use a wireless outlet that I control with a remote....I had it for something else but it works good on the powerheads for the frag tank to easy turn them off and on,.  Well when the power goes out they dont turn back on....so no flow in the frag tank for almost a week.  Some frags look fine others will need a week or two to recover and I had to dump a few.  Also one or two corals in the display browned a tiny bit due to the skimmer not working.  Oh also the pump that feeds the bio=pellets and gfo/carbon has start up problems so that one was off for the week too.  When I started it the smell from the bio pellets was bad.  All in all though the display looks pretty good.....Im sure the one or two corals that lost a little luster will bounce back fast.

Lastly though the hose attached to a MJ that feeds the new 60g came out....I think that happened not that long ago.  Even though the 60g was now separated from the system it looks completely fine.  What did happen though is the MJ pump shot water out onto the floor.  Not too much but a mess that Im trying to clean up and hopefully avoid any damage to the floor (which I think will be fine).

Anyway not perfect.....but could have been worse. 

On a different note ....I'll tell you one thing, next vacation I won't be taking the kids.    :?

 

[Royal Aquariums]

That's rough from one power outage. Im sure you will have everything back to snuff in no time   

 

[teebone110]

Doh! I thought I could get in and out of there without anyone noticing ;D

Just goes to show, that when you leave anything can happpen. Hope all goes well with the clean-up.


BTW  +1 Kids like it better at home

 

[Victoss]

Wow you got a lot of equipment with 'restart problems', don't know if I would of left it alone if I knew that :?. Maybe tell a neighbour next time that if the power does go out could you check on my place? Either way I guess it wasn't too bad this time, good luck with the recovering corals.

 

[unibob]

Aww man that sucks, glad it wasn't too bad and you didn't loose too much, I would have been freaking out knowing I had pumps that wouldn't restart.


I thought maybe you were scuba diving at a secret fish store for coral haha

 

[spyd]

Welcome back! I hope you enjoyed your vacation! All I can say with taking the kids is.... Been there, done that!!! We went to Mexico back in December and it was not the most relaxing of vacations to say the least!!! And don't get me started on the airplane ride back home.  :? Glad to hear the tank is in good shape. There is all ways something that happens! It is inevitable. At least you didn't lose any corals or livestock. Sounds like you need a vacation after that vacation though! 

 

[BIGSHOW]

Welcome back! I hope you enjoyed your vacation! All I can say with taking the kids is.... Been there, done that!!! We went to Mexico back in December and it was not the most relaxing of vacations to say the least!!! And don't get me started on the airplane ride back home.  :? Glad to hear the tank is in good shape. There is all ways something that happens! It is inevitable. At least you didn't lose any corals or livestock. Sounds like you need a vacation after that vacation though! 

+1.

Everytime I come back from work, I am always worried what kind of mess I am going to find.  I am surprised you didn't have anyone stop bye to take a look at it, that would of made me a nervous wreck, especially with the beautiful pieces you have.

Dave

 

[Darryl_V]

Thanks everyone...its not that bad at all.  Im sure you guys who have seen my tank wouldn't even notice.

I do have a lot of pumps with start up issues....they are all sicce pumps.  Two on my skimmer and one running the GFO/Carbon and bio-pellets.  I think before I go on another vacation I will be replacing some pumps.  We rarely ever have the power go out here there though.......  as for the powerheads on the frag tank well that is an easy fix...just plug them direct and by-pass my wireless/remote outlet thingy.  I also need to make sure that the hose is on the MJ better for the 60g.

Derek.....I can't imagine your kids being as bad as mine.  Well my oldest anyway....the last 3 days all she did was have spazz's...we couldnt even take her anywhere fun.  She has always been difficult but she has gotten out of control recently. My littlest was pretty easy going but was getting up at 5:30am every morning....a perfect complement to her sisters....also waking her up early and she doesnt nap.  Just so you guys know the kids wasnt my idea....it was a my mother inlaw who wanted to do a family trip.  I think they were just a little young yet.  There were enjoyable parts though...just too stressful overall for a vacation.

Its now 10am and my baby boy is still sleeping....we are wondering if he is still alive.  Crazy 3yr old daughter woke up at 6:30.  :?

 

[Salty Cracker]

The apex e-mails me when the power goes out, for exactly the same reasons you state... I have a return pump that -sometimes- doesn't like starting up.  Actually it e-mails for temp/PH/power outage/empty ATO/high water in sump. 

Hindsight is 20/20 but you should have had someone keeping an eye on that tank...too many of us covet some of those colonies and would hate to lose them  ;D

Oh, and I know that bio-pellet start up smell...sulfur??

 

[spyd]

Its now 10am and my baby boy is still sleeping....we are wondering if he is still alive.  Crazy 3yr old daughter woke up at 6:30.  :?

Lucky S.O.B!!!!  ;D My kids wake up everyday at 6am. EVERYDAY!!! Then they are ready for bed at 7pm. We've tried pushing it out multiple times and still does not work... The only benefit is we get up from work at 6am so having the kdis up at the same time is easier that way I guess..... But man, I would love to know what it is like to sleep in again!!! Even an hour more... LOL.

 

[Royal Aquariums]

My wife is due in 2 months, our first kid. What have I gotten myself into  :?

 

[spyd]

My wife is due in 2 months, our first kid. What have I gotten myself into  :?

Congratulations and all the best!!!! And you have no idea.... LOL. Have fun with the 1st 3 months. I hope you can go without sleep for that long. Man, do I ever not miss that part!!!  ;D

 

[Salty Cracker]

By the 4th kid you just put a soundproof door on the nursery and get a full night's sleep...speaking from experience.

 

[spyd]

I gave up after 2. LOL.  ;D

 

[chuckm]

With Kids you don't really need an alarm clock, my oldest still gets up between 5:30 and 6:30 everyday: miss those sleeping in days, though sometimes the wife and I will will take turns on the weekends getting up with the kids.

As for Darryl, the worst part must have been the initial anxiety and panic when you came through the door.  I,m glad to hear your corals are gonna pull through.  I consider myself very lucky as one of my good friends has a reef tank as well, lives 5 minutes away, and we cover each other when the vacations come around.   

I know one guy in Michigan who had his daughter watch his tank..... long story short his auto top off from the ro/di went from auto to full on top off and his saltwater reef tank turned into a freshwater tank-=OOPS! He was devastated!  :'(

Good luck Darryl, I know if anyone could turn things around it would be  a very competent aquarist as yourself.

 

[davesolo29]

glad everything is ok darryl.  time to upgrade the faulty pumps tho.

as for the kids,,  my youngest is 4 months now.  only one sleepless night so far.  and, im up before him during the week and dont hear him on the weekends (even tho his bed is less than 2 feet from my head).  I have a great wife. lol.

 

[jroovers]

Darryl, your battery back-up doesn't kick in immediately then?  So it is no good for temporary power blips?  That stinks, sounds like the damage was minimal.  Anytime you go away you never know, always nervous coming back home after being away.

 

[spyd]

I wanted to run a battery back-up for my return pump but it takes too much juice to get it up and running. I ended up putting it on my powerheads only which seems to work well. Does yours run your return pump Darryl?

 

[Camps23]

I hear ya Darryl.....
Just back from last night from a week in Disney with both kids....... WOW
My 3.5yr old is  a saint but my 1.5yr old was a crazy....went into histarics on the flight home.....wasn't pretty.
Tank was alone for the week as well. Did a quick assessment last night and all looks good. I will clean the glass this morning and let ya know how everything looks

 

[Darryl_V]

I wanted to run a battery back-up for my return pump but it takes too much juice to get it up and running. I ended up putting it on my powerheads only which seems to work well. Does yours run your return pump Darryl?

I actually do have a large battery back-up for the return.  The reason is that with the return on battery backup the display and frag tanks will all be getting oxygen that way...if I had to back up all the powerheads it would take more juice.

I hear ya Darryl.....
Just back from last night from a week in Disney with both kids....... WOW
My 3.5yr old is  a saint but my 1.5yr old was a crazy....went into histarics on the flight home.....wasn't pretty.
Tank was alone for the week as well. Did a quick assessment last night and all looks good. I will clean the glass this morning and let ya know how everything looks

Kids are like a box a chocolates....you never know what they will be like.  For me my 3yr old was good sometimes but generally a nightmare in certain situations and the 11month old was relatively good all around besides the hassle of all those naps.