My reef has been up for about 10+ months now. This past weekend was the first time I went away for 4 full days, and back on the 5th. Had a friend come by and feed. Can't believe I had two problems.
First, the Neptune apex auto top off (ATK) failed. The switch was reporting closed, so the ATO never turned on. My friend send me a text saying, man - there are a lot of air bubbles in your display... we quickly came to troubleshoot and I manually turned ATO on. Before water got to the switch, turned it off. I routinely clean the sensors but asked him to clean it. I took off the defer command. Send a software update (just to reset) the FMM. Had him unplug the switch, played with the auto detect and manual config of the port, still the switch read open. ARGGG. I resolved to manually turned on the pump 5 min a day, and asked him to look when he fed, but a pain. I'm still troubleshooting and will take steps to make sure I catch this with another low water switch.... sigh
Second, I get the text on Sunday, saying some SPS doesn't look good. He sent some pics... and sure enough, some RTN. I got back yesterday, tested everything and Calc was a bit high 450, and Alk was a bit low 7dkh. I took steps to slowly lower Calc and increase Alk, I tested on Thurs, day before leaving and for weeks, parameters were solid - stable. I'll test today but man, did that have to happen when I was gone? I lost several frags, and things do not look happy. I'll figure it out but gosh, really, when I'm gone?
It's great to have a friend you trust with a key to your house, and also knowledgeable enough to catch things.
Thanks for listing to me vent...
First, the Neptune apex auto top off (ATK) failed. The switch was reporting closed, so the ATO never turned on. My friend send me a text saying, man - there are a lot of air bubbles in your display... we quickly came to troubleshoot and I manually turned ATO on. Before water got to the switch, turned it off. I routinely clean the sensors but asked him to clean it. I took off the defer command. Send a software update (just to reset) the FMM. Had him unplug the switch, played with the auto detect and manual config of the port, still the switch read open. ARGGG. I resolved to manually turned on the pump 5 min a day, and asked him to look when he fed, but a pain. I'm still troubleshooting and will take steps to make sure I catch this with another low water switch.... sigh
Second, I get the text on Sunday, saying some SPS doesn't look good. He sent some pics... and sure enough, some RTN. I got back yesterday, tested everything and Calc was a bit high 450, and Alk was a bit low 7dkh. I took steps to slowly lower Calc and increase Alk, I tested on Thurs, day before leaving and for weeks, parameters were solid - stable. I'll test today but man, did that have to happen when I was gone? I lost several frags, and things do not look happy. I'll figure it out but gosh, really, when I'm gone?
It's great to have a friend you trust with a key to your house, and also knowledgeable enough to catch things.
Thanks for listing to me vent...
