LITTLE BLUE| IM30L (picking up pieces after the crush)

[DSFIRSTSLTWATER]

10 hours ago, A Little Blue said:

Yeah, so instead of daily dose of amino acid I dumped Coral Rx dipping solution. Freaked out a bit at first. Tossed new bag of Chemipure and wet skimmed for several hours. I might be in the clear, we will see.

Other pipefish is doing perfectly fine, eating and all. So I'm not sure what went wrong with Dragonface? She was separated from what appeared to be a bonded harem in my lfs. Perhaps that stressed her out too much. Had few other issues I was (still am) dealing with.

For instance, my red dragon acro started bleaching despite being placed on the bottom of the tank. My original  (lost to Urchin kidnapping) frag of red dragon was perfectly happy at the very top, getting blasted with light. I text my buddy and found out that he kept his colony on the far side of his tank in light deprived area. That kinda explained why it got stressed out. I found the way to deal with that without messing with my light program and it seems to work.

Also started dosing fluconazol and Phosphate-E from Brightwell Aquatics to see what it does to lobophora algae. Urchin is doing pretty good job at keeping lobophora under control but she can not get to every nook and cranny.

I hope everything is ok, I had my temp controller get all crazy yesturday morning. Said the tank was 87 and it actually was 66-68. Reef went on like nothing happened, I was surprised by that. 

[A Little Blue]

10 minutes ago, DSFIRSTSLTWATER said:

I hope everything is ok, I had my temp controller get all crazy yesturday morning. Said the tank was 87 and it actually was 66-68. Reef went on like nothing happened, I was surprised by that. 

87 would be a HUGE problem for extended period of time. Someone can correct me on this but I believe the 84/85 is when crap hits the fan. 

66-68 is easily more tolerable extreme as far as reef-temp is concerned. 

Have you find out what failed on you? 

Was it controller? If so what kind?

Everything seemed fine early this morning (like 3am early). Ill know more when I get home in few hrs. 

It was a stupid mistake but those two bottles in dark look exactly the same. 🙄

[DSFIRSTSLTWATER]

2 minutes ago, A Little Blue said:

87 would be a HUGE problem for extended period of time. Someone can correct me on this but I believe the 84/85 is when crap hits the fan. 

66-68 is easily more tolerable extreme as far as reef-temp is concerned. 

Have you find out what failed on you? 

Was it controller? If so what kind?

Everything seemed fine early this morning (like 3am early). Ill know more when I get home in few hrs. 

It was a stupid mistake but those two bottles in dark look exactly the same. 🙄

Well at least you caught it in time to throw some carbon in to help it. I have an inkbird controller and I'm thinking the temp probe messed up. I have a new one coming, but for now i had to set it at 87 to get the tank to 78. Thats with the 15 degree +/- that the calibration has. I've been reading that some will silicone the temp probe, may be worth it with the new one??

I figured that the cold temp would be better, it was a good unintended experiment. Reef went on like nothing happened, so that was a relief. I did get concerned about the water params with the temp being so low, but nothing seemed to care lol. 

[A Little Blue]

52 minutes ago, DSFIRSTSLTWATER said:

Well at least you caught it in time to throw some carbon in to help it. I have an inkbird controller and I'm thinking the temp probe messed up. I have a new one coming, but for now i had to set it at 87 to get the tank to 78. Thats with the 15 degree +/- that the calibration has. I've been reading that some will silicone the temp probe, may be worth it with the new one??

I figured that the cold temp would be better, it was a good unintended experiment. Reef went on like nothing happened, so that was a relief. I did get concerned about the water params with the temp being so low, but nothing seemed to care lol. 

I own inkbird and keep a spare just in case. Their probe is really crappy but you can get those replaced under $10. 

They do have a better, waterproof probe that is much, much longer but it’s like $16-20. Probably not worth it. 

Silicon solution is tempting but I can’t speak on its pro/cons. Thought about it but have never tried that. 

In my own system, I try to practice redundancy with multiple safeguards. 

Two heaters, one inkbird and apex. 

One heater is a backup that is activated only if all safeguards on the 1st heater fail (not likely but possibility). It’s set to 74 degrees and it’s only 50watts. Not enough to overheat the tank even if it got stocked in ON position. It’s also hooked up to Apex just in case. Main heater is controlled with Apex as well but there is also an inkbird as a backup in case Apex went nuts for some reasons or if someone decided to play around with Apex fusion app. 

Heaters are number ONE cause for crashes and ppl leaving the hobby. It’s also the most likely component that will fail on you before anything else. 

Over the years (many years) I haven’t come across a heater that didn’t fail on me (most of them, prematurely. Meaning, before warranty expiration). 

Warranty is meaningless if you lose your entire livestock. Taking some steps to prevent such a disaster is $$ we’ll spend. 

Keep an eye on your inkbird while you await your new probe. It might also make sense to run heater without it for few days. Cheap internal sensor of your heater might be more reliable than inkbird at this point. 

[DSFIRSTSLTWATER]

9 minutes ago, A Little Blue said:

Silicon solution is tempting but I can’t speak on its pro/cons.

I wondered how much it would affect the temp..granted you can calibrate it so if it is off just make the adjustment. It's weird cause the probe seems fine, a little coraline on but nothing crazy. No rust or anything, I have the 308 model. Stinkybunny said he's a few of them and they all seemed to crap out for him. I ordered a new one and should be here on friday, so I may try the silicone thing. 

How do you replace the probe? I looked and it's built into the controller. Maybe a different model??

9 minutes ago, A Little Blue said:

ne heater is a backup that is activated only if all safeguards on the 1st heater fail (not likely but possibility). It’s set to 74 degrees and it’s only 50watts. Not enough to overheat the tank even if it got stocked in ON position.

I wish I could have two, my tanks small lol. I do have a back up heater in case this one dies and the controller did what it was supposed to, turned the heater off when It got to my set temp..stupid probe was way off though lol.

 

9 minutes ago, A Little Blue said:

Over the years (many years) I haven’t come across a heater that didn’t fail on me (most of them, prematurely. Meaning, before warranty expiration). 

Warranty is meaningless if you lose your entire livestock. Taking some steps to prevent such a disaster is $$ we’ll spend. 

Keep an eye on your inkbird while you await your new probe. It might also make sense to run heater without it for few days. Cheap internal sensor of your heater might be more reliable than inkbird at this point. 

I thought about just bypassing the inkbird, then I got scared that the internal heater would fail and things would die. Friday I'm picking up a new heater and I'll have a new inkbird, starting over with it, don't wanna risk anything you know..my heater is almost a year old and I should probably just say #### it and get a new one. The one in there is full of coraline alage anyways.

[WV Reefer]

7 minutes ago, A Little Blue said:

I own inkbird and keep a spare just in case. Their probe is really crappy but you can get those replaced under $10. 

They do have a better, waterproof probe that is much, much longer but it’s like $16-20. Probably not worth it. 

Silicon solution is tempting but I can’t speak on its pro/cons. Thought about it but have never tried that. 

In my own system, I try to practice redundancy with multiple safeguards. 

Two heaters, one inkbird and apex. 

One heater is a backup that is activated only if all safeguards on the 1st heater fail (not likely but possibility). It’s set to 74 degrees and it’s only 50watts. Not enough to overheat the tank even if it got stocked in ON position. It’s also hooked up to Apex just in case. Main heater is controlled with Apex as well but there is also an inkbird as a backup in case Apex went nuts for some reasons or if someone decided to play around with Apex fusion app. 

Heaters are number ONE cause for crashes and ppl leaving the hobby. It’s also the most likely component that will fail on you before anything else. 

Over the years (many years) I haven’t come across a heater that didn’t fail on me (most of them, prematurely. Meaning, before warranty expiration). 

Warranty is meaningless if you lose your entire livestock. Taking some steps to prevent such a disaster is $$ we’ll spend. 

Keep an eye on your inkbird while you await your new probe. It might also make sense to run heater without it for few days. Cheap internal sensor of your heater might be more reliable than inkbird at this point. 

Agree.  Heaters are garbage.  I had a 20 gallon FW tank fry in the night once. 😕

 

never tried/used a controller. 

[A Little Blue]

8 minutes ago, DSFIRSTSLTWATER said:

I wondered how much it would affect the temp..granted you can calibrate it so if it is off just make the adjustment. It's weird cause the probe seems fine, a little coraline on but nothing crazy. No rust or anything, I have the 308 model. Stinkybunny said he's a few of them and they all seemed to crap out for him. I ordered a new one and should be here on friday, so I may try the silicone thing. 

How do you replace the probe? I looked and it's built into the controller. Maybe a different model??

I wish I could have two, my tanks small lol. I do have a back up heater in case this one dies and the controller did what it was supposed to, turned the heater off when It got to my set temp..stupid probe was way off though lol.

 

I thought about just bypassing the inkbird, then I got scared that the internal heater would fail and things would die. Friday I'm picking up a new heater and I'll have a new inkbird, starting over with it, don't wanna risk anything you know..my heater is almost a year old and I should probably just say #### it and get a new one. The one in there is full of coraline alage anyways.

Could be a different inkbird model. Still, if you are absolutely positive that it is the faulty probe then a bit of DIY could still apply. Just cut the probe wire several inches on the controller side and wire it back to the new probe. Surely wires are marked or in different color. It can’t be that hard and it might save you $. 

Problem with silicon is the sediment/surface algae and other crap that might accumulate on it over period of time. I might be overreacting but that’s the only reason that I haven’t gone that route. 

If you haven’t bought the inkbird yet, there might be other solution that could work for you. It’s a bit more $ but great safeguard.  It’s not a controller but more like an emergency shot off switch. It’s already preset so it’s plug and play out of the box. If you get a new heater, use the old heater as a backup. Just set it at much lower temperature and leave it alone. Or use it to heat up your saltwater for WC. 

[A Little Blue]

6 minutes ago, WV Reefer said:

Agree.  Heaters are garbage.  I had a 20 gallon FW tank fry in the night once. 😕

 

never tried/used a controller. 

Do you have any safeguards to prevent overheating due to heater getting stocked in ON position? Getting stocked on OFF position is much easier to recover from. Getting temp down and quickly is the issue (extreme summer temp. for example). 

[DSFIRSTSLTWATER]

6 minutes ago, A Little Blue said:

Could be a different inkbird model. Still, if you are absolutely positive that it is the faulty probe then a bit of DIY could still apply. Just cut the probe wire several inches on the controller side and wire it back to the new probe. Surely wires are marked or in different color. It can’t be that hard and it might save you $. 

Problem with silicon is the sediment/surface algae and other crap that might accumulate on it over period of time. I might be overreacting but that’s the only reason that I haven’t gone that route. 

If you haven’t bought the inkbird yet, there might be other solution that could work for you. It’s a bit more $ but great safeguard.  It’s not a controller but more like an emergency shot off switch. It’s already preset so it’s plug and play out of the box. If you get a new heater, use the old heater as a backup. Just set it at much lower temperature and leave it alone. Or use it to heat up your saltwater for WC. 

Yup my back up heater is for WC :-). It's small only a 50watt. You don't want me doing electrical things lol...we don't play nice with each other. 

I like the plug and play, that's more my speed lol. I'll look into something else, I ordered the inkbird at 5 in the morning when this one shit out.

[A Little Blue]

3 minutes ago, DSFIRSTSLTWATER said:

Yup my back up heater is for WC :-). It's small only a 50watt. You don't want me doing electrical things lol...we don't play nice with each other. 

I like the plug and play, that's more my speed lol. I'll look into something else, I ordered the inkbird at 5 in the morning when this one shit out.

If you could cancel your order then I would go with this: 

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/smart-temp-security-autoaqua.html

Basic but %99 more reliable than inkbird IMHO. 

[DSFIRSTSLTWATER]

7 minutes ago, A Little Blue said:

If you could cancel your order then I would go with this: 

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/smart-temp-security-autoaqua.html

Basic but %99 more reliable than inkbird IMHO. 

Damn that's awesome ..I think it's too late to cancel, they are out at brs anyways, but I'm going to order that when they get it. 

[Christopher Marks]

This has me wanting to silicone the temp probe on my new Inkbird just as a precaution. I should have from the start, but I was impatient. I've heard of this happening enough times now. I can't see any harm in doing so, at worst the temp sensor will need a few extra seconds to acclimate to the water temp at first before the silicone temp equalizes with the water.

[DSFIRSTSLTWATER]

1 minute ago, Christopher Marks said:

This has me wanting to silicone the temp probe on my new Inkbird just as a precaution. I should have from the start, but I was impatient. I've heard of this happening enough times now. I can't see any harm in doing so, at worst the temp sensor will need a few extra seconds to acclimate to the water temp at first before the silicone temp equalizes with the water.

oh really? The probes are know to be crappy?

[DSFIRSTSLTWATER]

I'm guessing the clear silicone I have should be fine, I mean just a light coat should suffice..i'll let you guys know how it is friday when I get the probe.

[A Little Blue]

3 minutes ago, DSFIRSTSLTWATER said:

Damn that's awesome ..I think it's too late to cancel, they are out at brs anyways, but I'm going to order that when they get it. 

Where did you order it from?

3 minutes ago, Christopher Marks said:

This has me wanting to silicone the temp probe on my new Inkbird just as a precaution. I should have from the start, but I was impatient. I've heard of this happening enough times now. I can't see any harm in doing so, at worst the temp sensor will need a few extra seconds to acclimate to the water temp at first before the silicone temp equalizes with the water.

You can try 2part clear epoxy/liquid instead. Much harder and thinner coat required. Only thing, it needs more time to cure. 

[A Little Blue]

5 minutes ago, DSFIRSTSLTWATER said:

I'm guessing the clear silicone I have should be fine, I mean just a light coat should suffice..i'll let you guys know how it is friday when I get the probe.

Those probes or heater temp sensors cost pennies to manufacture. 

[DSFIRSTSLTWATER]

2 minutes ago, A Little Blue said:

Where did you order it from?

Amazon lol. We primed it, but it says friday i guess. I can check with Katie and see if it can be cancelled, worst case I have that as a back up.

[DSFIRSTSLTWATER]

I have a gift card for marine depot that i haven't used yet, but they don't carry that sensor 

[A Little Blue]

Just now, DSFIRSTSLTWATER said:

Amazon lol. We primed it, but it says friday i guess. I can check with Katie and see if it can be cancelled, worst case I have that as a back up.

Just tell @Sancho to take that crab no questions asked. Amazon takes returns. Tell them the probe is inaccurate so they won’t charge you for return shipping. 

2 minutes ago, DSFIRSTSLTWATER said:

I have a gift card for marine depot that i haven't used yet, but they don't carry that sensor 

I thought they did. Too bad, it’s a good product. 

[A Little Blue]

Assessment from yesterday’s mishap: 

one snail died. Not sure about cocoworm..... it is still in its shell-tube (good sign) but it is not coming out. 

Red Dragon acro keeps receding from the base so no choice but to cut infected part off,  glue it in different location and hope for miracle. 

Also replaced regular filter floss with Poly-Bio-Marine pad to remove remains of dipping liquid crap I have dumped in yesterday. Tunze skimmer is OK but far from satisfactory performer. 

[A Little Blue]

8 hours ago, DSFIRSTSLTWATER said:

I have a gift card for marine depot that i haven't used yet, but they don't carry that sensor 

Amazon does. Same price + free shipping. 

[DSFIRSTSLTWATER]

3 minutes ago, A Little Blue said:

Amazon does. Same price + free shipping. 

oh shit, thanks 😀. My wife asked earlier if they had it and i was like no i don't think so lol. I'll have to check it out. Thanks Blue

[A Little Blue]

1 minute ago, DSFIRSTSLTWATER said:

oh shit, thanks 😀. My wife asked earlier if they had it and i was like no i don't think so lol. I'll have to check it out. Thanks Blue

No problem. Also, regarding inkbird, they sale Inkbird Pre-Wired 308S + 1.97'' Replaceable NTC-5cm Probe for $37. 

Probe on its own is like $9. 

 

[DSFIRSTSLTWATER]

2 minutes ago, A Little Blue said:

No problem. Also, regarding inkbird, they sale Inkbird Pre-Wired 308S + 1.97'' Replaceable NTC-5cm Probe for $37. 

Probe on its own is like $9. 

 

wow, I'll look into it also. I can always return the inkbird..I may just keep it anyways, back up. I didn't know the probe part comes off, that's also good to know. I though it was on the controller where you replace it.

 

edit: watching a youtube video on the autoaqua now lol

[DSFIRSTSLTWATER]

ok so I watched a video, I looks like you can't set a temp, you have to rely on the heater controls. Seems like you could have swings in the 72-84 range if the heater control wasn't good enough.