Orion January 4, 2014 Author Share January 4, 2014 Out of town, and out of the country yesterday and I get a call from my wife saying both tanks are without power. Yikes. The GFI that I installed had tripped. Everything has been running fine for over a week with no issues, and now all of a sudden it trips when I leave town. Murphy strikes! So my wife reset the GFI, everything came back on fine. No leaks behind or underneath the tank. I noticed that the apex had never alerted me that the power was out which was odd since I always test the programming before I leave on a trip. I can also access the apex remotely only intermittently for some reason - 503 errors. An hour later, the GFI trips again. Crap. A fellow WAMAS member comes to the rescue while I'm out of town, and installs a temporary portable GFI on a different outlet. So far so good... But what caused the GFI to trip, and why can't I access my apex remotely? I ask my wife to check behind the UPS power supply, and to make sure the Airport Express is plugged into it. She says it's barely plugged in! She plugs it back in, and secures it. No more GFI tripping, and I have been able to access the Apex remotely since. I'm guessing the Airport Express being barely plugged in was causing an arc of some sort, and the GFI didn't like it. The tanks had been without power for only two hours according to the apex, and no livestock was affected. Temp dropped only 3 degrees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallreef January 4, 2014 Share January 4, 2014 Glad she caught it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orion January 4, 2014 Author Share January 4, 2014 Glad she caught it! Me too. She said the basement was much too quiet, looked over, and both tanks were dark. I also programmed the apex to send out an audible alert when the power goes out. That way if someone is home they know something is wrong downstairs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sachabballi reef January 4, 2014 Share January 4, 2014 wow its always the simple things that cause the most stress.... glad it worked out!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
londonloco January 4, 2014 Share January 4, 2014 Wow, so glad it worked out. This is my biggest fear for all my tanks. My DH has no interest in them, which is fine, but a problem when it goes awry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoelace January 4, 2014 Share January 4, 2014 When you get back, we still have to run your tank on the new GFCI to make sure it doesn't trip. As for the Airport Express, it still could be a true/true/unrelated thing. Probably not, but we have to consider it. The fact that it hasn't tripped on the portable GFI doesn't mean that the hardwired GFI won't act funky. They are fickle beasts sometimes. What's more is that power was stable running both tanks for a week and then the storm hit so there might have been fluctuations in the grid which may have caused trouble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoozilla January 4, 2014 Share January 4, 2014 Great looking tank. Very clean set up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orion January 4, 2014 Author Share January 4, 2014 When you get back, we still have to run your tank on the new GFCI to make sure it doesn't trip. As for the Airport Express, it still could be a true/true/unrelated thing. Probably not, but we have to consider it. The fact that it hasn't tripped on the portable GFI doesn't mean that the hardwired GFI won't act funky. They are fickle beasts sometimes. What's more is that power was stable running both tanks for a week and then the storm hit so there might have been fluctuations in the grid which may have caused trouble. Don't be such a downer! First thing I'll do after spending some time with family is I'm going to switch out the portable gfi and hook everything back up to the hardwired one. At least we have narrowed it down to either the AP Express being loose, or the hardwired GFI having issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YHSublime January 4, 2014 Share January 4, 2014 Glad it was caught, wife FTW! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orion January 4, 2014 Author Share January 4, 2014 Glad it was caught, wife FTW! She is awesome, and enjoys the fish tanks. As long as she doesn't have to get her hands dirty with anything she doesn't mind helping out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sachabballi reef January 4, 2014 Share January 4, 2014 No skimmate cleaning huh,? Lol Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orion January 4, 2014 Author Share January 4, 2014 No skimmate cleaning huh,? Lol Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2 She actually doesn't mind emptying the cup, but as for actually cleaning the cup with a brush... thats a no no I am thinking of getting a locker to hook up to a breakout box for the apex so she doesn't have to empty the cup anymore. Happy Wife Happy.... Fish? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sachabballi reef January 4, 2014 Share January 4, 2014 I use the avast lid that fits a 5 gallon bucket and connects to apex. Highly recommend. Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowieReefer84 January 4, 2014 Share January 4, 2014 She actually doesn't mind emptying the cup, but as for actually cleaning the cup with a brush... thats a no no I am thinking of getting a locker to hook up to a breakout box for the apex so she doesn't have to empty the cup anymore. Happy Wife Happy.... Fish? I clean it with my fingers! haha Glad it was caught early and not a oops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoelace January 4, 2014 Share January 4, 2014 Don't be such a downer! Haha. Sorry, man. I was in trouble shooting mode. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orion January 5, 2014 Author Share January 5, 2014 I moved what was on the 30 gallon tank to another outlet with a portable GFI, and hooked everything up from the 57 back to the hardwired GFI last night. So far so good. I was not able to trip the hardwired GFI by plugging and unplugging the Airport Express like I had hoped. Also, I figured out the reason why I was not receiving email alerts from the Apex. The power adaptor that senses a power outage was plugged into a different outlet that was still providing power when the GFI tripped. The Apex never knew their was a loss of power. So I moved the power adaptor to the GFI last night too. I will now get email and text alerts if the GFI trips again. Lesson learned. If you are going to use the power monitor feature of the Apex make sure your power adaptor is plugged into the same outlet as the EB8/Apex. This way if your GFI trips it'll sense a loss of power and alert you. My theory that the AP Express caused the GFI to trip is off the table now, and I am not 100% certain what caused it. Could have been the storm, a fluctuation on the grid, or some piece of equipment. At least now the other tank is off that hardwired GFI and it will make troubleshooting a lot easier if it happens again. Other news - I am breaking down the 30 gallon today and moving the rest of the fish over to the new tank. I finally got the clam moved over too. Little bugger was stubborn and wouldn't let go of the rock it was attached on. I will also be setting up the ATO reservoir in the garage tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronl January 5, 2014 Share January 5, 2014 I will also be setting up the ATO reservoir in the garage tonight. Do you have a heated garage? If so, that's awesome. I wish mine was heated. Must be exciting to finally have everything moved over to the new tank. I hope you're able to figure out the GFI issue. Can you post a full tank pic? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orion January 5, 2014 Author Share January 5, 2014 Garage is attached to the house and only gets down to 50-60 degrees in the winter. Just tested alkalinity(8dkh now 7dkh). It's been on the decline all week since I did my last water change, but calcium has remained roughly the same(470 now 450ppm). I have not been dosing anything since I started this up. Time to start dosing kalk to maintain calcium and alk levels. Using Reef Crystals for salt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YHSublime January 5, 2014 Share January 5, 2014 I wonder what's consuming so much? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orion January 5, 2014 Author Share January 5, 2014 I wonder what's consuming so much? I think I know what's going on. The vials I am using to test have not had a thorough cleaning in awhile. Going to use a vinegar / RO bath on them as they look a little dirty, and then test again later. I also calibrated a brand new lab grade ph probe. PH is hovering around 7.8 which could also be why alk is a little low. Salinity is 1.024 too. Going to try to raise it with a water change that has a higher salinity. I like it at 1.025. I think it's all the above. One thing is for sure is that it's on the decline. It may not be actually that low though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YHSublime January 5, 2014 Share January 5, 2014 Yeah, it takes me about a week to drop 1 in dkh, but I've got a bit more if an explanation. I'm convinced I may not even need to dose yet. Let us know results after the cleaning! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orion January 5, 2014 Author Share January 5, 2014 Yeah, it takes me about a week to drop 1 in dkh, but I've got a bit more if an explanation. I'm convinced I may not even need to dose yet. Let us know results after the cleaning! Ok keep your test kits clean. After cleaning - Calcium 410 Alk 7.5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orion January 6, 2014 Author Share January 6, 2014 30 Gallon is sold and out of here. I got an MP40 that has never been used out of the deal too. The Jawfish was a pain to get out of the tank, and I haven't seen him since I put him in there. Screen top is on just in case. He should start building his new den tonight. I also did some wire management this afternoon inside the ottoman. Before. After. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orion January 7, 2014 Author Share January 7, 2014 Score! Jawfish den right in front. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orion January 7, 2014 Author Share January 7, 2014 Small weekly water change done today with a higher salinity to bring the system up to 1.025. Low amount of kalk now being dosed through the ATO. Water parameters with clean test equipment, and desired salinity - Salinity 1.025 Calcium 420 Alk 7.5 Mag 1400 pH 7.92 (there is no pH swing during the day. Stays constant and I believe this is due to the lack of algae in the system.) Temp 79F Bonsaii is starting to encrust onto the plug. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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