Near disaster!

McEve · Post by **McEve** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 10:29 pm

Thank you Stevie.K, that's so kind of you! Unfortunately the travel would be too stressful for the fry, taking extra time in transit as we're not in EU. But that really was a wonderful gesture, thank you so much for thinking like that!

Luckily I didn't keep all my Zebs in one tank, so I will just have to let time work for me and hopefuly get my colony up again

We'll bounce back again

gugge · Post by **gugge** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 10:16 am

Hmm that´s the nightmare that that would happen with my fellas, I try to protect them from misshapps as good as I can...
We have powerouttakes somtimes so I have UPS(Uninterruptelbe Power Supply) connected to to the aquariums(but not the computer

) they can power the pumps for about 8 hours and then I´ll have to connect them to another set of batteries - those last for a couple of days
And I have an extra termostat to the heater so it will turn the heater off if the tempeatur exceeds 30,5C...
And i just built timers for the pumps so I don´t forget to turn them on again when i feed them..
Next upp is a cntrol that sends text message if there is a poweruottake or the temperatur fails to keep within the set range..

Me carful? oooohhh yes

Adam · Post by **Adam** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 2:01 pm

@ McEve, I'm glad to hear that you will be able to recover from this tragedy. By the way I was thinking, I have a group of unruly teenage zebs here that are always fighting and making a mess. I am also rather concerned about teenage pregnancies. Seeing that you are aunty to all baby zebras on ZP how about they come and live with you, perhaps you can teach them some manners.

@ Stevie.K, how kind of you to offer McEve some of your fry.

@ Gugge, my word it looks like you have every eventuality covered there. I'm currently looking at getting some thermostats to plug my eheim thermos into . That way if the Eheim themostat fails the additional thermostat will kick in.

Here's a link to the thermostat I'm looking to get.

http://www.monitors-direct.co.uk/Produc ... uctID=1044

I looked into getting a UPS a while back but they were working out to be too expensive.

If you are looking for an aquarium management system then the Aquatronica systems are probably the best. I've been looking at these for a while now, again very expensive but the things you can do with them are amazing. Automated water changes via email sounds pretty good to me, you can of course keep tabs on all water parameters if you connect the system to the net. The down side is that they are very expensive and you would need a unit for each tank. Something worth thinking about I guess, it all depends on how much peace of mind you want and at what cost.

Regards.

Adam

McEve · Post by **McEve** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 3:08 pm

Hi Adam, the online ups' are still a bit expensive, but the interactive ones aren't all that bad anymore, I think you'll find that they've dropped considerably in price over the last couple of years.

Maybe I'll come visit you to give my colony a boost Adam, I'm well versed in dealing with teenagers now having an 18 year old that, touch wood, is turning out to be a rather good person

I will of course pay for them should I be able to help you out with your awful teenage tantrum individuals

Might even have to be a smuggler to get that to work though... hmmmm better not huh

But you're a sweetheart for offering Adam, a good friend indeed

One good thing that comes out of this, lots of good ideas of how to avoid disasterts like this in the future. And Mindy, sorry for hijacking the thread!

gugge · Post by **gugge** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 3:41 pm

I don´t use online UPS

i use the kind that takes 2-5ms to switch over to batterypower, I payed 40euros eatch for them and 35euro eatch for new batteries! And then there is some other electronics to.. if the UPS breaks down and I still have power the ordinary wat it will switch over and bypass the UPS...
But were we live, power outtakes happens maby 1 time every 2 moths so it´s more a nessessety to be able to have aquariums.
I have worked with electronics in my younger years(ok I´m 30 now but...) so I build thins as a hobbie nowadays..

I liked that thermostat!

seemed simple but effective! I wonder if I can get a hold of a couple here

I´m using homebuilt ones now and sometime in the future I maight get the time to put all functions in one box... but with my schedule.. probobly not

Adam · Post by **Adam** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 7:26 pm

McEve, I had not long had the zebras when I was looking into UPS' and they were expensive back then. Do you remember how paranoid I used to be about them? I think I'll have a look at what the prices are like now.

About the unruly teenagers, they are yours if you want them. There's one slight snag though, I can't accept any money for them. I would be more than happy knowing that they have gone to an excellent home . All I would want is an update on them from time to time, a small thankyou for all your help over the years.

Gugge any chance of a link to a manufacturers website for the UPS' that you use, the prices you quoted are very reasonable.

I am actually looking at two types of thermostats at the moment, the other one is made by Habistat and is a favourite with reptile keepers.

http://www.eurorep.net/habistat/temp.htm

I'm leaning more towards the ATC-300 because it has a digital display, reliability wise I think the Habistat is better though but over double the price. However as it will only be a backup it shouldn't be a problem. There's a German powerseller on ebay that sells them and he ships worldwide.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/THERMOSTAT-REGLER ... dZViewItem

The idea is to plug the Eheim heater element into the thermostat and set it at a couple of degrees above the Eheim's thermostat. That way if the Eheim fails the ATC-300 will control heating. I had thought of disconnecting the heater elements and using regular heaterstats in the tanks instead but then there is still no way of safeguarding against failure. Just to cover all angles, if you then had a heaterstat in the tank set to a couple of degrees below the Eheim's thermostat you would have both heater failure in the on and off position covered.

Adam

gugge · Post by **gugge** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 6:54 pm

Adam: The maufactor is APC on them, but I didn´t buy them new, but on a re sale page - that´s why i bought new batteries to them because they where 2 years old

Here there is a lot to get hold of - I just surf comupter places were many people buy and sell them

if you by them new they cost around 250-300euro eatch(but inkludes batteries)

crazie.eddie · Post by **crazie.eddie** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 11:30 am

Regarding power backup, have anyone of you considered buying a generator instead or maybe in addition to the UPS? Generators would probably costs the same as a decent UPS. A UPS will probably not run as long when using aquarium equipment, unless you don't connect the heater. Plus the generator can also keep your refrigerator running for those times. Besides, UPS replacement batteries can be expensive and unless you can hook up additional batteries, like car or motorcycle, you won't be running your equipment for too long.

bonsai · Post by **bonsai** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 11:58 am

Hi crazie, we used to have power-cuts and sometimes they lasted about an hour! So a while back, we decided it would be a good investment (let alone keeping the fish alive!) to get one. Strange thing though, we've NOT had use it since

But yes, I totally agree with you.

McEve · Post by **McEve** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 7:08 pm

Latest news about Eheim 2128.

It happened to another Zebrakeeper in Norway, fish cooked overnight.

This time Eheim aknowledge the problem and says that all 2128 filters produced from 2004 to week 15 in 2007 have a flaw that can cause the thermostat to fail with this result. They have since week 15 2007 changed to a different supplier of the thermostat, and the problem should no longer be an issue.

Check the label of your pump if you have 2128. If it says 05040 it means it was produced in week 4 2005. Don't mind the last letter.

Jo's Zebs · Post by **Jo's Zebs** » Sat Nov 03, 2007 6:36 pm

I have read bad reports on the net about Juwel heaters overheating regulary. So much so that I have removed them from all my tanks and replaced them with Vistherm Stealth (Newwatt in the UK) they have saftey cut out and the therm will not blow if you forget to turn the heater off at water change time.