Does your equipment fail too?

[Jaws]

This happens to be one of my biggest beefs. I've listened to peoples experiences and it absolutely floors me when I hear about someone loosing all or even some of their livestock because of an equipment malfunction. When I started this hobby I decided that I would spend the money and buy the best stuff recommended for the tank size I have. You would think that when you spend that kind of money that the things you buy should stand up but that's hardly the case. I've had a problem with almost every piece of my equipment. In my opinion, when you spend $1000 on something, you shouldn't have to worry about it failing in the first six months. When it's something like a chiller or a heater too, either of these can have catastrophic consequences on your tank. When something fails too, it's usually something that needs to be running all the time on your tank and waiting for another one to come in or waiting for yours to be fixed sometimes doesn't work. I'm just wondering if other people can share what they've had fail on them to see if there's any pattern here that we should be cautious of.

Here's what has failed on me and the price I paid for it. Keep in mind that my tank has only been running for less than a year:


Chiller Fan Motor for Pacific Coast Chiller $700 Huge headache
AquaController II $500
Seal for EuroReef Skimmer $900 2 weeks to come in
Vortech Plastic Disk and gaskets $900 2 weeks to come in
Solenoid for Ca Reactor $100
Blown MH Bulb $150 2 weeks to come in
Red Sea Ozonizer $300

Total $3550

Well, those are the main ones that I can think of. There's quite a few pumps and small powerheads in the list too but they were relatively inexpensive. I want to be clear that this is in no way bashing the retailer, moreso the manufacturer. In fact, every retailer that I approached with my problem has been excellent and more than happy to rectify the situation which I am very thankful for. The problem is that there is no quick fix since a lot of these parts need to be ordered from the manufacturer and most of them are out of the States. Maybe it's just me but I have a tough time spending that much money on equipment that is said to be the best but I am not able to rely on. Ok, I think I'm done. Hopefully there's other people out there that are sharing in my frustration. Please let us know if you are. Thanks.

[Samw]

My Tunze Osmolator failed at about the 2 year mark. The pump kept pumping water even after the water level rose above the IR sensor. This happened the night before I was leaving for a vacation. If it happen while I was away, it would have been disastrous. (~$200)

My Cooltouch lighting w/ IceCap ballasts sometimes shuts off on its own (Happens about twice a week. Has happened since brand new. Sometimes, it'll relight and sometimes it won't. I think its the powerswitch. I never got around to hardwiring the powercord to see if it solved the problem). (~$800)

[Beverly]

Jason,

We have adopted the "keep it simple, stupid" mode of reefkeeping by:

- keeping fish stocking levels low
- having various non-invasive macroalgae for nutrient uptake
- having a BB so we siphon out crud weekly
- having some mechanical filtration that gets cleaned weekly

This method has saved us:

- loads of money
- from having sophisticated equipment fail which may cause all kinds of problems
- from having floods, big or small
- from not overdosing something from an automated system
- there are probably more savings, but I can't think of them now

This method's drawbacks are:

- we have to do weekly maintenance on our tank religiously, but this is not a big deal now that we have only one tank
- daily top ups are done manually, which isn't a problem because it makes me look at our tank for signs of problems daily
- having to test for alk, Ca and Mg regularly and manually add the additives
- mmm, can't think of any else

Overall, our reef is a rather hands-in and hands-on experience, but the problems seem to be fewer than the ones you describe.

[Aquattro]

So far, the only thing that has failed is the motor for my chiller fan, but I contribute that to poor maintenance. Other than that, nothing has failed that was cleaned properly at regular intervals.

[reeferaddict]

Jason - holy crap you've sh**y luck!

I know what you mean though, you pay good money & you expect quality in return, unfortunately this is too often not the case...

I for one research most everything I buy, read the forums here and on RC to see what others success has been and try to get feedback about various manufacturers and retailers. Even doing all that, I have had my share of duds too, but have also come to expect it at times.

In designing my system, I have, (touch wood), made as many things as I can to be assumed to fail at some time or another...

Circulation pumps in the main tank are on separate circuits so even if I have a blown fuse, the water keeps moving... Same goes for the sump, so even if the main pump fails I don't have to worry about water quickly stagnating. Same goes with the lights. Auto top off is limited to a 7 gallon jug fed through a Kent float valve. I keep an extra float valve & change them out once a month, soaking the most recently used one in vinegar to keep them clean & free of calcium deposits as I run top off through a Kalkreactor. Even if the float switch fails, (happened! ), 7 gallons, even running through the Kalkreactor, doesn't affect the salinity or pH enough to harm anything. My skimmer has a pressurized collection cup to prevent overflows, and I have seen this work practically as well... *whew*...

I, like you, spend a lot of time with my tank, and try to stay on top of things but the real key is just to expect equipment failures, and try to see in advance what the effects will be if you aren't around to minimize damage and/or loss of life... What's up with your Neptune? That unit has some real neat features to combat heat issues... I know my Solar 1000 and X-10 have been a little buggy too... but nothing to throw it against the wall over...

[Jaws]

Originally Posted by reeferaddict

What's up with your Neptune? That unit has some real neat features to combat heat issues... I know my Solar 1000 and X-10 have been a little buggy too... but nothing to throw it against the wall over...

Well the first one was having screen problems where if I touched any point on the front of the unit the screen would go blank. It also wouldn't turn lights on an off which I'm having problems with on my current one. It doesn't matter what circuit I put the interface or the X10 timers on, the controller will just decide whenever it wants to turn things on and off. I've woke up at 3:00am once to find my MH's on. My biggest reason for the X10 timers on my MH's is to shut them off if the tank gets too hot. It does do what I've programmed most of the time but not all the time and then it will do whatever it wants the rest of the time. I'm basically only using it for Temp, pH, and ORP readings at the moment.

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by Jaws

I'm basically only using it for Temp, pH, and ORP readings at the moment.

Well, for temp, once you've got your chiller fixed and keep it clean, it will manage temp just fine. pH and ORP? Why?

[StirCrazy]

I don't have to much problem with equipment, I have had a heater stick, but I shouldn't have used an old one I had laying around.. most of my stuff is people problems.. in other words my own stupidity.

Steve