Things I have discovered about my tank over the years
 

1. my tank knows when it is December. December is the month that it is most likely that I do not have any extra cash for the tank. The tank ensures that it gets its share of attention by having some sort of equipment malfunction/breakdown. Christmas/birthday presents of years past include replacement wavebox, tunze driver box, tunze power module for replacement wavebox, and currently a ruptured impeller on skimmer pump.

2. the more you need said malfuntioning/broken equipment, the longer it takes the replacement to get here/farther it is away

2. if there is something to happen with your tank, like your fish contracting ick, emergency waterchange needed and you're out of salt, equipment breakdown etc. it will happen on a Sunday. At 7pm. This is especially likely if you are in a small town.

3. the more expensive the fish, the more likely it is to jump, the more likely it is that nobody else has ever had one jump. yes, its just you. this also applies to expensive corals and RTN.

4. if you do a late evening waterchange (anytime after say 8 or 9 pm), your skimmer will overflow all over the floor and you will be woken up to either pumps grinding or your controller screaming about the low water level in your sump.

Truer words never been spoken. Sorry to hear Christy good luck with it all.

5. if you have a glass topoff tank, after awhile it starts to smell like a freshwater fish tank. very odd since there are no fish in it. guess there must be something growing in it (biofilms I guess). note to self: clean this tank more often :razz:

Or if a tank is going to blow, it will happen at midnight on Sunday:evil: (7pm is far too early and convenient - ie. other people who can help you out are still awake and available)

oy! I haven't had that one happen, thank goodness. I assume its coming at some point though. I was thinking about that last night, at what point do you replace a tank, does anyone really know how long they're good for anyways?

For me - something always needs replacing, always.

6. stupid me, I forgot the all important "if a rock needs adjusting, plan on spending at least two hours working on the resulting landslide" *facepalm*

Or if your calcium reactor is going to malfunction it does it at 8pm the night before you leave for the Philippines with your family. Thankfully I don't use a Ca reactor anymore!!!

oh that sucks, I've actually not done too badly this year compared to years past. my tank always manages to get me when my wallet is empty though :neutral:

Or it always happened just before you have to leave to go to work, and ended up calling in sick or lied about your car didn't start.

This has me a bit concerned too, my 175g bowfront was used when i got it 7 yrs ago

I assume its coming at some point though. I was thinking about that last night, at what point do you replace a tank, does anyone really know how long they're good for anyways?[/quote]

I had read from somewhere long time ago, it said the tank has 10 years without moving from place to place too much. If your tank are using some kind of a wavemaker it will shorten the tank's life 1/3.

I think Roger at Tunze has estimated a 10% lifespan reduction with the use of a wavebox but there are no real facts regarding this. We're all playing a risky game long-term wavebox or not lol.

awesome. I have no idea how old my tank is. another kick in the pants for buying a used tank.

I googled it, and it seems silicone has a life expectancy of 10 years. There would obviously be many variables here: size of tank; water flow; etc.

One thing I've learned about my tank is that Aiptasia, Majanos and Valonia are indestructible. They are the dandelions of salt water.

safe to say i would replace my tank before 10yrs came up just to be safe, i mean you can get a tank for a few hundred but having it crash to the floor is gonna be 10 times that amount in damage and replacing stuff lost......i would say the same for stands too to be honest:):) no real way to say for sure too many variables to conside just better to play it safe i guess:)

I don't know about the mojanos only because I haven't gotten any yet :lol:

I scoured for valonia before the transfer. I'm sure it was all gone and tiny little bubbles are appearing. Thankfully in the hardest to reach nooks and crannies too it's a special thing.

That was why I'd rather pay a little bit more but avoid to buy a used tank, because I know it is going to give me peace for a 10 years period, especially I live on the top floor of an appartment, really don't want anything to happen, the damage would cost more than just buying a new tank. So, every time I moved, I just bought a new tank.

Oh and the old pump will only die the day after the Boxing Day sales are over so you have to pay full price for the replacement.

Tom R

:mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen:

Something always gets you
 

After floods, failures and all sorts of bad things I've figured this routine out now.

Something bad happens, lets say a pump failure and you just run 1 main pump for almost everything. You in a mad panic get said pump fixed until you can replace it properly.

Thinking ahead, you rebuild the old pump to keep on hand for the future 7pm Sunday failure.

next month, you float switch fails for the ATO (now have 3 switches).

next month 4 sets of T5 die in 2 days.....

RESULT: the sad realization that you just can't account for everything that could go wrong.