Big fumble nearly cost me

Discussion in 'Metal Halide Aquarium Lighting' started by Matt Rogers, Jul 5, 2014.

to remove this notice and enjoy 3reef content with less ads. 3reef membership is free.

Page 1 of 2
  1. Matt Rogers

    Matt Rogers Kingfish

    Joined:
    Dec 31, 2000
    Messages:
    13,466
    Location:
    Berkeley, CA
    Oh my. This one made me real red. :angry:

    A little over a week ago I was doing some last minute things before we left town for the weekend. This included topping off the ATO and changing my halide bulb. It was late, I was rushing etc.

    Flash forward to yesterday - my first day at home in a while. And guess what? The halide wasn't on. I asked my family how long it's been like that - they said "I don't know." The blood rushed to my head. A few days before I noted that some of my corals were losing color and a small deep blue acro frag was receding. I was scratching my head because my alk, calcium and mag were spot on. Now it all makes sense. I am an idiot. When I come home from work, it is actinic time. I had no clue.

    When I dug into the fixture, I quickly saw that one end of the halide bulb was not seated in the socket correctly. It was at an angle. I fixed that issue then unplugged my ballast and plugged it back in after about 30 seconds. The bulb didn't fire. I thought this may have something to do with my Reef Angel controller, so I left it.

    Today, it fired up. I raised the light a couple inches as the sun has been low for over a week. Amazingly my acros have their polyps out - esp my monty cap that I thought looked pretty bad a few days ago. I may be able to save the blue acro if I frag it today.

    How embarrassing. When I screw up, I screw up big. :rolleyes2:

    I think my Reef Angel may have noted the light not firing, I am going to spend some quality time with the controller, it has been neglected - and update the software, then begin to see if I can program it to send a text message when there is an issue like this.

    Yikes. This could have been much worse.

    matt
     
    Matt Rogers, Jul 5, 2014
    Matt Rogers, Jul 5, 2014
    #1
    Mr. Bill likes this.

    2. Click Here!

  2. Todd_Sails

    Todd_Sails Giant Squid

    Joined:
    Jul 3, 2011
    Messages:
    4,732
    Location:
    A Texan in S.E. Wisconsin
    Glad you found the problem Matt
     
    Todd_Sails, Jul 5, 2014
    Todd_Sails, Jul 5, 2014
    #2
    Matt Rogers likes this.
  3. Billme

    Billme Eyelash Blennie

    Joined:
    Sep 9, 2013
    Messages:
    1,287
    Location:
    Bakersfield, Ca
    Good catch Matt. Sounds like an easy thing to miss.
     
    Billme, Jul 5, 2014
    Billme, Jul 5, 2014
    #3
    Matt Rogers likes this.
  4. Mr. Bill

    Mr. Bill Native Floridian

    Joined:
    May 28, 2011
    Messages:
    4,874
    Location:
    USA
    Congrats on the save, Matt; as you said, it could've been much worse.
     
    Mr. Bill, Jul 5, 2014
    Mr. Bill, Jul 5, 2014
    #4
    Matt Rogers likes this.
  5. Blue Falcon

    Blue Falcon Fire Goby

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2009
    Messages:
    1,301
    Location:
    NC
    so your halide wasnt working for several day? just the actinics?
     
    Blue Falcon, Jul 5, 2014
    Blue Falcon, Jul 5, 2014
    #5
  6. Matt Rogers

    Matt Rogers Kingfish

    Joined:
    Dec 31, 2000
    Messages:
    13,466
    Location:
    Berkeley, CA
    Yep. Just smarts that I didn't catch before. No lights in the AM and actinics when I get home from work is the norm. Arrggghh going forward I will be double checking my bulb change work ESP before leaving town
     
    Matt Rogers, Jul 5, 2014
    Matt Rogers, Jul 5, 2014
    #6

    7. Click Here!

  7. Servillius

    Servillius Montipora Digitata

    Joined:
    Feb 7, 2011
    Messages:
    1,062
    Location:
    Houston, Texas.
    Clearly you work too much. Fewer hours; just one more sacrifice any reasonable person would make for their corals.
     
    Servillius, Jul 6, 2014
    Servillius, Jul 6, 2014
    #7
  8. Mr. Bill

    Mr. Bill Native Floridian

    Joined:
    May 28, 2011
    Messages:
    4,874
    Location:
    USA
    You could adjust the photoperiod so you can enjoy viewing your tank for a few hours after work. :)
     
    Mr. Bill, Jul 6, 2014
    Mr. Bill, Jul 6, 2014
    #8
  9. Matt Rogers

    Matt Rogers Kingfish

    Joined:
    Dec 31, 2000
    Messages:
    13,466
    Location:
    Berkeley, CA
    Yeah that is not a bad idea my friend. :)

    lol you are right about that. :D

    Currently playing around with my reef angel controller to see if I can program an alert about lights not going on. Not sure if it's possible yet.
     
    Matt Rogers, Jul 6, 2014
    Matt Rogers, Jul 6, 2014
    #9
    Mr. Bill likes this.
  10. OnlyTono

    OnlyTono Spaghetti Worm

    Joined:
    Feb 9, 2013
    Messages:
    190
    Location:
    Glendale AZ
    I don't have a reef angel, but if it works anything like an Apex, then maybe some programing that checks the status of the lights? But, if the lights are "on" but the bulbs aren't lit, that probably wouldn't work. The only other thing I can think of is a light detector setup as a switch. then check the status of the switch, or check against some other parameter that are affected my the lights - such as amp draw?
     
    OnlyTono, Jul 6, 2014
    OnlyTono, Jul 6, 2014
    #10
Page 1 of 2