Longest you've ran without a crash

I'm coming up on the 1 year mark for my tank, and what I've learned is that while I love the depth and geometry of the corner hex when it comes to aquascape, trying to work on a sump, skimmer, etc under that tank is a pain in the butt. So, I think I'm coming to the cross roads of redoing my sump/fuge/return combo under this tank focusing on simplicity or scrapping the current tank and relocating to a different part of the house with a rectangular tank.

My question is how simple can you keep the sump/fuge and keep a tank running for an extended period. I currently have a 40 breeder that is divided into three sections: a sump with filter sock and skimmer, a return section to the display, and a fuge section that is fed from a pump in the return section. It seems to work well, but is a pain to work on. I did a pretty poor job of cleaning it this year (cleaned skimmer pump for the first time last week), and I'm afraid that it's going to lead to a tank crash.

Life would be easier if I eliminated the separate fuge and skimmer sections, but my guess is that having a skimmer in the same section with live rock and chaeto will lead to its own problems with skimmer pumps. I could also eliminate the fuge altogether, but that doesn't seem like the best idea either.

Just wondering what people do that have the best success with longevity, or if tank crashes are inevitable and I should just not worry about it and deal with it when it comes.

Thanks!

 

tank crashes usually come from heaters and or ato malfunctions. if im reading your sump lay correctly it goes "Skimmer : Return pump : Fuge" if so, that's a great set up, just make sure your algae in the fuge doesn't grow out of the fuge and into your return pump, which would cause it to fail and if you don't have a siphon break or check valve on that line then you'll flood out your sump and stand. (that makes for a really angry wife) but that wont kill your tank tho, the clean up is going to suck, but youll live through it. Do your best to keep your skimmer in the dark, light will make it gunk up faster and will promote algae growth inside of it, making cleaning harder and more frequent. also if your fuge has a deep sand bed, be sure not to aggrivate the sand too much, one to many of those air bubbles pop and that will kill your tank too, happened to buddies tank.

 

I am on 4 years with out a tank crash. The last tank crash was from bad frozen food and the one before that vodka dosing.

Hesitate to post in this thread seems like it's tempting fate. LOL.

When cleaning I do sections as a time not big over a hauls at once every blue moon. I guess they call that routine maintenance.

There are some tanks that have been around for decades, that takes a ton of devotion and a good deal of luck. A heater goes bad, power outages.......

It happens and you dust your self off if you can stand to and think about planing your next creation.

 

It is Skimmer : Return : Fuge. I have a high partition drilled with holes to keep the chaeto in and distribute the flow evenly through the fuge.

I have my levels low enough and return spouts high enough in the DT that my sump won't overflow on a return pump failure. I overflowed this tank when it was a FW cichlid tank, and you're right, my wife was NOT a happy camper. ;D

I do have about a 2" sand bed in the fuge, but was thinking about removing that because I'm not seeing much turnover from critters along the glass. I'm afraid it's going to go toxic. Not sure how to tell if that's happening, but I appreciate your warning on it. I was thinking the same thing.

So it sounds like "routine" replacement of heaters and ATO is probably a best practice to avoid crashes. Thanks for the input!

LOL! Knocking on wood for you and thank you for the input.

 

16 years and counting

 

My first tank has been running for about 11 years. I gave it away 2 years ago though, and although there was not a full tank crash, the return failure and without the skimmer, O2 in the display got very low, due to glass tops and not air exchange. Most of the fish died, but all of my corals, including my first corals, from a GARF frag pack are still doing well (except 2 NPS gorgonians that didn't make it the first year).

I have other tanks that have gone more or less 6+ years, but equipment in this hobby tends to be junk and fails eventually... I have never had a crash that wasn't due to equipment failure, but my two other crashed on other tanks, were due to a heater failure, while on vacation and a controller failure. So, I think if you can find long-term-reliable equipment, there is no reason a tank can't go a really long time. Finding good equipment seems to be the tough part though...

Edit:sorry, forgot the point LOL. On my original tank, there is no skimmer compartment, just a 20H sump with a skimmer. Just depends how sensitive your skimmer is to fluctuations, on that tank, it an older RO NW-150 and really dosn't mind a bit of fluctuation.

 

My biocube 14 crashed after two years when my little sister decided to help feed the fish, but its making a strong comeback. Unfortunately these things happen, its just a test to show if you're truly devoted.