Mr. Saltwater Tank TV Friday Am Quick Tip #98: Sound the Alarm When It Rains
Tornados, Hurricanes…they all have warning alarms, so why not one have one for your tank? Better yet, why not have one that can be purchased for less than one Andrew Jackson?
Links in this show: www.mrsaltwatertank.com/site/wateronfloor
Browse the Store! Questions?
Great find Bob and Mark, I have my ordered.
Keep em coming Mark, thats for capping of my/our week with great advise.
Thanks Mark! Let us know how the sensor works out for you. Hopefully you won’t ever have to use it though!
Mark, actually I will place it under my RO tank, I have a problem of forgetting about it… 🙁
Mark…float switch baby! Best $25 you’ll ever spend!
Hey Mark, I’ve also seen units with auto dialers that will notify you by phone in case of a leak. A little more money but still cheaper than repairing the damage. Also available at home improvement stores. I was actually thinking of picking up a controller for this reason as well as other features. Now I’m thinking maybe an mp40 (just got paid for overtime and my pockets are burning). What would you suggest? Top o the line power head and cheaper leak alarm. Or go the controller route. I know its kind of a chicken or the egg question. Would the mp40 add health benefits to system or is any type of proper flow just as good. Great tip though. I’ve always seen these leak detection units but figured id be getting a controller soon enough. Hope that wasn’t to off topic.
Oh ya one more question. I was looking through this months TFH mag and couldn’t find your article. Are you still writing them?
Darren…I wrote a series of articles for TFH around my tank build. I’m not a regular contributor…yet.
Mark, are these articles available on-line anywhere?
Ah I see. Let them know I put it back on the rack because there was no “Mr Saltwatertank” article. Lol
Darren…haha! I’ll send your comment onto the editor.
haha, I just put one in my tank. Well not in the tank, below the tank. More specifically in the corner where the overflow pipes go down. And into my other room (below the stairs). So when it gets wet over there. I know that fast so my closet doesn’t get to wet and potentially rot away.
Floors over here are made of concrete so a wet floor doesn’t matter that much as long as you got some water resistant flooring on top (like tiles).
btw can you tell me more of the net you use to keep your fish in?
Where’s the link to the actual device?
Thomas…right here
awesome, thanks!
HomeDepot : 9.97 USD
http://www.homedepot.com/Plumbing-Pumps/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xqdZbqlb/R-100038838/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&storeId=10051#.UHgy6kL_k1I
This one has a 4 foot sensing cable so you can cover more area.
you should keep a list of supplements to add each week of day. so you don’t forget to add them to your tank.
Thanks Mark. Already have a bunch of these in the basement before I got my tanks. They are VERY loud, but not loud enough to hear at the job when I left the RO water running while I was at work. My temporarily deaf cats bolted out the door the minute I got home. (Mark H., I feel your pain and I’ve ordered the float switch, thank you.) Any chance there is a creation that calls you at work to tell you there is water running out of your tank. I haven’t tried my alarm on carpeting which is where the tank is. I’ll bet it has to get pretty wet to set off. As always, the best tips!
Kathy, from what I saw on the HD web site they do have units with auto dialers. On another note. I was speaking to my LFS, as I’m going out to get a controller. He told me the detectors sold by HD will work with controller as well. Now I believe this was for the Reed Angel. The optional leak sensor is not available yet here in Canada but they are on order. So anyone with an open source type controller can use the leak sensor from HD. Not sure about the Apex though, its probably a proprietary unit.
Great tip Mark, didn’t even know you could buy such a thing
p.s Your live stream on Sat 13th is on at 1.30AM over here in OZ ,I’ll try to stay up ,…but depends how many beers I have trying to keep busy at that time of night LOL.
I think you need coffee not beers to stay awake Beetle!
Darren…for the apex you can either get the waterbug water on floor sensor or Neptune’s new water on floor sensor.
Great inexpensive suggestion, but will this work on carpet? How would that setup work?
An aside question… Do you happen to know if Neptune will be doing all of there addons for the UK version of the Apex Controller and if we can expect the Apex Junior as well? I’m not going hunting for a floor sensor in the UK if I know it will be an option on the Neptune kit I’m planning on buying when it finally gets here!
Forgot to mention… Great tip… Its a bloody good idea and anyone who thinks otherwise probably needs to either give up on the hobby or actually start doing there own tank maintenance 😀 Either that or they’ve got money to burn and don’t give a monkey’s about the wonderful marine life they’ve opted to be responsible for…
Bugger the floor and the inevitable cost/insurance hassle… I’m worried about my tank inhabitants and any heads up on an emergency transfer is a bloody good idea in my mind! Top Tip gents… Hope to see many more like them! 🙂
Alex…i believe it would have to go under the carpet.
Mark,
I first am not making a big deal. I like to know as with some of the tips you show were do you get them. I asking has many of us have gave the same tips months ago and then you show a tip which it very good to let everyone needs to know. But you have a persons you name gave the tip that others did give you but not name them months ago.
Hey mark!!! this tyler johnson from yourtube. i have two channels on there about my 300 gallon saltwater hot tub frag tank. well i was wondering if you would be interested in joining my facebook group called Central Oregon Reef Keeping. i think you would be a huge advantage on that site helping reefers around the world. just a thought.
heres the link to the site http://www.facebook.com/groups/163998433717717/
heres the link to one of youtube channels were you can see my hot tub idea!!!
http://www.youtube.com/user/cichlidmania26?feature=mhee
Hi Mark, How can a $25 float switch warn you or stop your RO flowing? And how can this be better than a $9.95 alarm?
Dave…I believe you are talking about the RO shut off switch. If so, the RO shut off switch will stop water from flowing out of your RODI system automatically when the reservoir is full. The $9.95 water on floor alarm will only let you know there is a problem, but won’t do anything about it.
Thanks Mark, I thought you meant just a float level switch. I’ll have to search one out here in the UK as I’m always flooding my neighbors basement!