Help with Water Pump

Wow! - 2 years.

Wow is right. 2 years is a long time, you guys have been very patient with me. When I get the picture problem with my computer sorted out I'll post a pic of the finished array. The four additional wave pumps are wired up and ready to go. I'll fill the tank this weekend to test water flow. (As you might expect, the tank project is a running joke with my family and friends and is good for a laugh or two) My goal is to have some live rock in by spring. You guys are the best-thanks.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The tank is refilled and the additional tide pumps made all the difference. Water movement looks great.

Remember PDM 12 that was arcing? And when it was on the bench everything seemed fine? Well it's still arcing. It looks like it's right under the resettable fuse. I watched it a few times and at one point a tiny sparkle ran up the wire the fuse is connected to. Before I pull PDM 12 on Sunday, is there anything I should check for? The pump LED does not get dim or flicker.

The alarm system and FSM are fantastic. It's nice to just look at which alarm LED is lit to zero in on the problem. I love it! Thanks guys.

It looks like it's right under the resettable fuse.

Click to expand...

Ah, a clue. If that's intermittently making a poor connection you could expect arcing. Try re-soldering it (or even replacing it if you have a spare).

You are so right-it was the resettable fuse. The arcing was evidently on the back of the fuse and the light was bouncing off the front of the board. I thought it was happening on the back of the board and shining through the holes. No wonder I didn't find the problem the first time or two I pulled PDM 12.
Anyway, the system's been running for a day or so and everything seems to be rock solid. It doesn't matter which power supply gets plugged into a given PDM. I think that was the intermittent fuse connection.
I have to say again-I absolutely LOVE the FSM. One of the PDM plugs at a new controller was not quite plugged in, the piezo screamed, #8 alarm LED lit up, what a wonderful problem solver!
Thank you Alec, thank you so much for designing such a high powered system and guiding me through the building process.
Thank you KISS for sharing your keen toubleshooting skills and ideas.
Thank you one and all who helped or followed along. I think we finally got it. It's been a real privillege for me-thank you guys!

Thanks Joe:

So, exactly how many pumps to you have and of what styles.

You have the pump that started it all and the pumps with the neat controllers.

I guess you'll have to make a few more modules just for spares?

Keep us updated on the progress of your other monumental tank moments like the heat recovery system.

The next think you know, you'll be setting up a web cam for the tank in a few years.

Glad to have helped, Joe.
One thing you'll need to hope is that any mains failure doesn't last too long. By design, continued running of the filter pumps was given priority over stopping the discharge of the back-up battery automatically. Excessive discharge is not good for the battery. Re-charge from a low point will take quite a while at ~0.5A.
Hope your corals appreciate their new habitat.

I have 2 of the 'old' pumps driving water through the filter and 12 'new' pumps with their controllers for water movement. Two pairs of new pumps are on opposite ends of the tank in anti-sync for the wave and they run on high. There are also 4 new pumps on each end of the tank that alternate every 6 hours or so for the tide and they run in reefcrest mode. So at any given time, there are 4 pumps for the wave and 4 pumps for the tide.

I do have a pair of PDMs that did not work I'll try to troubleshoot for spares.

Thanks, I'd appreciate doing updates.

My neighorbors will text me if we have a power outage so I can fire up my generator, I think we'll be in good shape.

I couldn't resist mentioning: One of the earliest replies in this thread was from Boncuk (Hans), a dear friend. He passed away a bit more than a year ago.

The battery is cheaper than the coral.

Sends us one more picture when you have stuff in it if you can.

Sorry to hear that. I remember Boncuk for his sense of humor.

Probably more than the cost of critters or the battery is the time spent trying to create living art.

Nothing would make me happier than to post a pic of critters in my tank-other than maybe actually having critters in the tank. Glad to see you Ron.