Part of being a happy and care-free aquarist is designing your system to minimize the chance of catastrophe. Aquarium catastrophes come in many different flavors of awful. For example there are livestock catastrophes, like sea apple Pseudocolochirus poisoning events; there are hot and spicy heater malfunctions; and there are also watery flooding events which can leave your home or office to stew in a briny broth of aquarium water. This last type, the flooding event, is the worst because it affects not just the aquarium and its inhabitants, but everything in the surrounding area. Their potential for devastation is so great, we’re loathe to describe it in any detail.
There are many precautions aquarists take to avoid floods. Using a reliable auto top-off system can ensure that too much water is never added all at once. Using a properly sized drain system will guarantee that the aquarium can always handle whatever amount of water the return pump throws at it. Drilling a siphon-break in the return line, just below the water line, can keep display water from siphoning into, and overflowing, the sump in the event the power goes out or the return pump gets stuck. Yet even though fortune favors the prepared aquarium, there are situations where even the above preparations are not enough.
That’s where the Tunze 7607/2 comes in. It is the last line of defense between the slings and arrows of outrageous misfortune and your beautiful hardwood floors. This Water Level Alarm features three independent water-level sensors, a control board and display with audible alert and a switched power socket. Two of the level sensors are used to detect an overflow event, either in the sump or display, and the third sensor detects a run-dry event. The switched socket is under normal circumstances always live; when the controller detects either an overflow or run-dry event in the sump or in the display, power to the socket is interrupted. By plugging your return pump and protein skimmer into this socket (by means of a power strip) you can prevent both from getting damaged if the sump level falls too low. This will also prevent the display from overflowing, by turning off the return pump when the display level gets too high (as would happen with a clogged drain).
Just as there are many ways to design and construct an aquarium, there are many different ways which the 7607/2 can be configured and implemented. If you need any suggestions on how it can be used to protect your aquarium or the room it’s in, feel free to get in touch with us.