Gotta love the Medusa!

[phoenixrising]

Yesderday I had a real special sort of day. First off, I had to do 45 minutes of CPR at the END of a long shift (for those of you who have not done CPR, it is physically exhausting after a short while). Then, when I grabbed a handful of snacks to replenish my energy stores I popped off a crown. I love going to the dentist so I was extra glad to have done that. Then I drove home in rush hour traffic because I was late leaving. Next great surprise was that for some unknown reason my system decided to empty itself onto my not quite as new berber carpet at some point during the night and the pumps and chiller were running dry for an unknown period of time. Things were looking limp in the tanks. Got the system back up and running, but had to pour newly mixed salt water into the sump to replace about 35 gallons that was in the carpet. All pumps by some miracle are working. Went to plug in the Medusa again and found that it was a casualty. Not sure yet if the chiller is a goner. Hope not...those things are close to a grand to replace. I called the folks who make the Medusa and boy were they WONDERFUL!!! They told me to send it to them overnight mail and they would fix it at no charge and send it back to me overnight mail. Again, at no charge. So...off it goes this morning to California and I should have it back by Monday next week. They said if they cannot repair it promptly, they will replace it. It is in the mid 90's today, but the AC is on in the house and fans are blowing all over the basement to dry the carpet so hopefully, the fish won't realise that it is hot outside. Tank is an even 80 degrees now. Hope it stays that way!
I sure love extracting water from carpet for hours on end after working 12 hours overnight. Never did make it to bed yesterday and never did figure out why the system flooded. Very mysterious. I wonder if my husband accidentally did something and is afraid to fess up?????

 

[bigmac]

I agree, the customer service I got from the folks who make the Medusa contoller was top notch. The problem is I had to deal with them like 6 times in the first 4 months, and its still a POS. I'd never buy another one. Its kind of like the IC ballast. The customer sevice is great. The reason is because they have to deal with so many problems.

 

[beaslbob]

phoenix: have you determined why the system flooded? I just started using a refugium and made several changes after testing. Did you have a power outage? did the overflow plug up? would like to know to test that on my system.

 

[marvida]

Phoenix,
Hope you have a better rest of the week! Having performed CPR on several occassions I feel for you. Not only physically draining but can be very mentally/emotionally exhausting also. Man! and then all the rest of that nonsense! Dang!
Take care!!!!!
Ken

 

[phoenixrising]

BigMac--Wow...sure hope I don't end up with that situation. What did you go to when you dumped the Medusa? Here I thought the Medusa was supposed to be a decent and reliable controller? Is there a better and more reliable option? I've spent way too much money on the system (as have all of us, I'm sure) for it to fail because of an unreliable controller. What problems were you having with yours? Mine worked just great until I turned it off. Then it wouldn't turn back on.
BeaslBob--I have absolutely no idea what caused the system to flood. I have checked and rechecked everything and cannot determine the cause. That is so annoying, because it didn't flood for no reason and since I cannot seem to locate the reason then it must still exist and I will therefore end up with a similar situation down the road...probably at some other really inconvienent time. We had no power outage since last Thursday. I have a massive generator for the house though that kicks on when the power goes out so I don't worry too much about power outages. It would be a MAJOR concern if I had no generator though.
MarVida--doing CPR is no big deal unless it goes on for extended periods of time. I've been a nurse for 20 years and have spent all of that time in the ER or more recently ICU. We do ALOT of CPR in the critical care areas. Many times it some stupid dope dealer/addict who has OD'd on cocaine or whatever. I have minimal mental exhaustion from that. Many other times it is victims of violence (trauma arrest). Sometimes they are innocent bystanders or family members and sometimes they are just as guilty only they caught their bullet the wrong way and died from it. I guess after so many years, I have less sympathy for the derelicts of society. The situation I referred to above in the original post was a well educated successful young man with a family who was besides themselves with agony in the crisis room. There was a family history of heart disease and he was well aware of it and took extraordinary care of himself because of it. He had been admitted to ICU for chest pain 2 days prior and was unstable from the onset. It was no surprise he arrested and we were right there ready for it. His cardiac enzymes were going up right before our eyes and his EKG's were steadily getting worse. The heart monitor showed progressive changes that we couldn't seem to stop no matter what we did. He already had bypass surgery. The only reason CPR and the whole code situation went on for so long is because nobody was willing to give up. Sorta like when a child arrests. NOBODY wants to be the one who officially calls the code. You keep trying and trying with everything you can get your hands on and keep at it waaaaaay longer than necessary. It is emotionally devastating when all attempts with everything in the arsenal is tried and it all fails. And believe me...we have TONS of high powered high tech stuff in the arsenal. Sometimes it just isn't going to happen. That is the part I hate about the job. The successes are exhilerating, the failures crushing. Young people have a low chance of recovery from an MI. The older you are, the better your chances.
Well...off to the dentist. I DETEST going to the dentist.

 

[marvida]

Yeah I agree about the kids. My worst one involved a 5 week old. She was directly across the street from the station, we were there literally within seconds of the call & were still unsuccessful. That was also one of the longest.
Take care!

 

[phoenixrising]

Yeppers. Kids are the worst. Everyone has a nervous breakdown when the code is done. My last one involved an 18 month old with an anaphylactic reaction to Ceclor. He survived after an unthinkable amount of time in a pediatric code. I have seen plenty of others that didn't make it though. Drownings, burns, violence and so forth. I fly with the local search and rescue helicopter regularly and we see lots of peds trauma. Bummer.

 

[bigmac]

Originally posted by PhoenixRising
BigMac-- What did you go to when you dumped the Medusa? Here I thought the Medusa was supposed to be a decent and reliable controller? Is there a better and more reliable option?
PR,
I took the tank down about 5 months ago, at the time I stilled used the Medusa. I just used it to control my chiller but the problem was that the temp fluctuated 3-4 degrees. They say it should keep the temp within 1 degree but mine never came close to that. They sent me two different boards along with two probes but there was no change....Great customer service, just not the best working controller.

 

[clownfish_and_bettas]

Phoenix: wow! that sounds like a LOVELY day!
I LOOOOOOVE the dentist too! (I hope my sarcasm is getting through. )
Nadia
ps i hope the rest of your week goes as well as it can.

 

[phoenixrising]

BigMac--I have to say that I have noticed temp fluctuations with the Medusa also. Maybe not 3 or 4 degrees, but more than the literature for the unit said it allowed for. I also noticed last winter that the heater would be on and within a short time the chiller would kick on. What the heck is up with that?? I thought it was something I had done to it that would cause the chiller and heater to fight each other. I fiddled around with the temp settings (with a customer service rep on the line) and it didn't do that anymore. When you set up another tank, will you still use the Medusa for your controller or will you switch to something else? If you plan to switch...what do you intend to switch to?? I had forgotten you took your tank down.
Clownfish & Bettas--went to the dentist yesterday. It was the usual disasterous experience. Naturally, they can't just cement the crown back on. Nope. They instead want to re-do my root canal and put in a post and then attempt to reseat the same crown onto that. If unsuccessful, then a new crown will be the order of the day. I'm here to bet that for some mysterious reason, my existing crown will somehow not fit the bill necessitating a replacement to be made.
I'm back to work tonight after two nights off. Can hardly wait to see what the shift brings me!! Sure wish I knew why my system flooded. Somehow, I feel certain that as soon as I leave tonight things will start happening and by morning I will have another flood. It will happen sooner or later because I never could find and fix the problem last time.