Phil is definitely being smart on this. Why?
Because from my experience, and other's I know, the old adage -- it's not a matter of if, but when -- applies to water on the floor.
And you will kill fish. Everyone has.
Trust me I don't care how smart you or how prepared you think you are. Ask Nasa if they have a perfect record with all those brilliant engineers. Lots of parts that can fsil in even the simplest systems. Stuff happens, equipment fails, people forget, and if anything can go wrong it will. Yada, yada, yada. All you can do is try and be preemptive with back ups etc.
Your fish are a heartbeat away from as hostile an environment as outerspace is to us.
And you have to be vigilant. I've actually become so used to the sounds my tanks make (water and pumps) that I can tell something's off by the sound.
The other day I noticed the return flow into one of my tanks was significantly reduced. Turns out a combination of mulm and a crushed piece of plastic media was blocking my waterline to the side bottom of the mbbr from the pump. I have a screen to keep the media out of the return water line but this particular piece was so compressed it was able to get through and wedge there.
