power outage

[nemoisfound]

due to the stong wind storm here in washington today my tank was without power for over 5 hours! I used two of my UPS battery backups for my computer to run the heater and powerhead. I was wondering what others do in this type of crisis?

 

[mattseattle]

let's see what i've done in the past

1. Get a cup and take water out of the tank and dump it back in - do this every 20 minutes or so to stir the water and mix in oxygen. i did this once when the power was out for about 6 hours.
2. rented a generator when i knew the power was going to be out for 12+ hours.

my next purchase is a power inverter so i can hook it to a car battery and have ample power to run the pumps.

some people have bought a battery powered air pump to keep the water oxygenated.

inverter is probably the most cost effective. you can get one at Fry's for about 60 - 80.00 dollars that will run 800 - 1200 watts easily.

 

[NUGIO]

Ive been lucky so far no outages but im prepared. Ive got my extension cords at the ready and the gererator in the RV fueled up.

 

[fengzhu]

I got power outage from 5pm to now (3am). Could not sleep. Tank temp droped from 79 to 73 in 10 hours. Good news is the whole system returns to normal immediately after power returns except slow recovery of temp. I'm glad to see all my corals were open when power was out and fishs enjoyed an early sleep!

 

[kevinpo]

I have a 6,250 watt generator just for my tank. So far so good on the east side of the state I haven't had to use it yet.

Regards,
Kevin

 

[NaH2O]

Good thread - I will be purchasing a generator in the future. Tornado season could cause problems, but *knock on wood* so far the city has done a great job in restoring power in a timely fashion. I also own a little battery powered air pump.

Matt, great first suggestion!

 

[Ed Hahn]

The wind really churned things up here yesterday in Tri-cities. My internet at home is not working. My power has stayed on so far. Things are really waving here now. The little time I have spent outside the wind does not seem any different. Oops, We are getting rain now. Power please stay on.. Back to you Jane.

 

[esmith]

I lost power for about 6 hours last night. I ran the heater and return pump off the car with my inverter till 11, then brought the battery inside. My tank sits in the garage, so the temp is a serious consideration for me when it comes to power outages. The battery out of the car wasn't enought to run the heater and pump once it was disconnected from the vehicle, so I may be considering purchasing a small generator in the future for these freakish storms that we are so wonderfully graced with . I was just about out of juice when the power came back on last night at 12:30; weird thing is that the people on the other side of the arterial road had power back on around 9...considered asking if I could run an extension cord from one of there houses for a bit but didn't.

Glad to hear there were no catastrophes for anyone else.

Eliyah

 

[fishermann]

Generaters are so cheap compared to what we have invested that we should all have one. You can buy one so cheap at HD or lowes now days. If you just can't do that you can always rent them very reasonably. I think this is part of our responsability to these animals that we take from their homes. Just my thoughts on the subject. John

 

[reeffan]

Generator? Good idea......I might just buy me a generator for feature power outages.

reeffan

 

[Grouperdog]

My generator is coming up on 2 years old , and I have 150 hours on it already. My tank would have crashed numerous times if did not have one and so I highly reccomend a generator if you are in an area that loses power for 6+ hours at a time. For all others it seems like an inverter would work off your car battery or a separate battery back up system.

 

[Scooterman]

Can't afford a generator you say, here is what I have to do for Hurricane Lilly!

 

[reeffan]

lol, very innovative.....

reeffan

 

[NaH2O]

Scooterman - that's a picture of my brain!! How did you get that?

 

[Scooterman]

Great minds think alike, & Even Ours!

 

[lovesalt]

my power here in Poulsbo was out for 12 hours!!! Came back on at 0600. My husband hooked up the sump and a powerhead to an inverter and a battery.

So far everything is doing OK.

Temp only dropped a degree or two.

 

[Scooterman]

Only one problem with my idea, after the outage, it seems as though he becomes useless!
:lol:

 

[NaH2O]

That would explain why I've been so forgetfull lately!

 

[Beeba]

Last year in Ohio and Northern Kentucky(Feb. 03) we had a very freak ice storm that took out the power in the entire area. I live in the city and I was without power for 9 days. It was actually considered a national disaster. So many people were without power that you couldn't hardly find a generator to rent or buy within a 100 mile radius. At that time I only had a freshwater tank. I kept a kerosene heater near it to keep it warm but the highest the temp stayed in the 50s and 60s. I prayed a lot. Luckily I only lost one fish. Now that I have the reef aquarium I know I need a backup power supply for issues like this. I was looking at them online last night. What is the smallest size that one could get by with for an 70-100 gallon aquarium?

 

[DonW]

I have a boat bildge pump 650 gph, will run for 12 hours on one deep cycle battery. Pump cost $20 and a second deep cycle with little inverter will run heater for 12 hours.

Don