Power outage

[seismic]

Hi,,

Was wondering how long can sps last with out any lights or flow due to a power outage ? Right now there's a power blackout and nothing much I can do, its been 5 hours now....sheesh...

Btw, tank is packed with lps and sps, plus a host of fishes like anthias, tangs, clowns.

:doubt:

 

[tamarindthai]

find the way to keep the tank temp not to falling ,,blanket,,or back up generator,,just keep temperature up..

 

[seismic]

The temperature wont fall here. Its quite warm.Its hovering around 20°C.

Im very frustrated with the utility company, they said it takes 2 hours now is almost 6 hours. I dont want to loose anything due to these fellas!

 

[kevinpo]

Hello,
Lack of oxygen is the usual cause of death in a power outage. If you are with the tank take a pitcher and fill it with water from the tank. Then hold it about 6-8" above the tank and pour it back in. This should be done every 5-10 min. The tank should be uncovered to allow as much gas transfer as possible.
I hope the power comes back on soon. I was without power for 24 hours once in 1996 and everything survived even though the tank temperature dropped to 17C.

Regards,
Kevin

 

[Reeferdude]

That's no good. I hope they're OK. 15 or more years ago we used to get power outages regularly and every year I had to deal with the threat of causalities. Now we haven't had one for many years. They must have upgraded something... Anyhow...Good luck.

 

[Electrokate]

Last winter my friend kept his and my reef tanks going 7 days without power and this happened twice in a month. I think he lost just the red sea xenia, but everything else was fine including sps.
He put blankets on the tanks and cranked up the woodstove for heat. His tank he stirred with his arm every half hour (better to use something clean and inert than your arm). My tank was a 55 with 2 battery powered air pumps for backup, I think a third fed the sump. These pumps plug into the wall and turn on when it senses loss of power. Temps did drop to 70.
I'd go with the battery pumps myself, they are pretty cheap (20 each + a pack of C batteries) and not too noisy to sleep over but loud enough to wake you up so you can deal with the other outage related tasks, they are also useful for transporting big livestock in buckets or during return pump maintenance.
We have a very old cheap UPS (uninterruptible power supply) which I used in Hawaii during an outage. It ran 2 hang on filters and a powerhead for 3 hours, even after using it to shut down the PC which runs up to 350 watts. I would guess a good quality UPS would get you through brief utility work related outages and a pair of battery pumps through multi day natural disaster type situations. I have been told the water's oxygen level is the most critical thing in an outage, unless heat gets really low. The lower the temps the more oxygen too.
Good luck!
Kate

 

[class clown]

KevinPo and Electrokate hit it right on the nose - aeration and flow are your biggest concerns with temperature not an issue for you - lights not so much.

I like the idea of battery powered airpumps if you can find them.

Good luck!

 

[redvipe2010]

If you are with the tank take a pitcher and fill it with water from the tank. Then hold it about 6-8" above the tank and pour it back in. This should be done every 5-10 min. The tank should be uncovered to allow as much gas transfer as possible.

This is what I have done in the past.

 

[vwmoneypit]

same here i just kept pulling out of the refuge and dumping it into the tank to make the most flo/movement possible .ohh yeah the winter of 96 never could stand to hear the crack of a house size tree falling over and power lines snapping like wet noodles uhhhh.

 

[seismic]

Hi all,

Thanks for the concern. Power came back after 7 hours. Everything kicked back in and was first looking around for fishi casualties and did a head count. Found all fishes and shrimps, snails still alive. My corals as well seems to have survived the ordeal for now.

How long will I know if my corals have really survived ? For now, a day after the power came back, they still look normal.

Next step : Get myself a UPS!

PS : I actually called the utility company and told them I will sue them if any thing died

 

[kevinpo]

How long will I know if my corals have really survived ?

Right away. If they are fine now they should continue to do well. Glad to hear everything made it OK.

Regards,
Kevin

 

[seismic]

So far so good, they're still looking good. I guess the worst is over!

 

[Electrokate]

Glad to hear everything is ok. Guess if it was me I would check for ammonia and maybe plan a water change some time soon, but sounds like things are ok.
Between UPS and air pumps that is a hard call. Air pumps work longer and we are entering storm season-last winter power was out for days in some areas. UPS won't last that long. The 50 bucks I spent on battery air pumps already saved at least 10 times that cost in livestock and they will probably work for another decade. One even had an exploded battery inside but they are such a simple design that there was no problem.
Really don't want to see what happens if a UPS battery leaks
Kate

 

[cwegescheide]

I got a marine battery, power inverter and a battery UPC that detects a power outage and switches to external power source. I have my circ pumps connected to it. I have to do all this because I work away from home m-f. My Tunzes can run about 1.5 days or so off a full charged battery.

 

[azgard1]

I got a marine battery, power inverter and a battery UPC that detects a power outage and switches to external power source. I have my circ pumps connected to it. I have to do all this because I work away from home m-f. My Tunzes can run about 1.5 days or so off a full charged battery.

What is a "battery UPC" and where can you get one.?
Thanks

 

[cwegescheide]

What is a "battery UPC" and where can you get one.?
Thanks

Comp-USA sells them for computers. They provide about an hour or so electrical supply to run a computer in the event of a power outage. The nicer ones can accept an external power supply (the power inverter) and switch to it when it detects the power outage.

HTH,
Chris

 

[seismic]

Im going for the units that are connected to the external supply and kicks in when there is a power outage. Most UPS designed for workstations are not designed for long hour use, it should give you enough time to save work and shut down the workstation properly. Unix machines are a pain when they're not shut down properly. Mine will be hooked up to all pumps which are main recirculation pump and the display tank tunze nano,seio's and a hydor.

 

[RockyHeap]

too funny how people will spend thousands and thousands on their reef tank, but not have a basic power inverter or generator in case of back up......been there learned that lesson.

Honda has a sweeeeeeeeet 2000 watt suitcase sized generator, the 2000i me believes..only 56-60 db noisy, and runs 14 hours on a gallon of gas it only costs 800-900 USD. For malaysia dood no you most likely don't have to worry about temperatures, but water circulation would be your concern. A 12 volt auto battery and a 300-400 watt inverter would run a power head pump for hours.

cheap investment for what you could lose.

 

[seismic]

Yeap, the temperature is the least of my worries.I was thinking of the battery-inverter combination, but I have a curious 3 year old boy. So, I decided to go for the full UPS setup. This one has got like 4 outlets if I remember correctly. I can stick a table fan on it to cool us people as well