Snow storm=no power

[pscott99]

No battery backup you can buy for computers etc. is good enough for 24+ hours of outage. I too have a generator. Most important thing is flow for oxygen. I lost two fish overnight due to low oxygen from a pump outage. Everyone has given good ideas in this thread. I too wish you well. Been there before tank ownership for 24 hours. It was not fun. Amazing how much we rely / depend on electricity especially in this hobby.

[Mr.Tan]

I know a battery backup wont last 24+ hours, but it would atleast last a little bit of time..this is the longest we have been out power ever. usually just an hour or two. The leaves on the trees still and weight of the snow took branches down, doesnt happen in the "normal" snow fall time. I am going to look in to a generator, its an absolute must now that i am in this hobby so deep. I can't risk this happening again...



update: went home over lunch, found my wrasse dead and both of my original (first fish) blue/green chromis dead.

[sqwat]

i no you are near a bait and tackle shop bro go get a batery operated airstone for bait buckets.and use a 12 volt converted to youre heater do it with to wires and electric tape.i dont think you should have moved them in the storm im in jersey AND i no what you guys got and bait and tackle stores have everything you need.the thing is to not panick and make smart thought out descisions and run threw each one first.airstone is all you need you can get a splitter and run a couple of them fom bateries.and you can jerry rig 12 volt bateries with no prob to run a heater and power cord.light is not a problem the go out for weeks during storms in the ocean.here is what i mean about thinking up a plan.if you have kids or no children in the neighbor hood they all have those plastic cares they drive in run with 12 volt bateries.or you can buy them.find two and one charger all the chargers come with cigarett lighter jacks .run one chrge one.butcher aprat a old lamb or powercord with for wire solit it and strip it and get electric tape.hook up to batery from wall plug the mail prong on the cord has a hole in on both and wrap wire threw each one hook one to pos and one to neg.pumps baterie up and running.when that out you have another charged.doen for one week worked fine even hooked up one light for 6 hours aday with my computer jacked right threw.if you had enoucg potatoes you can run a air pump!lol.i hope all is well and youre corals make it xena are strong.gl remember neighbors and freind all have this if someone has one of those baterie jumpers that will work for awile and you can carch it from the car 2 of them at tank of gas you can run lights to for a week.i got a generater and like who ever said that best money spent all my neighbors come over and party when power out it great.also skimmer if you rig it is best to run air and water movement.

[b0bab0ey]

Originally Posted by Mr.Tan

I know a battery backup wont last 24+ hours, but it would atleast last a little bit of time..this is the longest we have been out power ever. usually just an hour or two. The leaves on the trees still and weight of the snow took branches down, doesnt happen in the "normal" snow fall time. I am going to look in to a generator, its an absolute must now that i am in this hobby so deep. I can't risk this happening again...



update: went home over lunch, found my wrasse dead and both of my original (first fish) blue/green chromis dead.

So sorry for your loss. I lost all of my tanks after Katrina. I know it sucks, man.

[sqwat]

i also like the adapters that let you run plugs in you cig light in youre car just get extension cords full tank of gas you are fine.we should make a list of plausable ideas and sticky it for members to get prepared in time of storms also people close to eachother that can help with equipment.im allways around for a friend in need karma is huge in reefing.lol

[willy7499]

Sorry to hear about your situation

Go the generator route if you are worried about losing power for this long again. You will sleep better in the future.

I lost my tank to an ice storm a few years ago without power for 5 days with temps in the low teens. Since then I bought a generator, a couple of good high amperage outdoor rated extension cords and several gas cans and just make sure that it stays in good running order. I haven't had to use it since but I sleep much better.

[zigzag1]

So sorry to all those having issues with the weather. Let it be a lesson to the rest of us. As many have mentioned _heat_ is the big concern in any area of the country where it can get cold. Failing to plan is planning to fail. Often when the weather is on the way, it may be too late as demand for generators spike and they can be very hard to find. Conditions can also prevent travel to acquire them and other supplies as well.

My house being all electric, a kerosene heater and propane gas fireplace have been part of my emergency kit to to provide backup heating to my home and family. These go with my pair of big inverters and small gas powered generator for electric and I also to keep plenty of fuel on hand in colder months. My plan is to be prepared to heat a portion of my home for 8-10 days in an emergency. This area includes the den area where my tank is, as well as the kitchen and bathroom. This means shutting off the bedroom area of the house, and sleeping on the floor in the den. It has paid off for me more than a few times. The wife likes to call me a 'survivalist', so be it, but she likes the security too. Once, when we were without for a couple of days I even took the dogs out hunting and we had fresh open-fire cooked rabbit for dinner. I still get teased about that once in a while.

Good luck and hope your conditions improve soon!

[mike&kel]

Truckstop=$ battery+inverter. No power = ' '

[sqwat]

lets post a checklist and techniques to for bad situations and sticky it i will start the post.

[Mr.Tan]

a checklist would be a great idea for people like myself that are/were unprepared for this type of situation. I know now that I need to keep things on hand, mostly a generator, for when the power fails like it did.


bit of an update:

Power came back on last night, thank goodness! They were saying it could be saturday until it came back on, but I guess they found someone who could do the work (they sent all the contractors to jersey to work on something, and left us hanging). I turned the heater on and powerheads RIGHT AWAY, tank was at 61 degrees at 8pm last night and now this morning before i left work it was back up to 78. The only survivor in the tank was my coral banded shrimp and somehow my purple pseudochromis held on. He wedged himself between rocks so maybe there was some heat in there for him? My coral beauty, 2 blue/green chromis and filamented flasher wrasse are all dead . Thankfully I got my coral frags to a friend and they are doing good, except my xenia it withered away to nothing....

Now comes the process of brining the tank back to life, I checked levels last night (well, just the basics) and ammonia, nitrite were 0ppm, PH was about 7.8. I didn't check nitrates. IM gonna run a full test when I get home from work today and see how things check out.

[Hextall]

This past storm was the 2nd when powers been out and I've had my tank up and running. first time was Irene, and I was without power for 3 days... this past storm, I was without power for 2.5 days.

I didn't lose any fish or corals in both storms. I have a 29g biocube, so maybe it's easier to manage when the power goes out. but I think you could scale up what I did:

- Get a battery powered air pump and air stone. They are about $12 and take 2 D batteries. I'd get several for larger tanks, and spread them down the length. Oxygen will get depleted faster than temp decreases, so that's your first priority.

- The first storm I didn't need to worry about temp too much, but this past one I did. I put every throw blanket I had over and around the tank (and a camping sleeping bag on top of it all). You want to minimize heat transfer out of the water so you need to insulate it as best you can.

- once a day I heated up some water on a camping stove (just shy of boiling), poured it into some plastic water bottles, then floated those bottles to raise the temperature. Within about an hour of doing this several times (I had 3 bottles rotating in and out)... I raised the temperature about 3 degrees from 69/70 to about 72-73. My house was about 51 degrees at the lowest temp, and with all the blankets, only lost about 7 or so degrees that first day.

- also about once a day, I dunked a cup and poured it in creating bubbles and a little bit of flow to mix stuff up and help oxygenate. Did this for about 5 minutes. While doing it, fish and inverts all came out and started swimming around a little bit.

Obviously all this would be unnecessary when I get a generator (I actually had an electrician ordering all the stuff before this past storm, but who expects a power knocking october snow storm besides the Spanish Inquisition?). But the above cost me about $20 worth of emergency equipment (pump and batteries) and saved my tank inhabitants.

[NickC5FE]

I have that Penn plax one, it is nice because it auto shuts on if power is lost.

[Jon_Hewett_85]

" Get a battery powered air pump and air stone. They are about $12 and take 2 D batteries. I'd get several for larger tanks, and spread them down the length. Oxygen will get depleted faster than temp decreases, so that's your first priority."

This is absolutely incorrect. Yes oxygenation should be priority but oxygen does NOT deplete faster as temp. decreases. Oxygen saturation goes UP as temperature decreases at the same time metabolic rates DROP. For this reaso I do not recomend trying to keep a tank at 80 during a power outage. I recomend allowing the temperature to drop SOMEWHAT. I am not recomending that you let your tank get down to 60, but the difference between 80 and the low-mid 70's could make all the difference. Also, DO NOT attempt to have a knee jerk reaction and bring the temperature of the tank up quickly. Monitor closely and bring it up SLOWLY. Rapid temperature changes are going to only further stress the fish. IME about 2 degrees an hour is often appropriate.

[jerpa]

Originally Posted by Jon_Hewett_85

" Get a battery powered air pump and air stone. They are about $12 and take 2 D batteries. I'd get several for larger tanks, and spread them down the length. Oxygen will get depleted faster than temp decreases, so that's your first priority."

This is absolutely incorrect. Yes oxygenation should be priority but oxygen does NOT deplete faster as temp. decreases. Oxygen saturation goes UP as temperature decreases at the same time metabolic rates DROP. For this reaso I do not recomend trying to keep a tank at 80 during a power outage. I recomend allowing the temperature to drop SOMEWHAT. I am not recomending that you let your tank get down to 60, but the difference between 80 and the low-mid 70's could make all the difference. Also, DO NOT attempt to have a knee jerk reaction and bring the temperature of the tank up quickly. Monitor closely and bring it up SLOWLY. Rapid temperature changes are going to only further stress the fish. IME about 2 degrees an hour is often appropriate.

You are both correct. Oxygen depletion will kill fish in a tank with no flow or heat before the temperature decrease does in almost all situations. However keeping a slightly colder tank will allow your maximum oxygen concentration to be higher. Whether the difference between 74 deg or 80 deg will keep your fish alive for any significant amount of extra time is debatable and a large swing outside normal temperatures can wreak havoc on your tank. I'm not trying to start an argument just trying to clarify both posters points.

[Mr.Tan]

Originally Posted by Jon_Hewett_85

" Get a battery powered air pump and air stone. They are about $12 and take 2 D batteries. I'd get several for larger tanks, and spread them down the length. Oxygen will get depleted faster than temp decreases, so that's your first priority."

This is absolutely incorrect. Yes oxygenation should be priority but oxygen does NOT deplete faster as temp. decreases. Oxygen saturation goes UP as temperature decreases at the same time metabolic rates DROP. For this reaso I do not recomend trying to keep a tank at 80 during a power outage. I recomend allowing the temperature to drop SOMEWHAT. I am not recomending that you let your tank get down to 60, but the difference between 80 and the low-mid 70's could make all the difference. Also, DO NOT attempt to have a knee jerk reaction and bring the temperature of the tank up quickly. Monitor closely and bring it up SLOWLY. Rapid temperature changes are going to only further stress the fish. IME about 2 degrees an hour is often appropriate.

thanks for that information... I didn't do a rapid increase, over about a 12 hour time period i brought it from 60-62 degrees back up to 78. IT didn't show any stress on the one fish that lived or my coral banded shrimp.

[Hextall]

Originally Posted by Jon_Hewett_85

" Get a battery powered air pump and air stone. They are about $12 and take 2 D batteries. I'd get several for larger tanks, and spread them down the length. Oxygen will get depleted faster than temp decreases, so that's your first priority."

This is absolutely incorrect. Yes oxygenation should be priority but oxygen does NOT deplete faster as temp. decreases.

Well since I didn't write that, I won't actually argue you over it. I'll just clarify what I meant to imply:

Oxygen will be depleted to a point that it's dangerous for the creatures before temperature drops to a point that it's dangerous for creatures. Therefore the first priority is maintaining sufficient dissolved oxygen. This is due to the creatures using oxygen at a faster rate than can be dissolved via the air water interface. Therefore low oxygen will be a problem well before the balance between dissolving oxygen rate being the same as the creatures' uptake.