power outage - lighting, fitration or water flow

[neosoulman]

I've had my 80 gall tank for over a month now, I live in FLA, therefore I have a generator ready to go (for hurricanes).
In the event of a power outage, I will only have have minimal generator power to run one thing on my tank and was wondering what that should be - my skimmer, my lights or pump for water flow.
I did already buy a small battery operated airstone that I can drop in if need be.

 

[jjlittle]

You will need to run your lights if there is corals but most inportant is water flow & air stone if water flow have to be cut back.

 

[chrissocal]

Try using a surge strip to run your lights and your filter/pump.

 

[acekjd83]

depending on the number of fish in the tank, i would say skimmer is more important... the ocean has cloudy days, but it doesnt usually have nasty nitrate days. i could be wrong, but this just seems logical to me... anyone else have an opinion? :notsure:
lights are generally higher energy (a 250w metal halide is only a bit over 2.3 amps) than most pumps (a big 1200g/hr pump is only 140w, or 1.3 amps). these are still not very large energy demands, so see if your generator can power both, and just unplug any non-essential circulation pumps. OR alternate lights and skimming by skimming when the lights are off. :thinking:

 

[neosoulman]

I have a bunch of live rock, 2 clowns, 1 blenny and 1 sebae anemonie. No live corals.

 

[stang66200]

Filtration and circulation are the most important. I would say the filter will give you some flow, and more importantly it will keep the water quality up.

 

[murph]

Trust me on this one. I have a lot of experience keeping bait alive in wells and buckets.
Its without a doubt surface agitation. This is where the exchange of gases occurs and oxygen enters the water. I have little doubt I could keep the fish alive for days in my 75g tank with one 100GPH power head pointed up directly at the waters surface. Even better would be to have available water for daily changes, say five gallons a day. Have Amquel available to netrulize any ammonia and nitrate build up if that becomes a problem but the bactieria in your sand bed and LR should stay alive also just as long as the water stays moving and surface rippling.
What will end up getting you is the FL heat. NO power no AC hot tank dead fish.

 

[kdfrosty]

I agree with Murph. I would try to run at least one powerhead off the generator pointed at the surface. I would use this in addition to your battery operated pump.

 

[jdragunas]

I dunno, wouldn't you get enough gas exchange from a skimmer. All the bubbles, wouldn't that be enough? Then you chould skim the water too? I could be wrong, as i haven't had to deal with a power outage yet... knock on wood!!! Better keep my mouth shut, winter's coming soon...
Jenn

 

[dmitry]

I was thinking the same thing about the skimmer; move water and skim at the same time. Corals will be fine for a while without lights. The main problem might be the heat if the AC/chiller aren't running!

 

[sinner's girl]

air. The tank can go without a filter for a short bit, esp if you have lots of lr and aren't over crowded
But they need air. I'm hooking up my powerhead to the backup whatever I get.
You won't need light. I woudldn't even worry about that. If the skimmer will give the tank air, then run the skimmer, I don't have a skimmer.
I know power was off here, I don't know for how long. My fliter didn't come back on when the power come back on, but when I got home everyone was alive.
Also, you can run a power cord to your car and use a power convertor, this will give you another outlet to run a fan to cool the water or a heater.

 

[zman1]

Unless I missed it. What is your total equipment listing w/type and what is the KW rating on your generator. If you don't have it yet, how much are planning on spending? There are other things you might want, if your talking more than a couple days. Like a Fridge and few lights, fan - mostly for you....... Don't say you'll get ice, that will be gone before you get there.
I did miss the I have one ready to go... What KW

 

[reefnut]

Wow... I'm surprised at all the varying opinions... I would have to say circulation as well. The skimmer will not do anything for the tank unless it's pushing the O2 rich water to the corals, rocks, bacteria colonies, etc... so if you have a HOB skimmer it would help but a powerheads or air pumps would be the best IMO.
The few power outages I've been through I ran my main pumps with a generator... even a small generator will run typical pumps. A Mag 9.5 pulls 93 watts, Mag 7 runs 60 Watts and even a Mag 36 only pulls 380 watts so even a small 3.6kw generators will more than run them.