POWER OUTAGE!

[abeandlulu]

Hello all! It has been a while since ive been on here. Ok so I live in Virginia. We got hit hard by Irene. We lost power for 8 days. I did have a generator but was only able to run the tunzes and the circ pumps. But my coral look like crap. I only lost 1 green chromis. All my params are good except calcium, that dropped cause the calcium reactor was not running. Is there anything i can do to help the coral recover? Thanks

 

[gemmy]

Water changes, run carbon and monitor the water parameters daily.

 

[abeandlulu]

I do run carbon. but I will change that out and change the phos. remover also. just i case. thanks for the response.

 

[lbannie]

I'm in upstate NY and we got hit hard too! My mother in law lost the bridge to her house. I was also on a generator for 8 days! I could only run the lights and powerheads as well. I thought I lost my bubble coral, but it seems to be coming back! (just a small piece dissolved) My corals looked angry for a few days, but luckily they all seem fine now! I've done 1 water change since we've had power back on! Hopefully your corals will be ok! Sorry about the fish.... I lost my pygmy angel the last time we lost power(no generator then)...... GOOD LUCK! Hope you didn't suffer any other damage. There are parts of town by me that are completely gone!

 

[abeandlulu]

That is terrible. It could have been alot worse here. I was not able to run the lights. I tried but the generator bogged down to much. I have 3 250 watt halides.

 

[acrylic51]

Sorry about your issues, but like suggested by Gemmy; a good water change and keep an eye on your parameters....In an emergency like that I wouldn't even think about firing the lights....Corals would be fine without light, the important thing is keep the water circulating......How big of a generator do you have? Thinking seriously myself about investing in 1 shortly......

 

[tur4k]

Quote:
Originally Posted by acrylic51 http:///t/387754/power-outage#post_3414544
Sorry about your issues, but like suggested by Gemmy; a good water change and keep an eye on your parameters....In an emergency like that I wouldn't even think about firing the lights....Corals would be fine without light, the important thing is keep the water circulating......How big of a generator do you have? Thinking seriously myself about investing in 1 shortly......
Go to http://www.reefvideos.com/ and click on the Eric Borneman Oxygen Seminar video. In it, he talks about how photo synthesis by far contributes the most to O2 levels in your water. His testing showed that things like skimmers contributed almost nothing compare to light when it comes to O2 levels.
Light may actually be the most important thing in a power outage.

 

[abeandlulu]

We have a 5600 watt generator. I have 3 tanks. 265, 90, and a 25 gallon. Ran all 3 with the fridge and the tv. it did good but put a hurting on thr pocketbook.

 

[acrylic51]

Quote:
Originally Posted by tur4k http:///t/387754/power-outage#post_3414580
Go to http://www.reefvideos.com/ and click on the Eric Borneman Oxygen Seminar video. In it, he talks about how photo synthesis by far contributes the most to O2 levels in your water. His testing showed that things like skimmers contributed almost nothing compare to light when it comes to O2 levels.
Light may actually be the most important thing in a power outage.
That's super IMO....but the bottom line in a power outage my corals can go without light, but important to me is keeping my water flowing, temp stable, and filtration running.....Depending how long the power outage is could be days weeks....Hmmmm !!!!!

Again what will the lights do for me during the harsh cold winter months in PA?????

 

[tur4k]

Quote:
Originally Posted by acrylic51 http:///t/387754/power-outage#post_3415036
That's super IMO....but the bottom line in a power outage my corals can go without light, but important to me is keeping my water flowing, temp stable, and filtration running.....Depending how long the power outage is could be days weeks....Hmmmm !!!!!

Again what will the lights do for me during the harsh cold winter months in PA?????
I hear what you're saying. I grew up in Shippensburg. Which is about 45 minutes south of Harrisburg. I was just pointing out that Eric Borneman's research showed that O2 plummets on the reefs at night and corals can handle that low O2 environment for about 13 hours. Most people ignore light in an outage, but it may be more important than we thought.

 

[acrylic51]

I was talking fish inhabitants. You are correct PH levels do/can drop off at night, but water movent will benefit fish more than light.

 

[tur4k]

Quote:
Originally Posted by acrylic51 http:///t/387754/power-outage#post_3415057
I was talking fish inhabitants. You are correct PH levels do/can drop off at night, but water movent will benefit fish more than light.
I'm not talking about PH. I'm talking about dissolved oxygen. Eric did a study where he used an O2 probe to measure the oxygen levels in a bunch of tanks. His study showed that things that we assume add a lot of oxygen to the water (power heads, skimmers, filters) actually add very little. Without light, the oxygen levels plummeted in the tanks that he was testing. What he was suggesting was that tank inhabitants could start suffocating if the tank goes without light for too long.
I'm not saying that water movement isn't very important. It is vital. What I'm saying is that you should watch the video before making up your mind about the importance of light. It's a bit long, but his study was pretty interesting in my opinion.

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by tur4k http:///t/387754/power-outage#post_3415065
I'm not talking about PH. I'm talking about dissolved oxygen. Eric did a study where he used an O2 probe to measure the oxygen levels in a bunch of tanks. His study showed that things that we assume add a lot of oxygen to the water (power heads, skimmers, filters) actually add very little. Without light, the oxygen levels plummeted in the tanks that he was testing. What he was suggesting was that tank inhabitants could start suffocating if the tank goes without light for too long.
I'm not saying that water movement isn't very important. It is vital. What I'm saying is that you should watch the video before making up your mind about the importance of light. It's a bit long, but his study was pretty interesting in my opinion.
Wow, I would think like Acrylic did about light. I know plants give off CO2 after dark and they remove them in hospital rooms. Algae perhaps do the same???? Maybe corals too. However wouldn't any light do? Surely we don't have to run MHs, a lamp like on the 40w clip on I use for the refugium would do.

That would run easy on a Generator.
I have a 3250 surge watts/ 2500 running watts I have no idea what that means) but I'm sure it will run my fish tanks less the bright lighting.
Acrylic51....I THOUGHT about getting a generator two weeks before I needed one, I held off and boy was I sorry I did. If you can afford it now, go ahead get the generator.

 

[abeandlulu]

We are actually thinking about getting a whole house generator so we dont have to worry about it.

 

[tur4k]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Flower http:///t/387754/power-outage#post_3415085
Wow, I would think like Acrylic did about light. I know plants give off CO2 after dark and they remove them in hospital rooms. Algae perhaps do the same???? Maybe corals too. However wouldn't any light do? Surely we don't have to run MHs, a lamp like on the 40w clip on I use for the refugium would do.

That would run easy on a Generator.
I have a 3250 surge watts/ 2500 running watts I have no idea what that means) but I'm sure it will run my fish tanks less the bright lighting.
Acrylic51....I THOUGHT about getting a generator two weeks before I needed one, I held off and boy was I sorry I did. If you can afford it now, go ahead get the generator.
A clip on would probably work. I don't think that you would need MH's. Your fuge (with fuge light on) would probably do the trick if your pumps are running. I really wasn't trying to spur a debate or say that Acrylic was wrong about the importance of heat and water movement. This thread made me think about that video and I thought that others here would enjoy watching it. It turned my views on O2 in a reef tank upside down.

 

[tur4k]

This video is a bit long and dry. I suggest watching videos of reef tanks on youtube while listening to it. That's what I did.