Pwer Outage Emergency

[joe hildreth]

I had my electric go out last night for almost 3 hours. Does anyone have any idea how long my tank will be OK . At what point do I need to worry about my fish. Everyone stayed pretty active the whole time and no one seemed to be breathing very heavy. Has anyone ever run across this and what did you do?

 

[dam]

I am not sure if this is applicable for your tank setup but if disolved O2 content is a concern you may want to look into battery powered air pumps. My in-laws were given one that they used to transport some fish to me which caught my eye. I then saw similar products in the sporting goods (fishing) section of Wal-mart. I suspect they were there for fish and/or bait live wells. It looked to be appropriate for aquarium use (with std tubing fittings) and not too expensive (sorry, didn't check price). It is a little larger than a pack of cigarettes and probably held 2-4 AA cells. My in-laws have used the one they had for > 5 hours to drive fish to me and the batteries were still going strong.
If you have a big investment in your livestock and are really wanting a more robust backup, I would then look at computer UPS and battery back up systems to keep your circulation system running. You could look at the different makes and models at some place like Comp USA or Best Buy (companies such as APC make them). They will go up in price as you increase your battery backup life. You really shouldn't need too much though to keep circulation running for a long time. Your lighting, heaters, and chillers would be the power hogs that would drain a battery backup quickly. Just my brute force approach since I know electronics better than aquairiums - there may be more specialized products intended specifically for aquarium use.
I hope this is of value.
Dave

 

[joe hildreth]

I do have a air bubbler for transit but do you think that would be ok in a 300. I guess my main question would be how long would everything last and at what point do I need to worry?

 

[tony detroit]

Daves plan will work, however....
If it is winter time and you have 1000k in livestock you're crazy not to drop 500 on a generator and do it the right way. Plus you can run for a week with no power. You'll need a pretty good battery system to sustain for a week. Plus you can run everything else in the house.

 

[joe hildreth]

Tony I'm in Tx. I have not seen a good winter since 1986, Except for the ice storm we had a couple of years ago. I think the longest time we have ever been out of electric was probly about 8 to 10 hrs and that was with the ice storm and I was on a business trip stuck at a hotel in Dallas about 2 hrs from home. I had me reef going and everything was OK. I still do not know with all this powewr stuff going on at what point do I need to worry. 2, 6, 8, 24 hrs? When do I start to freak out?

 

[g-reef]

i did not lose any fish in my 180 gallon or my 125 gallon.
but on my reef tank which is heavily stocked with corals and live
rock i lost all my fish and shrimp and all my sps corals
on a fish only tank you should be ok if it is not overcrowded i would use 2 traveling air pumps if it lasts longer tha 8 hours.
don't freak out does not help

 

[joe hildreth]

So 8 hrs is about the murder time. Thanx for the help. I do have the travel battery air pumps and I guess I will invest in an extra for emergencies. Thanx again, Joe

 

[irenicus]

$500 for a generator.....

 

[joe hildreth]

IREN, Remember I am in Texas. We don't get all the bad winters ya'll do. I think I might crank it up once a year and that will be to go camping which I would rather not do. I like the A/C. I would like to have one for one of those icey days we get every 4th year but I don't think it would be very practical. Thanx for the advice though....

 

[lion-up]

Joe,
If this helps, I went 10 hours without electric. I had 3 battery powered air pumps that I put in my 130 gallon reef. Pleased to say, no losses.
Lora

 

[offshore80]

I live in Virginia. We to have mild winters too... But, it's the stupid ---- that will always burn you. Hurricanes, tornados, floods. We had a guy plow into a electrical pole at 1:00am and it took the power out for 7 hours. You never know what's going to happen. Look at the power outage last week in 4 states and Canada. Those people had know clue as to what was going on or how long it was going to be out. A generator is good. But, you got to be there to crank it. Last week our power went out while I was at work (40 miles away). My neighbor called me (retired) and asked me if I had any perishables cause they were replacing transformers in the neighborhood and it looked like the power would be out for awhile. I had him kill the power to the house at the breaker and go in my shed and fire up the generator. If he hadn't called I would of never known it. It was out for 5-1/2 hours. I had fired that thing in about 9-10 months... But, I had it!

 

[dam]

Offshore80,
I see we are neighbors. Have you located a local source for aroganite sand? Everything I have found at HD, Lowes, etc is silicon based,none of the southdown everyone else talks about. I am hoping to set up a large tank soon and would love to find a good source for DSB aroganite substrate that doesn't cost a small fortune.
Thanks,
Dave

 

[irenicus]

I'm sorry.. I wasn't very clear in my post. I meant, $500, that sounds cheap for a generator, i'd think they cost more. My apologies.

 

[offshore80]

Hey Dam,
Nope, I haven't found a place yet for south down sand. I too am looking. I'm note sure I know what to do with my 175 yet. After reading about a large DSB I was thinking about going with a .5 inch dsb then adding a fuge with 5" dsb and live rock and all the goodies. I don't like the thought of the "ticking time bomb" theory that Reef maniac was talking about. I'm thinking about going with Pure Oolitic Aragonite. The sand is $12.00 per 50lb pail. I live in Seaford. How about you?

 

[joe hildreth]

Any one up for donations for the Joe Foundation "adopt a generator" fund. Please send all donations to the following address. Joe H. @ 112363 White Trash Ave. Lot # 44123 Traylorhouseville, Tx. 75709. Thanx Guys.

 

[dam]

Offshore,
I'm in the Tabb area off rt. 134. You can e-mail me at daveandtonya@cox.net if you want to compare notes.
Dave

 

[tony detroit]

If you go with the generator you can also run the whole house.
Instead of just the fish tank.
If you're going to spend 200 plus on battery power that will eventually run out, plus cannot run the AC/Stove/Fridge/heat
why not spend a little more and have a generator?
The way I look at it is if I lose 1200 plus in livestock, not spending 600 on the generator is pretty dumb.

 

[dam]

I agree with everyone else that a generator would solve the problem of power outages for a longer term outage plus run the other house essentials. The only potential gotcha is when you loose power and you are not there to switch over to the generator. No big deal for a few hours though. There are automatic generator switch overs available but now you are increasing the cost of the system. The only advantage of a UPS is that it would automically switch over (but could handle only a smaller load). I think that when I have more $$$ invested in my tanks and livestock I would personally go for the generator to keep the rest of the essentials in the house running (and hope I wasn't out of town when the outage hit).

 

[tony detroit]

supposedly there is a kit if you have a lot of money to spend that will automatically turn on a generator when the power goes out.
never seen one, but have heard of a few people that have them

 

[joe hildreth]

I finally figured it out. I hired 2 unemployed people to sleep outside my home and when the electricity goes out they will come in and blow bubbles into the tank with McDonalds straws. Now I did get extra straws so we can put then together so they can get deep onto the tank. I figured with what mininum wage is now I can keep them employed for at least a year or so. Am I a genious or what?