Power Outage!

[bdr127]

So who was affected by the power outage? My power just came back on.... It was out since 4pm.... over 9 hours. I was at work and everything went out.... rumors were flying, but I got the scoop on the AM radio in my car. Traffic was a mess -- panic, no lights, etc.... fortunately I live 5 minutes away. Cell phone coverage went out a few hours after the outage -- I guess AT&T's backup only lastest a couple hours... Good thing I have one non-electric phone in my apartment! I have spent every 30 minutes or so stirring up my tanks, keeping them aerated.... Everything looks good right now! I'll let you know the full report tomorrow.... Time for bed now!

[bdr127]

Did the fish check this morning.... 100% survival. :D We'll see how things are when I get home from work. I can't imagine they'll be any different than they are now.

[Alberio]

Hard to believe some people would not think of stirring their tanks. That and a battery operated pump (about 15$) prevented any losses in my tank.

I can tell the guys are hungry though!

mjd

[Bruce]

Brad,

Good to hear your tank made out well. It gets really hot in my apartment and I would be as worried about temperature as dissolved oxygen. Did you do anything for the heat? You are in an apt too, no?

Bruce

[bdr127]

Yeah, I'm in an apartment.... Fortunately it is the second story of a brand new house, so it is well-insulated -- both from heat and cold. I had the A/C running all day with the window blinds closed, so it remained fairly cool inside long enough into the evening until the outside temps came down into the 70s. At that point, opening the windows didn't have any effect either way on my tanks. I was watching the tank thermometers and none of them fluctuated more than a degree either way. Like I said before, I think my success can be largely attributed to keeping the tanks aerated by stirring them every 30 minutes or so. I'm really glad that I seem to have gotten out of this unscathed. :) I hope others were as lucky.

[Mickey]

In Cheshire we lost power and it didn't come back on until 12:30 AM - 8 hours. Luckily all tanks came through fine.

Wish I could say the same for me.

I was in NYC just getting out of a meeting when power went out. Walked from Battery Park area up to a bit past NYU then stopped in a restaurant that had cold beer and was grilling burgers and hotdogs for a rest. Then a bit more walking and a friend and I begged a cab driver going off duty to take us from there to her apartment at 207th and Broadway. Cost me 35 bucks but was worth it and my feet already had blisters. Women's shoes are just not made for walking.

Next morning I was very, very lucky. got to Grand Central around 9:00 to find out what was going on and was told a train to New Haven was leaving at 9:07. It was diesel and one of the first trains out. I even got a seat which was very amazing. I heard later that they stopped trains from leaving very shortly after that.

Overall, everything worked out very well.

Mickey

[dieselfish]

16 hours out of electric, no fatalities.

[minh_han]

We had a brown out. Electricity went off for a second and reset all the clocks, but that's about it. I was very fortunate.

By the way, you know how I've been lamenting that the tank was taking a nose dive for unknown reasons? WEll it's finally climbing back up, but I unfortunately lost Bud's plate coral and the bird's nest. I still don't have any explanation as to why it all happened, but the zoos are back open, the frogspawn doesn't look so withdrawn, and the mushrooms aren't melting. I'm convinced that no matter how much we know about reefs, there's always something we don't know. And no matter how much effort we put into making our mini-ecosystems like the wild, we'll never do it as well as nature.

[Bravodelta]

I am sad to hear that there were so many fatalities with everything you guys got from me. I can offer no explanations. Everything that I really couldn't part with I put into a buddy's tank. It all was doing just fine, and now that I have the 180 up I went back and picked up all my babies. I picked them up last Monday since he was going to Montauk for a month and that was the only night he would be there. I rushed over and got everything. Glad I did too.... he lost almost everything in his two 200 gallon reefs due to the power outage. I am sure glad I got everything back to my tank before the crash. I had offered to watch over his tanks while he was gone, but he said his father was feeding the fish and not to worry, so I didn't have a key to get in to his house any way. I would estimate the loss at almost $100,000 !!! (Not a typo). Another buddy just threw everything out in the trash...LR and all :( I was suprised at the LR but he said it was covered in majanos any way. If Brad ever hosts you can count me in for the meeting. I work weekends so I can never travel too far during the summer.

Bulldog