Power Out Contingency Plans

[boviac]

I'm wondering what power-loss contingency plans you all have. I think we may have discussed this topic earlier but I'm not certain if it was here or not. Either way, with the winter and holiday vacation season upon us, it's a good time to refresh it.

So when you think about it you have how much time and money invested in to your tank(s)???? And what would happen if all of a sudden on a cold, windy, and stormy night your area lost electricity. What would you do?

Right now it is a hypothetical situation. But the fires in SoCal shows us one thing - that anything can happen at any time. So I've taken from that to be better aware and prepared of what I'm going to do under certain situations of distress.

My cheapo plan currently ready to go is battery powered air bubblers. I have two and a stock of D batteries to go. Probably time to refresh the D's as I've had them for four years now.

My next step is to acquire or at least buy when needed a 1000W inverter with two 50' power cords with three plug adapters (see Harbor Freight Tools). That way I can hook the inverter to my vehicle in the driveway and run the power cords to my tank and plug in the priority items like sump return and heater. Maybe a PH or two. As far as I understand water circulation to maintain dissolved oxygen levels is the most important thing. I like this method because its more compact to store when not in use, does not require fuel to be stored and is quiet other than the vehicle running to charge it.

My ultimate step if fiscal concerns weren't included would be to set my home up to be grid-tied with solar PV with a dedicated loads off of back-up battery bank to power dedicated and isloated loads such as the fridge, some lights, and of course the reef priority items.

Depending on the cost of fuel, electricity, and the way things look in the future and I would consider a generator to suppliment the lack of PV generation during dark and cloudy winter days during extended electrical outages.

I know of some people in colder climates even going so far as to prepare foam insulation sheets pre-cut to mount to each side of the tank to heat loss from the tank to the house incase of power outage. I can see that in a colder climate the house temp may drop to the 40-50's easily if the heater goes out. But for our area I don't feel that's necessary.

So what are your contingecy plans? I know you wouldn't invest $100's if not several $1,000's in hardware and livestock only to have a day or two without our taken for granted power source gone and all that precious life lost and a, believe me on this one, terrible smell to clean up, without a plan, right?