MY survival story

[Theo A]

I've been reefing for maybe a year and a half, but have grown quite attached to everything I've raised, grew, fragged, etc..

Daytona beach is where I make my home (for now) Friday night we had a cat 2 hurricane roll through...here is an account of the events that transpired. Minus helping a few cars out of ditches, and removing some trees..


Friday night as the storm hit, I was a nervous wreck. I can stand having no AC, no power, no running water, etc.. Survival isn't that hard, so it's no big deal. As you all know, our tanks arn't nearly as rugged as most of us could be if pressed.

Friday night, 11PM. Power goes out. Some monkey across the street who never trims his trees... damn. we had ALMOST made it through the whole storm.

Sat morning, 4AM. After doing a short damage assesment to our house, and my friends, we call it a night. I borrow a AC invertor, hook it into my 1992 towncar, and begin trying to keep my tanks alive. Since the invertor won't run both pumps at the same time, I am forced to run one tank for 45mins, switch to the other tank, then give the car a 1 hour rest. This continues throughout the night/morning, and into the day.

Sat afternoon, 3pm. It's getting pretty damn hot around here, tank temps are climbing into the low 80's (82.5 and 81.9 respectivly). At this point, I being ice baging the sumps in efforts to maintain temps. It takes a few tries, but eventually I figure out how much ice to add and for how long to leave it, to maintain the tanks at their present temps. Again, still alternating the tank's pumps as well as giving the car a break. The car needs a break as it has a bad exhaust valve seal, and oil pools up in the exhaust, eventaully causing a misfire due to too much oil in the chamber.

Sat night, 11pm. Power company says power will be back on momentarily. Wow, I'm realeaved. Seems like the tanks will be ok, but I keep my vidgal, 45/45/1 hour. I sleep for 1 hour and 10 minutes, not hearing my alarm to get up and switch the tanks over again.

Sunday morning, 10AM. Power still not on. Power company tells me today something I didn't want to hear. It's going to be the end of week or possibly the weekend before power is restored. Quite a blow to my moral, as I havn't really slept in more than 48hours at this point. Hell, I bought these damn fish and corals, so I'm responsable for their health, and well being. Keep in mind I have 2 dogs, and 2 parrots as well, so dealing with them requires some interaction too.

Sunday night 8pm. After battleing with the temps today, I come to a crushing understanding. There won't be enough Ice to make it through the week. That, and the fact that Sat and Sunday were overcast days, and the radio tells me monday is going ot be a 95 degree scorcher. Worst yet, there is little to no evaporation in the tanks due to the humidity being so high. No evaporative cooling happeneing either. Fish and corals however, look OK.

Monday 4am. Car dies. After giving it a break, and checking the oil, I realize it's down 2 quarts. Sitting in the car with the AC on, I begin to see the oil pressure light flicker. I go to the trunk to grab some oil....I'm out. As you can imagine, I'm crushed. I've been up now for almost 72 hours with no sleep, all to keep some fish and corals alive. Mind you, I don't have a 10000 gallon UBER system. I have a 55reef and a 20L reef, stocked with mainly softies, a few LPS, and one or 2 SPS.

Monday 9am. I come up with a plan (after getting ****ed off for the past 5 hours) that I think will work. I go to sears. Since I used to work there, the manager lets me in 30 minutes before they open. I buy one of the last generators that is in this town. I also purchase a window AC unit as well. I was prepared to drive to jaxonville or tallahasse if needed be, but this break puts me in a really good mood. Finally something is going my way!

Monday 12 noon. AC installed, generator installed. The gen fires up on the first pull. AC comes online and begins to cool the house down. I stay vigil to see what happens. The house temp begins to fall.....91, 89, 86, etc... Tank temps begin to stabalize without ice... then begin to slowly come down. I turn on the lights for the first time in 3 days... the humidity has been wicked out of the house due to the AC, and now I am getting some evaporation....

Monday night, 11:50PM. I plug in my puter, only to find out I have DSL still! I thought some of you out there might have some stories to share about survival, and what we do for our fishes. My tanks now have the skimmers running, as well as the lights, pump, etc.... Corals are looking pretty decent, fishes are eating fine. What a relief.... I think I might even sleep well tonight....

Yea..I went out and spent $1500 to keep a 1000$ reef system alive. Some of my friends think I'm crazy.... I think letting the tank die would have been the crazy idea.

[Freed]

The power went out here a week or two ago and I had to bring in my 12v Optima deep cycle car batteries along with the power inverters that I have just for instances like this. I used one battery and inverter on the main pump for my 240 gallons total reef and also one battery and inverter on my 20 gallon QT. The last battery and inverter I used in the living room for a 20" box fan to keep myself and my girlfriend cool so we could sleep. The power was off for only six hours but having back up plans really keeps piece of mind in these types of situations. Freed

[Chaotic Reefer4u]

wow, interesting story here guys!

[Cosmo^Kramer]

You did the right thing Theo.Hats off to ya

[llpoolej]

Great save! Heck, now you have a back up A/C and a generator. No harm in that!

[Dz99ls]

good work

[Theo A]

Thanks! And to think, I was ready to sell everything off. I've got some sort of renewed interest in it all now!

[Dz99ls]

well you know what they say "you dont know what you have till its gone, or in this case almost gone!"

[kimberlyc]

I live in Lake Placid FL. We lost our power around 7:00pm on Friday 13th due to hurricane charley. Our power was restored on Tuesday the 17th. I have a 7gal minibow at work. It's only been up and running for 3 weeks.. I had recently (thurs b4 storm) found a small starfish on the rock I hand picked from Tampa Bay Saltwater. My rock was so full of life.. My sponges died, I lost most of the corals and 2 snails. The hermits made it though. My rock looks terrible. Algae is starting to grow.. I have a 12gal Nano Cube at home. I lost a royal gramma and a peppermint shrimp. My clown made it though... a very tenacious fish!! My husband hooked an inverter up on Saturday to get some flow... and we borrowed the neighbors generator for about an hour. We ended up driving to Ft Walton Beach to buy a generator!!! My hubbie hooked my tank up first thing when we got back to the house!! Over a 1000 miles in one day. That was the worst storm I have ever been through. I will be buying another generator just for my tanks. I never want to go through that again!!!! My coworker lost EVERYTHING in her 55gal tank. so sad.....

[Dz99ls]

kimberlyc



To Reef Central

sorry to hear of your losses this is a tough hobby we no matter where you live you could have probs up here we face blizzaRDS out west earthquakes and central tornadoes best for every reefer to have at least 1 generator!

[chai]

Theo A,

thanks for sharing your story. its good to hear that you were able to save your tanks.

i have several colleagues working/living on the west side of the state, so most of all, its great to hear that you made it through the storm!

take care,

[biomekanic]

Monday night, 11:50PM. I plug in my puter, only to find out I have DSL still!

While during normal operation the network draws power off the grid, the central office (where dial tone originates) runs off of batteries during emergancies. Phone networks run off of 12V DC (for the most part), it's SOP to have generator trucks standing by during emergancies such as this to power up the CO so service can be restored ASAP to help out emergancy services. Cell Phones, OTOH, often get knocked out because the tower gets taken out.

We now return you to your tale of survival.

[Aquaguru]

Wow that had to take alot out of you. I'm glad to see everything is working pretty decent let us know how your doing in a couple of days.

[Aquaguru]

Sorry didn't read when you posted this. How is it going, everything ok.

[Theo A]

everything is going great. I've decided to sell the 55 gallon tank in preperation for the new upcoming job.

I am keeping some small frags of things, and have them in my 7 gallon bow, complete with 70watt MH, 32pc, fuge, etc..

Thanks for asking!