If you lost power

[happysak]

If you lost power and don't have generator, there is things you can do
1) wrap the tank with a blanket (don't cover the lights)
2) if you have a gas stove, heat water and float it in the tank in plastic containers or zip-lock bags
3) put a battery operated air pump( if you need one, call Leigh)
4) if you have battery operated computer back-up, use it to run small powerheads and heater

If you have anymore questions, call Leigh

Disclaimer: all those steps are suggestions only, and you are assuming the risk in taking these steps

[blackhemi35003]

Good post

[happysak]

Thank you. Sorry for bad English

[pwhitby]

Originally posted by happysak
Thank you. Sorry for bad English

Bad English? what did I do this time???

lol.

Nice post Roman.

If you do have a UPS, run only the lowest powered power head you have and point it at the tank surface to make sure you get gas exchange at the surface.

Stirring also works if the power is out for too long.

Paul.

[Krbekk]

he said bad english not naughty Englishman

[Travis L. Stevens]

And if all else fails, stick your arm in the tank and gently stir it

[sadsak]

Travis your too funny.

Thats a good post Brother(Roman) But if you lost power you couldn't read the post, Just give up a hard time. That's great advise!

I lost power for 21+ hrs. We rented a generator 6000 watts, for about 68 dollars a day from Home depot. We were able to run our HVAC, Refrigerator, and our whole tank set up minus lights.

[SeanF]

Don't stir the tank to much though because when you are exchanging oxygen you are also exchanging heat. You have to walk the fine line between keeping your tank from getting to oxygen depleted and keeping the tank warm enough. The good thing for the corals is that they tend to do better in the cooler water than the fish do. I don't miss those ice storms.

[Lightsluvr]

At sunrise on Sunday, my wife kicked me out of the house and told me not to come back without a generator... So okay I know what I am getting for Christmas.
I'm going back to Lowes and give a tip to the guy who helped me load a 5KW generator into the open trunk of my car in the sleet Sunday morning. (Looked like a scene from the Grapes of Wrath)
Sure enough, we lost power early Monday morning and it did not come back until after 4:00 p.m. We probably would have had some stressed (or worse) fish and coral after those 8 hours with no heat, circulation, etc.
Instead, I ran 12 Ga extension cords to the tanks, the refrigerator and the furnace! It was just like any other day at the house, but without lights.
Thanks Santa.

LL

[oddballs]

sleeping at the shop with all the bubbling,2 basset hounds(our house was to cold for them),one mutt(milli) and about 6 or 7 other peoples fish and corals piled in here not the greatest sleep but at least it was better than the night before not knowing if we would have power or not when we showed up at the shop!!!i have a feeling we will have a bigger slumber party tonight if power is not restored in tulsa ?hope everyone had a ok evening and all of your critters are ok.
goodluck
scott and jena

[TulsaReefer]

Also, check your hot water. If you have a gas fired hot water heater, they work even with electric (at least many do). You can always fill jugs with hot water and float them in the tank to add a little heat. Not optimal, but might save someone in a pinch. I was filling bathtubs and running the shower yesterday to add a little heat to the house, every little bit helps.

[TulsaReefer]

Originally posted by sadsak
Travis your too funny.

Thats a good post Brother(Roman) But if you lost power you couldn't read the post, Just give up a hard time. That's great advise!

I lost power for 21+ hrs. We rented a generator 6000 watts, for about 68 dollars a day from Home depot. We were able to run our HVAC, Refrigerator, and our whole tank set up minus lights.

Okay, I'll admit I'm probably a little strange, but I actually was online after my power went out yesterday. I connect my laptop through my cellular phone and then sat in the car with the car adapter for my laptop charging everything up. But not everyone is nerd enough to go into withdrawl within 30 minutes of having their primary Internet access go down.

[George Grogan]

Praying for all you guys...

I'm in Amarillo, narrowly missed this one, but took a direct hit last year...

Big loss... own a generator now... still doesn't make me feel comfortable with ICE forecasts...

Hang in there... that which doesn't kill us, makes us stronger!!!!

[tstone]

Used the battery powered bubbler on my nano. The power went out at 4:15 on Monday morning and came back on Tuesday evening around 5:00.
Everything survived and seems to be none the worse for wear.

Hope you all fared as well.

[mskohl]

i'm on borrowed computer time at the moment, but I wanted to check in.

We have been without power off and on since Sunday 5am. We had about an hour on Sunday afternoon and then overnight Sunday to Monday. It went out again on Monday morning and has been off since.

The worst of it was Sunday morning when I discovered at 5AM that I hadn't done a good job of cleaning my syphon break holes on the returns. I dumped about 20 gallons of saltwater on the carpet before the returns broke the surface. I don't do well in a panic and being jerked awake after only 2.5 hrs of sleep didn't help. I couldn't figure out what the problem was and couldn't comprehend why the water was flowing or when it was going to stop.

I had enough water to replace the 20g on the floor and scooped out water from the sump to cover the corals. The the power kicked on for about an hour. Then when it went off again, I started to panic about overflowing the tank again. It took me a few minutes to get my head about me and just lift the return out of the water. I spent Sunday heating tank water on the stove and mixing it back in. I had two battery powered air stones bubbling from the middle of the tank and I would frequently stir the water with a cup. The tank temp dropped to about 73* and I'm not sure that my pouring warmed water in helped. But, at least it didn't hurt.

Russell came home with a generator around 4 pm on Sunday. Just as he was getting it hooked up, the power came back on, though just for the night.

The tank is now fully opperational on the generator and is the main source of lighting in the house.

Luckily I didn't have any fish die. I have lost my a few of my favorite corals though. The pink birdsnest, the ORA chips acro, and a pink/green pocilipora (I think). These were out of the water for awhile in 65* air, until I got the 20g back in the tank.

Thank God we have a generator now. We have heat and the tanks are stable. I just have to keep my two boys from going insane.

[JasonF]

I'm on generator as I type this. My tank got down into the mid 60s before I could get things running but I did have the battery air pump going. So far nothing looks obviously dead but I suspect that is wishful thinking. And my anemone just split too.

[2ras]

I'm just checking in on RC at work, my last day until the next year (unused vacation). I have been without power for 3 days now and counting. My generator has saved the tank and warmed the house. Don't know when power will be restored, hopefully soon.

[zxanth]

I didnt know this until Leighann from Aquariums told me that if you have a generator and have a central gas heater that you can plug in the blower so that you can have heat through out the whole house rather than buying a small heater. I was real greatful to know this because the house was very cold, been out of power for 4 days now. I have lost my small reef tank and fish but my 125 FOWL has made it for now. Doing lots of water changes to help keep water quality good. wish me luck.

[Travis L. Stevens]

Originally posted by zxanth
I didnt know this until Leighann from Aquariums told me that if you have a generator and have a central gas heater that you can plug in the blower so that you can have heat through out the whole house rather than buying a small heater. I was real greatful to know this because the house was very cold, been out of power for 4 days now. I have lost my small reef tank and fish but my 125 FOWL has made it for now. Doing lots of water changes to help keep water quality good. wish me luck.

It works, but it is risky. Do know that because a generator doesn't supply a steady, even stream of electricity that it can wreak havoc on any newer, electronically programmed heating/cooling systems. I'm glad it worked out for you though the tanks have only faired so-so.

Also, as a word of advice to everyone with generators, beware of Carbon Monoxide. It can accidently be vented in to your home and be harmful to you and any furry, feathered, or finned family members.

[TulsaReefer]

You can even out the flow, or "condition" the current from a generator for electronic instruments. You can buy a power conditioner unit, or use a high grade UPS. Connect your electronic items to the UPS and then the UPS to the generator. For it to work properly you'll need your generator to be properly grounded, as UPS typically need a good ground connection in most cases. Just make sure your UPS includes "power conditioning" or what is sometimes called "automatic voltage regulation", and that it's rated for the wattage you plan to use on it. I have one on my television and DVR all the time, along with a couple computers.

[Travis L. Stevens]

Originally posted by TulsaReefer
You can even out the flow, or "condition" the current from a generator for electronic instruments. You can buy a power conditioner unit, or use a high grade UPS. Connect your electronic items to the UPS and then the UPS to the generator. For it to work properly you'll need your generator to be properly grounded, as UPS typically need a good ground connection in most cases. Just make sure your UPS includes "power conditioning" or what is sometimes called "automatic voltage regulation", and that it's rated for the wattage you plan to use on it. I have one on my television and DVR all the time, along with a couple computers.

Now that is one heck of an idea! Thanks for the tip!

[TulsaReefer]

The other nice things about having a UPS in the loop is that it means you don't lose everything every time you stop the generator to fuel it, or do other maintenance (they seem to need a lot of oil changes). As long as your UPS can handle it, you can usually get long enough out of it to do a quick refuel, and fire things back up before it loses battery charge. Of course UPS units aren't cheap, and the larger ones cost even more. Watch for sales though and you can sometimes get a decent sized unit for a reasonable price.

[jprince58]

Originally posted by Travis L. Stevens
It works, but it is risky. Do know that because a generator doesn't supply a steady, even stream of electricity that it can wreak havoc on any newer, electronically programmed heating/cooling systems.

I'll admit I'm not an HVAC guy, Travis, but I do know a tiny bit about electronics. Any system worth owning should (that's a dangerous word) have the electronics isolated through a step-down transformer and rectifier. The only part of the unit that should (there I go again) see the 110v would be the blower motor and the igniter. That said, most portable generators don't operated at exactly 60Hz, so you would likely notice the fan running faster/slower or humming a bit while it runs. Of course, many of the newer units regulate fan speed by varying the frequency. This is done through solid state frequency synthesis control and likely wouldn't be affected by the generator's slightly off-key power.

[poke75]

FYI:
If you have a generator that is capable of 220V. You can make a cable and run it through your breaker box. Just follow these steps:

1. Turn off your main breaker coming into the house. If you can't isolate the line power from your box, don't go any further.

2. Make a cable that will plug into the generators 220 outlet (good luck finding this plug, most places are sold out) and then put a male plug that will plug into a 220 outlet in your house (ie electric dryer, welder, kiln, etc.)

3. Turn off all circuit breakers (this is just to make sure you don't overload the generator when you turn it on)

4. Plug the cable into the house 220 outlet (do whis first so you don't shock yourself with a live plug)

5. Plug the cable into the generator 220

6. Start generator

7. Turn the 220 breaker on that goes to the outlet you plugged the generator cable into.

8. Start turning on the breakers one at a time and make sure you turn off unecessary items as you go so you don't overload your generator

9. If you have gas heat, you will notice your heater kick on when you turn on that breaker. I personally did NOT turn on any 220 breakers (accept the one the generator is pluged into) because my generator was not powerfull enough to run a stove or electric water heater or any other 220 item.

Note: Be carefull not to overload the generator. Turn a couple of things you want to run and go look at the meter on your generator. Make sure when you check your meter that your fan to the heat is running.



Be careful, and if you don't know, ask someone that you trust.

Steve

[eddybabyhd]

I think the very small risk is far less important than keeping the house/tank warm. Besides, thats why we have homeowners right?