Haven't had a lengthy outage here in some time, but when it did happen I used one of my truck batteries and a small inverter to run a powerhead and my skimmer. I also have the PennPlax battery powered air pump that senses power loss and kicks in automatically. The car/truck battery & inverter is not a long term solution but it's relatively cheap and works well to run a powerhead or two for quite a while. Downside is, it's not automatic, you need to be home to set it up. Also wouldn't try to run a heater too long unless you have a very large battery. I'm able to run my skimmer since it's old tech air driven (limewood air diffusers), the small powerhead and air pump only use around 11 watts.

The temperature is not the problem unless it goes below 70K The tank if large enough will cool down slowly. You can help it slow down even more by floating containers with boiling water if you have someway to boil the water. (your neighbours gas range or your BQ).

The problem is the lack of oxygen which will kill the inhabitants. Whether it is a battery driven air pump or a egg beater, anything that either injects oxygen into the tank or stirs the water is needed.

As well as the welfare of your inhabitants, you have a lot of money invested in the tank. Nothing if worse than a tank wipe out.
Go to Canadian Tire and get what you need.

Mine never went out at all, but flickered a few times. I went out to the garage to get the generator set up, just in case and the bugger wouldn't start. Took me 20 minutes of farting around to get it going.

How's things looking now Dave?

Not good, see the post on the 750 thread :frusty: if I lose any of the big angels there will be a 750 for sale real cheap next week.

Ok I offered my 60g cube for fish if you need it in your other thread but I have a sneaking suspicion your angels wouldn't be very comfortable in there

Sorry to here of your misfortune. I hope all works out for you. Having local support from other REEFERS in the area (Marie & Lance) is important.

A couple of years ago when we had that major wind storm that took out all those trees in Stanley Park, a number of the local REEF NETWORK members goto together and discussed Disaster Planning. Many of us partnered off with 1 or 2 others who lived close together, who could support each other and share thew plan. There were a number of different plans discussed as the size of the systems required different plans.

My system being 525G required me to buy a generator capable of running my Amp Master main pump and 2 X 250W heaters. I set it up in September and test it for about 2 hours and then leave it in the ready mode hopping never to use it.

Your Generator should run your main circulation pump and at least a couple of heaters to be of any use.

A DISASTER PLAN is only good if you actually test it and it works. We have so much invested in our systems that running without a well tested DISASTER PLAN is very risky.

In a jam my Toyota Tacoma has a 400W inverter included in the box that I could use with the truck idling and an extension cord to the main circulation pump. Another good pump to use is a Tunze as they move a lot of water with very little wattage.

Tom R