What to do if the power goes out? ACTION PLANS PEOPLE!!!
 

What do I need to do if the power goes out people?

What are effective action plans?

Turn the heater up now just incase?

Cameron dont be cookin your stuff!
If the power goes off and you have no backup about all you can do is stir the water now and then and keep a blanket over the tank so it doesnt loose too much heat.

I bought one of those Motomaster ( crappytire) battery box things. I charged it up fully today. It would keep one powerhead and the heater going for quite a while. Its 2 am right now.. and its getting hella windy. Im going to bed, how I dont wake up to a bloody mess outside tomorrow.

Things you can do are.
Wrap your tank in a nice warm blankey (leave the top open)
Get a bucket of water out of the tank and set up a acclimation style drip IN to the tank. Let the drops drip from a bit up so you get some water movement for O2 exchange.

if there is ONE thing a reefer will need during a total power outage it is a battery powered air pump....i got one from Big Al's (VERY CHEAP!).....it's critical b/c you MUST get oxygen into the water column, otherwise the water will stagnate and the livestock will be in danger

of course, if you can afford one of those crappy tire portable battery things, then you are good!....just run a maxi jet, and an air pump

Kabong's drip method is viable as a source of oxygen, but i don't see it making any difference in larger tanks of say, 50gal or larger.

Zach

I got my crappy tire box too :razz: It can run a tunze 6060 or 17 hours but likely I will just run it at 15 minute intervals on the hour or so. For heat we have a woodstove.

I got two of the Canadian Tire Noma brand battery backup units, one for each tank. I got the small 400w ones, and have them set up to run just my return pumps. I figure they should give me around four hours of operation. For that length of time I wopuldn't expect to lose enough heat to make a big issue. If there is a longer outage than that, I may be in trouble. I'll be rushing out to get a generator before they sell out. :sad: Generally though, we have pretty reliable service here in the city, it would be an extreme circumstance to have an extended blackout (he says with his fingers crossed).

My husband, nice guy that he is, bought me a generator for my birthday. :biggrin:

Gen
 

Living at Prospect Lake (Victoria), I have dealt with the power outages with a Honda EX650. It runs all 4 of my tanks, 10 ph, 3 heaters, 3 return pumps, no lights, total of 310 gallons of fun. Thank you Salmon King for lending it to me! Buying a gen is a must for me now. I must say though, 650 watts does not give adequate power to the heaters, so I have to completely cover my tanks with blankets to keep them warm. The heaters do run, just at a limited capacity. The storm that hit us this am was scary! Having 150' trees is nice in the summer, but when you hear them cracking, it can be very stressful! Thanks again Rob (aka Salmon king), the gen saved all my $6000 in corals! I promise I will name my first born after you! Salmon King Swagar.... has a nice ring to it eh!!!

Couldnt help my self LOL your sig line Swags.. that just made my day!

blankets, cordless drills with paint stirers, and colman stove to take a couple gallons of water to warm and replace, the fireplace or the B-B-Q will work too. Gonna have to look into a battery powered air pump:mrgreen:

Please dont use BBQ's or campstoves inside. Carbon Monoxide poisoning is deadly!

Yeah please don't use them inside :redface:

Well, the worst is over. Without power for 31 hours.
Think fast, MAN.
OOH yea I have a Coleman Powermate ULTRA 2500 watt Gennie.:smile:

It was quite the ordeal, started the gennie at 7:30am friday morning (neighbours were pleased about that:twised: ) and had to fill it every hour til 9:30pm that night. If the fish lasted through the night, I would still be in the hobby, if not who knows.

The next morning fish looked GASPING for air but OK, so here go's the gennie again.

Moral of this experience is "at least have a back up plan i.e. battery backup, gennies, or what ever you can do to minimize your loses.:biggrin: