Hope the power comes back soon
 

As you may have heard by now there is a major outage of power in the east. I'm out here in it although luckily for me I am not in one of the major cities (I am visiting a small town north of Detroit). The building where I'm working has a deisel generator so I can still surf (priorities, ya know..) :lol:

Hopefully the power comes back soon. It sounds like big cities are a real mess right now. Rush hour traffic, no traffic lights, no subways, people stuck in elevators. What a nightmare. :confused: :neutral: Hope this resolves quickly.

Why aren't you out among the looters? :wink:

DareDevil Tony

North of Detriot :question: :eek: :eek:

If you get close to Detroit, I suggest tieing a string from your car to your toe and have a gun in hand :2gunfire: ready. Take the safety off because the shooting starts when you open the door. Better to have more one gun.

Yeah, Detroit's a wild place. It's actually pretty neat place though. They have the oldest public aquarium in the U.S. (which I thought was pretty neat). And Tropicorium (Dick Perrin's coral prop facility.) Right now though I'm in Port Huron actually (about an hour north). Right at the mouth of Lake Huron. The river is not that wide around here, although it must be really deep and swift given that the volume of the great lakes is passing through it. It's really amazing to see, these HUGE ocean going tankers and freighters (and I mean ... HUGE) travelling a river that is not a whole lot wider than the Bow River. I swear there are places those boats could be turned into a bridge by steering them sideways. I don't think they could even be made to go perfectly perpendicular .. they look longer than the river is wide [although I'm sure it's not really]) Anyways I forget what my point was. Oh right, I'm in Port Huron. I think there's maybe about 1000 people here. It's a pretty small town actually. One of the guys I'm working with, is a part time state trooper in his spare time. That just boggles my mind. I mean, I've heard of people having two jobs, maybe moonlighting a bit at Rona or something for some wee extra spending cash or something ... but a part time police officer????? I thought that was one of the more unsual things I had heard ... until I learned that there are in fact two guys working here who are also police officers (but in different forces). So, get this, you've got like State troopers, U.S. Marshalls, Highway Patrol, Sheriff's Department, and of course municipal police forces as well. Although mostly they have different jurisdictions, there is some overlap. And, this to me is the strangest thing, if one cop sees another cop speeding, for example, he can actually pull that guy over and give him a ticket. I mean ... gahhhhh?? This is so amazingly different than what I'm used to seeing that's for sure.

Aren't the state troopers just reservists? But I hear ya, the Americans have an insane amount of defense/policing levels. I've heard they have over ten different "secret" bureaus, like NSA and CIA. We have one, CSIS, who has within it the CSE, which no one knows about. And we have the RCMP. They must have ten different equivalents to the RCMP, FBI, DEA, AFT... and the AFT even has its own SWAT-type people, with black body armor and M16's, good grief, do you need automatic rifles to bust someone with illegally imported cigarettes? :confused: :razz:

:lol: In the States anything is possible :rolleyes:

Yes, absolutely and without a doubt.

Christy just called, and she is delayed in Vancouver airport, as the flight crew couldn't get there from Toronto as a result of the power outs.

What public companies upgrade power grids in N. America? :smile: Looking for some stock tips.

Prophetically, I bought a battery operated air pump last weekend in case we had a power failure in Vancouver. Having oxygenation is most vital in my tank.

I was born and raised right across the river in Sarnia. All my family are still there. That river is supposedly travelling at 70 km/h. The amazing part is the fact that the Lake for at least 20 miles is only 38ft deep. Some of those large ships must only be feet off the bottom :eek: .

The power outage affects everyone, that's for sure. I was in Calgary this morning to pick up a friend on a flight from Ottawa, and of course, it never got off the ground.

I live in Windsor and work in Detroit. You guys have a interesting notions of the US and Detroit in Particular.

The State Troopers are just like the OPP or the RCMP for those Provinces that do not have a provincial police force. It is use and very capable.

Detroit has a few things to be proud of (not the Redwings this year) on in particular is the worlds first completely cageless (no bars) zoo.

I was without power from 4pm-3am and lost my corkscrew anemone.

-Em

Sorry to hear of your loss. I was kind of wondering about how many tank casualties there will be as a result of this. I'm sure you're not alone.. Must be very frustrating... :frown:

I actually don't mind Detroit. I think it's really neat to be on U.S. soil, and look due south and see Canada. Apart from maybe Alaska I don't know of too many places where you can do that.

Have you ever visited Tropicorium? I'm jealous you get to live close to a supplier like Dick Perrin... cool place. Was thinking I might head down for a look-see if my plans to go for a drive down to Cedar Point this weekend don't pan out.

I have read of losses on every board. :cry: Several of the Ontario guys on Aquarium Pros. Lots on RC.

I am surprised more people do not use a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) .. It would be a life saver for the reefers.. And only cost a couple hundred at the most. For what we pay in livestock it is worth it.

Chad

Tell me that's a typo!

After talking to my Dad, he says the river is more at 25mph at the mouth. The area is also called the St. Clair rapids and there is apperenlty 2 ships on the bottom about a 100 yards north of the bridge connecting Port Huron and Sarnia and 2 more a few hundred yards south.

Its a good idea. I have 2 UPS'es and I tested them but was only able to run a single powerhead for about 1-2 hours. In my opinion, that's not very cost effective. I think I was using APC Smart-UPS 500 or something. I would have to check. For more money, I could get the higher end models to get maybe 8 hours but that's pretty expensive.

The cheapest way to aerate a tank I think is a battery operated air pump like this:

http://www.hagen.com/canada/english/...01007900010101

I bought one last week but haven't tested it yet. They do look cheaply made though but I guess it should be able to run several days or maybe weeks on battery power. If the power outage lasts more than a day or 2, this isn't going to do much good if the temperature is extremely cold or hot of course.

I went into work today an grabbed a 3000VA UPS but of course my power has not gone out sine 3 am this morning when it came back.

I have not yet been to Tropicorium but plan on it in the next couple weeks. I was going to get a pair of their tank raised Percs.

Wouldn't a generator be a better idea than a UPS?

Yes, if money was no object. Although I haven't done the research, I was under the impression that they cost a good chunk of change. Considering, it would be used maybe 1 day out of every 2 years, I didn't think it was a good investment for my small reef. :lol:

Well I know that a UPS is, what, easily $300? I think a cheap/used generator is similar in price. I'm lucky, my dad has an industrial generator for his commercial greenhouse so if the power ever goes out, I'm more than covered. :smile:

Using a UPS is pretty much useless unless you have a small tank. I had a $900 unit that would run my entire tank for about 30 minutes. Not much value for $900!! A $300 unit would be a large paper weight for running anything bigger than a nano. My new plan is to run a converter from my car using an extension cord. These come in various wattages. Of course being able to park near the tank is a prerequisite :razz:

Im not speaking for the power outages in the eastern states, hopefully we never experience that here.

A converter is fine for small items, but the small coleman generators, that can be purchased or rented, be the first one to call, are fantastic.


Wendell

But with a generator in your garage you can have your tank covered and even be able to make coffee or toast in the morning. For one thats into camping it can be a nice tool aswell. Might aswell have a tool that can be used and not just a backup. That power outage made me think a bit. If that happened here...$$$ + pain, and lots of $$. Shitty for you people out there in the dark.

How much for a generator?

Yeah, most inexpensive UPS's are really intended to give you 5-10 minutes to save your work and then gracefully shutdown your PC. A UPS that would run your reef during a blackout of this magnitude out here would run you into the thousands. Not cost effective. If you're going to compromise on what one powerhead you'll run, one heater, at that point your better off using battery operated air pumps and the like.

A generator may not be much less money but as has been pointed out will be a very broad spectrum tool. You can run your fridge and freezer, for example. People out here, have to throw away all their food now. Don't eat your meat, don't eat your dairy. Presumably, there are going to be a pile of restaurants too, that have food that has to be chucked. What a mess.

Another option that I have been sort of tossing back and forth in my mind as to what I want to do to protect my reef, in the event I can't buy a generator, is to use those battery operated devices, but instead of relying on just batteries, if the units can be made to operate on 12V ... 12V is reasonabky easy to come by. A small windmill or a solar panel could maybe be used in conjunction with the battery and then maybe between the elements, you can save your batteries for other things like flashlights in the event of a prolonged outage. Of course if it's cloudy or dark winter AND windstill then that's of little use, but I'm kind of geeked out on wind power and solar power and been wondering for years how to get in on that somehow. My neighbour has a small wind generator on his garage. One day I am just going to ring his doorbell and ask what he's running off it. It's the coolest little thing, turbine is about 2', 2.5' in diameter, sits on the corner of his garage.

While you may be hearing that power is coming back to the affected area, I should point out that it's still a very precarious situation out here. As power comes back so does demand and they need to match the ramping up of both quite evenly, or risk roving brownouts. So it's still going to be a process for some time yet.

I just want to know what the hell happened here. At this point, nobody really has any idea. A lot of good sounding theories, and a lot of "well we know it wasn't US" going on. But I think it's conceivable that we may not EVER really be 100% certain. My theory is that there have been a number of causes that compounded one another. All I know, it's been a real mess. I suppose for a individual consumer it's not a whole lot different than say a power outage causxed by an ice storm or a hurricane or whatever, in this case the difference is the sheer magnitude of the affected area. What a mess.

Doesn't cosco sell a small solar panel for about $450? Not sure what it can supply though. And, what about the ones UFA sells for fences. Free power is the way to go but there is draw backs like having huge batteries around.

I would assume that a solar panel or a small turbine could at best only supply a tank partially. It's still an idea that has me intrigued though.

I would assume the priorities for a "damage control" mode would be minimal water turnover, perhaps aeration for combat O2 depletion. Would you want a heater still? I suppose if it was winter, but would you want the temperature to go down a bit perhaps? If a lower temperature equated into slower metabolism.

What I would want is to keep my sump pump running. Irony there, of course, is that that is probably the single biggest consumer of electriciyty second to the lighting. But if you're running refugiums, multiple tanks off one sump, that would sure be the way to go. Makes me wonder what a suitable replacement pump would be for the long term when it's time to upgrade from the ol' LG4.

I am so, so sorry to hear about people's losses. :cry: From what I'm hearing on some of the other boards ... if it was me in that situation, I'd probably be packing it in.

What can you do in something like this? As I had breakfast this morning, I overheard the comment: "what the hell are you supposed to do? Practically everything you touch nowadays needs electricity." Yeah, it's just nuts.

I think the whole blame thing is absurd. The grids are interconnected like threads in a sheet. If you cut one, the whole thing will come apart. When it comes to infrastructure, Canada and the USA are basically one state, it seems to me. Our waterways, roads, railroads, fuel and energy conduits... it's all one big network. The people in New York may as well be blaming the people in Michigan, it makes as much sense. Regardless of where it happened, it happened, and it would have happened the same way anywhere else. Pointing fingers is the wrong way to go about repairing the damage done, especially for us Canadians, considering the damage done to the CA/US relationship by Ottawa in the last few months/years.

Power Outage
 

I live in Ontario and my power was off from 4 pm on Thurs to noon on Friday. Luckily, I had 3 Hagen battery operated air pumps which I used to aerate my 3 tanks (100g total) until the power came back on.

I believe that having the tanks very lightly stocked helped a lot in the survival of my corals, fish, inverts, and clam. So far, everything looks to be alright, and I count myself very fortunate.

I did find that the pumps were cheaply made, but they saved the day, and ran for the whole time the hydro was off, with time to spare, so they were a good investment.

There is s company in the US which makes battery unit systems for aquarium hobbyists to use during a power outage. Their name is jehmco (spelling ?). Has anyone heard of them ?

I hope you reef keepers in the west never have to experience a power outage like the one we just had.

Cheers.

What does a store like JL do when the power goes out?