Shutting power off on a tank?

[parkinsn]

I am having a new service put on my house on friday and they will be shutting off power for the day.

What is critical for keeping things alive? I am hoping to either have a generator or power from my next door neighbor. Right now im thinking 1 heater, return pump, 2 x MP40W, will that do?

Thanks for any help

[globaldesigns]

If you can get power from the neighbour or a generator then you will have the ability to keep everything running. IMO, I would try to keep it in full operation, as then there won't be any shock to the tank.

If you don't have that option and have limited power, like a battery backup, I would keep movement of the water column, so you need to keep some powerheads going... The heater and return pump will zap a battery, so that isn't an option. With what you stated, I would keep the 2X MP40W going, worst case just one.

[MikeP]

Heat and return pump would be my two top picks. If you can run one powerhead and some low wattage lights like a couple T5's as well that would be best IMO. If you need a generator I have a light duty one (880w) that I bought "just in case" but have never used. Let me know if you want to borrow it.

[kien]

When I had to move my 90 gallon in order to upgrade to the 150 gallon I had all my fish and coral sitting in a tupperware tub with a couple of powerheads (koralia 4s, and a heater). That's all they had for a whole day and they were all fine. No light for a day isn't a big deal because that's just like a stormy cloudy day. So I would say heat and flow are the two key items. Don't really need the return pump if you just put the heater in the display tank near one of the powerheads.

[Delphinus]

You can safely sacrifice the lights, everyone will be fine for a day without lights. But keep everything else going on either the generator or a power cord over to the neighbour's house. The main killers in this kind of scenario, IMO, are: oxygen depletion (which can happen very quickly in low flow situations) and temperature shock.

[parkinsn]

Thanks for the info so far. Im not worried about lighting, i have done balckouts on my tank before, i know thats not an issue. Temp wont be that big a beal its a 168g diplay so it will take a while to drop to dangerous levels, and i could always drop a heater in the display. Mike i might take you up on that. My buddy thats an electrition might have a gen set that i can use, thanks for the offer i will let you know.

[belzebuth]

I had similar upgrade done at home 2 weeks ago. My heaters were unplugged for 6 hours. The 155 gal temp dropped by 5 degres.

[mike31154]

I take it you don't have the battery backup for your VorTechs? You can still run them at full power if you can get two 12 volt DC batteries hooked up in series for 24 volts DC. You'll need the connector that provides power to the driver same as the plug in power supply. Make sure you get the polarity right though, I think + is the center pin. If you only have one 12 volt battery, you can run them in backup mode (half speed), but you'll need the smaller connector for the driver's battery backup connection. Could be a bit of a challenge getting all the parts together for that on short notice though. In addition to the connector(s) and wiring you'll need a couple of deep cycle batteries and some clips to attach the wiring. Car batteries will work also, but not ideal since they're designed for cranking power, not extended slow discharge. Should be fine for a day though.

[lastlight]

Can you not run a few extension cords from the neighbors place? I think whoever suggested that is bang on. I know mine would be down with it but not everyone has neighbors that owe them for building their fences free of charge...

[ElGuappo]

i have a little generator as well i think its 1200 watts. when they turned of my power it ran 2 heaters 2 powerheads and a small tv and playstation.

in bowness if you need it.