Now might be a good time....

[Boret]

power out @ 3:30pm yesterday. still out. No back-up. Basement already smells like acropora.

 

Anyone close to Chevy Chase with a spare generator will rent for frags

This sucks

 

Rik,

 

Did you get your power back up??

[Big Country]

Since I have a boat I have two very large 31 series deep cycle batteries in my living room fully charged that I use to run the electric trolling motor on the boat. These batteries will run a power inverter for quite some time to run a heater and a couple of power heads to keep my tank going. Thought about rigging up a 750 GPH bilge pump with battery clips to run in place of the return pump but not sure if it would hold up to saltwater.

[Leishman]

Rik,

 

Did you get your power back up??

 

 

NO

[GaryL]

what area of the burg are you at? we are on the white oak side and was at work when power went off there...so i can imagine we had some flickers like on sunday but all was good when i got home.

 

never really had a problem when i lived in dale city cause all the cable is burried...but everything is overhead out here

 

i am seriousley considering a generator, or back up...

 

 

Power is finally back on as of 1:30am. We lost power for over 5 hours yesterday and spent some time in the basement as the storm raged outside. Pretty scary stuff. Not sure of damage in our area, but last hurricane took out 26 homes less than 3 miles from us.

 

Jon's talked about wanting to get a generator for years to keep the tank going (I usually think about fridge/freezer loss and house needs first) but it wasn't until last night that I thought we really have to make it a priority to look into a power source. This post is timing at its best.

 

We weathered the storm okay, it was an interesting experience for my folks who are on their 2nd day here on vacation and my oldest son who came over to have dinner with everyone. Once the storm passed and we were out of the basement we pulled out extra candles and played some games for a couple of hours, sharing laughs and family memories, so it wasn't all bad....... and I think the tanks will be fine too because Jon put battery-operated air pumps in them.

 

I hope everyone else is okay too.

 

Maureen

[MLazar]

what area of the burg are you at? we are on the white oak side and was at work when power went off there...so i can imagine we had some flickers like on sunday but all was good when i got home.

 

never really had a problem when i lived in dale city cause all the cable is burried...but everything is overhead out here

 

i am seriousley considering a generator, or back up...

 

Out 17, past Geico. Lots of trees down, but no houses lost, thank goodness.

 

I think we're going to have to get serious about a generator as well.

 

Does anyone have a brand/model they recommend (or don't)?

 

M

[quazi]

I have this from PetSmart as my basic back up plan. I lost power in my tank due to a broken heater last Friday. I have NO idea how long the power was off, but I am thinking 6 hours. The air pump was still working, but I did lose my Sailfin.

 

Anyway, for $16.00 it is very inexpensive. The big probelm I have is that you cannot have an airstone on it, as the air stone get clogged up just sitting there. My airline hose was too shallow, or the tang would probably have made it.

Edited June 5, 2008 by quazi

[Sharkb8]

I have this from PetSmart as my basic back up plan. I lost power in my tank due to a broken heater last Friday. I have NO idea how long the power was off, but I am thinking 6 hours. The air pump was still working, but I did lose my Sailfin.

 

Anyway, for $6.00 it is very cheap. The big probelm I have is that you cannot have an airstone on it, as the air stone get clogged up just sitting there. My airline hose was too shallow, or the tang would probably have made it.

 

Yeah, I thought so. The guys at the Petsmart in Springfield said they didn't carry anything like that (but I thought they did) and instead just said to dump peroxide into the tank ...

Edited June 5, 2008 by Sharkb8

[MLazar]

I have this from PetSmart as my basic back up plan.

 

Thanks for sharing. We'll take a look at it.

 

M

[squiddly]

I'm so sorry for you guys who are still out. We came back up sometime around 11am. I've been running a 24 gallon aquapod with nothing in it cept a couple PVC pieces if anyone needs emergency housing. I haven't checked the water parameters in ages because there's nothing in it, but it's here if anyone needs it. I'm in Great Falls, VA.

[rsaavedra]

NO

Hey Rik if you want I'll stop by tonight to remove your corals and house them in my tank until power settles again. Can't assure you'll get them back as big as you give them to me but at least they won't die ... seriously just LMK.

[lanman]

NO

 

Errr... did you find SOMETHING to power up your tanks??? Egads... $20,000 worth of coral dying??

 

bob

[Leishman]

Errr... did you find SOMETHING to power up your tanks??? Egads... $20,000 worth of coral dying??

 

bob

 

 

Still no power. HD only has a $700 generator and I don't have that coin

[magnetic1]

 

Still no power. HD only has a $700 generator and I don't have that coin

 

Harbor Frieght has one in an ad I just got in the mail for $299.

 

Chicago Gasoline Generator;

 

3500 Watts peak/3000 watts rated. 6.5HP engine, recoil start. 15 hours continuous load run time at 50% load.

[gmubeach]

Bob maybe you should move your corals? Or have a black out sale?

 

Anyway my power went out for 12 hours and everything made it I had a minnow airpump ....going for a few hours of it, but my fish defenlty didn't like it... luckily for me my house is like a furnace so the tank stayed good and warm.... anyway I went to bed all upset and then at 4 in the morning DING on go my lights and I look and there are copods everywhere anyway thank goodness for it going back no I think my coral will only last a few days... anyway if you guys need to sell anything or move it to my tank I'd be glad to help best wishes Troy

[reefmontalvo]

Dang that is bad. And this whole time my main concern was putting a check valve on the return to the sump. Since I calculated the sump to hold the overflows water.

 

So will any bacis battery back up work? I noticed the office next to hours getting rid of some of the industrial sized ones. Made for whole offices I think I just might have to aquire one. You know stealing is against the law.

 

Besides I noticed the power maybe go out one or two times I have lived in my house. I guess at this point I have been lucky, but I know I'm on borrowed time if the power is to go out.

[Grav]

I ran the return pumps on my 180, 150 and QT system and everything on the Nano tank. Then every 3 hours or so, I'd switch over to the Fridge and give that an hour to freeze back up before switching back.

 

Did it all for 28 hours all on a 750w inverter... of course you need an extra car.

Edited June 6, 2008 by Grav

[Guest beatle]

Just how long do you have before bad stuff starts to happen? We lost power yesterday around 3:45pm and it didn't come back on until 1:30am. I was able to use a generator across the street (5 extension cords!) after about 6, but it was shut off at 11 or so. I was running my return, skimmer, and 2 Koralia 3s. Corals and fish are fine, though there were only a few hours of still water and no lights all day.

 

I imagine tank size, ambient temperature, stocking levels and livestock types all factor into it, but there must be some kind of rough estimate. What are the most important things to consider? Temperature? Return pump? Powerheads? Skimming? Lights?

Edited June 6, 2008 by beatle

[lancer99]

My power was out for 28 hours... yesterday I worked from home so could fill up containers with water, pour them from high into my tanks and hope for oxygenation and a bit of water movement.

 

This morning I had to go into work, so called around about battery-powered air pumps. Vienna Aquarium (screw'em, would only sell "one per customer"...they suck) then got four at Wally's.

 

Most of my tanks lights are about to go off, and some off the corals (esp. SPS) are looking very unhappy, so wish me luck

 

-R

[SteveM]

The power where I live hardly ever goes out but it did yesterday during the storm. Ended up being out about 3 hours or so. I have one of these from Home Depot and it worked great. Ran it off the battery in my wifes Hummer for a couple of hours before I had to go to work. It ran 2 return pumps and a Korila 4 without any problems.

[lanman]

 

Still no power. HD only has a $700 generator and I don't have that coin

 

darn... that's bad ... I have a generator you could use - it's a little cranky to start - but once it's going it produces electricity! Wish I'd known sooner!

 

bob

[gmubeach]

Last I had hear at 10pm lance was without power I let him borrow a minnow pump, but I am sure his tank isn't happy now anyway.... I hope everyone is back and running by 10 am tomorow or sooner .... darn power company let alot of ppl down.. 30,000 homes I thnk was the final count!

[lanman]

Last I had hear at 10pm lance was without power I let him borrow a minnow pump, but I am sure his tank isn't happy now anyway.... I hope everyone is back and running by 10 am tomorow or sooner .... darn power company let alot of ppl down.. 30,000 homes I thnk was the final count!

 

I don't know when you mean for 30,000 ... perhaps by the end of yesterday (I will find out on the radio news this morning, I'm sure). At the peak of the storm there were over 300,000 people without electricity.

 

bob

[gmubeach]

It was 300,000 ppl! I think your right I only caught the end of the news program.... and I wasn't really paying alot of attetion! Anyway too much wamas for me and thanks for the correction!

[st9z]

Went to Wal-Mart and got batteries, but no pump there. Went to Petco on Old Keene Mill Rd., power was out, store closed. Went to Petsmart in downtown Springfield, same story. However, they told me to just dump some hydrogen peroxide in the tank and all would be fine (thanks guys, great help). Went to K-Mart - no pumps. I went to Target across the street. Oddly Springfield Mall had power, but all the stores across the street had no power. Target had nothing in the line of fish supplies. I figured BRK was closed ...

 

I stumble through Target into the mall. Thinking - maybe they make cell phone chargers that run on batteries that would run a small pump? No go. Those things only have jacks for the little round inlets in the cell phones, nothing to actually plug a 2-pronged plug into. Ok, how about ... RADIO SHACK! I dash to the Shack. Indian woman running the store talking on cell phone has no idea what I'm talking about and basically ignores me. Young teenage-looking kid behind the counter says, "uhh, I dunno, but we got these computer emergency battery back up thingies here behind the counter ..." I figure those cost $50 or more and maybe will buy me an hour, maybe less.

 

I ran into that same problem on Wednesday couldn't find a battery air pump anywhere in the Springfield area. Luckly I thought about fishing and keeping live bait alive...so I ran into Sports Authority and they had a whole wall full of them. Best part is it only uses 2 D batteries and last for 100 hours. I finally got my power back after 30 hours with no electricity.

[Sharkb8]

I ran into that same problem on Wednesday couldn't find a battery air pump anywhere in the Springfield area. Luckly I thought about fishing and keeping live bait alive...so I ran into Sports Authority and they had a whole wall full of them. Best part is it only uses 2 D batteries and last for 100 hours. I finally got my power back after 30 hours with no electricity.

 

 

Where is Sports Authority?