Any Suggestions for Upcoming Power Outage

[jjv99]

Hello all -- My apologies if this topic has been covered already, but I searched the threads and came up short.

 

I have the luxury of being able to plan for an all-day power outage next Wednesday. My apartment building is upgrading something or other, and needs to kill the power from 9AM to 5PM.

 

Anyway, I have a 46 gallon reef (which just turned one year old last weekend) that I will need to maintain during that time and, as luck would have it, I am home from work that day. Since a backup generator is unfortunately not an option, any suggestions for keeping things stable for 8 hours? I was thinking of buying an APC Backup to at least intermittently run the heaters to keep the temperature from falling too far out of the zone. Thanks in advance.

[lanman]

Hello all -- My apologies if this topic has been covered already, but I searched the threads and came up short.

 

I have the luxury of being able to plan for an all-day power outage next Wednesday. My apartment building is upgrading something or other, and needs to kill the power from 9AM to 5PM.

 

Anyway, I have a 46 gallon reef (which just turned one year old last weekend) that I will need to maintain during that time and, as luck would have it, I am home from work that day. Since a backup generator is unfortunately not an option, any suggestions for keeping things stable for 8 hours? I was thinking of buying an APC Backup to at least intermittently run the heaters to keep the temperature from falling too far out of the zone. Thanks in advance.

 

GREAT timing!! Weatherman says it is going to be COLD next Wednesday! High's in the 40's.

 

I recommend getting your house a little warmer than usual before the power outage - say 75 degrees. Might even warm the tank up a few degrees. Be more watchful of water flow, or bubblers, than temperature. Battery powered air bubblers would be a big help. Most corals will survive without damage down to about 70 degrees. Open the window shades on the sunny side of the house

 

bob

[Jon Lazar]

Low oxygenation is the first problem from a power failure, especially if you have fish. But the bacteria in your tank consume oxygen too.

 

If it were me, I would buy a battery powered airstone and extra batteries, AND a backup power supply. I would have a backup plan ready of using my gas range to gently heat water bottles and add them to the tank if the temp got too low. I would find my auto power converter and know how to pull the battery out of my car as a backup to the backup. I would think through how to ask WAMASers or my LFS for help without power to run my computer. In case everything went south, I would have lots of extra water ready for a water change.

 

And I would be mentally prepared for the repairs/contruction/whatever to last longer than 5PM, just in case.

[Mountaineer]

What inhabitants do you have in this tank? For 8 hours all should be fine I would think. Most livestock should be able to ship for longer than that. That said, keeping an airstone running and maintaining temp is a good idea, and you do have notice to prepare, so take advantage of the time and notice. You can also take out a pitcher of water and pour it back in periodically to give some flow, but that will get old real fast.

 

Good luck.

[jjv99]

What inhabitants do you have in this tank? For 8 hours all should be fine I would think. Most livestock should be able to ship for longer than that. That said, keeping an airstone running and maintaining temp is a good idea, and you do have notice to prepare, so take advantage of the time and notice. You can also take out a pitcher of water and pour it back in periodically to give some flow, but that will get old real fast.

 

Good luck.

 

These are all great suggestions...thanks so much. As for the tank, I have two clowns and a scooter blenny, about 20 hermits and some snails...corals = a big zoanthid colony, a huge umbrella (its now probably 12 inches tall and about 8 inches across), a frogspawn, a bubble, and a sunflower, as well as about 20 assorted polyps scattered about.

[jjv99]

These are all great suggestions...thanks so much. As for the tank, I have two clowns and a scooter blenny, about 20 hermits and some snails...corals = a big zoanthid colony, a huge umbrella (its now probably 12 inches tall and about 8 inches across), a frogspawn, a bubble, and a sunflower, as well as about 20 assorted polyps scattered about.

Oh, and I forgot about the favia with a BTA attached to its belly.

[treesprite]

My apartment complex does such things a lot. The management always states a 9 to 5 time period when cutting something off temporarily, but nothing is ever off more than a few hours... my guess is that it's the same in most other apartment buildings.

[jjv99]

My apartment complex does such things a lot. The management always states a 9 to 5 time period when cutting something off temporarily, but nothing is ever off more than a few hours... my guess is that it's the same in most other apartment buildings.

Thanks for all the suggestions..power was only off for about 4 hours...temp never dipped below 79 degrees, and I didn't even run through one set of batteries in the air pumps!!!