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Do I need a Power generator in Montgomery county?


flooddc

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I am sure this topic was brought up before. Maybe buried deep somewhere. I tried searching in the forums but only find a few that briefly touches on the power generator topic.

Anyway, I was just wondering if you fellow reefers in the Montgomery county MD could give me some feed back on it. I have been living in Mont. County for close to 30 years. As far as I can remember, we have had about 2 or 3 major outages from PEPCO. I remembered one winter about 10+ years ago we had a power outages in the Silver Spring area that lasted 5+ days (lost my prized Asian Arowana during the outage) and another recent outage a few summers ago that lasted 3-5 days (lost my 20 in pond Koi).

My questions are: Do I "REALLY NEED" to invest in a power generator for the reef tank? Do you guy/gals have them and use them for your reef tank? Thanks

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I have two generators, a main and a spare. I live in Manor Park (near 28 & 97) which is notorious for outages due to a lot of mature trees. In any case, I use mine about once a year and they have saved many thousands in livestock several times in the 5 years I have lived up here. No question that they are necessary around here if you are serious about long term reefkeeping.

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Yes! I live in Moco in the 20817 zip code (right next to walter johnson hs) and my power goes out at least 2-3 times per year for a few days at a time. I bought a generator last winter after realizing it's only a drop in the bucket compared to the money let alone time and emotional effort put into my tank.

 

 

So the answer is yes for me. No brainer.

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I'm about a 5 min drive from Justin off of 28 in Rockville. I couldn't agree more. As Justin said with all the trees in the area its highly recommended. My neighborhood is notorious for losing power during major thunderstorms and snow. It will be worth the investment.

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I don't live in MD but we have power outages here all the time and my generator has saved my livestock.

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I have lived in MoCo for 49 years and never once have I experienced a power outage that lasted more than a day.

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I live over in Anne Arundel county MD. I would say yes, generators are a must have. Its one thing if you have a basic tank with some damsels or goldfish from the feeder fish bin, but if you are heavily invested in the hobby why not spend the money for the peace of mind... I have a 3500W generator from BJs($300), should be enough to cool down the fridge, and keep the tank heaters on for the fish with some bubblers going. we are getting ready to move to the eastern shore. I plan on getting a whole house generator as soon as possible. Im done with the uncertanty of all the blackouts...

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Having a generator is a big game changer.

When I pull it out of the shed, I use a couple extension cords. One for the fridge, one for the aquarium heater/chiller & return pump. If the generator has too much load, you can alternate the extension cords, only running the fridge for about an hour a couple times a day.

 

Don't forget when the power comes back on to turn the stop cock fuel valve off & run it till it runs out of gas so it starts next time & isn't all gummed up. If yours doesn't have a stop cock fuel valve you'll need to drain the fuel out the tank, then run it till it kills.

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Yes. I lived in ctenophore's area for 2 years and lost power several times. Definitely look for one with a fuel line drain and make sure you use fuel stabilizer. I picked mine up at a pawn shop - worth looking into. I'd also recommend a battery powered air pump. Cheap insurance.

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I would say yes! it does not matter where you live if you have more than $500.00 in live stock then it's a easy answer.

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+1 on the battery backup! I have a 55,20,45 and each has a battery backup. On the 55 I run 2 for a couple of hours then switch it around to the other tanks.

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Seem like most of you recommend one. My other concern with Power Gen. is their reliably. I noticed that they all use the same/similar motor as lawn mower motor. And my experience with lawn mowers is that it a pain to start once it sat through a winter or two. So I felt they would have the same problem since we only need power generator one in a blue moon. Perhaps I need to do some research for a reliable one! But I think it going to be costly. Thanks all for the feed back. Chuck

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Chuck- as has been briefly mentioned, upkeep is key for any motor that sits around. I run my gnerator about once a month or so just to keep it firing up. I also add some seafoam to the gas. As for cost, it can range anywhere from $300 to 20K depending on the system you want. in general though, a 4000w or so generator should be all you really need for fish stuff(you dont need to run lights in an emergency). you can pick one up as cheap as $300 bucks or so...

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