3 Day Power Outage

[Leosdad]

So Friday night storms rolled thru, and the power went out about 10:30. Saturday morning I went to Petco and bought 2 battery powered air pumps and got them running.

Well, as time went by and the power was off, I just shook my head and watched as the aquarium sat there with no filtration. I was very depressed as the time progressed to 3 days and 4 nights without power. I thought for sure it was doomed and a loss.

Last night the power came on, the lights came on this morning as the filtration started up again. Much to my surprise, other than the glass (in and out) needed cleaning, my corals were still colorful and not bleached. All my fish lived and were swimming in the light like nothing happened. Temperature inside the house never climbed above 77.8 degrees. The aquarium is 17 months old.

I will do a 25% water change this evening, and another this coming weekend, trying to get things stablized. Wish me luck. I consider myself very fortunate so far. Almost beyond belief.

180 gallons. 36"deep 30"wide 36" high, 2-400w metal halides, protein skimmer in 50 gallon sump, filter sock on overflow, closed loop system

 

[DLANDINO]

Congrats! this is encouraging news as we all fear this scenario.

Dave

 

[Leosdad]

Thanks.......my next purchase...........a generator....just have to decide how large.

 

[DLANDINO]

Yeah, I have been toying with that as well. When I do it I want to do most of the house though, not just the outlets that feed my reef equipment. They can be pricey. Home Depot has one that will auto start and then test for continuous power from the power company every two minutes and then turn off when it is safe. They run about 3500.00 without the electrician fee.

 

[kiknchikn]

I'm strongly considering a portable generator for my nano. The only catch I can think of would be keeping the tank cool if the power goes out during summer...

 

[Leosdad]

For my purposes, the ideal size would be to feed the fridge, freezer, furnace fan, well pump, and a few outlets, as well as the aquarium power. Someone told me I should be able to get this done for about $1200, for a porpane system. Will check out this further.

 

[DLANDINO]

I think you are in the same boat as I. I also converted to propane about 2 years ago for my domestic hot water and it has been great. I would feed the generator off of y 100 gal. propane tank. Good luck!

 

[will16]

Scary story. Glad to hear the outcome.

Quick question... in a case like this. Would it be a good idea to do a water change while the power was still out? Would help take out some of the bad stuff and pouring in water would increase o2 exchange?

 

[nsinger]

I use a marine battery hooked to a power inverter hooked up to a transfer switch. When the AC is on, it does not draw from the inverter. If the power goes out, the transfer switch automatically gets power from the inverter. For 2500 watts the whole thing cost about $250

 

[jimwat]

A little trick I learned during hurricane Charlie/Ivan/Wilma is that an old computer UPS will power a small air pump for many days. I keep a couple old UPS devices charged all of the time. Even if you have a portable generator (which I now do), there still could be several hours between when the outage starts till when the generator is prepped and ready to go.

 

[gig]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12669784#post12669784 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by nsinger
I use a marine battery hooked to a power inverter hooked up to a transfer switch. When the AC is on, it does not draw from the inverter. If the power goes out, the transfer switch automatically gets power from the inverter. For 2500 watts the whole thing cost about $250

hey nsinger, would you be kind enough to link the parts? (besides the marine battery)

 

[nsinger]

The transfer switch is Iota Engineering 30 amp, available on-line. The inverter is a Cobra 2500. I have this setup, and my chiller, in a custom ventilated cabinet next to my aquarium.

 

[gig]

pics?