A Sad day as a fish keeper.

[jwm2k3]

How long can the EU2000 run for on a tank? I am going to get a small one and look into a whole house generator. I think the piece of mind would be worth every penny.

They are rated at 14 hours, maybe it was 10 hours. Thats on less than a gallon of gas. You should be able to buy one on eBay or at you local Honda motorcycle/ATV/powersports dealer. I think they are around $1000 for the EU2000 and $700 for the EU1000

 

[Mental1]

With the ice storm we had 14 months ago, a lot of people lost their tanks and many people gave up. It is heartbreaking to lose them this way. I screwed up a QT and still have not forgiven myself. People do not always understand what we have with our animal friends or that fish can have personalities. It's a big loss and you need to give yourself time to grieve -- that can include being mad at yourself. But be gentle too ...

 

[C-Water]

Sorry to hear the loss. That is painful.


Hindsight is 20/20, but after years of keeping varieties of fish and inverts, I would say eacher serious reefer/aquarist should have a generator in their house. What a few hundred bucks when you have spent probably thousands on your set-up (and to power a few other things to pass the time)? Generators are readily available at home improvement stores (in times of low need) and are worth their weight in gold when needed.

I have improvised when I didn't have access to a generator. I used an inverter from my SUV and ran an extension cord to power a few power heads and heater for periods of time (watch the load and gauge of extension cord). It was patch at the time and it saved my high priced livestock.

 

[nuccadoc]

I think this thread has finalized my decision on buying a generator. Down here in Oklahoma we get more ice than snow and two years ago we had a nasty storm that knocked out power for some people for over a week. I was one of the very fortunate few to not have lost any power (my lines are underground). But still, like many have commented, the time and money you put into a tank plus the bond you have with your fish....more than justifies the cost of a generator. Sorry for your loss.

 

[RBU1]

The struggle I am having is why didnt you go out right away and pick up a generator. How much money in fish did you lose? I could not just watch as my pets die I would have had to go out right away and get something.

 

[Juice It]

The struggle I am having is why didnt you go out right away and pick up a generator. How much money in fish did you lose? I could not just watch as my pets die I would have had to go out right away and get something.

I went to bed with no issues and the power went off after 1 am and by morning we had 2 feet of snow and I couldn't get anywhere and everything was closed if I could. I have no excuse for not having one in the first place though. I lost a decent amount of money in fish but I could care less about that. Watching the whole thing unfold was terrible. I still can't believe that not even one fish in my big tank survived. I am glad the eel made it though.

 

[95Harley]

The struggle I am having is why didnt you go out right away and pick up a generator. How much money in fish did you lose? I could not just watch as my pets die I would have had to go out right away and get something.

This is one of those you had to be here to understand. The roads were shut down and impassible. I totally understand and sympathize 100%.

I was just lucky I had a propane fireplace to warm my tanks till I got power back, but it's not a mistake I will make again. I too will be in the market for a generator.

 

[vessxpress1]

It's hindsight now but you should have foregone just a few of the fish and had a generator sitting there for $250. Granted, that won't get you a 5000w but it would have been one big enough to run several heaters and pumps on a power strip.

I have one. One thing I recommend after you get one though is to test it out. Just poor in a half a gallon and run it out. Run it hard on the half gallon and test to see how long it lasts. It's also a test to start it, get used to it's tendencies and check for anything wrong. I had a bad fuel line come with mine. I had to go out and get a good one. Time to discover this stuff is when you don't need it.

Oh yeah, and don't forget a high quality extension chord with enough length to get to where you're going. The extension chord I got was pretty heavy duty and was around $40.

Sorry about the fish man.

 

[Crazy One]

Oh yeah, and don't forget a high quality extension chord with enough length to get to where you're going. The extension chord I got was pretty heavy duty and was around $40.

Sorry about the fish man.

Exactly great advice vessxpress1 everyone should remember the longer the distance of the cord has more resistance on the power and will get hot if wire gauge is not enough . So have a heavy duty one ready to go if needed.

 

[Mental1]

Even better than an extension cord is an automatic transfer switch wired directly into your panel. My husband ended up backwiring our whole panel so we did not have to pick and choose where we had power. We unplug extra freezers and don't use appliances at the same time because it is very easy to overload the generator. We had a diesel 6K watt generator and it saved us. Everyone here was without power for at least a week - some for two weeks. People came here for showers, to get warm, etc. The one we have now is directly plumbed into the propane tank -- which is a lifesaver because constantly buying diesel is a pain -- it will be standby so will come on automatically and is 20K watt -- should run the whole house. We paid $5k for it ... worth every penny. Now we just need someone to install it!

 

[Bmgrocks]

Juice IT

We're in the same boat, lost my 12g Reef over the weekend...It wasn't the oxygenation that was the problem (I used an Electric Toothbrush Head as a desperate attempt) but the drop in temperature, my tank got down to 63...

Unfortunately I couldn't stay with the tank, the house was far too cold, and we spent the weekend in the Hyatt with the Dog. Lost the Rose BTA, and all my collector Paly's and Zoa's. If you have home owners Insurance, look into it. It will count as a personal loss. And you may be able to get some money, Thats certainly what I'll be doing, and if it doesn't work. I'll be claiming GROCERIES!

Best of luck bud

Is there anyway to keep the tank warm during an Outage?

 

[jwm2k3]

. Everyone here was without power for at least a week - some for two weeks.

My house is about 20 miles from the edge of where this happened last year. I didnt lose power at all. It was terrible, there were THOUSANDS of homes with no power for weeks....

 

[Juice It]

So my 2 battery operated air pumps arrived today with the rest of my order (great timing) and I was wondering if anyone knows much about these little pumps. They are from live aquaria and run on 2 D batteries. I am curious to know if one of these pumps actually pump enough air to service a 200 gallon tank. As much water as I kept dumping in the tank with a large cup I thought I was puting air in but while watching the fish it did not seem to really do anything at all. Is there any kind of formula to determine air supply? Has anyone else used this particular pump? (Azoo) I will be picking up a generator soon anyway but I am really curious if these pumps would have saved my fish.

 

[lostintheocean]

could you not boil water with a fire of some sort liquid fuel store or even lots of candels adn then place in a container and float in tanks. or use chemical hand warmers and float in tank in water tight container. sad in deed but i would think one would try to do somethgin other then sit and watch

 

[Mental1]

Geez -- people -- he gets it -- it was a mistake and he did what he could!

I think if you look at whisper 100 pump for example -- it is 4.8 watts has two outlets and does up to 100g. Don't know if that helps with what you got ...

 

[LisaD]

That's not a very helpful post. When you have an area pounded with snow like that, everything often stops, stores close. I'm sure the OP was wishing he had a generator before it was too late. Your "struggle: with why he didn't have one on hand is not constructive.

 

[RBU1]

That's not a very helpful post. When you have an area pounded with snow like that, everything often stops, stores close. I'm sure the OP was wishing he had a generator before it was too late. Your "struggle: with why he didn't have one on hand is not constructive.

I know what it is like to have an area "pounded" with snow I am in South Jersey and we got a good bashing as well.....

It is constructive because it makes people think...."maybe I should get a generator for the next big storm"......

Sorry but there are ways to keep things under control during a power outage. You can boil water"unless you have an electric stove" to keep the temp up and can break the surface of the water to aid in oxygen..And you can cover the crap out of the tank with blankets to help with the temp...That was my intent to point people in the direction of looking for alternatives. Now if you are out of power for a few days then you might start to have some issues.....Thats when a GENERATOR is a must.....

So relax Lisa I had an alterior motive to my post......:lol:

 

[ironwill723]

That battery air pump was the one I used this past weekend. It lasted 12 hours plus that I needed on the same batteries and puts out a lot of air. Noisy though.

 

[LisaD]

I know what it is like to have an area "pounded" with snow I am in South Jersey and we got a good bashing as well.....

It is constructive because it makes people think...."maybe I should get a generator for the next big storm"......

I think that's one reason he posted, so people can learn from his experience. So pointing it out as his failing, while not inaccurate, seems a bit insensitive. I'm calm, though.

I'm from South Jersey, though I live in NC now, and the snowfall in that region was more than I remember since I was a little kid - and I'm in my 40s. Our friends in the midwest know from experience, you better have a generator, because that kind of weather is typical.

Here in the south, we don't get so much snow, but we get ice storms that can result in downed lines and power outages for many days. I didn't realize until I experienced a bad ice storm how crucial it was to be prepared with a generator.

There were some questions about battery back-up pumps. Azoo makes a battery powered back-up pump which also runs on AC. This may be a better investment than those portable pumps. I have one, and am considering getting more:

http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+20024+8120&pcatid=8120

 

[content12001]

Hey Jeff, Just read your post and I am truly sorry for your loss. About a year ago our established 75 gallon reef/fish did the same thing, crashed and lost everything. Was not due to power outage, but instead a cucumber got in a power head, got shredded during the night and crashed the entire tank in the space of the 8 hours we were sleeping. It was awful. Lost all the fish we started the tank with except for one clown (the female - my wife nicknamed her "reba" now as she was the only "survivor"--I know corny, right?), none of the corals survived; unbelievably sad. The point is you really do get attached to those guys and they all have their own personality and to lose something you have cared for every day really sucks. The only thing we can do is to learn from it, pick up the pieces, and start all over. I was really discouraged when that happened to all my fishy friends, and wasn't sure what I was going to do, but as the days went by and the little clown was too sad all alone, I started all over and now things are back to "normal". Hang in there. Sounds like you loved the hobby and are back on track!