thabizness
New member
Wanted to share a story and warning to the masses. I own a 180gallon display and a 40B frag tank. I lost power around noon from what I can tell on Wed. during the storms we just had. I knew because Reeftronics sent a text saying it had lost communications with my Apex and I couldn't access Fusion.
No biggie.... I have a generator. When I get off work I will set it up to run the tanks, basement sump (non reef) and the fridge. When I got home and drug out the generator - it wouldn't start. Its probably been a year or so since I last used it and I had moved to a different house on top of that. I rarely do maintenance on it.
Trying to fix the generator was futile. Imma computer geek not a mechanic. By now its 9PM, the storm is getting worst so chances are Ameren can't repair tonight, and my tank has been without electricity for about 9 hrs.
To get water flowing in my tank I ran an extension cord from my van to one of my MP40's on the 180g and used the van to power 1 MP40 for 20 minutes. After the 20 minutes I turned the van off and slept for 2 hours and repeated all night. At 7AM the next day (still out of power) I was about to throw in the towel. Luckily my wife had a calmer head that I (I was about to give up) and said go rent a generator. It would be cheaper then replacing the fish and corals in the 180 and 40. I went to a place on Page to rent a generator for about 50 a day... Once home I setup the generator to do the original plan of powering the tanks and fridge. The lights finally came on about 2PM...
Moral of the story is to check your backups. You never know when that generator wont fire up be cause you neglected it for the last few years. At the end I didn't loose anything and the only affect the power outage had was on my hourly dosing and the RBTA that moved because no flow in the frag tank for almost a day.
No biggie.... I have a generator. When I get off work I will set it up to run the tanks, basement sump (non reef) and the fridge. When I got home and drug out the generator - it wouldn't start. Its probably been a year or so since I last used it and I had moved to a different house on top of that. I rarely do maintenance on it.
Trying to fix the generator was futile. Imma computer geek not a mechanic. By now its 9PM, the storm is getting worst so chances are Ameren can't repair tonight, and my tank has been without electricity for about 9 hrs.
To get water flowing in my tank I ran an extension cord from my van to one of my MP40's on the 180g and used the van to power 1 MP40 for 20 minutes. After the 20 minutes I turned the van off and slept for 2 hours and repeated all night. At 7AM the next day (still out of power) I was about to throw in the towel. Luckily my wife had a calmer head that I (I was about to give up) and said go rent a generator. It would be cheaper then replacing the fish and corals in the 180 and 40. I went to a place on Page to rent a generator for about 50 a day... Once home I setup the generator to do the original plan of powering the tanks and fridge. The lights finally came on about 2PM...
Moral of the story is to check your backups. You never know when that generator wont fire up be cause you neglected it for the last few years. At the end I didn't loose anything and the only affect the power outage had was on my hourly dosing and the RBTA that moved because no flow in the frag tank for almost a day.
