Wow, I am surprised to hear that from lordofthe reef... :sad2:
Here in Oklahoma, we are subject to tornadoes, severe thunder storms, and worst of all - ice storms. All can and will cause power outages from a few hours to several days.
Several years ago, my wife was watching the TV where the meteorologists were promising the mother of all ice storms. She told me to get in the car and not come back unitl I bought a generator!
I went to the Depot and they were sold out and had none to rent. None of the big equipment rental companies had any to rent. I went to Lowes and they had little cheap gens that were two cycle (add oil to gasoline). They also had a single 6500 watt Troy-Bilt with electric start. It cost more that I wanted to pay...but I was under orders!
I brought that Tro-Bilt home and assembled it out on my driveway. It was already sleeting, so I used the shipping box as a "dog house" to keep the generator dry during that big storm. I ran long extension cords to my then 95G aquarium, our refrigerator, freezer and furnace.
When we lost power three hours later, I started it up and stayed warm with our fish and coral while a 2" layer of ice coated everything, bringing down trees, powerlines and transmission lines. We had no power for almost four days.
Cost of generator: $500 Cost of fish and coral: (then) $900
Best investment I ever made. Since then we have used the generator on four occasions. Each time we avert disaster, we save thousands of dollars invested in our system. Cheap insurance.
We use an APC (brand) UPS (uninterrupted power supply) to run a pair of MP40w powerheads for those brief, but frequent power losses. They are good for about 90 minutes of flow in the display tank. If service is not restored within an hour, I crank up the Troy-Bilt.
The generator is now housed in a small "log cabin" former playhouse in our back yard, where it can be stored securely. We have an automatic switching device which allows us to plug the generator into an external jack on the rear wall of the house. It will now run any 120V device in the house during an outage. We practice power management with the new tank, so as to not overload the generator. We don't run the 1300 watts of T5 lighting, but we have all of the pumps, heaters and skimmer running.
I test run the generator on the first Saturday of every month and charge the starter battery for 24 hours twice a year. Just an additional step in my tank maintenance chores.
Unless you have utility power that is failsafe (and who does), I think a generator should be a part of the aquarium budget just like a skimmer and good lighting.
JME.
LL
