Emergency

[jamgar]

Power out since one am. Should be on by eleven pm...maybe not. How long can my tank survive. Should I rent portable generator or buy battery air pump. Could maybe have it set up by ten. Fish and coral ok now I think.
See sig....some additional acro and zoo frags

 

[pkirby]

If it's not going to be on till 11pm, I wouldn't wait for it! That's too much time IMO for the tank to go without circulation. If it were me I'd probably rent/buy a generator.

I'd definitely consider at least getting the battery backup for your MP60 so if the power goes out again in the future you at least have circulation...

 

[billdogg]

I would not rush out to buy a generator at this point. Cat's already out of the bag, so to speak. I always have a few battery air pumps ready to go justincase. In the mean time, if you can help to keep the water oxygenated that will go a long way to preventing losses. You can do that by just using a pitcher to scoop up and pour water back in to the tank. More splashing is better in this case.

For future planning, lots of people use a computer ups to buy some time - it would only need to run a power head or two. Looking at the size of your tank, however, a portable generator may be a good choice. If the electricity fails frequently in your area, you may even look at an automatic whole house generator, but that will be somewhere north of $3000 (plus install).

My tanks have been ok with outages up to about 20 hours, so don't panic. Yet.

 

[Virtuoso]

From what I understand the biggest problem is oxygenation. Get some battery powered air stones, try what billdogg said, and just do anything you can to make sure the water is getting enough oxygen.

 

[parrotchute]

It won't survive long without oxygen. Definitely get a battery powered airstone and in the meantime, mix up the water by using a jug to pull it out and pour it bag in. (the more air bubbles the better)
I'd get a generator for sure.

 

[jeff@zina.com]

An inverter for the car will power an air pump forever, and it's not a bad deal to have for charging phones, laptops and other "Car Toys" on the road. Under $50 for what you'd use.

Jeff

 

[firebirdude]

An inverter for the car will power an air pump forever

Great idea!

For those of us that park our cars close enough to the house...

 

[Captainfester]

you could also get like a wisk. like from your kitchen and use that to aggitate the water. would think you could turn over alot more than with just the scoop and pour. also if you have a sump you can start a cyphon from one tank to the other and back again. that will give you some flow. just be careful that you dont flow more or less into one tank and overflow.

 

[NewOne81]

I bought one of those portable battery packs for jumping a dead car battery. Not only is it handy for a jump but it comes with built in outlets as well as an inverter to use it as a power source.

 

[NewOne81]

only bad thing is it takes about 24hrs for the initial charge

 

[Zestay]

let this be an oppertunity to make a power out kit for your tank.
battery powered airstone(s) should be minimum for any tank. one your size you might want to invest in a vortech mp40 and its battery back up system. if all else fails get a big spoon and stir the water every so often..

 

[MrTuskfish]

I'd get something, just for piece of mind. But I can't imagine this tank, very lightly stocked, having any problems after only 12 hours.

 

[jamgar]

Thanks so much for the response. So I was working late last night and got home at 2:30 am to find power out. I had moved one of the returns to blast a newly added piece of rock and it was faily low in the tank. I had a siphon hole drilled that had worked in trials of power outage I had run but...it certainly didn't work last night. 20-30 gallons on the floor. The points about how lightly stocked the tank is were comforting but I was really worried about rock die off. I can imagine multiple microenvironments that are aerobic becoming anaerobic and bacterial die off leading to an ammonia spike. I borrowed a friends portable generator and had it running for 3-4 hours. Temp went from 79 to 76. The power is back on now and everthing looks normal. Funny thing is we are having a whole house generator installed next week which was prompted by the tank. One noob mistake (the position of the return) and lesson learned.
One question...would any one do a water change because of the issue I raised about bacterial die off or just observe. I don't have an ammonia test kit. Skimmer is clean and hopefully can pull some die off out (if there is any)
Thanks again guys

 

[NewOne81]

Glad to hear you didnt lose anything. Murphy's law always seems to be in effect around reef tanks. maybe a small water change might help things out