Here we go again
- Thread starter superfirefly
- Start date
mjpelikan
Premium Member
For an invertor:
You just need to sum up what wattage your powerheads and light add up to.
for me it was 6.5 + 16 + 11.5 + 40 + 23 (for a radio) = 97watts
but then I got hot, so I plugged in a fan and removed lights and a power head:
96 (stupid fan) + 16 +11.5 = 123.5
to calculate watts just take your voltage (120) times the amps of the device, and that gives you your wattage. My inverter is good for 140, with a peak 225 (for motors starting up, etc)
You just need to sum up what wattage your powerheads and light add up to.
for me it was 6.5 + 16 + 11.5 + 40 + 23 (for a radio) = 97watts
but then I got hot, so I plugged in a fan and removed lights and a power head:
96 (stupid fan) + 16 +11.5 = 123.5
to calculate watts just take your voltage (120) times the amps of the device, and that gives you your wattage. My inverter is good for 140, with a peak 225 (for motors starting up, etc)
spongebobby
Member
I lost power today for 5 hrs. I ran a 400w inverter the whole time. I was able to run a LG4 return pump, MJ1200 and 3 10 in. fans with no problem. Temp never got above 81 but the house sure did. I purchased the inverter at Wally world for 39.00 . Power is back on so all is good. I Hope for the best of luck for everyone, wish I could help..
Shooter7
New member
morning...was welcomed home Friday to a neighborhood that had been blasted. Trees down everywhere, large chunks out of people's roofs and siding, someone had a boat in their yard and didn't know who it belonged to. Although my house is the tallest on the street, we were fortunate that we only had some small roof damage that has been able to be seen so far. I had water in the ceiling of my garage, though, and I'm not sure if more significant damage was done to it. Gotta get an insurance adjustor out to look at it.
After the initial shock of the storm and helping out a few neighbors, it had been a few hours since my tank had had any water movement. I came up with the idea of using an old gravel vac hooked up to a tire pump to pump some air into the water and move things around a little. Was doing that every little bit. The rumors were that power was going to be out for some time and numerous poles were snapped, trees down on wires, it was a mess. A neighbor passing by mentioned that he had just made the trip up to Litchfield, IL and had gotten a generator up there, so given what I knew about the power situation, I jumped in my car and made the hour or so round trip, coughed up several hundred dollars, and came home with a 3000 watt generator. Hooked it up to my tank and my fridge and we were good to go. Power came back on late Saturday afternoon, have had some flickers since then. I was fortunate with my tank being in the basement that the water temp actually fell in it rather than rising. Final temp before power back on yesterday was 74.9 degrees. I had no fish losses and so far, no coral losses.
Thanks to those who offerred help, although I couldn't see alot of it on here because we have had no cable, and therefore no internet, all weekend. Still didn't have it when I left this morning.
After the initial shock of the storm and helping out a few neighbors, it had been a few hours since my tank had had any water movement. I came up with the idea of using an old gravel vac hooked up to a tire pump to pump some air into the water and move things around a little. Was doing that every little bit. The rumors were that power was going to be out for some time and numerous poles were snapped, trees down on wires, it was a mess. A neighbor passing by mentioned that he had just made the trip up to Litchfield, IL and had gotten a generator up there, so given what I knew about the power situation, I jumped in my car and made the hour or so round trip, coughed up several hundred dollars, and came home with a 3000 watt generator. Hooked it up to my tank and my fridge and we were good to go. Power came back on late Saturday afternoon, have had some flickers since then. I was fortunate with my tank being in the basement that the water temp actually fell in it rather than rising. Final temp before power back on yesterday was 74.9 degrees. I had no fish losses and so far, no coral losses.
Thanks to those who offerred help, although I couldn't see alot of it on here because we have had no cable, and therefore no internet, all weekend. Still didn't have it when I left this morning.
Shooter7
New member
The neighborhood took a beating, that's for sure. My wife, MIL, son, and stepson were all huddled down in the basement while rain blasted in around the sliding glass door. They kept waiting for something to come crashing through it. Something hit the house above that door hard enough to punch a hole through the vinyl siding. I was happy to see, one by one, all the fish come out of the rocks and polyps appearing on the corals. 
Now to visit the insurance guy.....
Now to visit the insurance guy.....
MayoBoy
Movin' on Up
Mine went down Wed. night. I ran a 750 watt inverter to power the recirc pump (along with the deep freeze and fridge) on Thursday and all Thursday night. Had to go to work Friday so it sat for most of the day (it's in the basement so the temp stayed cool). On Friday I got home early and cleaned out the deep freeze and fridge and ran the recirc pump, PC lights, and the skimmer. That evening we decided we needed to get the kids someplace stable so their asthma wouldn't become an issue and went to the inlaws in Jerseyville. The tank sat with no power all weekend. We came home on Sunday afternoon and decided to get a generator. I ran the recirc pump, skimmer, Tunze and 1 MH light. About 9:30 Sunday night, the power came back on. The water temp was 70.1 degrees
So far the only loss was a brittle star. All the fish are alive and well and the corals are perking back up. Of course, the bubble algae and aiptasia came through with flying colors.
p.s. If anyone needs to borrow the 750w inverter, drop me a line.
So far the only loss was a brittle star. All the fish are alive and well and the corals are perking back up. Of course, the bubble algae and aiptasia came through with flying colors.
p.s. If anyone needs to borrow the 750w inverter, drop me a line.
Last edited:
stlouisguy
Registered Member
NO, this was a record storm (actually two storms two days apart) and seldom happen like this. Very abnormal.
Shooter7
New member
Yeah, from what I've been reading about the Wednesday storm was that it was really strange in and of itself as far as storms go. Some meso-scale convection thing or whatever. Trouble was that it went right through a majorly populated area. Then to have things be even worse and have a storm blast through producing tornadoes in the same general areas, and incorporating some other areas that weren't hit before and adding more destruction, was the last nail in the coffin. Reports are saying that the location of one of the twisters that formed in IL was maybe a mile from my house - close call. So, no, this is not normal and you had two very intense storms zeroed in on many of the same areas in just a few days causing all these problems. Still, just goes to show that it can happen. I'm watching a couple of my newer acros as they didn't show any problems immediately after this happened, but now aren't looking quite as well as they did just prior to the power outage.
