I live in Florida. I'm a little worried about this years storms'. What is the proper thing to do when your power is off for more than a few days? We have a generator that we haven't had to use yet, but I don't think it will run a lot at a time. It's a 5500 Watt, 20 amp. I was wondering how many hours the fish could survive without the pump running? That type of thing. Has anyone else experienced this?
Hurricane season
- Thread starter tangy2
- Start date
Samala
New member
In the event of a storm, most people try to keep minimal life support going in their tanks - a pump or two for circulation and perhaps a large aerator to keep the fish alive. Keeping the tank from overheating in a situation where the AC isnt running can also be a consideration.. most people use large fans over the water. Providing for light to corals and other inverts can be a very big problem. If the blackout persists for a long time, you can lose the tank if you can't power all its normal systems.
Blackouts for a few hours, or a day or two, are easier to deal with. I have two back up plans for my small tanks.
It would be great to hear from others who have gone through hurricane proofing. I know BARS - www.reefers.org - the local club has several people with this sort of experience.
>Sarah
Blackouts for a few hours, or a day or two, are easier to deal with. I have two back up plans for my small tanks.
It would be great to hear from others who have gone through hurricane proofing. I know BARS - www.reefers.org - the local club has several people with this sort of experience.
>Sarah
Lights can be left off for several days without it being a problem, think of what they go through after collection and shipping to get to your tank in the first place 
You can get battery operated air pumps or run a powerhead for quite some time using a deep cycle marine battery and an inverter.
You can get battery operated air pumps or run a powerhead for quite some time using a deep cycle marine battery and an inverter.
snommisbor
Premium Member
And hey you may not have a roof so you will get natural light. Gotta see the bright side of things. LOL
I grew up in Houston and boy am I glad I live in Austin now. Hurricane season is not as stressful up here.
I grew up in Houston and boy am I glad I live in Austin now. Hurricane season is not as stressful up here.
Agu
Premium Member
Been there. almost done it. Hurricane Charley missed me but took out power for a friend for ten days.
The penplax aerators that kick in when the power goes out is your best bet. They don't start until there's a power failure. They run over 48 hours with fresh batteries. If you make an airlift out of 1/2" cpvc they also move significant amounts of water.
His generator was enough to run the main circulation pump.The biggest issue for my friend was evap from cooling fans run by his generator. The tank stayed cool enough but evaporated 5 gallons/day (a 125 gallon tank). Available water was questionable at best even run through an ro/di. He stopped by every day to pick up 5 gallons of ro/di and a half dozen 16 oz frozen water bottles.
He made it through the outage with no losses
The penplax aerators that kick in when the power goes out is your best bet. They don't start until there's a power failure. They run over 48 hours with fresh batteries. If you make an airlift out of 1/2" cpvc they also move significant amounts of water.
His generator was enough to run the main circulation pump.The biggest issue for my friend was evap from cooling fans run by his generator. The tank stayed cool enough but evaporated 5 gallons/day (a 125 gallon tank). Available water was questionable at best even run through an ro/di. He stopped by every day to pick up 5 gallons of ro/di and a half dozen 16 oz frozen water bottles.
He made it through the outage with no losses
You could build one of these:
http://members.cox.net/roknrandy1/Machine/Homemade Emergency Power.htm
One of the links at the bottom of that page show somebody using one to provide backup power for a reef tank! He runs a Dolphin Ampmaster pump for 5 hours on a full charge. You could build a few of these, and charge them whenever you run the generator so you could continue to provide power for a circulation pump and airstone (or whatever) for as long as you have gas to run the generator.
http://members.cox.net/roknrandy1/Machine/Homemade Emergency Power.htm
One of the links at the bottom of that page show somebody using one to provide backup power for a reef tank! He runs a Dolphin Ampmaster pump for 5 hours on a full charge. You could build a few of these, and charge them whenever you run the generator so you could continue to provide power for a circulation pump and airstone (or whatever) for as long as you have gas to run the generator.
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