The kaka is about to hit the windmill. How are you getting your reef ready?

[scolley]

For those of us in southwestern to middle Connecticut, as of this writing, it looks like Irene's going to hit us dead on as a Catagory 1 Hurricane. Connecticut Light and Power has already announced a need to be prepared to lose power for several days at a minimum, with several weeks as a probability for many.

Needless to say, this is going to be even worse for western Long Island, and possibly NYC.

I'm leaving now to buy two car batteries (and chargers) to run my Vortech for a LONG time. I have a Vortech battery, and paid out the nose to have a 2nd one rushed to me. And Thursday night I bought two of the last 1000va UPS's in the area. But "weeks" is a scary word. I was preparing for "days".

What are you doing?

 

[MarkL]

i have one of those 1500 battery backups. Though I hope it will never come to that. Luckily I dont have to worry about corals yet, but if I lose power I still want to test to see how long that Battery backup will last me.

If all hell breaks loose I guess I can just run my vehicle periodically with the AC/DC converter too.

 

[scolley]

Hopefully Wallingford won't get hit too hard. Hard to say though... it doesn't take much up here to lose power for quite a while.

If all hell breaks loose I guess I can just run my vehicle periodically with the AC/DC converter too.

I think you'll find that UPS will be of little value unless you are only using it for low power circulation. Even then, I'll wager you won't get a day, so I suspect that AC/DC converter might be something you'll be glad you have. ;-)

 

[gdubs97]

I just spent $180 on the biggest UPS that staples had. Supposedly will last 120 minutes. What good is that? I guess I'll be running to my car to charge it with my ac/dc converter every few hours? If I use it to run a vortech...is that all I will need to run? Do I need to run the pumps in the sump? Lights? I guess I need the lights or certain corals will not make it if the power is out for several days. uggg...I just hope it misses us completely!

 

[Big Dog]

Generator ............... Wife, son, and I bailed water 10-15 minutes every hour for 2 1/2 day during Andrew. I have 2 generators now!

 

[scolley]

Generator is the answer. But this is an area that only gets hurricanes every 50 yrs or so. So I never really considered. Because a few day's I could handle, but a week or more is something completely different.

I got to huge marine batteries today. They're 12v, so they should run my Vortech quite a while. Won't help with anything else. Heck, for all I know photosynthetic coral may die after in 7-10 days with no light. Surely they can't go too long without it.

But at least I should be able to keep a gentle flow over them for a good bit.

We'll see. Good luck everyone.

And yep - I've got UPS's too. But that's not worth much. Good for a little while. But if (when) we lose power, the fix will not be quick I'm afraid.

 

[Big Dog]

So you only have outages during hurricanes?? Looking at what I've seen people spend on ups that don't last and battery that die, you could definitely justify a few more dollars for a generator! $200 bucks for a generator that will definitely run a few aquariums.

 

[rjinct]

I have a few battery powered air pumps...will keep water oxygenated but not sure how much it will do for flow for the corals...might have to do that manually. Hopefully I have enough D batteries!

Almost bought a generator today (mostly for my sump because I had the air pumps) but when I went to pick it up, they wanted to add a $50 setup fee and a $200 registration fee...for the state of CT. Never heard of that... No mention of this when we called on the phone before driving to Danbury... I was ticked after getting there and walked away. Hopefully won't regret that decision...

 

[MarkL]

I have a few battery powered air pumps...will keep water oxygenated but not sure how much it will do for flow for the corals...might have to do that manually. Hopefully I have enough D batteries!

Almost bought a generator today (mostly for my sump because I had the air pumps) but when I went to pick it up, they wanted to add a $50 setup fee and a $200 registration fee...for the state of CT. Never heard of that... No mention of this when we called on the phone before driving to Danbury... I was ticked after getting there and walked away. Hopefully won't regret that decision...

I wouldnt know for sure but that doesnt sound legal, does it? If they charge for registration, is that the same for a riding lawnmower, etc? First thing to mind is price gauging?

 

[RTMA]

I have about 48 ah (2 x 15 and 1 18 ah battery wired in parallel) of backup for my vortech and a APC smart ups 1500 for my return. I know have atleast 8 hours on the smart ups for my return pump. If it goes days I may be in trouble. Good luck all.

 

[srusso]

Thank God my power is still on, I have four server rated UPS's

Ready to go! Charged up, though not connected to the tank. About to switch that now.

 

[Arusso713]

Still no power have been switching batteries but only so much I can do hoping we get power soon or it's going to be a total loss

 

[tank o tang]

We got lucky here and got power back yesterday up here iun the northeast corner. The generator I bought during the bridgeport tornados came in use. Hope all is well down that way.

 

[scolley]

That's great Jeff. I suppose getting a generator was the silver lining in the tornado cloud for you. Good deal!

Tony - how's the tank? You got power yet?

 

[Arusso713]

Going on day 5 with no power this sucks the pc backup batteries are keeping them alive but for how much longer.

 

[scolley]

I've got a 1000va UPS, and a 750va UPS if you need them. Plus a battery powered air pump... If that helps. And a couple big marine 12v batteries that could keep a vortech running a long time. That plus a small vortech MP10, if you need flow.

Just let me know pal.

Good luck.

 

[Arusso713]

Thanks a lot, might take you up on that offer just waiting on what UI is doing they are saying power might be restored today but I will believe it when I see it.

 

[tyler91913]

Hey Tony,

If you need more xenia when the lights come back on, I'd be happy to dig some more out for ya.

But you should get it soon, because I'm trying to incorporate an ATS right now, and people tell me that the ATS's make it too "clean" for xenia to thrive...

Good luck with UI today, Tyler