Word of warning.

StuckNOmaha

New member
I'm still kicking myself for not buying a generator prior...I was in a Costco thinking I should buy one a week prior but didn't. Then when the power outage occurred I made a mad dash to the store to get a generator but bought a defective one that wouldn't start, then by the time I got the refund all the other stores were sold out. I lost 3 Lineatus Fairy wrasses, 2 Hooded fairy wrasses, 2 Yellow flanked fairies, 1 Regal Angel, 1 Sailfin Tang, 1 flame angel, 1 Flame Fairy wrasse, 1 Roseyscale Fairy wrasse, 1 Adornatus Fairy Wrasse, 1 Conde's Fairy wrasse, 2 Rhomboid Fairy Wrasses, and 1 Roseafascia fairy wrasse. So hopefully my stupidity will teach people that power will go out its not a matter of if but when. I work for the power company and know that our grid here in the US is getting old and overloaded. Also know that there are bad guys out there looking to disrupt our grid for personal gain or because of their ideology. so a $300-1200 purchase can save you from having to buy $2000 of fish over again.

Steve
 
the Rhomboid Fairy Wrasses alone is a $1000 loss!

so sorry to hear it. what a great assortment of wrasses you had.

is there one place you buy them all from?
 
Yikes...when the power goes out do the fish die from low oxygen in the water due to no flow or is it from the temp spiking because it's summer?
 
My power was out for 25hours and the temp didn't spike the outside temp stayed around 70F. The tank that I lost the most fish was the one I have infested with xenia so I think the corals pretty much took most of the oxygen out, all of my high metabolism fish died in that tank.
 
I have a few batt powered air pumps for an emergency But I am thinking of getting one or atleast building a batt back up with an inverter. Thanks for the warning and sorry for your loss.
 
Lost the power for 16 hours after a thunderstorm went thru. I had a marine battery I keep charged and inverter to power air pumps. Luckily I lost nothing. I know it's to late now but hopefully this will help others in an emergency. Sorry for your loss.
 
Dude, sorry about the animals. :sad1:

Yup, I also keep a couple of battery-powered air pumps on hand for just such an occasion. I have a couple of converters that I can plug into my car power outlet and hook up 2 items (one for each car), being either a heater and/or a pump/vortech. So with minimal investment you can create some oxygen, heat, and circulation. I've never had to run it for more than 4 hours, but I could if I needed to. Just have to make sure you start the cars and run them for 10-15 minutes every couple of hours to keep the batteries charged. Not sure this would be much fun for 25 hours but you could make it work in a pinch.
 
In fact, the last power outtage we had was due to a huge thunderstorm with a TON of rain. The tank was ok, but I was more concerned about my dual sumps in which neither sump pump was running because of course we had no power. After I got the tank running ok, I sat and watched the water level rise in the sumps. Right when I was about to start laying hose out into the ravine and suction-starting the siphon, the lights kicked on for about 30 minutes (along with both sumps) and drained both sumps, then kicked off again. So I literally slept beside both sumps figuring that if they overflowed, I'd feel the water, wake up and start the siphon. The lights kicked on 3 hours later (about 4am), along with the sump pumps, and woke me up which sent me up to bed finally. Not that much fun, but no losses so I"ll take what I can get. I think the moral of the story is be prepared for an outtage. A generator is awesome if you can find/afford one, but if not, do what you can in advance to keep your animals alive! And of course, always raise a glass in toast when you make it through another crisis. :beer:
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12846126#post12846126 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by grewbek
And of course, always raise a glass in toast when you make it through another crisis. :beer:

Here!Here!
 
Well, been there done that. I now have a nearly whole house generator for my tanks and pond plus a few critical circuits like refrigerators. It is simply not worth the risk so I have all tank circuits except lights operational on the generator. It is a gas generator which switches on automatically. Since I installed it, there have been three outages. Your neighbors might be a bit miffed with your lights on and theirs off.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12845201#post12845201 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by StuckNOmaha
My power was out for 25hours and the temp didn't spike the outside temp stayed around 70F. The tank that I lost the most fish was the one I have infested with xenia so I think the corals pretty much took most of the oxygen out, all of my high metabolism fish died in that tank.



Sorry to hear about your loss.
We are also in Omaha. We're west of 180th. where the wires are underground.
I am however still considering a generator...
 
Thanks for the condolences hopefully people read this and make plans for the inevitable and not lose so many fish, but I look at it this way I now have a whole tank to remake. I guess setting up my 125gal Acro/Pipefish tank will be on hold for a bit.
 
My wires where I live are also underground but if something goes wrong in the switchyard that feeds your neighborhood you'll also lose power. I had a transformer in the switchyard that feeds my house blow up and I lost power for 5 hours. Remember one glitch in the Northeast knocked out power to millions of people, from one little software malfunction.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12846475#post12846475 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Mikro
Sorry to hear about your loss.
We are also in Omaha. We're west of 180th. where the wires are underground.
I am however still considering a generator...
 
Oxygen deprivation ... even without battery powered air pumps, did you try stirring your tank occasionally? I've done this during long power outages and have never had a loss.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12847619#post12847619 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by csb
Oxygen deprivation ... even without battery powered air pumps, did you try stirring your tank occasionally? I've done this during long power outages and have never had a loss.

+1 to that. It's sad that people will sit around and let their tank die when all they have to do is take some sort of paddle (I use a scrap piece of acrylic) and wave it around in their tank every few minutes to keep oxygen levels up. If you can get a strong wave motion going it will usually last for a good 10 minutes with tons of surface agitation before you have to do it again. Sure, generators are great for long power outages when you have to go to work or whatnot, but there are a lot of simple methods to keep your tank alive during a shorter power outage when you're home.
 
That would be helpful if I didn't require sleep...25hours of no power, you don't think I tried that, by the time I got back from trying to get a working generator it was too late.
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12847619#post12847619 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by csb
Oxygen deprivation ... even without battery powered air pumps, did you try stirring your tank occasionally? I've done this during long power outages and have never had a loss.
 
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