sad day

Well, our power went out yesterday at about 5:30 PM just upon my arrival home from work. It stayed off all night and didn't come on until 8:00 in the morning. The outside temp. got below 20 and our living room was at 50 this morning.....I tried to keep the water moving in my tank to provide some oxygen but the tank temp. I'm sure was close to 60 if not below...I lost a little yellow tang, a beautiful multi-colored dwarf angel, and a coral beauty angel. Xenia and mushrooms look ok, ricordeas are pretty shriveled. I still have my small black ocellaris clown, lawnmower blenny, pink spotted goby and pistol shrimp...what a bummer .....

 

Very big bummer indeed. Very sorry to hear about your losses.

My wife just asked me the other day what would happen if we had a big power outage, and this is definitely a reminder for me to look at some kind of battery back-up.

If there is any upside to this...

At least you get to restock with some new fish.

 

So sorry to hear that.

A word of advice, Best buy sells battery backup powerstrips for computers. They range from like 50-200 bucks depending on selection and run a computer for an hour or more. That doesnt sound like a lot but think of the watts your ccomputer uses compared to basic reef equipment. I would obviously never use it to power my lighting, top offs, dosers, etc as that would use up the power much to quickly. It is a cheap method though to plug a few vital devices into in case of such an event as yours such as a couple important powerheads and a pump for your filtration. Depending on temp I may or may not plug a heater as they draw a lot of power usually but if you lower the temp to 65 to minimize it running its better than nothing

 

Those don't last too long. Water sitting still for even a few hours can cause harm. I am curious as to what other people do for situations like this.

 

Sorry for your loss, I have this powering my HT system. But when needed I run extension cords to my mp10s, air pump and I run my return pump for 5 min every hour.

 

They dont last to long if you buy the cheapest and plug everything into it but plugging jsut a few powerheads into one will allow them to run overnight at least. Obviously the best solution is a generater

 

Exactly what I was talking about! I see Im not the only fan of that backup method here lol

 

Unfortunately, a sad way to find out that I do need to get something....especially with winter upon us. I know I read through a lot of threads about what to do in a power outage during the hurricane season but most of those didn't deal with temp....Not until it happens, does it really make you want to get something....thanks for the advice! Our whole house is electric, I told my husband we really do need to invest in some type of generator.....

 

In the future, an easy way to heat you tank without power is to fill a large zip-lock with hot top water and place it in the tank. I used to do this at frag swap shows. I could get a 25 gallon tank from 60 to 75 degrees in about 10 mins.

For emergency circulation, use a pitcher and periodically just fill with tank water and pour back in. Or, try to get a battery powered air pump and some batteries on hand just in case.

Sorry for you losses.

 

Sorry to hear of your losses.

For circulation, I now have a battery air pump. In the past, a turkey baster worked quite well, although a little more labor-intensive.

As for the temp issue, you need to concern yourself more with your own arse; keeping at least the tank room (wherever it is) comfortable will save you and your pets. While my main heat source is an oil furnace, I also have a variety of electric and propane space heaters at my disposal, along with extra 15lb propane tanks.