equipment / power failure "what if" thread

Inspired this morning by elweshomayor's thread on a broken heater, and the prospects of taking a week to get a repalcement - coupled with the best sugestion from Inwall75 to use a timer on the broken (won't turn off) heater and an alarm to get up to monitor it until he get's the timer straight....UGH - what a royal pain in the back side, so this should make us all stop and think a moment (one of my favorite past times btw) ....

So, to this point a dual thread:

Lets all contribute to make a list of items that we/you consider to be important to have in the following two events:

1. Equipment failure
2. Power failure (the long lasting kind)

I am certain this has been done before, but lets have some fun and get everyone thinking anyway !

Also, lets go the extra step on power failure - and consider "what can I do" such as wrap the tank with blankets to insulate and help maintain the heat it currently has.

One last caviot - lets assume no generator available or an option.

btw, my house is buzzing with activity as the family continues to pack for vaca - and here I sit at the PC (laptop in lap on lazyboy) drinking coffee gettin the obigatory evil gaze from the Mrs. ! lol - all that's on my to do is add RO/DI to my tanks ATO reserve ! 3Reef is a lot like Jello, "there's always room for 3Reef!"

 

I thought about this a while ago and recently placed an order on the following.

Incase of faulty hardware

1x Heater
1x Pump for skimmer / return pump

Incase of powercut

1x Car Battery + connecter for one of my streamers
1litre oxygen tank

Might want to add that we have a fireplace in the same room so temp won't drop even if we have a long powercut.

 

John,

I happen to have some experience with this. I'll let people come up with their ideas and I'll post more later. However, I feel strongly that every aquarist should own this product. penn plax b11 - Google Search It plugs into your wall and when it senses that it's no longer getting power, it automatically kicks on. (Don't use the airstone because bacteria will clog it because it's not running). Weigh down the airline tubing so that it's at the bottom of your aquarium with a piece of rubble. Test monthly by unplugging the cord. As soon as the power is restored, it turns back off. (I've woken up to find all of the clocks in the house wrong but my fish and corals are fine).

 

I dont have one of those very smart plug in , detect when there is no power , then auto switch on air pumps

but I presently have 3 of the standard battery operated ones , that I purchased from the fishing tackle shop, and their primary use was for keeping live baits alive in tackle boxes or buckets


the other thing I did when I was in UK , and we had a 6 - 8 hour power cut
was to periodically syphon water out of the tank, and then pour back in with less finese than I would have done in a typical water change scenario - my aim was to cause as much water movement as possible and thus hopefully keep it oxygenated for longer (this was a time before the internet and before I knew about battery air pumps

I would do the above again, with a tank with SPS frags in, without any hesitation, as strong water movement, wont bother them, nearly as much as it would bother an LPS or softie ( the tank in UK was 100% softie and LPS so I did have to be selective about where I let this water cascade down into)

temp reduction would not be an issue for me here, but a power cut in the summer of long enough could result in my tank getting a bit close to the mx desirable temp

for that possibility, I would use anything and everything I could find in my freezer, put it in sealed polythene bags and use frozen peas, or microwave chips if required, as a means to keep the tank cool (sealed as I dont want any impurities from packaging or inks etc getting into my reef)


Steve