how do you handle power outages?

i recently had my first power outage with my reef tank. we were without power for 24 hours. bad experience...all 3 tangs died. how do you guys take care of your tanks while the lights are out?

 

generator! i bought a 150$ generator from harborfreight lasts for 5hrs on a tank of gas when using 400wats! pretty decent. Quiet. Had 3 power-heads, return pump, and lights all on it a few weeks ago. Worked great!

Or battery backup unit. Just want to keep circulation going, maybe throw an air stone in if you don't have a lot of surface agitation.

 

+!, get a cheapy generator, I just got lucky. Now I have a generator and 2 300W car invertors just in case, total cost $200.

 

Even for big tanks, 400 watts is more than enough to run a return pump, that will last you for a week or so. On a small tank, that is perfect

 

Pray. I live in Montana and have not had a power outage for more than 30 seconds for 5-6 years. I dont understand why the midwest has so many more issues with it. Population density? lack of underground infrastructure? I'm getting a generator for harbor frieght now though!

 

Same here, then last year irene hit, then the snow storm. We had no power for weeks. Luckily we got a generator

 

Hey Anemone, do you have a dedicated circuit to your tanks or just run an extension cord to your tanks that can handle the wattage. I don't really want to pay an electrition to make an automatic backup but if that overwhelmingly the right move I will.... or at least sneak my buddy over who is an electrition and trick him into doing it.

 

Because of Irene, I lost power for 6 days. Luckily I was able to purchase a generator the day before Irene hit (one of the last ones my local Lowe's had in stock). Figured if I didn't need it, I would return it. It has 4 20amp outlets on it. I ran my fridge on one, my well pump on the second one, my neighbor's fridge on the third, and everything else on the fourth (full tank setup, some lights, and a coffee maker). All of them were run off of extension cords that were rated for 15 amps, except the last outlet (the neighbor's fridge was run off of a 100' cord that was rated for 20 amps). Everything worked without issue, so hard wiring into the panel with a transfer switch is not necessary. It would make things much easier though, as I could have pretty much run the entire house off of the generator if I had the transfer switch.

 

Ok, thanks. My folks have a transfer switch but they live in the mountains, on the edge of a wilderness area, far away from everything, so if a butterfly flaps its wings in Tokyo they lose power for 2 hours.

 

For outages when I am not home I have a couple 120vAC/DC battery air pumps that come on automatically when power goes off. Long term or if I am home when it happens I have a 4000w portable generator. The gen is on wheels so can be moved around easily, always has a couple extension cords and outlet strips bungeed to the frame so they don't get lost and is full of gas with Sta Bil added so it stays fresh. I can have it up and running in minutes and it is large enough to power other appliances in the house like the frig and freezer as well as lighting. It is a Champion brand which was highly recommended on RV.net for camping and outdoors use, the thread is hundreds of pages long if you look at 3500w Chinese Generator Sets over there. I highly recommend it.