Hurricane in my path.. What happens if electricity goes out???

In my experience you don't have a problem with lps and soft corals. I have had them survive for a couple weeks with no power.

Its sps you would have to worry about. I suggest the ac inverter as mention earlier.

 

Having thousands of dollars in a system & not having a way to protect it is not wise. Yes painter's houses are peeling & I don't do backups of my data as often as I should, we are all guilty one way or another. Though I do have a generator, 3 APC Smart-UPS battery backups & 2 APC Smart-UPS 1400 rack mountable battery backups on stand by. I still have battery operated air pumps that will be my last resort with 24 D batteries in my emergency stock!

I agree go to Walmart, Kmart or any other sporting store & get battery operated air pumps. They are not quite, but will do.. Keep in mind, if you have a refuge make sure you have an air stone in there as well. People tend to forget & kill off their refuge. DO NOT get the tablets that they sell to keep bait fish alive, it's not reef safe!

 

Another note, depending on your return pump you may require a True-sine wave battery backup (APC Smart series) or power inverter.

There are two general types of battery backups & power inverters: true-sine wave or modified-sine wave (square wave). True-sine wave backups & inverters produce power that is either identical or sometimes slightly better to power from the public utility power grid system. The power wave when viewed through an oscilloscope is a smooth sine wave.

Modified-sine wave and square wave backups & inverters are the most common types on the market. Modified-sine wave power backups & inverters produce a power wave that is sufficient for most devices. The power wave is not exactly the same as electricity from the power grid. It has a wave form that appears as a choppy squared-off wave when viewed through an oscilloscope.

For Example, my external Coralife Turbo-Sea 1100p pump will not run unless it's a True-sine wave power source that is powering it. I get a massive hum!