Power concern

jediinthedark

jediinthedark

Large Fish
#1
May 5, 2004
645
0
0
Baltimore, MD
www.BreakingTheDark.com
#1
My sister is a Marine Biologist and would love to setup a SW tank. She lives in Florida and is concerned about fish survival if the power goes out. With the exception of hurricanes this isn't a problem. But here is the track record with power outage so far:
Irene: less than one day,
Katrina: 3 days,
Wilma: almost a week

I guess my question is how do you protect against power outages, and what steps do you take when you do loose it?
I have plenty of experience with FW, but zero with salt so any advice that I could give her would be appreciated.

Thanks
Jonathan
 

1979camaro

1979camaro

Ultimate Fish
#3
Oct 22, 2002
5,862
2
0
42
San Ramon, CA
#3
Generators and Batteries is pretty much it. You can use an inverter hooked up to a deep cycle batter to run a tank for a while. The key in a power outage is oxygenation and water movement (the lighting is of minor concern) so with diligence things can survive for a while.
 

TRe

TRe

Elite Fish
#6
Feb 20, 2005
3,645
1
0
ft. lauderdale
#6
when huricane wilma hit i was with out power for 2 weeks!! i survive with battery powered pumps (6 of them!!) but that was before i went reef so it was basically just keeping the fish alive...now that i have corals i would like to get a generator to keep the lights on when power goes out ;)
 

C

CoolWaters

Superstar Fish
#9
Dec 10, 2006
1,028
1
0
Milpitas
#9
lol using a bucket to move water ill be torture...i would just get the most efficient pump i can fine with a small back up power supply.

costco sells a 240 watt solar Solar Back-up Power supply.
solar panels for day and battery for night.

speaking of solar power supplies...
i found this
DealExtreme: $22.35 1000mAh 5.5V Solar Powered Self-Recharging Li-Ion Battery
never miss a call again.
 

Lorna

Lorna

Elite Fish
#11
Mar 3, 2005
3,082
4
0
NE Indiana
#11
come on you guys, you spend thousands on fish tanks and equipment not to mention the cost of livestock.......$300 for a generator is cheap insurance. I think that is the only way to go, especially if I lived in an area with the danger of losing power for longer than a day is pretty high. Ask me if I have one? not yet, I have been hashing over the plan for a deep cycle battery and power inverter because when we lose power it is usually only for an hour or two but a generator is definitely on the table right now.
 

Lotus

Lotus

Ultimate Fish
Moderator
#14
Aug 26, 2003
15,115
13
38
Southern California
home.earthlink.net
#14
Just remember that whenever there's a big hurricane, the stores run out of generators, plywood and water. I think a small generator runs around $350.

I wouldn't want to go for more than a few hours without power. Our biggest problem would be the heat. I guess you could go a few days without power before everything dies, depending on your stocking, etc.
 

TRe

TRe

Elite Fish
#15
Feb 20, 2005
3,645
1
0
ft. lauderdale
#15
Lotus said:
I think a small generator runs around $350.
Click to expand...
your forgeting about the cost of gas and close to a week without power will exceed the cost of the generator ;) again every tiime i see one on sale i want to buy it but until im sitting in the dark and the stores are sold out i cant get myself to dish out the cash... one of these days *SUPERSMIL
 

Lorna

Lorna

Elite Fish
#16
Mar 3, 2005
3,082
4
0
NE Indiana
#16
I know what you are saying Tre.....I keep saying I am going to buy one then never get around to it. Last winter our power went out for about 4 hours and in that time the temp dropped from 80 to 75.....fish were fine as were the corals but I wouldn't have wanted to push it any longer.
 

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