Ice storm and reef tanks

[triggereel]

everything takes long to do around here
I guess it takes a while to fix power to

[Jeremy1973]

Pends on how big your tank is...

Last winter we lost power for a few days. Thankfully, one of the stoves in the house was gas. So, I was boiling water every few hours, and created hot water bottles. I stirred the water in the tank with them until the temp got up to about 80 degrees. Then, I had 2 blankets and 1 0-degree sleeping back wrapped around the tank. I had it, so that it would lose about 1 degree an hour. I did this for a few days until we got power back. So, my fish and corals were nice and toasty, while I had one think blanket wrapped around me while wearing jeans, and sweatshirts. heh heh

[JennM]

We bought a generator yesterday (it was on our basic equipment list when we were building the store, but 'overbudget' meant we didn't get it right away ) Scott fired it up this aft, and it runs our circulating pumps and heaters on our two main systems, and we might have to play leap-frog between smaller stand-alone systems, but I've got a few air pumps here, batteries and a couple of extra extension cords

Triggereel, I'm CANADIAN -- 4 foot snow drifts don't phase me in the least, and I've driven home cutting a path for the snow plow, but an ice storm is a whole other animal. I survived Ice Storm 98 in Eastern Ontario, was without power or phones for 6 days. We heated with wood so it was no biggie, my little FW tank with a couple of Kuhlie Loaches was fine. I didn't have a marine tank going at that point (it was in storage in the basement!)

I laugh too when the whole of Atlanta shuts down if 3 snow flakes fall in the same county But this ice is serious -- roads WILL be impassable because they don't have enough sand/salt trucks to go around except on major arteries, and most drivers just don't know how to manage their vehicle in bad weather. Ice coats the tree branches -- many trees here still have leaves on them, and the weight of all that ice snaps them like toothpicks, and that takes down a LOT of power lines. My utilities here at the shop and at home are all underground, but their connections to the main grid aren't necessarily, so I have to expect that my power WILL go off -- Georgia is delightfully green with trees, much to my chagrin when they take down the power lines.

Lori -- keep the air pumps handy, and you should be fine. Perhaps Santa should bring you a generator this year I got the 3rd last one at BJ's yesterday!

Jenn

[Rick O]

Hey Jenn.

What did you get? Watts? Brand? Price? C'mon....details.

I bought a power inverter today. It's 600 watts. I can run enough heaters to keep the tank warm with the help of a blanket and one or two powerheads for circulation. It was $69 at Harbor Freight.

Next time I see a deal on generators I will get one. Just the peace of mind is worth the price. Two years ago I rented a 5500 watt generator and was able to run all of the crucial equipment for the tank, the refridgerator, furnace, TV and one lamp. I did have to turn the furnace off while using the microwave to pop popcorn.... sacrafices. I felt kinda guilty that my neighbors were freezing while eating cold soup by candlelight.

[JennM]

I forget the brand name but it's a Briggs & Stratton engine, 5000 watts, $479.99 at BJ's. I saw them the other day, and yesterday morning we priced them at Sears -- whoa way more for less watts. Their 5500 Watt one was about $600 on sale

So I went back to BJ's, "laid claim" to the one in the box below the display while Scott got a buggy for it, and another man came along looking for one luckily there was another up high on a shelf, and as we walked away I heard somebody mention that they had seen a "few" generators "walking" around the store, and perhaps they should be concerned. I'd bet the demo model sold within a few minutes of our departure.

Jenn

[Xwild]

a nice big power inverter can run for quite a long time off a full tank of gas in your car. And if you have 2 cars, you can have non-stop power while you go to the gas pump for more fuel.

And as a added bonus, if you don't have heat in your house, you can sit in the nice warm car.

[seafishes]

Well we took the plunge and bought a generator, 3750 watt Coleman...enough to run both tanks. Good samaritan story attached to the purchase, 33 degrees pouring rain and a stiff wind blowing and the gen won't fit in the car...not even out of the box. Cold and wet, a friendly gentlemen with a truck took pity on us and offered to take it to our home for us. We offered to pay him but he just said Merry Chistmas, a blessing in a truck.

Glad to hear you got a gen Jen

Triggereel where are you in North Carolina? Ever heard of Blowing Rock/Boone/Banner Elk. Lived there for 15 years, was there for the blizzard of 93, 5 feet of snow and subzero temps. I'll take snow all day long but ice and drought sticken pine trees doesn't make a good combo.

Thank you to everyones suggestions


Lori

[asmith]

Congrats to those of you who purchased generators. They tend to be scarce when storms like this come through. We have a Coleman 5000 watt generator that can power most of the house. It is extremely comforting to know that I will have power in the event of another ice storm.

Andrew

[Jeremy1973]

XWild...that is a wonderful idea! I just bought a dc-ac converter for my car so that I can run my laptop..I would never had thought of it as a source of power for my tank! I have a 20 gallong tank, what all can it run? Can I plug the whole tank in, or do I need to stick with just the heater and powerhead?

If worse comes to worse...I can run a REALLY long power cord to the Smith's house.

[cath]

icy here, folks It sounds like the problem is from falling ice on power lines. I did buy a battery powered air pump which I have on top of my canopy tonight.

crossin my fingers.

[ShirleyM]

You all take care and I wish you the best of luck...been following the weather down your way on the Underground Weather site
http://www.wunderground.com/

Shirley ~ with fingers crossed...

[fliberdygibits]

My work recently auctioned off old computer equipment to employees and I picked up nearly 2500 dollars worth of computer battery backups for about 20 bucks. Had to spend 30 bucks getting one battery cell replaced and a few dollars on a fuse but they are working units and in tests have run my 30 gallon AND my 28 gallon for nearly 24 hours at full tilt (minus some lighting). I am sure if I had only run the pumps some of the time I could have extended that.

I see battery backups like this off and on at garage sales and good will and the "as-is" pile at the local computer shop. Worth looking out for. I hear people say that they aren't designed for power heads and may damage them, but having to replace 40 dollars worth of power heads is far prefered to replacing all my critters in my opinion.

HTH

[tdwyatt]

Hmmmm... most of what is posted here is great for short term outages or small tanks, Those of you with multiple large tanks need to buy a generator and make sure to keep it at home (do not let the in-laws or outlaws borrow it...) ...and make sure that it runs and has regular maintenance... I now own a new 5000 watt generator, and I will never let it leave here.


A good sized generator is nothing compared to the loss of one $5 fish that is 7 or 8 years old.

[Geoff]

Power inverters are the way to go if you are on a budget. My tank survived 3 days without power in the house on a 300watt inverter. I would run the car for an hour then off for an hour. I did this for 3 days and only ran the car down 1/4 of a tank. granted it was a honda civic. it would also get a break during the night, so I could sleep. power inverters are limited power though, so you have to be picky on what gets plugged in. in my case it was the blower for our gas fireplace, a small circulation pump, and the heater for the aquarium. This was pushing the limits of the inverter so i could only run the heater when the car was on.

Freezing rain sucks.

Good Luck,

G~