[Six-line Wrasse]

I came home from spending the night at a friend's house to find my all my tank's temperatures have dropped by nearly 12°F as well as their pumps having all stopped and their lights not on. We had lost power.

Well, approximately 10:14AM last night we lost power in a local grid. At 6:11PM it was restored. During that time my tanks had lose nearly 20°F in temperature. So, as apparent as it should be, my tanks all have crashed. 2 10 gals. and 1 24 gal. NCDX.

The point of this thread is not to get sympathy, but to try and explain why we should safeguard our tanks. A small generator would have elevated this issue, even a CPU battery pack would have helped to a degree. Also, if you lose power for an extended period of time you may want to invest in battery powered air stones. These are all things I failed to consider. Now, I'm selling off most of my equipment and tanks and such to pay for a generator. When I purchase the generator, maybe then I'll start back into the hobby with my 10 gal. project, maybe not.

I wish you all the best, and I will still be around giving newbie advice. I hope you all learn from my mistake this easy way, not the hard way like myself. Best of luck and keep reefing!

[blind1993]

i feel sorry for but thatnks for the advice

[Fishhead Junkie]

that really sucks!!! you have some good ideas though that i never would of thought of. a CPU battery backup...hmmmm....thats a really good idea. i wonder if something like that has enough juice to support my 29gallon cube...you figure all you really need is the heater and the pump to create O2 for the fish. the lights could be run for a little while for the corals, but not the usual 12 hours.

its a little of the subject but our power went out on a wonderful winter michigan day. i didnt have my tank yet but i did have my bearded dragon tank in the basement(coldest part of the house). the temp dropped so quick in that tank..i had to carry them around under my shirt(not fun with all those sharp nails). i learned my lesson and purchased 2 portable heaters run on those small coleman tanks. they definitely put out enough heat to keep everyone warm, at $60 a pop it will be worth it next time.

again, keep that chin up and keep on fishin!!!!

steve

[Kevin W]

THAT SUCKS MAN!!!! good advice. I am have been shopping for a generator. I have a great fear of no power and not being able to save my reef.

[dfurbee]

What a sad day Thanks for the advice, I too will be looking for a small generator.

[dragonboy4578]

That sucks, sorry for your loss, and thanks for all the advice that you have given.

[glampka]

I fell for you Six-line. Lost everything last Oct when the power went out.
Breath in. Breath out --Move on!

[jimw369]

I am sorry about your tanks.

Please stay and post. I am relatively new to the hobby and always considered your advice when it was given along with a handful of others here at RB. While we can learn from everyone there are those who have more knowledge and experience than most. I feel you are one of them. JIM

[ACE]

I will be looking for a generator and some other ways to help if my power goes out.

Thinks for the advice you just saved allot of tanks from disaster by helping to bring the hazard of power outage to more people and helping them prepare for it!!!

[mtfabel]

Battery Backup System

Check this out. I think that this is one of the best options for protecting yourself in a power outage.

[ACE]

Originally Posted by mtfabel

Battery Backup System

Check this out. I think that this is one of the best options for protecting yourself in a power outage.

VERY NICE FIND!!!

[sigsauer]

I'm sorry to hear that man. I've enjoyed reading your opinion on many of these different threads. I hope that you'll be able to reover financially and get your tanks back up again. I hope that a few people will read and learn from your loss, and perhaps prevent this kind of thing from happening to them. Good luck.

[glampka]

Check out this site for generators:Generators, gas generators, diesel generators, propane generators, inverter generators

[ACE]

Thinks glampka I found this one from your link!!!
its not that expensive and runs for 10 hours on half power it is the DP 800 portable generator!!! did I mention its only $99.99

DuroPower® - DP800 800W Portable Generators

[glampka]

Think I'm getting the 3500W model maybe the 5000W. Need to run the furnace, fridge & big screen as well.

[200g+guy]

what stuff are you selling?

[admann]

very sorry to hear I do hope that you are still on here as I have been in the background reading and learning for 6 weeks and am getting ready to set up my own reef. I find all your advice to be very helpful and i am now including a generator in my list of startup items. agin so sorry to hear and hope that in the long run you will be reffing agin.

[Six-line Wrasse]

To post to this, since it has been bumped anyways.

A power inverter is also another idea for those who don't want to shell out the money for a generator. I heard you can pick up an inverter for about $89 and a boat battery for about $100. A trickle charger would allow you to maintain a fully charged boat battery and when the power goes out just hook up the inverter to the battery and flip the switch. You should have at least 2 - 4 hrs of heater, pumps and lighting. If you just go heater/pumps you probably could push it to about 6 - 7 hrs.

[lynnvangsnes]

Computer UPS can help for a short term solution. Sorry for your loss. Don't give up!

[dragonboy4578]

Last night i came home to find that my power had been out for a few hours. All of my fish were extremely stressed. I didn't think that they would make it. Thankfully i took the great advise that you all have given and purchesed a cheap generator, $150.00 at meijers. It's nothing special but it is big enough to power my 55 gallon tank. the power stayed out for about another six hours after i got home, and this morning all my fish are still alive and look to be doing great. i really recomend that if you don't have a power backup of some type that you go and get one. It saved my tank, and once again thanks again for the great advice.