Not one casualty! My tank survived 7 days without power. Here’s how you can do it too.
It’s hard to prepare the tank when you think you might lose the entire house. That is until the power goes out and the house is still standing.
I will confess that I did have the advantage of what most would consider a light bioload, with 6 corals, 3 fish, an assortment of 6 shrimp and the typical clean up crew. Most aquarium owners would say that my 90 gallon is quiet.
That being said, the rules still apply. When the power goes out CO2 starts to build up, the PH drops and the temperature is left without any control.
I will also apologize upfront for not properly preparing my tank to comfortably handle this situation. My wife and I had just bought our house and it was not ready for a hurricane. A week before the storm made landfall, it was projected to be a direct hit as a cat 4. To give some perspective, that’s the kind of system that puts 2x4s through tree trunks.
The foreboding forecast caused a panic and hardware stores quickly sold out of lumber and most importantly plywood. My wife and I spent a collective 16 hours at lumber stores waiting for plywood so that we could board our windows!
The day before the storm hit, I was able to get lumber from a nearby cemetery that was asking people to store it through the storm. Not joking, we were seriously desperate. I used the haunted plywood that covers the empty graves to protect my home and family from hurricane Irma.
Day 1
The storm hits and at 7 pm the power goes out. “Oh crap” is the thought that goes through my mind.
With an aged battery powered aerator, 2 spare C batteries, 60 gallons spare RO water, and a house of crap, I set out to MacGyver that tank to the best of my ability.
I set the aerator to work and scrap an APC battery backup from the home office to run a pump in 5 minute intervals once every hour.
We keep this up throughout the night as the storm roars on.
Stay tuned for day 2.
It’s hard to prepare the tank when you think you might lose the entire house. That is until the power goes out and the house is still standing.
I will confess that I did have the advantage of what most would consider a light bioload, with 6 corals, 3 fish, an assortment of 6 shrimp and the typical clean up crew. Most aquarium owners would say that my 90 gallon is quiet.
That being said, the rules still apply. When the power goes out CO2 starts to build up, the PH drops and the temperature is left without any control.
I will also apologize upfront for not properly preparing my tank to comfortably handle this situation. My wife and I had just bought our house and it was not ready for a hurricane. A week before the storm made landfall, it was projected to be a direct hit as a cat 4. To give some perspective, that’s the kind of system that puts 2x4s through tree trunks.
The foreboding forecast caused a panic and hardware stores quickly sold out of lumber and most importantly plywood. My wife and I spent a collective 16 hours at lumber stores waiting for plywood so that we could board our windows!
The day before the storm hit, I was able to get lumber from a nearby cemetery that was asking people to store it through the storm. Not joking, we were seriously desperate. I used the haunted plywood that covers the empty graves to protect my home and family from hurricane Irma.
Day 1
The storm hits and at 7 pm the power goes out. “Oh crap” is the thought that goes through my mind.
With an aged battery powered aerator, 2 spare C batteries, 60 gallons spare RO water, and a house of crap, I set out to MacGyver that tank to the best of my ability.
I set the aerator to work and scrap an APC battery backup from the home office to run a pump in 5 minute intervals once every hour.
We keep this up throughout the night as the storm roars on.
Stay tuned for day 2.
