FL Reefers, what's your hurricane contingency plan?

[AquamanE]

I lost power during Irma last year for 18 hours only thank God. I have 4 airpumps from Amazon and a case of D-batteries. Also an ecotech battery backup for a vortech mp40. All where installed at like hour 6 before i went to bed. I already bought another back up foe a second mp40 because it was awesome. SPS dominant tank, lost nothing. Backup generator was waiting in garage if it lasted much longer. All I would run is mp 40’s. Return pump for a few hours a day. Thats it.

 

[cracker]

Hello bobman, I'm just up the road in Op. the power was out for 3& 1/2 days . You Folks got hit hard on Black creek. My friend Lorraine lost it all ! The poor People on Aquarius concourse , like 500 ft from my place all got flooded bad .
Your comments on what to do & automation was on spot.

 

[mike werner]

imo,if you have a 150 plus gallon a generator is a MUST.we all know that reefer that lost everything to a power outage because they were not expecting to loose power,who is?in my case I have thousands invested in livestock.it does not make any sense not to have a $300 generator to keep it all alive in an outage.ounce of prevention pound of cure type thing.

 

[Recklessryan904]

We lost power for 10 days in Jacksonville Florida during Irma. I am Currently setting up a 1000g reef and 480g sps reef and will be using a Generac standby generator on the house . As of now I use a small generator to run the main pumps / doser/skimmer .
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/480g-sps-shallows-1000g-build.391678/

 

[cracker]

Good to see locals here !

 

[Recklessryan904]

Unfortunately hurricanes are inevitable but the amount of money we all spend to enjoy this beautiful hobby , it’s a must to have some sort of alternative power source whether it’s battery backup , air stones or generators in Florida . The power will eventually go out . I hope everybody is prepared . I’m out on a ship right now and we got word this year is supposed to be a rough one . Hopefully this is wrong ...

 

[cracker]

Hope all goes well for You reckless . All the other People no matter where You are, need to remember it can happen to you as well. How much did you spend for the high end lighting ? A generator costs about the same.
I'm guilty of complacency . I almost lost both my tanks.

 

[Recklessryan904]

Hope all goes well for You reckless . All the other People no matter where You are, need to remember it can happen to you as well. How much did you spend for the high end lighting ? A generator costs about the same.
I'm guilty of complacency . I almost lost both my tanks.

I apreciate and wish the same for everybody! It’s always nice talking to fellow Florida reefers .The 1000g is going to be a mixed reef and will be using radion pros . The 480 I’m still on the fence on my plan due to the dimensions since it will be acropora only . 96x48x24. I’m either going to do a 10/12 bulb ati setup or halides /t5 .
Check out my build/journey https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/480g-sps-shallows-1000g-build.391678/

 

[Recklessryan904]

Where are you guys all located I live in mandarin !

 

[Recklessryan904]

I also am in the works of starting my own frag website to be able to give back to the community without paying and arm / leg for frags . Once I’m all done with the big tanks I will be setting up a frag system in my house .

 

[Zeal]

As soon as I get back from Vacation in July im getting everything I need. Living in Miami my whole life I noticed it starts getting really active around August. My issue is that I work in a Hospital and im forced to work during the hurricane until the all clear is given. Which could last almost 2-3 days. Not sure how ill be keeping everything alive..

 

[cracker]

Hello Reckless, I'm in OP close to the mall. Hope all goes with your plans.

 

[00Barracuda00]

As soon as I get back from Vacation in July im getting everything I need. Living in Miami my whole life I noticed it starts getting really active around August. My issue is that I work in a Hospital and im forced to work during the hurricane until the all clear is given. Which could last almost 2-3 days. Not sure how ill be keeping everything alive..

Same deal. My job means I get really active during the hours when most people begin recovery. Luckily, this will be my first year NOT being on a ride out team.

This forum is really helping us all out though. Because everyone's talking about worst case scenarios, we'll have a REALLY easy season this year. That's how it works right??

 

[Recklessryan904]

As soon as I get back from Vacation in July im getting everything I need. Living in Miami my whole life I noticed it starts getting really active around August. My issue is that I work in a Hospital and im forced to work during the hurricane until the all clear is given. Which could last almost 2-3 days. Not sure how ill be keeping everything alive..

This is where battery backups would come in to play for you ,it would keeps powerheads running until you can get back home.

 

[00Barracuda00]

This is where battery backups would come in to play for you ,it would keeps powerheads running until you can get back home.

Would keeping the return pump on be important, or would it be better to save battery life for flow?

 

[Recklessryan904]

Would keeping the return pump on be important, or would it be better to save battery life for flow?

It all depends on your tank setup and emergency plan. Most of the dc pumps can use Ecotech/ ice Capp battery back ups and run them at a lower rate . If this is your plan you can link backups together to give you more life . Another route is a small inverter to run your pumps / powerheads. The most important thing when the power goes out is oxygenation whether it’s from powerheads / return pumps or a air stone .

 

[Raindog3030]

I ran a Martine battery with a power inverter running my power head on a timer switch from home depot turning on and off every half hour with an emergency bubbler on the same switch turning on when the power heads would turn off.

I also had my cooling fan (computer fan on a thermal switch) on the inverter pushing the whole time. My house got to 102°F and the tank only got up to 82 (high but much better than it could have been). Everything survived thankfully.

Went 3 days with almost no loss of charge on the battery.

What inverter and battery do you use? I am looking into this for a solution, especially since the season is upon us!

 

[George Lopez]

This is what I used plus a timer and emergency bubbler

 

[PatW]

Last year, I lost power for 4 days. I have a 300 gallon display tank. I ran a couple of air stones in it from a pump that ran off of a lead battery through a converter. A battery charge lasted about a day. Power was off nearly everywhere for a day or two. It took residential areas longer. I took batteries down to the office and charged them and rotated them. The aeration was enough to keep temps down and oxygen levels high enough. Everything made it through just fine.

 

[bobman]

Where are you guys all located I live in mandarin !

I am in Middleburg just south of Orange Park. If you are on a boat if something happens there are actually quite a few of us in the area on here as well as DRK. We are always willing to help out if needed. Black Creek was rough since it pretty much circles my house. I didnt get flooded to bad but I could not get out for a few days because of the flooding. It was not something I planned for but I will not make that mistake twice.