How Much Emergency Water to Keep Around?

nickkohrn · Aug 11, 2018

Just as the title asks, how much water is responsible to keep on reserve for emergency situations? I have a 20g, and I keep 15g of mixed saltwater and 15g of RO/DI water. Does that seem sufficient? Rather, should I keep enough saltwater to match the tank’s volume? I mainly use the RO/DI for top-off reserve and the saltwater for water changes. I like having extra RO/DI for general usage, such as rinsing items and any other situations that may arise and require fresh water.

Is there anything that I should change? I live in an apartment, so it’s kind of tricky to store a lot. I have all of my supplies in a secondary closet, which is just enough space, but I can find more space if needed.

Rcpilot · Aug 11, 2018

I stored enough fresh saltwater for 1 weekly water change, which was about 15%--20% of tank volume. Enough RO to mix up another batch of salt, and a 5g bucket of RO for top off.

Crabs McJones · Aug 11, 2018

Agreed with @Rcpilot enough if I need to do an emergency water change. One bucket full

nickkohrn · Aug 11, 2018

I was wondering because I was thinking about a situation where a tank could start leaking. I didn’t know where I would put everything. However, I have a 10g QT tank, so I wanted to make sure that I have enough to fill that in the event of an emergency.

Billldg · Aug 11, 2018

I also Agree with @Rcpilot, enough for a 25 percent water change will be fine. I have more right now because of my QT tanks along with my DT. Plus I have a RO/DI system, so I can make more quickly if needed.

nickkohrn · Aug 11, 2018

So what you’re all telling me is that I should make my wife happy by getting rid of a few 5g buckets that are in the closet? Ha ha

ZoWhat · Aug 11, 2018

You should have an Emergency Plan in how you'll react to:

* losing AC electrical power for 3-4 days

* some random toddler dumping an entire glass of apple juice in your tank....or something random where at least a 50-75% water change is needed

* major leak where all coral and fish need to go in buckets and be transported to someone who can care for them until you sort it out

* your Air Conditioning or Furnace goes out leaving either your house at 90+ degrees or 60- degrees

Anyone think of anything else?

.

ca1ore · Aug 11, 2018

That's all fine when you've got a system volume of 50 gallons or so; but it becomes highly problematic if you've got 700 gallons. I tend to think of this in terms of four groups: things that are likely and easy to mitigate, things that are likely and hard to mitigate, things that are unlikely and easy to mitigate and then things that are unlikely and hard to mitigate. I mostly don't worry about the fourth. If my 450 popped a panel, the system is screwed regardless ..... Buy a good quality tank and just hope it doesn't happen (even if hope is nit a good strategy). Even though it's unlikely, keeping a drop in main pump replacement on hand is easy, so I do it. Power outages are common where I live, and mitigation is easy, so I have a generator. The problem is for those things that are likely, yet hard to plan for. Fortunately there aren't many of these.

All to say, I have a AWC, which variably contains between 50 and 0 gallons of NSW on hand. I also keep the OSW on hand, which is the inverse of the NSW, just in case (and to feed QT tanks). Otherwise I just maintain a 20 gallon tub of salt water on hand.