Hurricane Irene & Generator

AmberL · Aug 26, 2011

I have a generator to run my tank and other necessities in the house. However, my husband just told me that it can't run 24 hrs a day. He wants to be able to run it and shut it down at regular intervals. How long can the tank sit without pumps and how long do the pumps need to be on to re-oxygenate the water before turning off again? I was at my LFS once when they lost power and they said it is not a big deal to let a tank sit for a few hours. But I'm assuming its different for each tank. I have a 90 gallon with 4 fish.

Any thoughts? Thanks.

Luisra · Aug 26, 2011

That's it? only 4 fish? My SPS dominated tank spent many hours without any movement thanks to Irene. You could use battery back ups and charge them with the generator; use them when the generator is off. I did turned on the Vortech and the return pump every 3-4 hours for 5mins. with them and didn't lost anything. Hope that helps! Wish you the best of luck, stay safe.=!

AmberL · Aug 26, 2011

I also have 5 LPS corals and 1 SPS coral.

It's a newer tank. I'm trying to go slowly so I don't overload the tank.

Thanks for the input. We should be safe; power outage is our main concern. This area lost power for up to 12 days with the Hurricane Isabelle (depending on where the house was in the county).

uchin · Aug 26, 2011

For those who may need power and don't want to dish out money for a generator can use a ac/dc converter for a car.

vetteman · Aug 26, 2011

I have a couple bait air pumps and one of those pumps with the Rechargable batteries that Dr's F&S sell and I modded it so it only comes on when the power goes off.. It has two outputs so I have a long bubble bar in the tank and a small stone in the sump.. Power flashed off just a little while ago and it came on for a few minutes.... And the wind and rain has picked up quite a bit over the last couple hours

smpolyp · Aug 26, 2011

I went 11 days without main power on the hurricanes that went through Florida a few years back. I had a 230 gal I ran on a car bat running a small pump about 500 gph for the first 5 days. I placed the pump on the bottom of the tank and ran a pipe on the upper surface.(no lights, no food) The last 6 days I was lucky a neighbor in the back neighborhood had power, so I ran a line. I ran the main pump and lighting every so often.(no food) Sleep was optional.

caudill187 · Aug 27, 2011

The LFS is correct. The tank should be fine, I would say even if you run the Generator 1/2 time. Stay safe.

mfinn · Aug 27, 2011

AmberL said:
I have a generator to run my tank and other necessities in the house. However, my husband just told me that it can't run 24 hrs a day. He wants to be able to run it and shut it down at regular intervals. How long can the tank sit without pumps and how long do the pumps need to be on to re-oxygenate the water before turning off again? I was at my LFS once when they lost power and they said it is not a big deal to let a tank sit for a few hours. But I'm assuming its different for each tank. I have a 90 gallon with 4 fish.

Any thoughts? Thanks.

When I lose power, I fire up my generator at about 6am and let it run until midnight. So my tanks sit about 6 hours without anything running. If it is cold, I wrap the tanks with quilts and blankets.

AmberL · Aug 27, 2011

Thanks for the tips, everyone. So far we've just having the power flickering. But the wind is picking up quite a bit..

fab1971 · Aug 27, 2011

Good Luck AmberL. We're still waiting.

dhutcheson · Aug 27, 2011

I use a marine deep cycle battery and power inverter, And have an RV solar panel charger to keep them charged or can just install in my truck to recharge them quickly. I am able run a small heater and pump if needed but I am only at 60gal. In addition to the tank I also run my laptop and a small emergency TV with this setup at time. I really would like to have the Honda 2000i generator not huge as far as power goes but it is very quite and fuel efficient. The 2000i can be interconnected to provide 4000watts of power if needed.