LOST POWER IN NY - Need Suggestions

Alanna102499 · Aug 4, 2020

Hey All,

so I lost total power at about 3:30 EST and within 30 mins had a portable air pump into the tank... My question is this. If I siphon out 5 gallons of water from the display tank every hour or so and empty back into the tank is that doing any good?
Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated! I’d hate to lose this huge investment I’ve made. (PS I tried to get a generator all sold out) I will purchasing for the future.
Thanks All!

Billldg · Aug 4, 2020

The best thing to do is to keep the water agitated. Every 30 mins or so I would stick my hand and swirl it around to cause turbulence and thus help oxygenate the water. I would do it for a few minutes at least every 30 min's or so.

Double monti 61 · Aug 4, 2020

Probably not the air pump should help.

Biglew11 · Aug 4, 2020

Do you have access to a power inverter that you can hook to a car battery, to power a small powerhead?

Alanna102499 · Aug 4, 2020

Biglew11 said:
Do you have access to a power inverter that you can hook to a car battery, to power a small powerhead?

Interesting... Possibly. TY

Blue Spot Octopus · Aug 4, 2020

I used a pitcher and set a timer for every 15 minutes.

stiffljp · Aug 4, 2020

Second the power inverter, you can easily run an air pump with one.

grisha · Aug 5, 2020

Autozone has 1000 watt inverters.

fishguy242 · Aug 5, 2020

using a fish net swishing back and forth creating lots of micro bubbles will work well in a pinch,,hopefully,power restored soon

BAUCE · Aug 5, 2020

grisha said:
Autozone has 1000 watt inverters.

In case you need to run an aquarium shop? Lol jk

Alanna102499 · Aug 5, 2020

So I just went out and purchased this. Right now I have 1 power head and the return pump running with the portable air stone. My plan is to run for a couple of hours then recharge while recharging keep the air stone in and agitate the water every 30 mins. So far so good made it through the night but now the temperature is a issue as it will be close to 90 today. I have Poland spring bottles frozen to float to keep temp below 80... Fingers crossed it’s back up by tonight!

Crustaceon · Aug 5, 2020

That’s the best you can do in this scenario. Keep things aerated and in a normal temperature range and everything will be fine.

BZOFIQ · Aug 5, 2020

fishguy242 said:
using a fish net swishing back and forth creating lots of micro bubbles will work well in a pinch,,hopefully,power restored soon

Using a net swishing back and forth works....just not because of micro bubbles.

Alanna102499 · Aug 5, 2020

Tell ya one thing... My windows haven’t been opened since May so my PH was around 7.4 I bet it will be fine now with the windows open for 24 hours! LOL gotta look at the bright side right!?
Again, thank you to everyone that responded! Love this community!

Silent · Aug 5, 2020

With so many reefers using ecotech mp model powerheads it is easy to have a car battery on a trickle charger ready for power outages. You can power a 12v DC powerhead for over a week. $5 cable and a used car battery.

Fused VorTech Battery Backup Cable

Used as a replacement part or to link more than one battery backup in parallel to extend backup time. The length of the cable is 8ft long.

store2.ecotechmarine.com

Madonia · Aug 5, 2020

Alanna102499 said:
Tell ya one thing... My windows haven’t been opened since May so my PH was around 7.4 I bet it will be fine now with the windows open for 24 hours! LOL gotta look at the bright side right!?
Again, thank you to everyone that responded! Love this community!

I’m in the same boat.

im on Long Island with no power.

About to get home to what I think will be a fish and coral cemetery

fishguy242 · Aug 5, 2020

lets hope not!!

Madonia · Aug 5, 2020

Update? I got the same power supply Just now. Running a power head. But how are you gonna charge it once it dies?????

plexx · Aug 5, 2020

Hey just to let you guys know I run a power equipment repair shop on long island (mineola) . Competition mower repairs. If you guys have generators that are not working and need to keep your reef tank going, give us a call, we will get you going as quick as possible . Are phone is (516) 280-6584 i have been running my generator for a 2 days now trying to keep my tanks going but it's becoming a real hassle .

Double monti 61 · Aug 5, 2020

They can survive for at least up to 24 to 36 hours if you keep the air pump running and temps in your home do not reach 85-90 degrees I have 2 cheap air pumps that run on 2 D batteries and thank god I have not had to use them lately but they have come in handy in the past and because I do not use them often the batteries last a long time.