Lost Power

[Bob Lauson]

I live in Grand Rapids, Michigan and had the pleasure of a business trip to Key West FL for a few days and headed back last Thursday. While I was basking in the glow of a FL sun, the Michigan ice storms knocked out power to my neighborhood at 10 am on Thursday. I got home Thursday night around 10 PM and had no choice but stay at a hotel until I could get a generator in the morning. By 10 AM on Friday I had power back to my critical things at the house including my 180 gallon aquarium. The temp was 62 F and I was worried. By Sunday I had only lost 1 chromis but all other fish survived. As of today, I have lost a large purple tip Acro colony, about 1/2 of a large birds nest coral, and a few others. Very sad.

 

[hdsoftail1065]

I live in Grand Rapids, Michigan and had the pleasure of a business trip to Key West FL for a few days and headed back last Thursday. While I was basking in the glow of a FL sun, the Michigan ice storms knocked out power to my neighborhood at 10 am on Thursday. I got home Thursday night around 10 PM and had no choice but stay at a hotel until I could get a generator in the morning. By 10 AM on Friday I had power back to my critical things at the house including my 180 gallon aquarium. The temp was 62 F and I was worried. By Sunday I had only lost 1 chromis but all other fish survived. As of today, I have lost a large purple tip Acro colony, about 1/2 of a large birds nest coral, and a few others. Very sad.

Wow, sorry to hear about your troubles, I'm glad it wasn't a total loss.

 

[Neo Jeo]

That’s unfortunate. I’m from chesterfield and I was ready for that power outage. Got a generator ready and waiting. We did not loose power... sucks you were on vacation... what bad timing.

Least your tank did not fully crash. Your house had to of gotten super cold.

 

[Bossman]

That's sad Bob. I live pretty close and we have only lost power once this season for a few hours. I just put a switch on my breaker box and a cord to hook up a large towable generator I have at my shop. The business is only 15 minutes away so if power goes out I can go grab the generator.

A standby would be a great alternative if you weren't around to use a portable. I'm fortunate and have my son stay at my house to watch my fish and dog when I travel.

The winter season started out pretty light, but lately it's been horrible. We may get more ice with our snow tonight into tomorrow. My live aquaria shipment, due tomorrow, was canceled due to the weather forecast tomorrow. It is good LA is looking out for the well being of the livestock so I can't complain.

 

[Bob Lauson]

Here’s a pick of what 24 hours prior was a beautiful purple tip acropora - now all stark white.

 

[Bob Lauson]

Our house was down to 45 deg and the water temp in the aquarium was down to 62 deg

 

[ZoWhat]

 

[scriptmonkey]

Not sure that would have helped.

Sorry for the losses

 

[Greg Gdowski]

I'm sorry to hear that. Ugh.. We don't have many power outages. That said, I had the GFCI on my tank trip the other day, literally about 30 minutes after I went to work. My apex sent me a message saying it had dropped from fusion --- so I thought my ethernet went down (that is not uncommon). I didn't think much about it. I came home about 8hrs later to find my tank sitting at 72 degrees with only the lights and gyre on. I was lucky. Had it gone another 3-4 hours I would have been in serious trouble. Were starting to think about getting a generator. I have a small battery backup but its just not enough for the heater and pump.

 

[ZoWhat]

Not sure that would have helped.

Sorry for the losses

Information is power.

Being texted by Apex that the power is OUT could have forced a phone call to a family member to go to the house and add HEATED WATER BOTTLES to float in the tank to keep temp above 72deg

Think McFly think



.

 

[Greg Gdowski]

In my case, I'll definitely pay more attention to it the next time.

 

[mtraylor]

Wow. Sorry to see that. Those were some big. Colonies. Your fortunate not to have lost more for that time. Did you have bare bones running for a while till they gave out?

 

[scriptmonkey]

Think McFly think

.

 

[Bob Lauson]

I have an apex so I knew when the power went out but was out of town and didn’t get back until later that night. Got a generator the next morning but it was too late for the corals. We don’t live close to family and our friends and neighbors were all having power issues. Over 140,000 people were effected.

 

[5altkreep]

Information is power.

Being texted by Apex that the power is OUT could have forced a phone call to a family member to go to the house and add HEATED WATER BOTTLES to float in the tank to keep temp above 72deg

Think McFly think



.

Yea.
Im pretty sure 99% of reefers are aware that Apex exists. If there was noone to call, a controller is useless.
Not real helpful "Mcfly"

 

[scriptmonkey]

I have an apex so I knew when the power went out but was out of town and didn’t get back until later that night. Got a generator the next morning but it was too late for the corals. We don’t live close to family and our friends and neighbors were all having power issues. Over 140,000 people were effected.

That is a shame @Bob Lauson. I have heard cases where just a very tiny bit of tissue survived and the the coral grew back after a tragic loss, so do not give up hope yet.