POWER OUTAGE STORIES - HOW DO YOU PLAN TO SURVIVE?

[Cyclone-G]

Had a power outage the other night after a rain storm and massive snow melt. Could have been from an underground ballast somewhere blew, (neighbor's hypothesis). I bought a generator several years ago and never used it other than starting it once to see if it worked. Good thing I had it. LIST YOUR STORIES BELOW, OR FEEL FREE TO COMMENT ON THE VIDEO IN YOUTUBE.

 

[Greybeard]

I've got a battery powered air pump, length of air hose, and an airstone. Power goes off, this is 'enough' to keep the critters happy and healthy for a few hours.

After a few hours, I've got a generator. The generator will run the main return pump, keep flow and oxygen cycling through the system. Should be good for a good long time this way.

Generator also powers a pellet stove, same room as the tank, to keep temps up in winter. Fans in summer. Refrigerator/freezer, and an extension cord for whatever miscellanious stuff we might need... lamps, charge the cell phone, etc.

You want to be cautious about powering sensitive electronics off of a generator! I would NOT plug your expensive LED lighting, your Apex controller, programmable wavemakers, etc. into the erratic, unbuffered output of your typical home generator.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

I have APC Smart UPSs on all of my tanks. This will keep most going for 2-3 hours with everything running. The larger tanks have 2, with the load split among them. If it gets past that, we have a whole home generator, but the circuits for all of the tanks are not on it. The load we have to keep stable in the house for my wife's work, my work, etc. is about the most we can run off the generator. So, I had an electrician install a switchable input for the panel that has all of the GFCI circuits in it, and I run a small generator connected to the input for that panel with the input from the street turned off. My Apexs and lights all use that circuit, but the Smart UPSs clean that power up before it hits the devices.