power outage

[johnanddawn]

well on saturday the power went out for 12 hours. i own a generator but had borrowed it out to a freind to go camping and it took at least 5 hours to get it back and hooked up.

result - very unhappy SPS

observations
- much browning can occur in a very short time
- a plus for ora because most of my ora corals seem to be the least effected, polyps out, little color change
- largest colonies seem to be the most upset, haven't seen any polyps on some and color loss is worst
- montis largly uneffected polyps out, no color change and polyps out
- all other corals (LPS and zoas) uneffected. no change what-so-ever

full recovery expected, but it kinda sucks to go from awesome to bla in just 5 hours.

lesson
- do not borrow out your generator

 

[Brad Syphus]

Sorry to hear. But figures, you have a generator sitting there year round until you need it. Murphys Law.

 

[slojmn]

Oh man, that is the pits...total Murphy's Law. Do you think the issue was due to temp dropping or lack of water movement/oxygen content/slime build up around the corals?

 

[johnanddawn]

lack of water movement for sure
house was relatively warm when the power went out, so little change in temp

little update:
all symptoms more pronounced as time went on (1 week today), but still no lost corals.
- exp. my plumb crazy, tri color, teal unknown and blue tip stag are pure brown, still no axil polyps on any of 4 millis, and the rest are just plain blah as far as color and polyp extention

not going to do anything crazy, just trying to keep params stable and give them time. i imagine it will be a month or more before they start to color up again, until then i cut back on the 2 part cause nothing is growing i don't want my ALK to start to creep up, cleaned the skimmer and set it a bit wetter to help stabilize the system nutrients and going to do a water change today

hopefully in the end it'll be just a lesson learned (or relearned i should say - cause there was a time when i didn't own a generator)

 

[whip1]

we put battery backups on our tanks that way if we are not home to crank the generator the backups will run heaters and powerheads for about 8 hours.

 

[johnanddawn]

uggg... 2 weeks in and the symptoms just keep getting worse and now i have some stn - my thoughts on a full recovery were obviously wrong

and of course one of my favs is hit the worst;
i am going to have to frag my pink milli tonight - the entire base peeled away. it is quite large so if i act now i should get some really large frags to start over with
my tricolor is also stning but its pretty small - i may wait to see what happens with it before i cut it

everything now brown including the montis

the lps and zoas are still doing great

- a small sign of hope though - my yellow milli finally has some axil polyps out on a couple branch tips - could the worst be over finally??

i hope so.... but that life in the sps world.

 

[Znut Reefer]

Sorry to hear. I hope everything recovers well for you.

 

[luisgo]

I have a UPS connected to three Koralias and a power head in the sump for emergency power outages. It will run the pumps for 8 hours. Hope your corals get better soon.

 

[TopNotchCorals]

I have a UPS connected to three Koralias and a power head in the sump for emergency power outages. It will run the pumps for 8 hours. Hope your corals get better soon.

I have this same unit I picked up on craigslist for $75.I beleive it it a must have in this hobby

 

[gparr]

Doesn't sound like you've done any water changes. After an event such as that, I would have done 25% every other day for a week. Also, fresh carbon? or add carbon? Can you increase your flow?
Gary

 

[johnanddawn]

thanks everyone for the thoughts/ideas
yeah tunze has a battery backup too but with the generator i just kinda felt safe enough - but now i think i'm going to get one just for peice of mind

i did do my regular small water change each weekend - i felt that getting back to norm is best. sometimes drastic reactions can actually be worse then sticking with the norm. in hind site maybe a larger water change may have been in order ??? however, my experience tells me the damage was done and it was set in motion, little would have changed the outcome, so now the recovery begins.

i have two bags of carbon in the sump - i change one each month

but as of tonight i feel the worst is over. i fragged the pink milli and got three really large peices. i put one back in its spot, one on the bottom of the display and one in the frag tank. if even one makes it - all is good

in the end i just posted this to get others thinking about severe weather and if they are prepared. if someone takes precautionary measures because of this thread that is a good thing