Preparing for the worst after power outage

[Cflow]

So Sacramento had a pretty bad power outage the other day due to high winds. My house lost power at 11PM. I did not have a battery-backup, generator, or even battery operated air pumps. I assumed the power would be on in a hour or two, but it wasn’t on by morning. Everything is controlled by Apex and/or Mobius so I had no idea what the temperature was. The water felt cold to touch. One of my chromis was skimming the top of the water gasping for air. All of my acros looked pretty bad. No death or tissue recession, but no pe whatsoever. I ran out to Home Depot to pick up a generator but they were sold out. Over 100,000 people were without power. I picked up a power inverter to hook up to my car batter as a last ditch effort. I was able to get my Apex, one vortech, the return pump, and heater online. Once I was finally able to get a temp reading it was 66 and this was about 3 hours after the heater was on. The heater was not operating at full capacity. This may have even what saved the tank because it didn’t go from 66 to 80 in a few hours. minutes. At this point I figured everything will inevitably die. I just got a couple of packs from battlecorals and a fewer higher end tenuis’ including lady in pink and Cherry bomb. The power finally came on at 11pm; 24 hours later. I made sure to turn my alk pump off to prevent any spikes in dkh and slowly let the temp rise to normal over the course of about 18 hours. I would say about 80% of my corals don’t look great. Is there anything I should have done differently besides being more prepared? I’m expecting STN/RTN in the next few days/weeks. Hoping for the best.

 

[Rubberfrog]

You did all you could with what you had. Going forward... I picked up a battery back up from Costco for $99. I have one pump hooked to it to keep the water moving.

 

[Cflow]

Is there anything besides a gas generator that will operate a 100-150 watt heater? I found a few lithium ion battery packs you could use for camping on Amazon. I’m not sure they would operate a heater though. I might pick up a ecotech battery backup but if this happens again in the winter I’ll need a heater.

 

[DinoMagnet]

Is there anything besides a gas generator that will operate a 100-150 watt heater? I found a few lithium ion battery packs you could use for camping on Amazon. I’m not sure they would operate a heater though. I might pick up a ecotech battery backup but if this happens again in the winter I’ll need a heater.

I don’t think so and if there is might not be for extended amount of time. Had the same issue down here by Knotts berry farm a few weeks back when a transformer blew on a Monday 4am. Electricity was suppose to be back on at 1pm and I was at work. Then it got pushed to 6pm so i left work early around 11am , a neighbor let me borrow his car jumper/charger that has 12v, usd, etc and it wouldnot pick up my 150w. So I threw in my 50w (something better than nothing) ended up going to Lowe’s and picking up a generator. Sorry for the long story but imo and experience generator is best bet. I had tank running with everything and appliances for the household.

 

[DinoMagnet]

Also considering these storms coming I would try to look for something. That’s what caused it for me last time storm/high winds

 

[Augus7us]

Buy a cheap UPS for a computer.

Amazon.com : uninterruptible power supply

 

[Cflow]

Buy a cheap UPS for a computer.

Amazon.com : uninterruptible power supply

I’ve read that these wouldn’t last for more than a few minutes.

 

[codycolina707]

So Sacramento had a pretty bad power outage the other day due to high winds. My house lost power at 11PM. I did not have a battery-backup, generator, or even battery operated air pumps. I assumed the power would be on in a hour or two, but it wasn’t on by morning. Everything is controlled by Apex and/or Mobius so I had no idea what the temperature was. The water felt cold to touch. One of my chromis was skimming the top of the water gasping for air. All of my acros looked pretty bad. No death or tissue recession, but no pe whatsoever. I ran out to Home Depot to pick up a generator but they were sold out. Over 100,000 people were without power. I picked up a power inverter to hook up to my car batter as a last ditch effort. I was able to get my Apex, one vortech, the return pump, and heater online. Once I was finally able to get a temp reading it was 66 and this was about 3 hours after the heater was on. The heater was not operating at full capacity. This may have even what saved the tank because it didn’t go from 66 to 80 in a few hours. minutes. At this point I figured everything will inevitably die. I just got a couple of packs from battlecorals and a fewer higher end tenuis’ including lady in pink and Cherry bomb. The power finally came on at 11pm; 24 hours later. I made sure to turn my alk pump off to prevent any spikes in dkh and slowly let the temp rise to normal over the course of about 18 hours. I would say about 80% of my corals don’t look great. Is there anything I should have done differently besides being more prepared? I’m expecting STN/RTN in the next few days/weeks. Hoping for the best.

California is terrible live up north no where near fires and have had my power out for days at a time had to buy a generator and the worst part is we have our own Power plant on the bay that is enough to power our whole county yet they still shut us off

 

[Rubberfrog]

I’ve read that these wouldn’t last for more than a few minutes.

You can't plug plug the whole tank into it. Juast one powerhead for water movement.

 

[Hugh Mann]

By the sounds of it, not much you could have done given the circumstances. I do hope your tank pulls through.

 

[brandon429]

You must not shine full lights any time soon it'll burn bleach

Ramp down lighting slow bring back

 

[Cflow]

You must not shine full lights any time soon it'll burn bleach

Ramp down lighting slow bring back

I’m already starting acclimation mode on my raisins. How long should I do this? It’s almost like I’m treating everything as if I received a badly shipped box of frags.

 

[Cflow]

One frag rtn so far. It already wasn’t doing great. Hopefully the rest pull through.

 

[TheDuude]

+1 on lowering your lights. I had a similar situation years ago on my old tank. I was off on vacation and a snail made its way into my return pump. I had to watch temps and PH on my tank drop for 2 days while I was away and by the time I got home the tank was down to around 65. I brought everything back up slowly and never lost any corals. I only had a few SPS at the time and nothing as high end as your.

On the plus side once I got things back to normal my tank had never looked better. Water was crystal clear and the hair algae I had at the time had died off.

 

[Augus7us]

I’ve read that these wouldn’t last for more than a few minutes.

They have sizes all the way up to running your entire tank. Calculate your electrical needs and buy the appropriate size.

 

[ca1ore]

You must not shine full lights any time soon it'll burn bleach

Ramp down lighting slow bring back

This is important. Many ..... MANY ..... years ago I had the boiler fail on my house while I was on vacation. Tank heaters tried to keep up, but ultimately could not. Tank was in the low 60s when I got home. Low temp caused the corals to bleach and then the metal halide lights finished them off.

 

[ca1ore]

I think a Generator is now a required piece of equipment on a valuable reef tank. I ‘invested’ in a standby, have the portable still just in case and two ETM battery backups. I have easily $20K in fish alone .... not risking them.

 

[brandon429]

Agreed my igen 2200 off Amazon ran my old nano and fridge and neighbors fridge for five hours $550~ and Amazon will let most pay it out 87 a mo no financing just spaced withdrawn. get

 

[brandon429]

very quiet too

 

[Adamantium]

I’ve read that these wouldn’t last for more than a few minutes.

BRS did a test of them. They did go for a handful of hours, but not that long. They’re really just designed to give you enough time to let you shutdown your computer during an outage. A dedicated battery backup is better, and generator is best.