what to do when the power goes out?

[JuniorMC8704]

lets here everyones battle plan when a storm rolls in and the power goes out.

whats your emergency setup?

how long do you have?

is it automatic?

are you going to flood??

are you really ready???

 

[reefboy]

I have a 3500watt generater will run all main pumps and enough gas for probly a week but most power outages are only a few hours at the most in my area thankfully.

 

[Teeka]

Living in hurricane alley I have a generator. It is not big enough to handle the MH lights but will handle everything else. As soon as my hubby gets his inhertience we are getting a permant one to run the house and my soon to be tank room.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

I honestly must say that I am NOT ready! Arggg....

I need to set up a system so that I am ready when trouble hits. For now it would be scooping and pouring. I plan on a built in generator in the new house.

 

[JuniorMC8704]

ive got my return pump on a APC battery backup, that gives a whopping 10 minutes or so, but thats being up graded when i can come up with 200 bucks, and ill then have 2 hours of back up.

I also have a vortech, and sprung for the battery backup which gives me 36 hours of 2000GPH flow.

I then have an 8000watt generator that will run the whole system for about 18 hours on a tank of gas.

 

[MarvinsReef]

I plan on pickin' up a generator in the near future...

 

[Poseidon]

I have an inverter to run from a car battery, that lasts for a few hours. Neighbor has a generator, I can plug in there, at least the tank.

I want a small generator, just for tank/TV/Fridge.... I think 3K should be plenty for that.

 

[fishes2889]

Air bubblers...3 of them, thats all i need and ever needed. Power went out for 3 days, just kept the bubblers going and lost nothing...

 

[JuniorMC8704]

what you have to watch is the startup usage of your appliances. Sometimes as much as twice the "wattage" posted.

Just a heads up, also, try to get one that has a wattage/amps being used. without it, its hard to say how long youll have.

I have an inverter to run from a car battery, that lasts for a few hours. Neighbor has a generator, I can plug in there, at least the tank.

I want a small generator, just for tank/TV/Fridge.... I think 3K should be plenty for that.

 

[detguy123]

i have a generator that i can get from work..but i had the power go out before and my battery back up lasted for 10 hours...i boosted it from work..i have no idea what kind it is but i only kept the return and and couple of other things on that..i also have some air bubblers as well..but with all these storms here of late..i got things together just in case

 

[Who Dah?]

Air Bubblers that enable on their own when power is lost (if someone knows of a better one, I'm all ears!):
http://www.petsolutions.com/Silent+Air+B11+Battery+Back+up+Pump-I-30129045-I-C-10106-C-.aspx

And a small Backup Battery that powers the tunze's for about an hour and a half. After which, I fire up the generator and charge up the Backup Battery (Tunze's are going the whole time) which takes about 30 minutes. Then I power down the generator and run off the Backup Battery for another hour and half.

Contingencies are inverters running off the car to do the same thing.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Can someone explain to me how to set up to run an inverter or something off the car? What parts and things will I need and how what can I run?

 

[stylaster]

funny that this topic is here. We lost power yesterday, i had to go home and start the battery powered air pump, luckily the power outage was only an hour so no ill effects on the tank... whew!
Roy

 

[FateX8]

i have a house generator, well not my house so not mine but my roomate that owns the house has a house generator
supposed to last for 3 days i think
only problem is it takes a few seconds to kick in which in those few seconds shuts off my pump and if the pump doesnt restart then im f'd because its gunna drain ~20 gallons
and the sump is only ~15 gallons with only ~5-10 gallons of wiggle room so i need to get an apc for the pumps just for those few seconds so it doesnt shut off completely
im getting my chiller sometime this week so thatll keep the tank cool
so im pretty set for a lil bit

 

[coral diver]

Same thing 2 battery powered AIR BUBBLER with a 12v proppeler type power head

 

[EliteReefs]

i dont do anything but smile as my auto generator switch the entire house back on for any power outage more then 30 min. last year it got us through a four day power outage with full function in the house w/ air. single best purchase i have ever made for the house

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

i dont do anything but smile as my auto generator switch the entire house back on for any power outage more then 30 min. last year it got us through a four day power outage with full function in the house w/ air. single best purchase i have ever made for the house

I will have this on my new house...

 

[Poseidon]

Rev- I bought my 12V inverter at a Sam's Club. It is 500W and only cost $30-40, just hook up the alligator clips to a 12V battery, and run a cord to the tank. I have used it to power 2 Nano Streams, for 6 hours, with no problem at all. Now I have a Vortech, so I may just add the battery back up to it, then go with the 12V, then the to the neighbor....

Until I get my own generator that is.