FlameA450 Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 Well Sandy is going to hit where I live pretty hard (New Jersey). And we are expecting power outtages from falling trees exc. So my question is: What would be the best precautions to take for my fish tanks if the power goes out? Anything that I can do in advance to prepare? Generator is also not an option because we need it to power other parts of our house. Link to comment
Deleted User 3 Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 battery operated outlet? Or a battery operated air pump, and hot water bags to float around for temp, towels and stuff around the tank and a lid to keep heat in if it's cold outside, or ice packs to keep it level temp if it's warm, it'll be okay without light most likely. Link to comment
patback Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 Pull a truck or car up to a window and buy a power inverter. Run the truck every once in a while when temps begin to drop maybe? Link to comment
Kid03 Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 Pull a truck or car up to a window and buy a power inverter. Run the truck every once in a while when temps begin to drop maybe? +1 Big time. Or just take a car battery/inverter and use it to power your wavmaker and or air pumps every so often. I hope your place does not get hit to badly. Link to comment
Haelstrom Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 Well Sandy is going to hit where I live pretty hard (New Jersey). And we are expecting power outtages from falling trees exc. So my question is: What would be the best precautions to take for my fish tanks if the power goes out? Anything that I can do in advance to prepare? Generator is also not an option because we need it to power other parts of our house. I live on the gulf coast and I can tell you from experience that extended power outages are not good. After Katrina we had no power for about 2 days. And almost 2 weeks from a smaller storm. Prepare for the worst and be thankful if it doesn't happen. If you have any UPS's for computers make sure they are fully charged. Use them intermittently to power different stuff on the tank. Recharge them with the generator when you can. I borrowed a couple of 1500 watt UPS's from work during our last storm. If you use frozen fish food then get a stock of ice on had. Freeze gallon jugs of water. More frozen items like water in your freezer the longer it will stay cold. Keep some RO/DI water ready for water changes/top off. We often have to boil water out of the tap for a week or so after storms. Surge water pushes sewage into drinking water supplies. Stock up on gas. Gas stations can't pump gas with out power. Not to mention if trees are down and you can't get to a station. Link to comment
19jeffro83 Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 You'll be ok. Go to Walmart and get bait bucket airators. They take two d batteries are cheap an have the apability to save you tank. But in all honest I think it's another BS hype. I'm in central jersey and I'm not to woried at all. Get a battery powered pump and keep the temp up with towels and such. Good luck. Link to comment
patback Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 You'll be ok. Go to Walmart and get bait bucket airators. They take two d batteries are cheap an have the apability to save you tank. But in all honest I think it's another BS hype. I'm in central jersey and I'm not to woried at all. Get a battery powered pump and keep the temp up with towels and such. Good luck. I read a site last night saying over 30,000 roofs have been blown of and some of the homes completely taken away in the Bahamas. Link to comment
mpg732 Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 Pull a truck or car up to a window and buy a power inverter. Run the truck every once in a while when temps begin to drop maybe? That is one way to do it, how ever when it comes to gas consumption, you are better off with a small generator. Link to comment
brandon429 Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 on reefcentral there is a thread about this and we just worked out that a regular deep cycle car battery can run a reef tank in careful mode (less lights, same pumps and heater) for over a week, well over. a small nano, maybe two. get two or three deep cycle batteries you are set The poster Phrnaque said he ran two tanks for a week w one batt and an inverter Link to comment
patback Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 on reefcentral there is a thread about this and we just worked out that a regular deep cycle car battery can run a reef tank in careful mode (less lights, same pumps and heater) for over a week, well over. a small nano, maybe two. get two or three deep cycle batteries you are set The poster Phrnaque said he ran two tanks for a week w one batt and an inverter Awesome info!!! Thank you. For this storm, my girlfriends father pulled a spare generator out of his garage that he didn't even know he had. Saved me lots of worrying. I will definitely be doing the deep cycle battery next time around. Link to comment
scsdukefan408 Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 Awesome info!!! Thank you. For this storm, my girlfriends father pulled a spare generator out of his garage that he didn't even know he had. Saved me lots of worrying. I will definitely be doing the deep cycle battery next time around. Yeah maybe hype or not as bad as everyone say(lets hope so)...I live in myrtle beach and they said it started off that it was going to hit us and be bad,then it turned into a tropical storm and was suppose to be rough lastnight,but all it did was rain a little not hard at all and the wind blew somewhat...so we got lucky here hopefully so will yall up north Link to comment
BulkRate Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 In the past I've recommended midrange computer ups'. They're nice in that they'll automatically kick in and switch back as the power goes/comes. But pricey, as you have to get pure sine-wave models to ensure a/c driven pumps & power heads will work. Then I saw the power pod/inverter sets at a local auto parts store. About 1/4 the price, but you give up line interactivity. I'd look at one of those to run heaters/pumps and just let your tank have a couple dark days if money's the thing. Link to comment
Iam King Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 Any tips for those that live in ? Link to comment
19jeffro83 Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 Patback I'm kinda just hoping. I almost lost my whole 50 to Irene and it was never the same after. Just keeping my fingers crossed it won't be another 31/2 day outage. Link to comment
reefcowboy Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 I live in Brooklyn, and hear it coming for us pretty bad...lots of flooding and some outages...i have not prepared for an outage and am just crossing my fingers at this point. Im just glad i have a 12 gal with lps now instead of a 60 gal loaded with sps as a few months ago. Hopefuly it wont be as bad as they say it is... Link to comment
ny300z Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 my tank is the only thing im worried about. luckily i work in IT and just threw a big UPS in my trunk. That should run the heater and powerhead for awhile Link to comment
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