WV Reefer's 12 Gallon Long and Dirty: Home of The Worm

[WV Reefer]

Going on hour five with no power. 

 

 

[seabass]

At least you got an air pump.  Way to plan ahead!

 

It should be fine, but I hope it comes back on soon.

[WV Reefer]

Just now, seabass said:

At least you got an air pump.  Way to plan ahead!

 

It should be fine, but I hope it comes back on soon.

 

[Lula_Mae]

How frustrating!  Hope it comes back soon.

[WV Reefer]

Going on over 12 hours with no power.  may not be back on until Sunday. 

[seabass]

Oooh nooo!    Hope all goes well.

[gogeta]

Wtf. Maybe rent a generator? 

 

Edit - depending on what time Sunday and when Sunday is for you in the world 

[WV Reefer]

3 minutes ago, gogeta said:

Wtf. Maybe rent a generator? 

 

Edit - depending on what time Sunday and when Sunday is for you in the world 

 

That only works if you can get out to get one..... it's called a flood   

 

And Two of them didn't work which is why I'm on battery power. 

[StinkyBunny]

You need to get a generator that will take care of the whole house, preferably a diesel genset. I bought an old Soviet military generator 25 years ago, the damn thing will power 3 houses running AC or electric heat. With the wars winding down, there will be a LOT of US made generators up for sale in the not too distant future for dirt cheap, about $1000-$2000. Get an electrician to wire it in for you.

[gone_PHiSHin]

wow sorry to hear this 

 

so what is the protocol here if you can't get a generator, other than running a battery powered airstone and hoping for the best?  

 

is there anything else you should do?

[seabass]

Aeration is the most important.  I'd certainly have some Prime available in case you have some die off.  Try to monitor the tank, visually and maybe even regular ammonia tests.  Unless you have some fish that require multiple feedings per day, I might suspend feeding until power is restored.  If you must feed, cut back a little.  The fish will be less active without the lights on (and hopefully, cooler temperatures) so they won't expend as much energy.

 

Christy, how are the temperatures in the tank right now?  Cooler temperatures can help with oxygen saturation.  You don't want temps to climb much beyond 82° F.  If they do, you might choose to float some ice cubes in a zip top bag.

 

In a pinch, you could buy a generator.  But in a mass power outage, I doubt that you will find one.  Another possibility is a power inverter from your car.  It wouldn't be suitable to run until tomorrow, but you could potentially run a fan for awhile, a powerhead, and/or maybe a filter.

[RIP Sebastian]

Hope it comes back soon!

[gone_PHiSHin]

yeah i assume aeration and temp control are the two essentials.  

 

we're all wishing the best OP, this is one of my favorite tanks!  

[WV Reefer]

Thanks for all the good vibes.  ?

 

I stayed up all night running the battery powered pump for an hour in each tank.  Once it was light enough to see we got the small generator working long enough to run the 12 long while I switched the other tanks on and off the battery powered pump.  The waters had receded enough to get through and finally run the bigger generator.  So now all tanks are running!!! Everyone seems no worse for wear except Scooter Rico who I found on the floor at one point....... he was pretty crunchy but he made it.  

 

We had to sacrifice the entire stock of food in the fridge and freezer to run only the tank, so all my frozen food was ruined..... but all in all it could have been worse.  

We had it easy..... part of my dads roof blew off and streamed water into his dining room..... one of the rentals had water coming out of the wall, we still don't know where it came from...... fences in trees.....

 

Electric has been flashing so I hope it will be back on soon.  

[Weetabix7]

10 minutes ago, WV Reefer said:

Thanks for all the good vibes.  ?

 

I stayed up all night running the battery powered pump for an hour in each tank.  Once it was light enough to see we got the small generator working long enough to run the 12 long while I switched the other tanks on and off the battery powered pump.  The waters had receded enough to get through and finally run the bigger generator.  So now all tanks are running!!! Everyone seems no worse for wear except Scooter Rico who I found on the floor at one point....... he was pretty crunchy but he made it.  

 

We had to sacrifice the entire stock of food in the fridge and freezer to run only the tank, so all my frozen food was ruined..... but all in all it could have been worse.  

We had it easy..... part of my dads roof blew off and streamed water into his dining room..... one of the rentals had water coming out of the wall, we still don't know where it came from...... fences in trees.....

 

Electric has been flashing so I hope it will be back on soon.  

 

Wow. 

Sorry for all the chaos for you and your community, glad you're okay. 

[WV Reefer]

4 minutes ago, Weetabix7 said:

 

Wow. 

Sorry for all the chaos for you and your community, glad you're okay. 

 

Thanks so much!  I was freaking out.

 

It was a perfect storm ( haha ) of everything going wrong at once..... really bad day at work, crazy storm, flash flood, power lines down, street blocked, two generators that malfunctioned..... I was about to lose my sh*t!  lol. Thanks to the universe for my little battery powered travel pump!  It certainly saved the day.  

[Weetabix7]

Just now, WV Reefer said:

 

Thanks so much!  I was freaking out.

 

It was a perfect storm ( haha ) of everything going wrong at once..... really bad day at work, crazy storm, flash flood, power lines down, street blocked, two generators that malfunctioned..... I was about to lose my sh*t!  lol. Thanks to the universe for my little battery powered travel pump!  It certainly saved the day.  

 

Geez. 

Soooo glad you made it through that!!

Really changes your perspective on some things, dunnit?

[StinkyBunny]

I'm trying to put this together, did the flood waters get to the generators?

[WV Reefer]

11 minutes ago, StinkyBunny said:

I'm trying to put this together, did the flood waters get to the generators?

 

No. The small back up generator just would not work..... still not sure what was wrong with it......    The big generator had something wrong as well and all the pertinent tools were in my husbands work truck that we couldn't get to at that time. 

We couldn't exit our street because of water and downed power lines.  All the storm drains were full and the entire neighborhood was flooded. 

It could have been worse for us obviously but it was just one of those days where the back up to the back up to the back up failed. 

[Nixperience]

This sounds awful. Glad you made it through. 

[WV Reefer]

3 minutes ago, Nixperience said:

This sounds awful. Glad you made it through. 

 

Thank you.  The tank seems ok so Im ok. 

[WV Reefer]

 

[StinkyBunny]

Redundancy is always the key with anything, even then, redundancy for redundancy will fail, Murphy's Law.

[WV Reefer]

8 minutes ago, StinkyBunny said:

Redundancy is always the key with anything, even then, redundancy for redundancy will fail, Murphy's Law.

 

Truth 

[seabass]

47 minutes ago, WV Reefer said:

 

I picked up a couple of those (exact same pumps) from Walmart during a 8 hour power outage.  They are sure handy to have around when you don't want to fire up a generator.