How do you prepare for an emergency?

[SeahorseKeeper]

There have been quite a few bad storms in my area recently and I am curious as to how everyone prepares to handle the unexpected when it comes to our tanks.

This is what I have as my just in case plan for the tank. I have several battery operated aerators that are used for bait tanks. I also have an inverter to hook up to car battery to run essential equipment. I keep at least 10 gallons of water on hand at all times (it's usually closer to 20). I also keep plenty of ice and frozen water bottles in the freezer.

Ideally, I would have a generator, but living in an apartment I am limited on space.

[BarbH]

Great idea for a thread, want to eventually got some battery operated pumps to have just in case. I live right across the street from the hospital so when have lost power on occassion it is back on in less than a couple of minutes. But it is nice to be prepared just in case.

[wysiwyg]

i have a generator 2 20lb bags of ice in my chest freezer and some battery operated aerators

[SeahorseKeeper]

The whole reason I got the aerators was due to a hurricane that was going to impact my area last year. I had to go to 4 stores to find them and I had several customers come into my store looking for them. I lucked out and it was not bad. I lost power for five minutes, just as I was microwaving some popcorn.

[Scoly]

I have batter backups on my vortech's, and a generator out in the garage that is for my tanks! Have also herd of people using peroxide in the water to oxygenate it if power goes out. Anyone else herd this?

[SeahorseKeeper]

I have batter backups on my vortech's, and a generator out in the garage that is for my tanks! Have also herd of people using peroxide in the water to oxygenate it if power goes out. Anyone else herd this?

Yes, it does work and can be done for fresh or saltwater tanks. I have 24 bottles of it at my work just in case the power goes out or the fish system goes down for an extended period of time. I forget the dosing, but it is small.

[Cyber-Burn]

I have a "go" kit that I keep stocked with essentials such as battery powered air pumps, batteries, hand warmers, frozen water bottles. I need to get the battery backup for my vortec, and finish getting the generator for the camper and then I will be better prepared for longer outages.

[Mike&Terry]

We have taken a kind of multilayered approach as you never know what may fail or how long an outage may be. Here's a list of our current arsenal:
- several cheap battery operated air pumps on hand, along with a good supply of batteries.

- Automatic battery backup air pumps for our DT and prop-tank/refugium. They run on D batteries and automatically turn on when the power goes out:


- (2) Azoo non-stop air pumps - one connected to our QT and the other in our sump room. Once a month, we unplug them to allow the battery to drain before recharging. We don't have a picture on hand, but here's a link. They will supply air for up to 20 hours.

- A battery backup for our return pump and one of our skimmers (SRO 6000sss) using an AIMS 1500 inverter and AGM marine batteries.




This gives us 6-8 ours of time to work with.

- A 5500w gas generator for extended outages (past the 6-8 hour window). we installed a sub-panel for the generator, that has all of our reef related circuits, along with a couple of other essentials (ex. refrigerator) that are needed in the case of an extended utility outage. We also installed a 30-amp connector on the outside wall of the house to plug the generator into and power the sub-panel when the utility power goes offline.

Here's a pic of the sub-panel:


And the outdoor outlet:


We also keep battery operated fans, several bottles of frozen RO/DI water in our freezer and just in case we should ever need it, a few bottles of 3% hydrogen peroxide as it can be used in an emergency to oxygenate an aquarium.

-M&T

[Steelerfan747]

Great idea for a thread, want to eventually got some battery operated pumps to have just in case. I live right across the street from the hospital so when have lost power on occassion it is back on in less than a couple of minutes. But it is nice to be prepared just in case.

Wow that is a tremendous perk. When mine goes out, it's usually out for at least a couple of hours

[Steelerfan747]

I only have a couple of battery powered air pumps. I used to have a generator but ended up selling it

[steamer51]

One thing I do if we lose power is "stir" my tank with a wooden spoon about every hour to bring oxygen into the water. Seems to help a little if nothing else is available.

[mainereefer]

winter is when I have to worry about power loses. living in maine the tank temp can drop fast when the temp outside is 0.
I used to use battery's, inverters that hooked to the car...... then I got bigger tanks.
I couldnt see having as much $$ as I do in my tank and not being able to spend $700 on a generator to run my tank and 3/4 of my house.

for the past year I have been slowly switching everything I can in my tank over to dc power, the goal is to have it all run from solar panels within the next year or so
now they just need a dc power rke

[blackx-runner]

I'm terrible with "preparing". I have an idea of what I could do if situation arises, but I don't do much in the way of preperation. I have an extension cord and a truck with a power inverter. Should run what needs to be run just fine.

[SeahorseKeeper]

I never really thought about having anything in case of emergency for my tank. Last year, hurricane Irene was due to hit my area. I wanted to be on the cautious side. I mean I did not want to be helpless about my tank if we lost power for a bit. We had some bad storms yesterday morning and some areas still do not have power.

[laskopyre]

I have a generator and gas in my garage. 4 gallons runs the generator for about 8 hrs. That is with powering the fridge/freezer and tanks. Well worth the investment. My power goes out at least 4 times a year. Normally not storm related...bad driver related...lol

[AZDesertRat]

For short term I have a couple of the Penn Plax AC/DC air pumps that can stay plugged in to 120v AC and when they sense a power outage they switch to battery. I also have several of the battery pumps.
For long term I have a 3500w generator on wheels that I keep gassed up with StaBil in the gas so it stays fresh. I keep a couple long extension cords and outlet strips bungeed to the genny so I can have it all set up and running in less than 5 minutes.
I also keep clip on fans, heaters and extra power heads around as back ups.

[EcoFrags]

WOW!!!! Terry and Mike seem to be prepared to keep their tank alive even if the planet explodes i think their tanks would be fine lol...I've just got a few airpumps that are battery, both rechargable and D-cell battery capable.

[bmr]

I bought a honda 6500is after hurricane IKE. I could have done with something a lot smaller but all of the smaller generators had been snapped up. It was buy big or go without. The wife was happy we had power and was very pleased with the purchase.

[MaidOfDishonor]

OMG I'm completely overwhelmed!

I'm still figuring out how my protein skimmer works! And now I've got to worry about power outtages.

This hobby is SO expensive, especially in the beginning, what does everyone recommend for the basics? Start with a battery powered air pump? I don't even have an air pump right now. Do I need one? Is that the same thing that I'd hook an airstone to? I was thinking about getting one of those. I have a filter and protein skimmer and I was hoping that would be enough to oxygenate the water. Do I need a bubbler too? Or is that just in case the power goes out and I can't run my filter and skimmer? I'm going to raise seahorses once my tank finishes cycling (yes I'm that new!)

[MaidOfDishonor]

SO odd. Yesterday morning I read through this thread. That afternoon a tremendous storm knocked out my power! Luckily, we're still cycling the tank so no fish were harmed. But what odd timing!