My Tank crash - Hopefully you can learn from my experience

[Salty1962]

Dang, I'm sorry to hear about loosing such beautiful animals. Hopefully you can figure it out and start over better than before! Do you know what happened? Good Luck!

 

[loumaggs]

I just wanted to say Thank you to everyone for your kind words... It's been a tough experience

 

[erinmegan85]

I can't even imagine the heartache of losing so much in such a beautiful tank. I agree with everyone else though, don't give up on the hobby!

 

[c-horse]

Whoa. I am sad to hear about your lost, such a beautiful tank. Thank you for sharing your experience it may help some of us prepare better for the future.

Wishing you all the best.

 

[Reef Junky150]

Sorry for the horrible experience, have you ever considered a generator for not only the tank but the entire home? My father and I both backfeed generators to our homes when power is out. Not only are the tanks fully functional but your home is as well.

 

[Kungpaoshizi]

Well that sucks
This is the very nightmare I never want to have to deal with, got myself an AIMS 1500w UL inverter and a 125AH AGM battery. Now my stuff can run for a good day or so with no power. I never thought I would need it but it's kept everything going a couple times now during thunderstorms.
Hopefully the remainder of your livestock will pull through!!

 

[loumaggs]

Sorry for the horrible experience, have you ever considered a generator for not only the tank but the entire home? My father and I both backfeed generators to our homes when power is out. Not only are the tanks fully functional but your home is as well.

I've ordered a battery back up now

 

[4FordFamily]

I've ordered a battery back up now x

I have one but don't know how to use it. Is it something we have to scoop in and plug in a heater and powerhead in to it once we know the power is out? Or is there a way to set it up prior.

What did you buy if you don't mind I ask?

I'm pretty challenged with this stuff.

 

[EmmaG]

What to learn from this is not that you need a battery backup but you need one that will automatically turn on if the power goes out. A generator wouldn't have helped as most were dead by the time she woke up. Unfortunately Ecotech is the only one that makes a decent battery so you will to have vortechs to use this.

 

[-Logzor]

What to learn from this is not that you need a battery backup but you need one that will automatically turn on if the power goes out. A generator wouldn't have helped as most were dead by the time she woke up. Unfortunately Ecotech is the only one that makes a decent battery so you will to have vortechs to use this.

I believe Tunze will also automatically switch using the safety connector and deep cycle battery. In fact you could probably rig up the Tunze back-up for a lot cheaper.

There are also these little D battery powered air pumps that will oxygenate your water and those switch on automatically.

 

[pickupman66]

5 years ago, we had some tornadoes in our area. Unfortunately we were out of town at the time. Our power was out for almost 24 hours. I had a friend come over about 6 hours into the power outage and add a powerhead on a battery backup. all my tangs were laying on their sides but somehow all recovered. I think the tank went down as fast due to number of fish in the system. I only had 4 large fish compared to the large number in this tank.

Keep your chin up. If you havent had a crash, you arent a real reefkeeper.

 

[EmmaG]

I believe Tunze will also automatically switch using the safety connector and deep cycle battery. In fact you could probably rig up the Tunze back-up for a lot cheaper.

There are also these little D battery powered air pumps that will oxygenate your water and those switch on automatically.

I don't know how to rig my own battery and it would probably burn down my house. The pumps that run on DC battery's are good bit for a large tank you would need a bunch and no one wants a bunch of air stones in their tank all the time.

 

[Drmiami]

I have the same setup of power inverter with 6 in line batteries, runs main pump for about 8hrs and has saved the day a couple of times.

So many things can go wrong it's hard to have a backup of the backup...

I've had my float switch stuck, putting constant RO water lowering salinity, caught it on time...

Pump Check valve failure

I've had chiller failure, this one killed most of my system recently, now I have a more professional unit as it is outdoors taking a beating by the elements.

Protein skimmer water sensor fail (external protein skimmer due to size and space restrictions)

Now I have the battery backup inverter, live camera, gas generator, aqua controller sending me alerts of power failure, temp, ph and salinity.

I check my float switch as part of routine check, clean check valves every six months have multiple water sensors for alerts, all from learning the hard way.

The point is, you always learn something new, and doing an assessment of what can go wrong in our systems and having a plan for the inevitable should be a lesson to any new members reading. What can go wrong, will go wrong eventually...

This story continues to break my heart, you are too sweet for this and your tank was a sight to see...

I hope you are feeling a little better and find courage to continue this difficult but rewarding hobbie.

Well that sucks
This is the very nightmare I never want to have to deal with, got myself an AIMS 1500w UL inverter and a 125AH AGM battery. Now my stuff can run for a good day or so with no power. I never thought I would need it but it's kept everything going a couple times now during thunderstorms.
Hopefully the remainder of your livestock will pull through!!

 

[MCooper]

So very sorry to hear about this!

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

As long as you're mindful of the consumption, a 1500VA UPS will run a 50W return pump and a 35W skimmer for over an hour and a half. The skimmer and pump would provide flow and oxygenation during the outage. Assuming you had a fallback plan like a generator, this would give you time to get that working. If nothing else, you could pull the battery from your car and pair that with an inverter or even run an extension cord from your car if it has an AC outlet.

There are lots of options. At least a UPS would switch automatically and buy you some time.

 

[MCooper]

Well that sucks
This is the very nightmare I never want to have to deal with, got myself an AIMS 1500w UL inverter and a 125AH AGM battery. Now my stuff can run for a good day or so with no power. I never thought I would need it but it's kept everything going a couple times now during thunderstorms.
Hopefully the remainder of your livestock will pull through!!

What exactly is that? I need to get this stuff as well so wanna make sure I get what is proper and needed.

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

What exactly is that? I need to get this stuff as well so wanna make sure I get what is proper and needed.

Check this out...$140 off of Amazon.
https://www.cyberpowersystems.com/products/ups/intelligent-lcd/cp1500avrlcd#section-runtime

You could plug your critical devices like powerheads and air pumps into this device and it will keep them running when the power goes out. Just make sure to locate it away from areas that could be susceptible to water splash or high humidity.

If you get an inverter, you can also hook it up to a battery (AGM is just a type of battery, but much better than traditional lead acid batteries) to power critical equipment. However, automated switching gets a little more involved.

 

[Colin Chaplin]

No Babe, sorry to hear that wow. But some good advice get some back up for your system, is there not any alarms available for this situations?.

 

[nitro]

Very sorry...

 

[Dextereef]

oh geez. so sorry for the loss. power failure?