After the storm: What's next for your reef?

[skinnywater66]

My tank sat for 40 hours without power before I could get out of the flooded area we were stuck in. I figured it would be a total loss. I left 1 battery powered air pump running when we evacuated and when I fired up the generator and plugged everything back in I was amazed to see everything coming back to life. All 5 fish survived and I lost one acro and that’s it. I was amazed. My fished seemed ticked that they were in the dark so long but got over it quickly when I fed them. Been running on a generator since as we are still waiting on power to be restored. .

 

[Charles Zinn]

I used to battery operated air pumps after adjusting skimmer before the eye hit due west of me. Fumbling in night changing batteries I dropped one pp and it quit working. I was lucky enough to have 2 neighbors with generators
All my frozen food had gone bad I used 2 clips with nori and changed as needed. Once I got a generator hooked up I had return pumps and some lighting reefbrigjt blue lights trips 2 four footers. It's a big tank(planet 310 gal 8ft by 30 by 25). After a couple of days I ventured out to home depot and got a general 6500 portable generator and was able to hitch up tank and 2 refrigerators. After 5 dYs heard from lfs and tested parameters and scheduled a water change 40-50 gal. Have been testing water daily since water change. Power came on at 5pm yesterday. Chemicals a little low.and lfs side not to feed too much and to just use blue lights as initially my nitrates were increasing. Tank is starting to level out. Ordered a backup set of gyres 2 reef-labs ICP tests. Bought some new frozen food and observing corals. 2 days before storm when we had thought it was going north of Tampa I had added a Naso it spent the storm in a peacekeepers. It is doing well and has been added to the big tank.
Have plans to rework wiring so that I can have easy access to power cables in the dark and easier ac ess to generator as get 2 more air pumps which saved everything being without power for a week. Big learning expdrience

 

[GARRIGA]

BTW, according to Dr Tim, bacteria don't die because oxygen deprived or food source removed. Just go dormant, therefore, post power coming on that bacterial filter should be back to speed rather fast.

Theory I have is that autotrophic bacteria will deplete remaining available oxygen and continue to convert ammonia and nitrites. Any ammonia remaining because oxygen depleted would remain. Heterotrophic bacteria would continue to consume detritus and utilize nitrates and nitrites along with sulfur until all carbon is consumed. Might be smart to have a dirty filter. It's not like nature stops just because the flow was cut off. However, to what extent there is ammonia, nitrites and nitrates is unknown but would be an interesting experiment to conduct unless it has been done and perhaps one can provide a link. There would be nitrogen abd hydrogen sulfide contained in the filter from the decomposition process along with possibly methane from denitrification. Why I mentioned gassing that by having the effluent go to the surface under heavy agitation. Not everyone has the option to empty a filter out of it's contents including the water.

 

[Adolfo]

Lost all my fish and 98% of my corals frags and colonies thanks to Ian dang it

 

[Charles Zinn]

Lost all my fish and 98% of my corals frags and colonies thanks to Ian dang it

That's a rough one to swallow

 

[CoralB]

Lost all my fish and 98% of my corals frags and colonies thanks to Ian dang it

I am so sorry to hear that . Your city got hit really hard . Our thoughts and prayers go out to you and anyone who didn’t fare well from this devastating storm .

 

[Gary67]

never lost power i was fine ne florida lost power for about 1 minutee thats it changed water on Monday all is well i lucked out i had a couple of batterie poerd airpumps ready in case just happy all went well

 

[Adolfo]

That's a rough one to swallow

Yes, still thinking how to start over

 

[Adolfo]

I am so sorry to hear that . Your city got hit really hard . Our thoughts and prayers go out to you and anyone who didn’t fare well from this devastating storm .

Really appreciate it !
Thanks

 

[Imrahilwjz]

About one and a half years ago I had a 90 gallon tank which was doing well. I moved to another house 2 hours south of it. My brother was feeding the tank and I was doing other maintenance every 2 weeks. I was getting ready to set up a new 180 gallon tank with a 50 gallon sump when an ice storm blasted the area around the house with the 90 gallon tank. The power went out and the temperature in the house dropped into the 40s. We had a backup generator for the location but it was in the shop for repairs. My brother was trapped in the area for 3-4 days until trees could be cleared off the surrounding roads. Of course at 42 degrees Fahrenheit the tank crashed. Last Fall I had a Generac generator installed at my new place. Fortunately it also serves to keep the wife happy during power outages and is not considered solely an aquarium expense. I am now starting a 320 gallon system.

 

[zpete3323]

After the Iowa Derecho we had last year (and the losses that occurred) I have added in a 400ah battery backup w/ 3kw inverter (generator quick charge capabilities too)
to keep my system safe. Runs the upstairs nano and the basement 500g frag system for about 3 days before needing a genny for a couple hours. Looking into solar for it in the future.

Beyond that I just check in with the system every couple of hours to make sure everything is within spec and entertain the tangs with nori to keep them from getting bored...

 

[kenchilada]

Ran my generator for several days after Ida. Finding gas was not fun, spent many hours driving around and waiting in line. But I had zero losses.

 

[Gatorpa]

After the Iowa Derecho we had last year (and the losses that occurred) I have added in a 400ah battery backup w/ 3kw inverter (generator quick charge capabilities too)
to keep my system safe. Runs the upstairs nano and the basement 500g frag system for about 3 days before needing a genny for a couple hours. Looking into solar for it in the future.

Beyond that I just check in with the system every couple of hours to make sure everything is within spec and entertain the tangs with nori to keep them from getting bored...

What’s that rig coast ballpark?

 

[zpete3323]

What’s that rig coast ballpark?

I got a nice discount as I work in parts but retail I think the parts ran about $2800-$3000 all said and done. Batteries were like $1800 of it from Renogy.

That included running 8 recepticals around the room and the 30a line from the home panel. 4 battery backup recepticals and 4 standard recepticals (one paired with the other) in each of the 4 corners of the room.

 

[DeputyDog95]

Subscribed. My tank got hammered... Have to run but will update later what happened and what I'm doing now. So depressing.

 

[Sailaway]

I live in Clearwater and was without power for 4 days. I hooked the filter up to my car with a extension cord for 3 days straight so there was atleast oxygen. No lights.

my bubble tip has been closed since the power came back on.

I think it may be gone. All my fish survived. I was adding rodi water for evap.

but I don’t know what to do about the bubble tip. It housed my clowns and they seem very upset.

its closed up tight.

I know it sounds silly, but it was my pride of the tank. I didn’t know how devastated I’d be. I’m still hopeful. But also trying to be a realist.
Complete water change, I did start lights back on slow but they are back to full spectrum now.

In hindsight I’m glad I had the HOB for the tank and the sump wasn’t installed because I only needed the one plug to “survive”.

I hope the bubble tip bounces back. Glad all the fish made it!

 

[cvicente]

I live in Puerto Rico, so to us hurricanes are like playing dodgeball, we know we will get hit eventually. In my experience the keys to tank survival are electric efficiency, moderate bioload and simplicity. Tanks that draw too much current will require large energy backups. Too much complexity means more things can go wrong during an outage. Over stocked tanks will suffer much more that moderately stocked tanks. Use DC return pumps and adjust flow to the lowest draw to maintain close to 8 to 10X water turnover, you don't need more water flow during a power outage. Run a high efficiency chiller because depending where you live outside temperature can rise and in my experience high temperature is the #1 coral killer after a big hurricane. In my system I run a Vectra M2, adjusted to draw only 43w. The Vectra is connected to an APC UPS that gives me 2 hours of runtime. When the UPS runs out of energy the Vectra and 1 MP40 draw current from a bank of lead acid batteries that gives me another 11 hours. Lithium ion backups like Goal Zero Yeti with solar panels will work but only if you have enough panels and enough sunlight to compensate the daily current draw of your system. In my case a Honda 3000 inverter generator was my lifeline during hurricane María, I was 28 days without power, and I was one of the lucky few !! Many people were without power for over 3 months. Adjust the instensity of your LED fixtures or dimmable T5s, you don't need 600 PAR during an outage. In my experience corals will start to suffer from bleaching after 1 week without illumination, that's if the temperature is below 83 degrees, if it gets passed 86 for just a couple of days you will start losing corals. Battery air pumps work on small tanks but on mid to large systems you will need to run your powerheads 24/7. In reef tanks bacteria will consume oxygen very fast and water circulation is crucial to fish and coral survival. If there are no major die offs after the energy is restored, do not perform a water change, the system is already stressed and a water change will add more stress. Always be prepared and design your system to overcome this types of natural events.

 

[Alexusmc]

Great info guys! I plan on retiring and moving Florida early next year. I will be driving down or shipping my 50 gallon and livestock.

 

[N.Sreefer]

My honest answer to this after hurricane Fiona.. start over from scratch or possibly leave the hobby. Sometimes prep can’t prepare for everything 12 days with no power, no fuel for the generator = nothing left alive.

 

[GARRIGA]

My honest answer to this after hurricane Fiona.. start over from scratch or possibly leave the hobby. Sometimes prep can’t prepare for everything 12 days with no power, no fuel for the generator = nothing left alive.

Why I haven't started a reef tank again since early 90s when out of power for three days. That was due to winter storm in the North East. Now I've had two power outrages living in Florida due to Hurricanes, 2005 and 2017. Both would have been catastrophic. Need to ensure I have the ability to go several days.

Luckily new home in a community that has better provisions like underground cables and power likely not going to be cutoff too long but still need my own provisions for three to seven days based on outage 2017. Otherwise fish only since temps not an issue and I can keep a pump going with portable lithium batteries.