I think it's all over

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Pntbll687

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Great to hear! I am a firm believer that a generator is almost a must have for a Reef tank. I live in a mobile home park that is separate from the municipal power grid. The inverts blew up one night and I lost power for 5 days. Thankfully I had a Honda eu2000 that ran both of my tanks (a 110 and a 50) with lights and all for a solid 8-10 hours before needing to be refilled.

I'm gonna stop a real power outage system once this is over. I can't run lights and everything because there are only two outlets on the generator, and I wasn't going to plug a surge protector into an extension cord that goes outside in the rain.

But I have learned my lesson on power outage preparedness
 

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I'm gonna stop a real power outage system once this is over. I can't run lights and everything because there are only two outlets on the generator, and I wasn't going to plug a surge protector into an extension cord that goes outside in the rain.

But I have learned my lesson on power outage preparedness
One of these. No worries if you are not at home at work, vacation, etc.

IMG_1842.JPG
 
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Pntbll687

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And the power is back!!

All fish are accounted for except for my dragonette and fire fish. I don't see any bodies, so I'm not overly concerned at this point.

Shrooms and Xenia look terrible, that's about it. All my lps look good, and my montipora actually look good.

I'm gonna test chemicals tomorrow, this will be the first time in about 6-7 months where I test anything. Then I'll do water changes in both tanks.

All in all power was out just over 24hrs. This probably would not have happened without my wife. She took the baby, and the contents of our freezer/fridge to her mother's at 2am and let me go get the generator and do what I needed.

And thank you to everyone who put forth ideas and helped me out, and even those offering to loan me equipment.

Here's a pic of the big tank currently
IMG_20180516_155937.jpg


And the little one
IMG_20180516_160121.jpg
 

MnFish1

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One of these. No worries if you are not at home at work, vacation, etc.

IMG_1842.JPG
Did the same thing with natural gas. The generator cost 4000. The modifications to the gas cost another 5000
 

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Glad to hear things worked out!

+1 to generator of some kind I plan to have the natural gas one added to my electrical in a few years

I currently have several Marine Battery's and inverters to keep me running about 72hrs worth on main return pump and wavemakers.
 

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Battery operated air-pumps are the best solutions, in my opinion.
They take the common AA batteries. A catastrophic power failure is a rare event and buying an expensive generator is not the best use of resources.
Just buy 2-3 of these pumps, get some batteries which literally can last for days.
 

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Go to Walmart and go to the fishing section, buy 3-4 of the "Mr Bubbles" that takes D cell betteries. Have them laying around. Unless your tank gets freezing cold that's all you need.

Don't get me wrong -- get a generator if you can... But if you can't, that alone and maybe a bag of hot water now and again will keep things just fine for awhile.
 

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One of these. No worries if you are not at home at work, vacation, etc.

IMG_1842.JPG
I wish these weren't so doggone spendy. Well worth the investment, I'm sure, but I'd have to take out a loan to get one installed. :/
 

mike werner

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I wish these weren't so doggone spendy. Well worth the investment, I'm sure, but I'd have to take out a loan to get one installed. :/
hey pn. looks like you have far more invested in the tank than a $300 generator would cost at home depot to save it all.i lost a lot more than that 12 years ago without one.we rarely loose power but last month we went without for 12+ hours with no losses now that we have one. plus you could run the fridge,some lights and a few more thing in an emergency on a 2500watt unit.remember fool me once as they say.but seriously glad you survived this time.
 
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So we had some pretty bad storms today. Power has been out since 4pm, it's now after midnight.

Electric supplier has estimated power return time at 11pm on 5/17. That's two more days!!!

I don't have a battery back up on my tank. I'm stirring water by hand every 2 hrs. But it's all over, I have to work tomorrow, and when I get back they'll all be gone
That sucks. By a small generator and then bring it back when you're done with it

Sent from my SM-N950U using REEF2REEF mobile app
 
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Pntbll687

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Battery operated air-pumps are the best solutions, in my opinion.
They take the common AA batteries. A catastrophic power failure is a rare event and buying an expensive generator is not the best use of resources.
Just buy 2-3 of these pumps, get some batteries which literally can last for days.

At 1am my options were slim. There was one walmart open 24hrs. I bought a generator, and that's that. Was it the best use of resources, yes, at that time it was. I needed something NOW to save the tank. I'm fortunate enough that the hit to the wallet won't leave a mark. And i'm prepared for next time.
 
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Pntbll687

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hey pn. looks like you have far more invested in the tank than a $300 generator would cost at home depot to save it all.i lost a lot more than that 12 years ago without one.we rarely loose power but last month we went without for 12+ hours with no losses now that we have one. plus you could run the fridge,some lights and a few more thing in an emergency on a 2500watt unit.remember fool me once as they say.but seriously glad you survived this time.

Yea, just a tad more than that invested in the tank.
 
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Pntbll687

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This thread was a roller coaster of emotion. I'm so glad that everything worked out for you :D

It was a space shuttle of emotions while it was happening!!!

The worst part was trying to get the wheels and feet assembled on the generator, in the dark. I kept going back and forth from where the tank is to the garage, and forgetting to bring the flashlight with me EVERY TIME.
 

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