Lost Everything To Ida - How to Protect Your Reef Investment?

[ruegaroo]

I lost my tank to Ida. It was very sobering to lose everything I spent so much time, money and effort growing and nurturing. I got my tank through some very hard times. Dinos, cyano, GHA, velvet outbreak, etc. 2 years down the line and I felt my tank was in the perfect position to thrive with little involvement from me. Then Ida blew through and killed everything. I thought about quitting but I'm already planning the re-scape. Then I thought about how to protect myself in the event that another disaster kills everything again.

The best way to protect a tank would be to have a generator. That's a given. Any kind of circulation in the tank may have kept it alive throughout the extended power outage. However, I live in a condo and generators are frowned upon. Maybe if it came down to it, I would just pay any violation fees that are a result of running a generator to keep my tank alive. Would probably be cheaper than replacing everything in the tank.

Does anybody here have an insurance policy that cover the contents within a tank? After tallying up the price on all my corals, I wish there was some kind of insurance that would cover this stuff. It would be nice to be able to get a chunk of money to help get my reef back on its feet.

Does anybody else have any other ideas? One of those battery backups is going to be a future investment for me but they only last a few days. Power was out at my home for 10 days.

 

[ruegaroo]

Here's a before and after shot.

Before (so beautiful, so awesome):

After (so ugly, so sad):

 

[LeftyReefer]

uh yeah!

I don't live anywhere near the ocean, so hurricanes aren't even possible here.... yet I have 2 generators.

 

[ruegaroo]

uh yeah!

I don't live anywhere near the ocean, so hurricanes aren't even possible here.... yet I have 2 generators.

A generator seems to be a very wise investment when reef keeping

 

[QuarantinedCorals]

Oh man I'm so sorry for your losses. Like you said the generator probably would've gave your tank a chance. I've thought about insuring my tank which I know you can but I'm not sure if you can insure what's inside of it. I hope you can bounce back from this and continue reefing, much love. Good luck!

 

[ruegaroo]

Oh man I'm so sorry for your losses. Like you said the generator probably would've gave your tank a chance. I've thought about insuring my tank which I know you can but I'm not sure if you can insure what's inside of it. I hope you can bounce back from this and continue reefing, much love. Good luck!

Thank you. I'm both excited and upset that I get to start over fresh.

 

[Epic Aquaculture]

So sorry for you loss. I lost a tank to Hurricane Irma when we lived in the Florida Keys a few years ago (see this build thread for pics at the beginning https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/sawcjacks-red-sea-reefer-750-xxl-build.369431/ Even with a generator you have to have fuel. I kept my tank alive for a week before running out of gas, and there was no gas anywhere near us. Lost power for 28 days so the tank never had a chance. My solution was to move to Arizona LOL but that's not for everyone. Prep as much as possible, but sometimes mother nature has other ideas

 

[X-37B]

Get a generator!
A small honda generator on a balcony is not that load.
I live in a house and even if I did not have tanks I would have a generator.
Check yout rental agreement.
It may say nothing about running a generator during power outages.
Sorry for the loss yout tank was awesome by the way.

 

[Sleepingtiger]

Man, so sorry to hear.
Honestly you don't have to have a generator.
You can buy two 100amp 12v LifePO4 for about $1200 and have it power your vortech, vetra and maybe a skimmer for at least week. Someone in the DIY sub forum has the wiring instructions.

You can go with AGM batteries and it will cost around $300

 

[Subsea]

I have used $20 battery backup air pump which lasted for 2 weeks after my hurricane experience near Lake Charles. Albeit, the bubbles were slow.

 

[NoahLikesFish]

that tank looked beautiful. honestly what i did when a tornado almost hit our house about a year ago was put all my fish in a plastic bag and used a bait pump. this was freshwater though and they all survived.

 

[Gtinnel]

Sorry for the loss, as I buy more and more corals I wouldn't keep a tank without a generator. I have a whole house generator in event of a power outage, and I have access to a portable generator just in case the main generator would fail for some reason.

 

[N.Sreefer]

+1 to the D cell air pump its saved my tank during alot of storms.

 

[BZOFIQ]

Sorry to hear about your misfortune.

Frankly, I don't understand how people with so much invested into the hobby don't have a generator. I got one 7 years ago and just picked up a smaller portable one past weekend because the thought of the one I already have failing just made me do it. I now have two!

Note to all - Skip the next $1200 polyp and get a portable Honda or the like!....unless you're in an apartment building.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

+1 to the D cell air pump its saved my tank during alot of storms.

Another vote for D cell air pumps. Both fish and coral can take lower temps for a time. Stagnant water with no flow is a death sentence. I live in wild fire country and lost power 6 times last year. I keep 5 pumps on hand and a bucket of batteries. I get about 16 hours on one set of D cells.

 

[Gtinnel]

Sorry to hear about your misfortune.

Frankly, I don't understand how people with so much invested into the hobby don't have a generator. I got one 7 years ago and just picked up a smaller portable one past weekend because the thought of the one I already have failing just made me do it. I now have two!

Note to all - Skip the next $1200 polyp and get a portable Honda or the like!....unless you're in an apartment building.

I think even if I were to live in a apartment I'd still keep a inverter generator and find a way to make it work in the event of an extended power outage. They're small and surprisingly quiet. I was at a sporting event for my kids a week ago and I sat beside a snow cone stand that had one running the whole time, and it was no louder than someone talking.

 

[BZOFIQ]

I think even if I were to live in a apartment I'd still keep a inverter generator and find a way to make it work in the event of an extended power outage. They're small and surprisingly quiet. I was at a sporting event for my kids a week ago and I sat beside a snow cone stand that had one running the whole time, and it was no louder than someone talking.

You're right - both of my Hondas running in ECO mode are stupid quiet. Highly recommended.

 

[Sleepingtiger]

How long would a typical generator last on a full tank of gas if you had to power one wavemaker, skimmer and a return pump?

 

[BZOFIQ]

How long would a typical generator last on a full tank of gas if you had to power one wavemaker, skimmer and a return pump?

The Honda EU2200 will power your whole tank and you can charge your phone and laptops at the same time and would last more than 8 hours on a whole tank which is less than a gallon. Super quiet and looks like a little red suitcase. Couldn't be happier with this additional purchase, even though I already had the EU3000

The new model even has a built-in Bluetooth to connect to your phone for status monitoring.

 

[Sshannon]

I'm curious if anyone has had success with insuring both fish AND coral that die. Seeing as how valuable an asset they can be, I would love to hear if anyone has a company they have worked with to recover from a financial loss such as this.