Multi day schedule power outage - questions

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

I am having a whole house generator installed. Tomorrow is day 1. It’s a complicated install as I have 400 amps of power inbound and 4 panel boxes. Essentially 2 feeds coming into my house. I’ll have multiple ATS units.

I’m going to be without power from 8 am to 5 pm for the next 3 days.

I have my overly complicated 550g system, 8g nano, 40g QT with 5 fish going through QT and a 260g system.

My 550g system has a LiFePo4 auto transfer system that will keep critical life (no heat) going for a couple days. Nothing else has battery back up.

If it were one day - I wouldn’t care. But 3 can easily turn into 4. The power will be down for my photo periods. The nano and the 260g aren’t really critical in this conversation. But I would mirror what I do. I am very concerned about my SPS system. My photoperiod is 14 hours with 10 of that in full spectrum. The IG video below will give you an idea of the intense nature of my lighting.

I’m thinking about changing the clock in both my Apex and Mobius to trick it to think it is 8pm instead of 8 am. I think when I roll the clock back, it will cause me to lose 1 day or, I can just run. A shortened photo period on what would be the tail end of that photo period.

Is that the simplest way to do this? Otherwise, each of these things will have to be individually adjusted, at a minimum:
T5s
Radions
Halide
Plank
aF4
Kalk
CARX

And my 550g has a 110g lowboy, so a few of those items above I would have to do for a second tank.

Thoughts?

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

I left out that my neighbor has run a HD extension cord from his garage to mine. I have pumps running on his cord for the other two tanks. I also took my two L2 return pumps from my big display and took them off the battery backup and put the on the extension cord. I can’t push the limits of the cord as it’s about 150 foot and god only knows what he has on that circuit. So I am going to use it just to keep water moving in 3 of the 4 displays. My battery system will pick up a lot more for my main system.

I am going to crank the heat in my house up to 75 starting at 4 am.

I have these Dewalt battery system that convert to 110 at work. I was thinking about bringing some of them home tomorrow at lunch and if any of the tanks are dropping in temps I would plug the heaters into them. Even if they only last for a few hours, it should help.

 

[UncommonSense]

Would getting a portable generator and a few dozen gallons of gas/diesel be worth looking into?

One larger, on-trailer rental generator could be used to pretty much power the entire residence, if so-desired!

Or, one or several smaller portable generators (man portable) would happily run tank light/heat/etc… plus, the refrigerator(s) and freezer(s)


If you have a HVAC system which works off gas, it would only need a small 120v draw to stay running during the outage; doing the heavy lifting for tank heating!

 

[Dj City]

Wow!

You truly have 1st world problems.

If you can swing it, I suggest Jackery's.

I own 2 of them and they can run my whole house.

Beautiful reef!

 

[NanoSteam]

Would getting a portable generator and a few dozen gallons of gas/diesel be worth looking into?

One larger, on-trailer rental generator could be used to pretty much power the entire residence, if so-desired!

Or, one or several smaller portable generators (man portable) would happily run tank light/heat/etc… plus, the refrigerator(s) and freezer(s)


If you have a HVAC system which works off gas, it would only need a small 120v draw to stay running during the outage; doing the heavy lifting for tank heating!

I honestly don't know of any other way to do this reliably other than a portable generator for a reasonable cost. Did the same when we had a week long power outage due to a bad storm and that thing saved all livestock.

 

[UncommonSense]

I honestly don't know of any other way to do this reliably other than a portable generator for a reasonable cost.

Agreed!

It looks like there are three major rental companies in the greater Memphis area; all have large CAT/etc diesel generators, and auxiliary fuel tanks in-stock!

You’d realistically be able to call in for a diesel delivery at that point if need-be, too!

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

1st world? I’m not sure I’m gong to respond to that.

Portable generator won’t act any different then my LiFePo4 + power from neighbor. I have power to support all my tanks for the 8 hours a day. It’s my lighting cycle on my SPS system I am worried about. I can’t go 3 days with 3-4 hours of blues and not have trouble afterwards. The demand on Alk and CA this system has is pretty intense. If it backs up and I overload it - ouch. If I cut it in half and the system keeps going - ouch. That’s my main problem. Is how to manage my SPS system whereas the next 3 days my photo period really doesn’t exist. Potentially 4 days.

Now - running an extension cord to my furnace is a brilliant idea. I’m headed up to my furnace to look at I think they are both plugged into outlets. If that’s the case, I’ll keep my house at 77 for the next 3 days and that will settle 3/4 tanks heat. That’s a great idea. Let me go look.

 

[lmfbs]

1st world? I’m not sure I’m gong to respond to that.

Portable generator won’t act any different then my LiFePo4 + power from neighbor. I have power to support all my tanks for the 8 hours a day. It’s my lighting cycle on my SPS system I am worried about. I can’t go 3 days with 3-4 hours of blues and not have trouble afterwards. The demand on Alk and CA this system has is pretty intense. If it backs up and I overload it - ouch. If I cut it in half and the system keeps going - ouch. That’s my main problem. Is how to manage my SPS system whereas the next 3 days my photo period really doesn’t exist. Potentially 4 days.

Now - running an extension cord to my furnace is a brilliant idea. I’m headed up to my furnace to look at I think they are both plugged into outlets. If that’s the case, I’ll keep my house at 77 for the next 3 days and that will settle 3/4 tanks heat. That’s a great idea. Let me go look.

If you had more power, could you not power the tanks and the tank lights? My understanding is that's what people are suggesting

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

I can get a 8500watt generator here by 8am. That’s a secondary backup plan I had. I guess that could just run half the lights. Which would be enough. The lights above that system are what you saw plus about 1/3rd more on the frag tank. Hmmm for the record I was only given a couple days notice that they would be here tomorrow. I wasn’t expecting them for 30 days as I have some code violations I have to deal with to get past my final.

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

The lights sit on x3 20amp circuits.

10 xr30
4 400w halides
2 250 halides
16 feet of T5
What’s that 44 amps? It’s on 3 20 amp circuits. And I was blowing them until I rearranged a few things.

Yeah - I guess that would work. I was trying to avoid my neighbors hearing a generator for 3-4 days. Since the pandemic 2/3rds of them work from home.

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

I should have added that from the get go. I am just trying to be a courteous neighbor.

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

Thanks on the nice tank. - it’s how I found sobriety.

 

[lmfbs]

I should have added that from the get go. I am just trying to be a courteous neighbor.

Can you run the lights and everything else off the back up battery, and use the generator to charge the battery? Then it's not going all the time? Not sure whether that'd work

 

[UncommonSense]

The lights sit on x3 20amp circuits.

10 xr30
4 400w halides
2 250 halides
16 feet of T5
What’s that 44 amps? It’s on 3 20 amp circuits. And I was blowing them until I rearranged a few things.

Yeah - I guess that would work. I was trying to avoid my neighbors hearing a generator for 3-4 days. Since the pandemic 2/3rds of them work from home.

I come out to 4,466W (assuming 215W per-XR30, and no ballast inefficiency on HID or T5…)

So, 37.2A! Yow!

8500watt generator

Let’s be conservative and assume this is peak output, while actual running output is 6,000W (50A at 120V)… you can still run all lights at 100% without going over 80% of rated electrical circuit current draw (40A)!


— if you want to run more than just the lights (like the whole house, especially fridges and freezers), you can look into a trailer mounted generator rental, which can be WELL in excess of 50,000W continuous output!

 

[UncommonSense]

Can you run the lights and everything else off the back up battery, and use the generator to charge the battery? Then it's not going all the time? Not sure whether that'd work

This is the best of both worlds solution!

— Run the generator during the day to power lighting and home comforts, charging battery backup…

— run the furnace power off neighbor’s continuous supply (low power draw appliance)

— run tanks on backup battery power at night, no heater, possibly intermittent return pump operation if necessary…



This should keep all life support powered while not keeping everyone up at night! (Assuming you balance all your loads correctly!)

 

[ReefMagicMan]

Just getting the generator is your best idea and you could always hopscotch your lights so every other one is on to reduce draw if that matters maybe alternate them
I'm not a reef pro but I am an electrical contractor sounds like you got some big power going on will be nice once it's going and I'm pretty sure you got an automatic transfer switch installed
good luck

 

[Dj City]

1st world? I’m not sure I’m gong to respond to that.

Portable generator won’t act any different then my LiFePo4 + power from neighbor. I have power to support all my tanks for the 8 hours a day. It’s my lighting cycle on my SPS system I am worried about. I can’t go 3 days with 3-4 hours of blues and not have trouble afterwards. The demand on Alk and CA this system has is pretty intense. If it backs up and I overload it - ouch. If I cut it in half and the system keeps going - ouch. That’s my main problem. Is how to manage my SPS system whereas the next 3 days my photo period really doesn’t exist. Potentially 4 days.

Now - running an extension cord to my furnace is a brilliant idea. I’m headed up to my furnace to look at I think they are both plugged into outlets. If that’s the case, I’ll keep my house at 77 for the next 3 days and that will settle 3/4 tanks heat. That’s a great idea. Let me go look.

I meant by that very lightheartedly.

The Jackery's I have are pretty much gigantic battery backups.
I have 2 of the jackery Explorer 2000 plus with extra batteries.

As you can probably tell by my name, I'm a Dj.
I've done 7 hour festivals running four 18" subs and four 15 inch full range speakers running at max volume without a hitch or hiccup!

I just wanted to give you an option.
I had a 180gal crash during a prolonged power outage.
I didn't have the jackery's yet but made it a point to get them after the fact.
Classic case of closing the barn doors after the horses ran away.

Having no home...
3rd world problem
No food or clean water available...
3rd world problem
Having a whole house generator installed and needing to power your very beautiful reef...
Definitely a 1st world problem!

I'm happy you seem to be finding ways to keep everything going.
I know from experience what losing power does to our reefs.

 

[UncommonSense]

The Jackery's I have are pretty much gigantic battery backups.
I have 2 of the jackery Explorer 2000 plus with extra batteries.

While 24KWH (with maximum 10X extra batteries) is impressive from a off the shelf UPS, it represents only around 5.4hrs of just the lighting on this system running at 100%…

This would work for the high draw closed loop pumps on his larger system to keep them running overnight, but couldn’t support the tank for several days!

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

First world - I’ll apologize for my reaction. I found out Friday at 3 they weee coming tomorrow. And I wasted half the day at the gas company getting the paperwork in order for a bigger valve. I normally plan stuff like this out a month in advance and do a dry run…

Furnace - check. Brilliant point to bring up. That is on my neighbors power. I will only lose heat when they cut my gas line. But, they told me the house would only be without gas for about an hour.

This is the great part - I have owned this house 10 years. I have NEVER been able to find the front door bell transformer. It’s been like this elusive hunt for years. It’s on the outside of the same box that my downstairs furnace is plugged into, lol!!!!

Generator will show up in the AM.

I can get by for a few days without the closed loops. Those 3 pumps draw around 12 amps. I can by with the 3 - 6255s and 2 -Stream 3’s and 2 L2’s for returns. That’s about the minimum flow I’d be comfortable with.

The frag tank would be an MP60 and a M2. I can coast like that with that.

I think for lighting I can get away (big tank) 3 halides, 4 XR30s and no T5s. I think that would be like a rainy day compared to how I cook my tank on a daily basis.

That is if I can’t get everything lit. My house looks like an extension cord packing facility right now. I’m sure the inspector is going to love this, lol.

Wish me luck. I really appreciate or the great ideas and poking me and making realize I need to just get a generator here, even if just in case.

 

[Dj City]

While 24KWH (with maximum 10X extra batteries) is impressive from a off the shelf UPS, it represents only around 5.4hrs of just the lighting on this system running at 100%…

This would work for the high draw closed loop pumps on his larger system to keep them running overnight, but couldn’t support the tank for several days!

That's serious power.

I was just trying to help If I could.
Looks like a solution has been found though so...
That's great news!