Power Outage

ashl_86 · Mar 24, 2016

Hello everyone,
Apparently some drunk driver hit a pole in our neighborhood about an hour and a half ago. The power was out for at least a good hour. My blue hippo tang (Dory) in the tank wasnt moving much so we moved her to a bucket and began blowing air through a line to keep her alive. She started moving again after about a minute. The lights are back on now and we waited few minutes to let the tank run. So far everything looks good. Luckily shes back in the tank and is moving but I think shes alittle stress. I added some stress coat to the tank. Hopefully we did the right thing. Does anyone have any suggestions in case of future power outages? We don't usually have power outages.

JMacedo · Mar 24, 2016

I use this uninterruptible power supply for my 150gl sps tank. Over here they always cut the power for some 5 hours at least twice a year for some maintenance. The UPS already has recorded 16 shorter power outages since the beginning of this year. I also have a small generator just in case.

The two gyre 150 automatically detect that they are working with the UPS and they halve their power providing enough flow in the DT for a few hours.

TheEngineer · Mar 24, 2016

There are battery powered airstones you can get which turn on when the power cuts out. That's good to keep gas the gas exchange going. Then there are battery backups or backup generators.

ashl_86 · Mar 24, 2016

Thanks for the replies. I'm going to look into getting something. By the way... Dory is doing great now. I actually thought we were going to lose her.

eatbreakfast · Mar 24, 2016

You can get battery backups for vortechs or gyres that will keep them operating for 48hrs.

jdemarco · Mar 24, 2016

Every tank should have emergency battery operated air. They cost about 10bucks and will save your fish. It's a must.

ThePapa · Mar 24, 2016

A small inverter, 12 vdc to 120 vac, run off your car battery can help with small loads and/or to extend the run time on a UPS in a pinch.

dangros · Apr 12, 2016

I wanted to get a Generac but the boss wouldn't let me!

Anirban · Apr 12, 2016

Get a generator or atleast UPS to backup your power heads for air circulation.

NeptuneGarden · Apr 12, 2016

You can also get pure-sine wave inverters that let you tap into a bank of marine deep cycle RV batteries. Battery back up power for weeks if you want. Just keep adding batteries in parallel

Tripp-Lite seems to be an industry standard
https://www.tripplite.com/pure-sine...2000w-automatic-transfer-switching~APS2012SW/

Salty1962 · Apr 12, 2016

icecool2 said:
There are battery powered airstones you can get which turn on when the power cuts out. That's good to keep gas the gas exchange going. Then there are battery backups or backup generators.

+1, I've used this during ice storms and it does pretty good until I get the generator going.

Salty1962 · Apr 12, 2016

eatbreakfast said:
You can get battery backups for vortechs or gyres that will keep them operating for 48hrs.

+1, with my new tank I installed one of these and it works great.

DED65 · Apr 12, 2016

One of these is is not too expensive on Amazon.

I also have an inverter in my car that will work in a pinch.

dangros · Apr 12, 2016

I'm leaning towards the generator idea. The thing is that the power can also go out in the summer time. That means a portable AC unit would need to be plugged into the unit as well and run through the hot periods of the day.
In any case, this is still a fairly large expense which I MAY never need.
What is a good brand? I guess I could also run the fridge off it to justify something other than my tank :)

DED65 · Apr 12, 2016

I bought the Wen for under $400 with a two year warranty. It is also nice to have fresh coffee when the power is out and it can run the furnace too. You can buy cheaper ones but if it doesn't start when you need it... I have had the power go out for days at a time and this was a good investment for me!

dangros · Apr 12, 2016

400 bucks seems almost too cheap to qualify as quality :)
I wonder if it will be enough to run our furnace.

DED65 · Apr 13, 2016

Very good reviews, 11 hour run time, seems very well built and starts every time. I used mine twice last year without issue. If you need one that is the highest quality, Onan makes expensive ones. If you want to spend the money to have it tied into your electrical panel, you can buy more powerful one and run your whole house. This would at least double your cost. I have a gas furnace, so I would only need to run the blower, not much power needed. I use mine to power three tanks, at 3000 watts,I have power to spare.

shoelaceike · Apr 13, 2016

I very much doubt that 1 hour without power would do any damage to the fish....unless the weather is extreme, you should be able to go a few hours at least without any flow.....blue hippo tangs generally wedge themselves in rockwork and often lie down when they are scared. The shutoff of the power probably scared it a bit and taking it out will just stress it more. Remember, these fish sit sometimes for 24-36 hours in a bag with a very small amount of water when they ship....

Joeganja · Apr 13, 2016

ashl_86 said:
Hello everyone,
Apparently some drunk driver hit a pole in our neighborhood about an hour and a half ago. The power was out for at least a good hour. My blue hippo tang (Dory) in the tank wasnt moving much so we moved her to a bucket and began blowing air through a line to keep her alive. She started moving again after about a minute. The lights are back on now and we waited few minutes to let the tank run. So far everything looks good. Luckily shes back in the tank and is moving but I think shes alittle stress. I added some stress coat to the tank. Hopefully we did the right thing. Does anyone have any suggestions in case of future power outages? We don't usually have power outages.

If you blow air through a line with your mouth wouldn't you be adding carbon dioxide into the water making it unhealthy?