STORMS: Do you have a generator for your reef tank?

Do you have a generator for your reef tank for emergency situations?

  • YES a portable one

    Votes: 342 41.9%
  • YES a home generator

    Votes: 123 15.1%
  • No but I plan on getting one

    Votes: 145 17.8%
  • No

    Votes: 178 21.8%
  • Other (please explain)

    Votes: 28 3.4%

  • Total voters
    816

iMi

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I decided against a whole-house generator. We are in an area with a very reliable power grid and only lost power twice, that I can remember, in the past three years. One was only a couple of hours. The other one was a big one. We were out of power for a day and a half. It was a particularly bad storm.

I opted for a small, lithium-ion back up generator. I figured it will run the tank I have for several hours with everything on. Heater alone for a couple of days. I also got a couple of high capacity power banks (20k mAh) as they can be used to replenish the main unit. I might buy another one of those back ups once I have a chance to test this one. That should set me up for two days of back up.
 

Jekyl

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With so many major winter storms popping up lately there has been a lot of discussion on preparing for power outages and having power back up plans! So let's talk about generators today and see who's ready and what generator your using!

1. Do you have a generator for your reef tank for emergency situations?

2. Which generator do you have and how many watts is it?

3. Do you regularly start and service your generator to keep it ready to go?


gen.jpg
I have a 5500w generator. I roll it outside and hook up the 220 to a plug in my garage. Shut the main breaker off in my house and start the generator. That way my entire house can run. Tank, fridge, A/C, whatever.
 

LeftyReefer

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I opted for a small, lithium-ion back up generator. I figured it will run the tank I have for several hours with everything on. Heater alone for a couple of days. I also got a couple of high capacity power banks (20k mAh) as they can be used to replenish the main unit. I might buy another one of those back ups once I have a chance to test this one. That should set me up for two days of back up.

You might want to run the math on your heater.... but I doubt a battery backup will run an aquarium heater for days..... heaters take a lot of watts..... a 12v/20 ah battery will supply 240 watts for 1 hour. If you have a 200w heater, it will run for a little over an hour. a 300w heater will run for under an hour. Not days.

typically, battery backups are not good sources of energy for heaters. That system might run your pumps for a few days, but I doubt it will run your heater for any length of time.
 

ca1ore

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I decided against a whole-house generator. We are in an area with a very reliable power grid and only lost power twice, that I can remember, in the past three years. One was only a couple of hours. The other one was a big one. We were out of power for a day and a half. It was a particularly bad storm.

I opted for a small, lithium-ion back up generator. I figured it will run the tank I have for several hours with everything on. Heater alone for a couple of days. I also got a couple of high capacity power banks (20k mAh) as they can be used to replenish the main unit. I might buy another one of those back ups once I have a chance to test this one. That should set me up for two days of back up.

I'm a supply chain guy. Have done pretty much every job you can do in the field, but the most interesting one was a couple of year spent assessing risk and risk mitigation. The HARDEST risks to assess are the ones that occur infrequently ... the 'storm' of the century if you will. Do you put backups in place or harden supply chain infrastructure for something that will only happen once every 100 years, and bear the cost of that (ultimately it gets passed on to customers) or do you simply live with it and react as best you can when the disruption happens.

Here in CT we had a few bad storms and protracted power outages in 2010-2012. There was a whole bunch of blame-gaming and discussions of whether to bury all the power lines. BUT, that's a multi billion $ undertaking. Do people want to pay double for their electricity? Probably not. Then post Sandy we had a period of relative calm and all that 'outrage' predictably died down. Essentially we all 'agreed', tacitly, that we'd live with a once-every-5-year disruption by better tree trimming and generators. Doesn't mean we cannot still winge and complain when the power goes out of course!

If you live in a place where power outages, particularly long ones, occur once in a decade or even less frequently than that, then something like a whole house generator is probably not a good investment, particularly if gas supply is also impacted. I bought one here in CT because we are more vulnerable, and I have propane tanks so that i am not reliant on gas supply (even if there was such a thing in semi rural CT), but I likely would not have if I lived in Texas. Given my supply chain background, I probably would have had a portable given the much more modest cost though as I think it's become an essential piece of the reefing puzzle as the weather becomes more extreme. I believe it is just a matter of time, for example, before we have a full blown hurricane hit the North East. Just as Texas was not setup to handle the current cold/snow/ice, we'd not be setup to handle a hurricane. Hmmn, maybe I need to get another propane cylinder.
 

iMi

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I'm a supply chain guy. Have done pretty much every job you can do in the field, but the most interesting one was a couple of year spent assessing risk and risk mitigation. The HARDEST risks to assess are the ones that occur infrequently ... the 'storm' of the century if you will. Do you put backups in place or harden supply chain infrastructure for something that will only happen once every 100 years, and bear the cost of that (ultimately it gets passed on to customers) or do you simply live with it and react as best you can when the disruption happens.

Here in CT we had a few bad storms and protracted power outages in 2010-2012. There was a whole bunch of blame-gaming and discussions of whether to bury all the power lines. BUT, that's a multi billion $ undertaking. Do people want to pay double for their electricity? Probably not. Then post Sandy we had a period of relative calm and all that 'outrage' predictably died down. Essentially we all 'agreed', tacitly, that we'd live with a once-every-5-year disruption by better tree trimming and generators. Doesn't mean we cannot still winge and complain when the power goes out of course!

If you live in a place where power outages, particularly long ones, occur once in a decade or even less frequently than that, then something like a whole house generator is probably not a good investment, particularly if gas supply is also impacted. I bought one here in CT because we are more vulnerable, and I have propane tanks so that i am not reliant on gas supply (even if there was such a thing in semi rural CT), but I likely would not have if I lived in Texas. Given my supply chain background, I probably would have had a portable given the much more modest cost though as I think it's become an essential piece of the reefing puzzle as the weather becomes more extreme. I believe it is just a matter of time, for example, before we have a full blown hurricane hit the North East. Just as Texas was not setup to handle the current cold/snow/ice, we'd not be setup to handle a hurricane. Hmmn, maybe I need to get another propane cylinder.

Very sound reasoning. I deal with supply chain as well, as partner in a global trading company. We do our best to mitigate risk. Like you said, it's impossible to entirely control every variable. For example, we once had a shipment in the ocean coming from China and bound for the west coast. After departure and prior to arrival, the LA port workers went on strike. Hundreds of container ships were stranded in the ocean. What could we possibly do?

Even if we knew a strike was probable, what options do we have? Shipping by air would be cost prohibitive. Teleportation doesn't exist yet, right?

Did we implement any changes post super-late shipment delivery? No. We do bake in extra 1-2 weeks to our lead time during critical times but that's about it. We also have a domestic warehouse now but it doesn't do anything for import only products.

Sometimes, you just have to roll with it.
 

iMi

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You might want to run the math on your heater.... but I doubt a battery backup will run an aquarium heater for days..... heaters take a lot of watts..... a 12v/20 ah battery will supply 240 watts for 1 hour. If you have a 200w heater, it will run for a little over an hour. a 300w heater will run for under an hour. Not days.

typically, battery backups are not good sources of energy for heaters. That system might run your pumps for a few days, but I doubt it will run your heater for any length of time.

I did some rough math. It's a 10 gallon nano with a 50W heater. It works intermittently. I could factor in the water temperature, ambient temperature, surface area, heat exchange rate... but that would be super nerdy and I am way to busy cataloging my comic book collection and dusting off my action figures.

I expect about 4.5 hours of continues use. In case of emergency with a power outage, I can raise the temperature of the house (gas in winter, turn AC down in summer) to 75 degrees. How much do you think the heater will have to work to keep the 7 or so gallons of actual water heated to 77 degrees? Probably not much...

Thus, I expect at least a day or more for heater alone. Light is 20W and the pump is 6W. Combined, I'd be able to run the essentials for at least 3 hours plus, which is at least 50% higher than the average power outage in our area. Beyond that, risk assessment falls apart. Too rare of an event to justify additional cost, in my opinion.
 

Malcontent

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I did some rough math. It's a 10 gallon nano with a 50W heater. It works intermittently. I could factor in the water temperature, ambient temperature, surface area, heat exchange rate... but that would be super nerdy and I am way to busy cataloging my comic book collection and dusting off my action figures.

I expect about 4.5 hours of continues use. In case of emergency with a power outage, I can raise the temperature of the house (gas in winter, turn AC down in summer) to 75 degrees. How much do you think the heater will have to work to keep the 7 or so gallons of actual water heated to 77 degrees? Probably not much...

Thus, I expect at least a day or more for heater alone. Light is 20W and the pump is 6W. Combined, I'd be able to run the essentials for at least 3 hours plus, which is at least 50% higher than the average power outage in our area. Beyond that, risk assessment falls apart. Too rare of an event to justify additional cost, in my opinion.

One data point:

It's 55-58 F in my basement and my 55 gal barrel of water needs 2 x 300W heaters to maintain 77 F. A single heater only got it to 71 F.
 

iMi

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One data point:

It's 55-58 F in my basement and my 55 gal barrel of water needs 2 x 300W heaters to maintain 77 F. A single heater only got it to 71 F.

Oh wow. Yeah, you'd need a substantially more power and a whole-home generator might just be the only option.
 

hans4811

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I may have to upgrade my gen for a bigger one would be nice to run the house . I cut everything off but the fridge freezer and my tank. Might watch some t.v.
What i liked about this one was that it can run off of gas or propane. So I keep an empty extra 5gal gas can and an extra 20lb propane tank and fill them up at the first sign of a hurricane. Those should be plenty for an extended outage...3 days or so.
 

Chessmanmark

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1. Do you have a generator for your reef tank for emergency situations?

Yes. I lost everything during Hurricane Sandy. That’s when I bit the bullet and decided to get a generator.

2. Which generator do you have and how many watts is it?

I have a Generac 10K. It runs 3/4 of the house and the reef tanks.

3. Do you regularly start and service your generator to keep it ready to go?

It has an ATS and turns itself on once a week for 8 minutes. I service it myself, tune up, oil/air filter change, spark plugs. It’s simple and quick.

For the amount of money most hobbyists invest in their builds, a generator is a must. If you get a portable one, then you are at the mercy of the gas lines. A large propane tank is better IMHO.
 

nick9one1

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I guess the need for a generator or battery backup is quite specific to your location. I'm from the UK and in the last 20 years I barely remember even having a power cut. When they do happen its not much longer than a few minutes. I'm pretty sure we haven't had one in the last 2 years.

Some sort of backup power would definitely not be a bad thing, but personally I find it hard to justify the cost.

Its far more likely that a breaker goes, so I have invested in one of these cheap alarms.
Power Alarm
 

Crashnt24

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I voted no.

I live in Colorado. Our infrastructure is pretty well equipped for harsh winters and hot summers.

Out of 33 years of living here, the longest we were without power was 6 hours.

Guess I'm blessed in that sense. For all the downfalls of Colorado, we have good power lol
 

TexasTodd

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After this hellish week in Texas I thing I am going to start looking at them.
OMG x1000000000 What a week! Hot water bottles being cycled, I've lost count how many times we have lost power, longest was 12 hours while it was single digits outside. Several dead fish, two SPS colonies with RTN. House has been down to the low 50's several times and for many hours. The tank has hit 66 degrees a couple of times, other times just about 69 degrees. It's a 210g display. I saw on another thread that I guess there is a way to connect the smaller portable generators to a house natural gas supply?? At least I think that was what I read.
 

Lew5905

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Purchased the DuroMax 10,000 Watt Hybrid Dual Fuel Portable Gas Propane Generator. I prefer to use the propane over the gas because there's less mess and there's no worry about old gas in the tank. It covers anything I need for the tank, house heater, and as many lights as I need.
generator.jpeg
 

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