Your power outage plan???

[Reef Devils]

Power outage are all a threat to reef tank. It is never a fun experience to have to worry about all of your fish and corals during a power outage. What do you have ready to go when there is a power outage. Are you using a bubbler or a generator? What generator are you use and what do you recommend? You always need your tank to get oxygen but is temperature a concern?

 

[blaxsun]

I have my gyres on battery backup (~17.5 hours) and I also have a separate 1500Ah UPS. Beyond that I have a 400-watt inverter that I can power off my Ego batteries.

The green nicks haven't forced the power companies to give up reliable gas and coal in lieu of unpredictable solar and wind, so minus a massive solar flare our grid is fairly resilient.

 

[Reef Devils]

I have my gyres on battery backup (~17.5 hours) and I also have a separate 1500Ah UPS. Beyond that I have a 400-watt inverter that I can power off my Ego batteries.

The green nicks haven't forced the power companies to give up reliable gas and coal in lieu of unpredictable solar and wind, so minus a massive solar flare our grid is fairly resilient.

Cool. Do you run your heaters in a power outage?

 

[shadow_k]

I have battery backups battery operated air pumps etc , heat I don’t really worry about as long as temps don’t drop to 30s

 

[Reef Devils]

I have battery backups battery operated air pumps etc , heat I don’t really worry about as long as temps don’t drop to 30s

So corals will be fine if temp drops to down to 50s or 60s?

 

[EricR]

So corals will be fine if temp drops to down to 50s or 60s?

I wouldn't want to see tank temp that low.
Wrapping/covering tank with a blanket or similar can help conserve heat for some amount of time.

I've gotten away with just this so far but if long-term outage in really cold weather is an issue, a generator is likely your best bet:
- 12V battery backup for powerhead
- Battery powered air pumps and air stones
- wrap tank in cold weather or float ZipLoc bags of ice in hot weather

Good luck...

 

[Reef Devils]

I wouldn't want to see tank temp that low.
Wrapping/covering tank with a blanket or similar can help conserve heat for some amount of time.

I've gotten away with just this so far but if long-term outage in really cold weather is an issue, a generator is likely your best bet:
- 12V battery backup for powerhead
- Battery powered air pumps and air stones
- wrap tank in cold weather or float ZipLoc bags of ice in hot weather

Good luck...

Thanks for the help.

 

[KStatefan]

I think you need to take care of two different situations.
Short term automatic plan and a long term plan

I have a battery back up on two of my powerheads to keep flow in the tank for my short term automatic plan.

I have a portable generator that I can use to power what ever needs to be for a long term plan.

The thing I do not have is a long term plan for cooling the tank if I would not have AC for an extended time.

 

[mfinn]

Generator that is wired into it's own circuit breaker ( gentran)

 

[doubleshot00]

I have bubblers ready to go for short power outages then a big generator with a plug and inlet box to run long term.

Looking into a UPS option but don't want to put them under my tank and the commercial options suck.

 

[Nate Chalk]

General whole home. Kicks on once a month easily if it storms

 

[Gundy]

Generac whole house generator. It automatically starts up after about 15 seconds after power goes out. With all the natural disasters these days, it’s nice to have A backup plan.

 

[FrugalReefer]

Powerheads plugged into truck inverter. I live in an apartment so a generator is out of the question. TBH though I’m really not that worried about it. In the nearly 20 years that I’ve lived in San Diego, I’ve literally experienced only one outage that I can recall and it lasted less than a day.

 

[o2manyfish]

We had a disaster happen several summers ago when the power went out while we were on vacation and it was over 100 deg. We had a house sitter, we had a gennie with extra gas and spark plugs on the patio. We had a stack of extension cords with labels on each end and a map to where they needed to go.

But the power went out while the house sitter was at work. We had a 400g display tank at the time. And the fish loss was well into 5 figures.

We got home and 4 days later I found a used low hour Generac on Craigslist. Hired a solar installer to wire it to the house with an fully automatic transfer switch. It's a dual fuel, so it will run off propane or natural gas. It's normally hooked up to Natural, but flip a switch and move 2 valves and it is hooked up in 30 secs to a 300lb propane tank.

Total cost of Gennie and install was less than 5g. Value of piece of mind --- No price on that. In the event the power goes out the whole house is powered back up in under 20 seconds - whether anyone is home or not.

We have a 26k Generac with the Generac ATS - It will support our entire house (3k sq ft), guest house, multiple multi ton AC units and the 1500g system without any issue. All without any involvement from me.

The generator runs every Friday night for 10 mins and then sends me a text that is working and ready to go. When the power does go out the generator has it's own 5g signal and texts me that the generator is running and texts me again when the power comes back on.

You don't have to have a huge tank to have a 4 or 5 figure investment in livestock. So the investment in a whole house generator to protect your investment in the livestock really isn't that much of a big deal. And if you have a 180g+ and don't have a gennie ready to go.... Then you know you've already prepared yourself for an upcoming disaster.

Dave B

 

[blaxsun]

Cool. Do you run your heaters in a power outage?

Nope - only the wavemakers.

 

[Dburr1014]

Battery back up my whole tank minus heaters and lights for 24 hours.
Portable genny that can run almost the whole house.
I know for a fact my tank can go minimum 5 hours with zero electricity.
Fish are fine in the upper 60's well as most softies.
Sticks, imo, can handle low 70's.

 

[bakbay]

DIY battery backup via MP40 - can last 36+ hours. Honda portable generator can take care of the essentials (fridge, Internet, phone chargers, TV using OTA).
Heat: it doesn't get dangerously cold in SoCal - worst case scenario: wrap the tank with styrofoam and close lid to conserve.

 

[RichReef]

I have a generator that's quick to set up.

It does everything we need.

 

[JohnNYC8]

Battery powered airstone for my 26 gallon AIO with an extra 4 pack of D cell batteries.

I'm thinking of buying an Anker Powerhouse to run just the wave pump and heater but I haven't pulled the trigger.

 

[Cajun86]

whole house natural gas powered generator. also have 2 portable ones.