Storm Season among us. Power outage readiness!!!

[MrWellington]

I have a simple 2000w inverter with two 100AH Lithium batteries that feed critical life-support for two 120+ tanks. While I'm new to my neighborhood, the neighbors can't recall an extended outage (more than a few hours) in this area. Plus I can always ween off load as needed. (I.e. one heater, one powerhead, one return pump per tank).

 

[vanguard]

I probably need a better plan. I have this thing:

I keeps the basics going like wav makers and the return pump. My neptune lowers their speed to make it last longer.

I also have a gas powered generator that we hook up for the fish tanks, refrigerator, home internet, etc. Finally, the fish room has propane fireplaces in case 4 watt per gallon isn't enough heater in a home without power.

As I think about it, I'm not doing too bad. I really could use a bigger battery but aside from that I'm good for days.

 

[Magnapinna]

I have two portable generators totaling 4000W. My tank is 10gal currently only running an Aquaclear 50, 50W Eheim heater, and a nano Orbit Marine light, as well as an airline fitted with a T-valve for some extra coverage for less power. The tank is only a couple months old and fortunately I haven't experienced an outage yet (knock on wood), but tornado season is only a few weeks away. The room temperature stays around 80*F in the summer -- which lasts ~10 months of the year in Atlanta -- so fortunately my heaters rarely need to kick on.

Outages here also tend to be brief compared to those associated with hurricanes. I used to live in south FL where I lived through Hurricane Wilma. We were without power for 14 days and most people's generators also failed. Some went without power for as long as 4 weeks. Can't even imagine trying to sustain a tank through that!

 

[Gellisjr1]

Doesn't take up that much space.

I am interested in this generator set up. I like how it runs off propane. Do you have to do anything differently after using the generator for long term storage? With gasoline generators the fuel needs to be completely drained and the carburetor fogged and stabilizer added to the fuel for long term storage. For these reasons this is why I don't have a gas generator. I don't want the up keep after each use or the mechanical repairs if I happen to forget.

 

[BeanAnimal]

I am interested in this generator set up. I like how it runs off propane. Do you have to do anything differently after using the generator for long term storage? With gasoline generators the fuel needs to be completely drained and the carburetor fogged and stabilizer added to the fuel for long term storage. For these reasons this is why I don't have a gas generator. I don't want the up keep after each use or the mechanical repairs if I happen to forget.

That is a honda eu2200i
You will need a ng/propane conversion kit ($350 for a good one) It will make a bit less power. At 50% output you will get ~20 hours out of a 20 pound (4 gallons) bbq propane tank.

It will get about 5.5 hours at the same load on about 1 gallon of gasoline, so closer to 30 hours for gasoline.

The Honda inverter generators (hands down) are the best out there. Very reliable and equipped with a fuel pump. You can daisy chain them together and you can add external fuel cells. These gensets are worth every penny. I am not sure if I would bother with propane conversion.

 

[CMMorgan]

After being without power for 3 weeks following hurricane Ian, we're not messing around. We have tripled our ecoflow solar generator capacity. We have a river 2 ecoflow on order which will be the dedicated EPS for the fish tank. We've calculated that the River 2 should keep all major systems running off of pure solar. The only concern is going to be temperature. I've never run a chiller but it's something to think about. My tank never really recovered from that storm... but that also had a lot to do with our local water supply being flushed with high levels of chlorine due to parasitic infections. The dual fuel, propane dedicated generator is also ready to go. This is as close as we'll get to bring off the grid without spending 30 grand to put panels on the roof.

 

[Malcontent]

but that also had a lot to do with our local water supply being flushed with high levels of chlorine due to parasitic infections.

How did you know this was being done?

 

[CMMorgan]

How did you know this was being done?

It was reported on the news. We had two people die from brain eating amoeba traced back to the water supply. There were broken pipes from the storm that introduced the bodies so they flushed the entire system with high levels of chlorine several times. You could smell it. Even with my RODI, the tank got hit hard.

 

[Malcontent]

It was reported on the news. We had two people die from brain eating amoeba traced back to the water supply. There were broken pipes from the storm that introduced the bodies so they flushed the entire system with high levels of chlorine several times. You could smell it. Even with my RODI, the tank got hit hard.

Do you know what level of chlorine they used? I found an old article where a system in Louisiana was flushed with 1 mg/L chlorine. That's still well below the 4 mg/L regulatory limit in the US.

There are a lot of aquarists convinced that chlorine "spikes" beyond this level happen frequently but it's like Bigfoot--many people claim to have seen him but can never provide any evidence.

I've been testing my tap water chlorine levels with a Hach DR/900 for ~3 years now and it's been remarkably steady with levels between 1.1 and 1.5 mg/L. This was true even when local aquarists were warning that a chlorine spike so massive that it couldn't be neutralized by any amount of dechlorinator was imminent and not to do any water changes.

 

[CMMorgan]

Do you know what level of chlorine they used? I found an old article where a system in Louisiana was flushed with 1 mg/L chlorine. That's still well below the 4 mg/L regulatory limit in the US.

There are a lot of aquarists convinced that chlorine "spikes" beyond this level happen frequently but it's like Bigfoot--many people claim to have seen him but can never provide any evidence.

I've been testing my tap water chlorine levels with a Hach DR/900 for ~3 years now and it's been remarkably steady with levels between 1.1 and 1.5 mg/L. This was true even when local aquarists were warning that a chlorine spike so massive that it couldn't be neutralized by any amount of dechlorinator was imminent and not to do any water changes.

I do not. My LFS guy knew but he has since gone out of business. It was a danged if you do, danged if you don't scenario for water changes. We truly were in survival mode and even still, we were more fortunate than many. At least my house survived. They are predicting a wicked storm season.
We've since downsized the tank, simplified the system... Going all dumb tank instead of "smart tank wifi driven". I'm about to sell off everything from that 6 footer and batten down the emergency plans should we get hit again.
You can never be too prepared.