i woke up around 4:30 this morning to the sound of the power cycling on and off at my house. I wrapped my tank with a few comforters as that was my only option. I feel like this winter storm was really under played in how much snow it dropped. I really hope this isn’t it for my tank. I’m afraid to even peek in at this point. I’m not sure how long it can go with out power. I guess a generator will be on my Christmas list now, too little too late
Not looking good
- Thread starter hiimsean
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Do you have a battery powered bubbler?
If you have a gas stove you can heat water in a pot and slowly pour it in the tank.
If you have a gas stove you can heat water in a pot and slowly pour it in the tank.
I'm in the same boat. I was still awake around 3:30am when I heard all the power go out, and I've been awake since (5hrs later) moving my one battery powered bubble box between my 80 gal reef and 90gal fowlr. I even tried to go to walmart at 6am in hopes of getting more bubble boxes, a power inverter to connect to a car battery, or possibly a generator... but couldn't get out of the driveway. This sucks. I'm most fearful for my 80gal because it's open top so it doesn't hold in heat well (I did the best I could draping a blanket of the top of it). I too have a generator on my Christmas list now.. should've gotten one long ago 
If anyone needs a car power inverter I have 2 I could loan out if you can get to my house. I really hope both of your tanks will be ok.
Also no party for me. Today was all planned out, I had a final exam to do today then come to the party, we’ll since I have no power I’ve checked into a hotel to do my final exam for 2.5hrs so I’ll miss the pizza party. Have fun!
Can you tell me the name of the inverter you got from Walmart so I can look it up? I still haven't got a solution for heat other than hoping my fireplace warms up the house enough to help the tanks.
I'm gonna try to make it out of my driveway again soon to shop for something.
I'm gonna try to make it out of my driveway again soon to shop for something.
No you wont since we rescheduled it next Saturday!
Yeah I’ll still miss it. Gonna be in NYC next weekend. Good news got an 87 on my Calc final and power just came back on. The inverter ran my battery though.
Dasian, it’s a Schumacher. It was in the auto section.
Dasian, it’s a Schumacher. It was in the auto section.
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2nd time in a year that my generator possibly saved my tank. Usually we have really good power in marietta where i live but this one was a little rough.
glad everythings okay!
glad everythings okay!
Just to update, my tanks are ok too with no losses from what I can see, despite the 15hr+ outage and no heat source in the tanks. My fowlr got down to 70 and the mixed reef tank down 68. I was actually at Northern Tool standing in line to buy a generator (they were selling like hotcakes) when my wife called me with the good news that the power came back (I bought the generator anyway but didn't use it). This is the longest outage I've experienced by far, but feel much more optimistic about the next time it happens.
we were out for about 16 hours. We luckily had a generator - which was able to run both of our tanks plus fridge without a problem.
We will have a whole home generator soon - if we had been out of town I'm guessing we would have had some losses.
Glad to hear everyone reporting in this thread didn't lose anything. Hopefully that's true for everyone.
We will have a whole home generator soon - if we had been out of town I'm guessing we would have had some losses.
Glad to hear everyone reporting in this thread didn't lose anything. Hopefully that's true for everyone.
I was out for 20 hours. I babysat, heating the tank with a half gallon jug of hot water and then once it got down to 70* taking a pot of water out and heating. I lost 4 fish - two clowns, a pipefish and a starry blenny. Corals look fine.
Sorry to hear that Dan. Since I got a generator I've only had a couple hours of outages happen twice.
Do you have a new plan in place for the next outage?
Do you have a new plan in place for the next outage?
Hey Dave, It's a mixed bag. Generac, Kohler & Cummins. All have their pluses and minuses. Consumer Reports has a couple of recent articles.
Look for one that self tests monthly, can run extended periods and has enough breakers in the transfer switch. Some of them aren't designed to run in excess of 24hrs as the internal battery dies. I know quite ironic... I would also recommend one of the covers that is designed for the unit or a build small structure that shields it from rain and sun.
Once you get one I would test the crap out of it the 1st 6 months. Try to get a good 10 to 20 hours on it in that time. If it's going to fail it'll probably happen in that time frame. Better to fail when you don't need it...
*Edit* The size will vary from house to house. You will need to know what you want to power to get an idea what you will need. There are online calculators that will get you in the ballpark of how many Kw you will need. If you're going this route I'd look to power everything including the AC.
Look for one that self tests monthly, can run extended periods and has enough breakers in the transfer switch. Some of them aren't designed to run in excess of 24hrs as the internal battery dies. I know quite ironic... I would also recommend one of the covers that is designed for the unit or a build small structure that shields it from rain and sun.
Once you get one I would test the crap out of it the 1st 6 months. Try to get a good 10 to 20 hours on it in that time. If it's going to fail it'll probably happen in that time frame. Better to fail when you don't need it...
*Edit* The size will vary from house to house. You will need to know what you want to power to get an idea what you will need. There are online calculators that will get you in the ballpark of how many Kw you will need. If you're going this route I'd look to power everything including the AC.
Not trying to steal the thread, but I am putting a generator in at the new house, this info was great, thanks!
@dball711 - I'll for sure let everyone on the forum know what we go with, and if I learn anything during the process it will end up on here as well.
Probably gonna be at least several weeks - we're currently waiting on a fence replacement schedule since part of that bit the dust. Luckily we did not have it replaced last summer like we intended.
Probably gonna be at least several weeks - we're currently waiting on a fence replacement schedule since part of that bit the dust. Luckily we did not have it replaced last summer like we intended.
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