[The storms that blew through Saturday morning knocked over a tree in our neighborhood. This tree landed on a pole and snapped it off along with all the electrical wires attached!!
I was on my way to Sherman when all this happened when the wife called. I had been trying to figure out a game plan for when something like this happened, but hadn't implemented it yet. :glare:
So, I sent my wife off looking for battery operated air pumps. Luckily PetsMart opens at 7:00a and they had three (around $12.00 a piece). She was a champ and placed them throughout the 90g tank. I got home around 1:00p and everything looked good still.
The electricity came back on around 8:00p. That was 14 hours without power! Thank goodness it was cool Saturday, so the H2O temp never got above 79F, which is very cool for my tank. Everything looked great! I left the lights on for a few hours and actually fed around 10:00p and everyone ate like nothing had happened. All corals are fine as well and polyps where actually extended the whole time without lighting.
So, my new game plan for power outages:
The battery operated pumps only come on when the electricity is off. They plug into the wall to monitor the power. When the power shuts off, they kick on.
I am now going to utilize 2 of these pumps for my automatic safety in case I'm not at home if this happens again. It really did suprise me how much water these pumps move. The 3rd will be backup and I can drop it in if the electricity is off a little longer. But, for normal instances when I'm at work these should do the job.
Here is what I'm going to do. The two pumps are placed on top of my canopy. Then I've run the airline tubing to the rear of the tank through the open back of my canopy. At the water level I've attached the stiff airline tubing that you use in gravel filters. These I've run down in each corner to just above the sand. I used a little epoxy putty to hold them in place behind the rock work.
Now when the power goes off, I have at least some O2 and circulation to buy me some time. If the power was off for more than 24 hrs I would have hooked up a car battery and inverter to run my main pump. But, it never came to that thank goodness. These pumps do a great job and move a great deal of water. Now i just have to check them periodically to make sure the "D" cell batteries aren't dead.
For anyone looking for a cheap alternative for small outages I highly recommend these pumps and setting something similiar up for you tanks. They have been tested and approved for 14 hrs by me personally. I think they could have maintained a decent enviroment for a lot longer.
Let me know if you have any questions!
-Kurt]
I was on my way to Sherman when all this happened when the wife called. I had been trying to figure out a game plan for when something like this happened, but hadn't implemented it yet. :glare:
So, I sent my wife off looking for battery operated air pumps. Luckily PetsMart opens at 7:00a and they had three (around $12.00 a piece). She was a champ and placed them throughout the 90g tank. I got home around 1:00p and everything looked good still.
The electricity came back on around 8:00p. That was 14 hours without power! Thank goodness it was cool Saturday, so the H2O temp never got above 79F, which is very cool for my tank. Everything looked great! I left the lights on for a few hours and actually fed around 10:00p and everyone ate like nothing had happened. All corals are fine as well and polyps where actually extended the whole time without lighting.
So, my new game plan for power outages:
The battery operated pumps only come on when the electricity is off. They plug into the wall to monitor the power. When the power shuts off, they kick on.
I am now going to utilize 2 of these pumps for my automatic safety in case I'm not at home if this happens again. It really did suprise me how much water these pumps move. The 3rd will be backup and I can drop it in if the electricity is off a little longer. But, for normal instances when I'm at work these should do the job.
Here is what I'm going to do. The two pumps are placed on top of my canopy. Then I've run the airline tubing to the rear of the tank through the open back of my canopy. At the water level I've attached the stiff airline tubing that you use in gravel filters. These I've run down in each corner to just above the sand. I used a little epoxy putty to hold them in place behind the rock work.
Now when the power goes off, I have at least some O2 and circulation to buy me some time. If the power was off for more than 24 hrs I would have hooked up a car battery and inverter to run my main pump. But, it never came to that thank goodness. These pumps do a great job and move a great deal of water. Now i just have to check them periodically to make sure the "D" cell batteries aren't dead.
For anyone looking for a cheap alternative for small outages I highly recommend these pumps and setting something similiar up for you tanks. They have been tested and approved for 14 hrs by me personally. I think they could have maintained a decent enviroment for a lot longer.
Let me know if you have any questions!
-Kurt]