You see something like that and it breaks your heart... I've had a full tank crash before. He lost a lot of fish, but his corals seem to have made it through for now. If you guys don't recall, this was the gent whom Marc visited and did some shots of his tank. The one thing that stood out from my memory of this tank was that huge hammer coral he had, that and the fact his tank was set into the wall between the house and the garage.
That said... this is more a lesson of what not to do, more than a statement or pronouncement on the vortec battery backup. His issue was lack of oxygen, not a failure of the pumps or backup.
You can't plan for Hurricanes... but he could have planned a better response to the power outage. He should have hooked up several battery operated air pumps/stones and got those going immediately.
If anything this should encourage us all to sit down and write out a response checklist in the event something like this happens to us. That should include things like handling flow, handling oxygen, heat/cooling, lighting if it goes on too long. Contact numbers, options for longer term power backups, ie gas powered generators and the like.
I had a recent conversation about this kind of thing right before Ike hit with a good friend of mine. The jist of that conversation came down to this... we spend thousands on our tanks in some cases. This is especially true for those with larger tanks. You spent 800 or 900 on lights, a couple grand on the tank, upwards of a grand on a skimmer in some cases, a grand or more for flow... close to or over a grand for LR alone and then you get into the actual livestock, fish and corals that could easily get into 5-10K by the time a 200+ gallon tank is fully stocked depending on your tastes
That's not even including a chiller or controller and the various other pieces of equipment.
When push comes to shove a generator of some sort will run around 500 or 600, you can get fancier and do an inline natural gas one for around 2500 - 3500. While that IS a chunk of change, when you have nearly 20K in a system already that is a pennies on the dollar insurance. Even a generator may fail eventually... but it will buy you time. In Ikes case if you were unlucky enough to be in an area where you can't get drinking water, let along gas or power for days or weeks you won't have much luck without a self contained and prepared backup.
The end result of this and many other similar stories is be as prepared as you can. Don't overlook or underestimate the value of a generator and a firm and prepared plan of action should something like this occur with you. Before you invest significant amounts of dollars into fish and corals etc, invest in the basic equipment that will help protect those living critters under your care, even if you find yourself not using it but once in a blue moon or never in some cases. Otherwise be prepared for the losses...
