We lost power for 4-5 hours, and unfortunately we don't have a generator; however, we heated the house to 75 the night before in order to retain a higher potential buffer and we covered all our tanks in comforters. I think we only dropped a degree through the whole thing.
Power Loss Victory!
Recently had a power outage on the 7th at 6:50 am
My house got so cold and my reef tank droped 10 degreess in six and a half hours!
I got a generator up and running 8 hours after inital loss of power.
I only ran my return pump and 200 watt cobalt heater and sometimes would put the skimmer on to add oxygen.
The tank is a 30 gallon rimless cube with a 10g sump
Im happy to say the power is now back on and everything made it just fine.
Since the house was still cold the tank slowly re-warmed =)
Anyone else want to share a story about this recent local ice storm?
My house got so cold and my reef tank droped 10 degreess in six and a half hours!
I got a generator up and running 8 hours after inital loss of power.
I only ran my return pump and 200 watt cobalt heater and sometimes would put the skimmer on to add oxygen.
The tank is a 30 gallon rimless cube with a 10g sump
Im happy to say the power is now back on and everything made it just fine.
Since the house was still cold the tank slowly re-warmed =)
Anyone else want to share a story about this recent local ice storm?
1 - 15 of 15 Posts
Nice smart thinking
53 hour power outage but had generator after 15 hours. So far no losses, fingers crossed.
Wrapped the tank in quilts, heated tank water in the fireplace, used an airstone and hose connected to a ball/tire pump to aerate the tank and used 2 gallon jugs to shake the dickens out of the fireplace heated water for aeration before returning it to tank..........what an ordeal.
Wrapped the tank in quilts, heated tank water in the fireplace, used an airstone and hose connected to a ball/tire pump to aerate the tank and used 2 gallon jugs to shake the dickens out of the fireplace heated water for aeration before returning it to tank..........what an ordeal.
The last time I was without power,I used the bubble wrap,Like people use on their water heaters,It works like a champ,and you can use,certain power heads that are powered by their controllers,Take the controller off and they,can be ran on 18 volt rechargeable battery packs,The MRE heater packets can do wonders if you put them in a safe container,just make sure you have circulation around it and the room is vented,I found out about the heater packs after a little tinkering,and have a thermometer on hand....
HAHAHAHAHA I like it Regal! I was actually thinking of using a few hand warmers taped to the glass if it came down to it. I like the way you think MacGyver 
Garbonzo....What is considered madness by one is ingenuity to another....The best person to know is someone who can turn nothing into something,And find anything when everyone else finds nothing....
Glad to hear it! It's crazy how the rain/snow/sleet/freezing rain line always sets up around central NC. The last 2 systems we have gotten 12+ inches of snow here and this one we only got rain. But it looks like about 40 miles west of us they got a fair amount of ice and lots of folks without power. Glad to hear your tank faired well though.
went by dubey's on saturday in Burlington they were closed didnt look like they had power.. couldnt get by on sunday i hope they are ok
I am sure that everyone has had a period that they want to forget, well my was Friday and Saturday. There were some great moments and there were some moments that I questioned whether it was worth it.
Here is the story of that wonderful period.
Rain/sleet started on Thursday night as did most everywhere. Go to bed hoping all will be ok. About 3 in the morning power starts to flicker, great, here we go. Power stays on YA!!!!!. Go to work at 6 in morning, need gas, well Damn gas station out of power 1/4 mile up the road. How lucky I am right?
Have to drive 2 hrs for a job and get there and forget my phone in the truck, finally remember phone about 3:30. Have 15 missed calls from my son and wife, lost power at 8 am, WTH, luckily had filled k1 heater up and wife had that running. Called my son and still no power, told son to start get straw and start blowing bubbles in tank. Get home expecting worse, luckily no issues.
Plug up pump and with work inverter on van at about 6, wife tells me tree feel on substation and caught fire, half the city is out of power. Ok panic mode going to find a generator ask or buy. So ask on this wonderful forums and get help.
Go meet and pickup generator all good still. Start up and pew everything is going to be alright! Wrong! Generator shuts off. Ok restart and pew restarted 5 min and shuts off. Wth!!!! Start working on it rebuild and clean carb with the flashlight of my phone. Get done and will not work. Omg.. Now 1am!!
Go plug inverter up to pump and heater at least that is going to be ok, right, WRONG!!! Go to the van and inverter is toast. Have a spare one and plug that up to truck and only big enough for pump. Use that and hope for the best. Oh by the way truck ran all night, no sleep hardly cause worried someone going to steal truck right?
K1 heater running all night to keep all warm. Go down stairs at first light and tank is at 68 deg. Luckily no known issues. Tried generator again won't start. SH-T Ask another member for there generator, and got response right away. Great going to try and salvage something. Start to drive to Raleigh to pickup generator, mind on a million things and truck spudders, WTH, pull off on exit and look never noticed gas light on. Out of gas. (Totally forgot truck running all night. No gas station on the exit. Omg how did this happened, called friend, another member of here, see if he could help, he came and got me and went got gas. In mean time other member I was meeting for generator, said would come and drive the rest of the way and got there about the same time as we did with the gas for truck. I tried to pay for gas and everything, and would not take it. Get generator loaded up and go get gas for truck and he would not even let me pay for the gas to fill generator.
I start to go home and pull out my brand new work phone and the Damn screen is completely cracked. I have owned 6 smartphones and have never broke the screen on one. What else could go wrong I am thinking. I get home and get tank running now 67 degrees, I am screwed. Right??
Had to get away from the house so left the generator running and went and helped buddy that just got bailed me out with truck running out of gas. Go eat with family that evening and I am told will be out til Wednesday, at least we have the generator now. Get home and checking on everything and tank is getting back up to temp slowly. And low and behold the Power comes back on. THANK YOU LORD!!!!!
Get everything plugged back in and running. Get a hot shower and go to bed. Get up this morning and was going to clean 1st generator and see if can get working so that will not have issue again. 1st pull and the Damn thing started and ran for 2 hrs and that is after starting and stopping it to make sure I was not losing my mind and it never shut off by its self and started each time with first pull.
That was my worst 24ish hrs of my life I think.
But I did find out a few things.
There are still wonderful people out her that are willing to go the extra mile and lend a helping hand. God works in mysterious ways and test you to the core.
I want to Thank the following people from the very bottom of my heart for all that they did for me and my family. If I can ever return the favor in any ways let me know.
Joereefer- Joe
Ewelch -Eric
Kurkis- Matt
Greenen- Dave
Sorry for such a long post but thought I would share that with all of you.
BTW... No lost animals in this story so far. Thank God.
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Here is the story of that wonderful period.
Rain/sleet started on Thursday night as did most everywhere. Go to bed hoping all will be ok. About 3 in the morning power starts to flicker, great, here we go. Power stays on YA!!!!!. Go to work at 6 in morning, need gas, well Damn gas station out of power 1/4 mile up the road. How lucky I am right?
Have to drive 2 hrs for a job and get there and forget my phone in the truck, finally remember phone about 3:30. Have 15 missed calls from my son and wife, lost power at 8 am, WTH, luckily had filled k1 heater up and wife had that running. Called my son and still no power, told son to start get straw and start blowing bubbles in tank. Get home expecting worse, luckily no issues.
Plug up pump and with work inverter on van at about 6, wife tells me tree feel on substation and caught fire, half the city is out of power. Ok panic mode going to find a generator ask or buy. So ask on this wonderful forums and get help.
Go meet and pickup generator all good still. Start up and pew everything is going to be alright! Wrong! Generator shuts off. Ok restart and pew restarted 5 min and shuts off. Wth!!!! Start working on it rebuild and clean carb with the flashlight of my phone. Get done and will not work. Omg.. Now 1am!!
Go plug inverter up to pump and heater at least that is going to be ok, right, WRONG!!! Go to the van and inverter is toast. Have a spare one and plug that up to truck and only big enough for pump. Use that and hope for the best. Oh by the way truck ran all night, no sleep hardly cause worried someone going to steal truck right?
K1 heater running all night to keep all warm. Go down stairs at first light and tank is at 68 deg. Luckily no known issues. Tried generator again won't start. SH-T Ask another member for there generator, and got response right away. Great going to try and salvage something. Start to drive to Raleigh to pickup generator, mind on a million things and truck spudders, WTH, pull off on exit and look never noticed gas light on. Out of gas. (Totally forgot truck running all night. No gas station on the exit. Omg how did this happened, called friend, another member of here, see if he could help, he came and got me and went got gas. In mean time other member I was meeting for generator, said would come and drive the rest of the way and got there about the same time as we did with the gas for truck. I tried to pay for gas and everything, and would not take it. Get generator loaded up and go get gas for truck and he would not even let me pay for the gas to fill generator.
I start to go home and pull out my brand new work phone and the Damn screen is completely cracked. I have owned 6 smartphones and have never broke the screen on one. What else could go wrong I am thinking. I get home and get tank running now 67 degrees, I am screwed. Right??
Had to get away from the house so left the generator running and went and helped buddy that just got bailed me out with truck running out of gas. Go eat with family that evening and I am told will be out til Wednesday, at least we have the generator now. Get home and checking on everything and tank is getting back up to temp slowly. And low and behold the Power comes back on. THANK YOU LORD!!!!!
Get everything plugged back in and running. Get a hot shower and go to bed. Get up this morning and was going to clean 1st generator and see if can get working so that will not have issue again. 1st pull and the Damn thing started and ran for 2 hrs and that is after starting and stopping it to make sure I was not losing my mind and it never shut off by its self and started each time with first pull.
That was my worst 24ish hrs of my life I think.
But I did find out a few things.
There are still wonderful people out her that are willing to go the extra mile and lend a helping hand. God works in mysterious ways and test you to the core.
I want to Thank the following people from the very bottom of my heart for all that they did for me and my family. If I can ever return the favor in any ways let me know.
Joereefer- Joe
Ewelch -Eric
Kurkis- Matt
Greenen- Dave
Sorry for such a long post but thought I would share that with all of you.
BTW... No lost animals in this story so far. Thank God.
Sent from Petguide.com Free App
That's awesome man! That's a great group of folks you listed for sure!
Not sure if this is the place to say it, but Triad Reef Critters deserves props for staying open last Saturday even without power. My wife and daughter had planned a birthday "trip" for me to TRC, about a 2-hour drive each way. I figured with the power outage, we'd have to postpone it. But Dexter was open, with the generators running, and I got a nice "tongue" coral and a fire shrimp. I know TRC doesn't see it this way, but it was kind of neat to see folks writing checks and browsing in the half-light (only tanks were illuminated). Retro. I half-expected to see a tank with an undergravel filter! Great work TRC.
I went 17 hours with no power. I was not home for the first 10 hours (I work as a paramedic). When I got home I used a battery power bubbler and rotated it between tanks. The tanks got down to 66 degrees. Luckily I had no losses.
My coworker got home and had a total loss except for one very sick yellow tang and one snail. When I got my power back am keeping her tang in my quarantine tank until she gets her power back. I think the tang is going to make it.
My coworker got home and had a total loss except for one very sick yellow tang and one snail. When I got my power back am keeping her tang in my quarantine tank until she gets her power back. I think the tang is going to make it.
I am glad you made it through it without any loss. Sorry about your coworker and great job lending a helping hand when needed the world truely needs more people like you. Also thank you for what u do for a living.
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Another option people might want to think about is a pelitier heat/cool device with the heat exchanger sealed in acrylic,runs off of 12 volts you flip the power one way it heats,flip the power the other way it cools,,the heat exchanger is made of aluminium,which would mess with the chemistry of your water,If you tried sealing it with plastic,rubber or resins when the metal expands it can and will expand which will led to a leak,But if the heat sink is put in a sealed acrylic box water is surrounding the box it can transfer heat and cooling to the tank,just not as effeciently as if the heatsink was touching the water,But if you heat up the acrylic it will heat up the water,just have water flow around the unit...........food for thought
1 - 15 of 15 Posts
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