Pics of my tank after 3 day W/O power

[Anonymous]

Did I ever tell you that a battery operated airstone is the single most important thing a aquarist can have on hand during an emergency?

These pics are of my tank that I just took one day after power was restored after Charley came through and rearrange the power lines.

Power off at 4PM Friday and not restored until 6PM on Monday.

Temperures in my house reached upwards of 88-90 during the days for 3 days straight.

The battery operated airstone was the only thing I used to keep my tanks alive. I mosted left it in the 75G reef (pictured), but occasionally moved it to the fuge and also into my 38G.

Things looked pretty miserable in the tank by the 3rd day. I had a generator lined up for Monday night because I thought the tank was ready to make a turn for the worst. Power came back on 15 minutes before the generator was delivered, so I didnt have to hook that up.

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

The two "D" batteries lasted the whole time too!

 

[Anonymous]

Its a Purty tank either way.

 

[tazdevil]

Things look pretty good, good thing you were ready for it! Any damage to your house etc?

 

[Anonymous]

Taz, See this thead.

We were fortunate that we were not in the direct path of Charley.

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

Ahh... - So yours wasn't the sad picture I saw on The Weather Channel this morning then... - Good deal! (House almost completely gone with the tank being the only thing standing in the cameras view.)

Camera angle sucked and the shot was too fast to tell what all was in it, but it was (is?) a reef.. - Probably in Punta Gorda so who knows if the owner was able to get to it in time to save anything..

Personally if I lived that close to a decent reef I don't think I'd go to the expense of having anything more than a nanocube for a tank. I'd rather put my money into strapping a tank on my back and jumping in instead!

Looking good Louey! - Glad it seems to have pulled through for ya!

 

[Anonymous]

Did I ever tell you that a battery operated airstone is the single most important thing a aquarist can have on hand during an emergency?

Temperures in my house reached upwards of 88-90 during the days for 3 days straight.

Agreed, but they sure are loud. At one time I had to use 20 of them at one time. 8O
You're lucky the temps didn't get any higher.

Regards,
David Mohr

 

[Anonymous]

David Mohr wrote:

Agreed, but they sure are loud

Ain't that the truth. They completely drowned out the noise of all the generators that were running in the neighborhood.

You're lucky the temps didn't get any higher

This is true too. I had just started floating a small bag of ice when the power came on. The reef just looked like it was getting ready to slide...

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

I'm happy things are looking good for ya Lou all the way around.

FWIW, I always have at least 6 of those "dry" ice packs, the ones that have the chemical vials inside them that you squeeze (I forget the name, not enough coffee yet this morning) for emergency use.

I put them in two heavy duty ziplocks (I worry about whatever is in them leaching) and float away.
They seem to work pretty good.

 

[Anonymous]

Good to hear that you and your reef made it without any thing major.

 

[Mouse]

Amased, id feed em some extra DT's to make up for the lost energy.

 

[Anonymous]

Good Idea Mouse.

Too bad I had to throw out all my frozen fish food and DTs' along with everything else in the fridge.

I need to see if the LFS's have any refriderated goods back in stock yet. My bet is no, or they are just selling re-frozen stuffs.

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

Think about it, Louey... sounds like you can run your reefs for pennies a day!

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Louey,
What pumps (brand if possible) did you use for this in particular? Any tricks that helped even more? (I'm on the Eastern Seaboard myself.. and we lost power for a few days why Floyd decided to rumble on through).
Thanks,
~wings~

 

[Anonymous]

It is just a battery operated airstone like the ones you see mounted on those insulated bait buckets at bait and tackle places. I don't recall the brand off hand.

The only other trick I would say was not feeding the fish. That would have just helped foul the water. I did feed a pinch of flake on Sunday, so that they had a small snack.

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

Cool. Thanks.
~wings~

 

[Mihai]

Actually I got one of those pumps for $12 from Petsmart (one of the very few useful things in there). It's more than just a pump, you plug it in the power outlet and it starts automatically if power goes down.

I have a few questions (useful things to know, as I'm sure I'll face one such disaster at some point in the next couple of years):

How long did you use two D batteries?
How big was your tank?
Did you use a single output line from the pump (no Y connectors)?
Did you use a stone? Mine is setup right now with no stone to minimize salt creep (and maximize water movement).

Thanks a lot,
Mihai

 

[Anonymous]

>...Mine is setup right now with no stone to minimize salt creep (and maximize water movement).

Just want to say that air stone will increase the water movement.

 

[Anonymous]

The two D cell batteries lasted the whole time. They were the same D cell batteries that have been in it for years. I did have one Tee so that I had two airstones operating at one time. Sometimes I had both in the 75G reef, somtimes one in the reef and one in the 20G fuge, then twice a day I would put them both in my 38G tanks for 30 minutes or so.

I think it would be best to have one of these devices for each tank, so that you don't have to think about moving them around. I think that the using the tee so that you can have one airstone at each end of the tank would be best.

Louey

 

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