Reef Discussion

[riley]

hay guys,

got a problem.

there changing a few poles in my street in 3 days time. i rang them up today and power will be out for 8-10 hours. but passably longer.

tank has no back up battery packs. id think i need to run a heater and 1 wave maker.

i think my heater is 1000w but also have 200w and 300w to use

and a jabao rw - 8's and jabao wp 40.

i have a battery powered air stone.

there doing the work at about 2pm onward.

tank is 700L.

the house shouldn't get 2 cold maybe 15c.

what are my options?

should i be running out the buy a generator or is there a easier solution

will my stock last 10hours with no power. they lasted 24hours in a car in a bag i guess they should be fine.

 

[chimaera]

It will be fine for 10hrs without a generator, in my opinion. Buy a few battery operated air pumps to generate some water movement.

https://www.aquariumproducts.com.au/battery_air_pumps.php

Is it cold there at the moment? If so, boil and store some water beforehand, fill 2litre containers, and through the day rotate through them. I know they will also go cold but should last long enough to prevent any major drop in temp. Or if you have some thermos flasks or an esky you can fill even better.

Also I think I have read about people wrapping a blanket around their tank to retain the heat?

 

[Buddy]

I would be using the air stone.
The two main things are you need to keep the water oxygenated and keep the temperature from falling too much.
I have had my tank off for 8 hours before (1000l) and the temp only dropped about 2 degrees. It wasnt an overly warm day either.
If your house has gas heating then you can use it to keep the room with the tank warm.

 

[RobbieMVFC]

I would buy/rent a cheap generator .
The catch is the amout of watts they produce.
8-10 hours is a bit to long to risk it IMO.

 

[macca_75]

Really heat your house prior and keep all curtains drawn, etc. Keep the heat in - the less heat you lose the better.

Insulate the tank with towels, etc if you can.

Or maybe hire a generator for the day. Far easy and far more peace of mind IMO. You know the outage is coming.

 

[MagicJ]

2pm seems a strange time to start an 8-10 hour job :confused:

My main concern would be what happens if it takes longer than expected to get the power back on - you don't really want to be organising things in the middle of the night.

So, I would plan on the power being off for 24 hours - if it is back on as planned then all the better.

One thing to be mindful of - you can probably keep your tank warm by wrapping it in blankets etc and you have a fair mass of water which will help. However, your sump is likely to cool down a lot more than the tank - when the power comes back on, all of the cooler water will get pumped back into your display tank. It may or may not be an issue but something else to think about whilst you have a chance.

You sure they are starting at 2pm?

 

[Trentwalsh]

Definatly hire a generator for the day....... Easy enough done, and.runs.no risks at all

 

[riley]

yea there cutting power at 2pm. i think there doing other poles in the area that don't affect me before then. i did also found it strange. i just put it down to council workers wanting a long smoko break and get overtime.

I've got aircon and gas heaters but both need elec to operate. I've got very tall ceilings and large open windows heat doesn't keep to well in the house.

ill be at work then there doing it so i can only heat til 8am. or maybe just leave my arcon on and let it go out when they cut the power. but putting in hot water bottle i cant do.

gen mite be the best option ay

there selling them at bunnings for $300.

http://www.bunnings.com.au/ryobi-1100w-portable-4-stroke-petrol-generator_p6210480

 

[Sam Parker]

I would be loaning/renting/buying a generator. Peace of mind.

 

[BlueBolts]

I was in a similar situation 12+ months ago......decided to purchase a descent generator, with the excuse of powering up the fridge/freezers etc..... power was out for 12 hours, realised after that I powered up all my tanks, but failed to hook up the fridge/freezers LOL, wifey wasn't impressed.

I estimated the amount of Watts I needed, and x 2, to give me the generator I needed.

 

[BlueBolts]

Oh, and Ive used it 2-3 times since, and each time I'm tankful that I purchased it. :-) Plus goes great on camping trips.

 

[Rodger]

noticed your in the shire, if interested I have a 5kw gen you can borrow, possible issues I can for see are noise,you could run it intermittently and transport as it is heavy so a trailer is needed,hasn't been run in a while so fresh fuel and test run will be needed, only fuel cost to you only thing for me would be something for surety, I'm at Menai so not to far away

 

[SpikeHoover&Rocky]

do a generator.

they say 8-10hrs and thats probably smoke and mirrors. reality is probably 24hrs

buy/borrow a gen set and don't take any chances...

 

[RobbieMVFC]

I was in a similar situation 12+ months ago......decided to purchase a descent generator, with the excuse of powering up the fridge/freezers etc..... power was out for 12 hours, realised after that I powered up all my tanks, but failed to hook up the fridge/freezers LOL, wifey wasn't impressed.

I estimated the amount of Watts I needed, and x 2, to give me the generator I needed.

lol , I purchased one, thinking all I need is a heater and a pump , never thought about the fridge ...lol

 

[ezza]

I wouldn't panic into buying a generator for a planned power outage. The tank will be fine for 8 hours. By the way, it's not council workers who replace electricity poles, it would be the power company.

To put things in perspective, this is an article about someone who was affected by a hurricane and lost power for several days.

http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/emergencyhelp1/a/Power-Outages-And-Saltwater-Aquariums.htm

 

[Uglyman]

I have heard that with some power companies you can request the loan of a generator if the outage is going to last a specific time period, don't know the truth of it.

I got sick of our area having tons of blackouts every year that sometimes went for up to 18 hours so first got a ecotech backup for my pumps then bit the bullet and got a genie just in case. Then our town put in a complaint to the government 2 years ago and then amazingly only 2 blackouts since and only one long enough to warrant the genie ROFL