Wintertime power outage suggestions
Time to break out this thread again folks...just in case
With the storm approaching tonight, some of us might have issues with a power outage due to downed trees/electric wires from heavy snow.
The 2 main issues we will encounter with no electricity will be keeping the tank oxygenated and maintaining water temperature.
There are many great suggestions on oxygenating the water manually on the earlier pages of this thread, so please take the time to review those now.
Maintaining water temperature:
-Wrap the entire tank in blankets or layers of newspaper or cardboard to maintain the level of heat. You want to do this the minute the power goes out, do not wait.
-Since heat rises - you do want to wrap the top if the tank also BUT...IF YOU LEAVE YOUR HOUSE AND THE ELECTRIC COMES BACK ON - YOUR LIGHTS WILL CAUSE A FIRE! DO NOT LEAVE THE HOUSE IF YOU WRAP THE LIGHTS!
-Isolate the sump from the display tank (remember you will have no power, so you will need to treat these as 2 separate tanks as no water will be flowing between them.)
If you have an Overflow Box, remove the tube, and close valves. If your tank is reef-ready, close the ball/gate valves to the drain/s.
Remember to also oxygenate the sump to keep your pods (and heaven only knows what other critters/corals you are keeping down there)
-Gather up a few of the heaviest plastic containers you can find that have SCREW ON tops. Empty (and dechlorinated!!) bleach bottles, soda bottles, empty ESV containers...). Hopefully you still have hot running water and can use that to fill & then float the bottles in your tank to try and maintain the temperature. If you use this method, please dechlorinate the water in the container before adding it to the tank in the event that it leaks/breaks. I do not suggest using boiling water, just the hottest water available.
- If you have a whole house generator, start it up and make sure it will easily start later and that you have enough fuel for it.
-If you have a UPS Battery Back up - make sure now that it is fully charged.
-Since your heater is probably currently not in your DT, either move it or you may want to dig out the extra ones you have laying around (like the one from your water mixing container). Aim for lower wattage heaters as they draw less of your limited power, and will last longer than that 300w heater you have.
-If you have a battery back up, use it for heating purposes rather than water movement/circulation as you can oxygenate the tank manually, but will have more difficulty trying to maintain the temperature.
-If you have a power invertor, locate the battery you will be hooking it up to and be sure that it is charged up.
-If your neighbor has power but you don't, run an extension cord.
In a nutshell:
Locate and thoroughly clean out bottles to float with warmer water
Locate your smaller wattage heaters
Have a battery operated radio on hand
Find or go purchase a bottle of water dechlorinator
Find or go purchase a tank thermometer (your controller won't be working to tell you the tank temp)
Two last things:
If you have a canister filter (or UV light) on your tank and you lose power - be SURE to empty ALL of the contents before your power comes back on! Since they are a sealed unit, the bacteria inside of it will die in about 1 hours time and it can severely pollute (if not kill) your tank if released upon restarting. Best to empty as soon as the power goes out so you won't forget about it.
Again I ask that posts on this thread be kept to adding valuable information only as anyone trying to read this during a power outage is probably viewing it off the battery power of a laptop.
Hopefully we will not require any of this info. Stay warm & shovel your walk!
Time to break out this thread again folks...just in case
With the storm approaching tonight, some of us might have issues with a power outage due to downed trees/electric wires from heavy snow.
The 2 main issues we will encounter with no electricity will be keeping the tank oxygenated and maintaining water temperature.
There are many great suggestions on oxygenating the water manually on the earlier pages of this thread, so please take the time to review those now.
Maintaining water temperature:
-Wrap the entire tank in blankets or layers of newspaper or cardboard to maintain the level of heat. You want to do this the minute the power goes out, do not wait.
-Since heat rises - you do want to wrap the top if the tank also BUT...IF YOU LEAVE YOUR HOUSE AND THE ELECTRIC COMES BACK ON - YOUR LIGHTS WILL CAUSE A FIRE! DO NOT LEAVE THE HOUSE IF YOU WRAP THE LIGHTS!
-Isolate the sump from the display tank (remember you will have no power, so you will need to treat these as 2 separate tanks as no water will be flowing between them.)
If you have an Overflow Box, remove the tube, and close valves. If your tank is reef-ready, close the ball/gate valves to the drain/s.
Remember to also oxygenate the sump to keep your pods (and heaven only knows what other critters/corals you are keeping down there)
-Gather up a few of the heaviest plastic containers you can find that have SCREW ON tops. Empty (and dechlorinated!!) bleach bottles, soda bottles, empty ESV containers...). Hopefully you still have hot running water and can use that to fill & then float the bottles in your tank to try and maintain the temperature. If you use this method, please dechlorinate the water in the container before adding it to the tank in the event that it leaks/breaks. I do not suggest using boiling water, just the hottest water available.
- If you have a whole house generator, start it up and make sure it will easily start later and that you have enough fuel for it.
-If you have a UPS Battery Back up - make sure now that it is fully charged.
-Since your heater is probably currently not in your DT, either move it or you may want to dig out the extra ones you have laying around (like the one from your water mixing container). Aim for lower wattage heaters as they draw less of your limited power, and will last longer than that 300w heater you have.
-If you have a battery back up, use it for heating purposes rather than water movement/circulation as you can oxygenate the tank manually, but will have more difficulty trying to maintain the temperature.
-If you have a power invertor, locate the battery you will be hooking it up to and be sure that it is charged up.
-If your neighbor has power but you don't, run an extension cord.
In a nutshell:
Locate and thoroughly clean out bottles to float with warmer water
Locate your smaller wattage heaters
Have a battery operated radio on hand
Find or go purchase a bottle of water dechlorinator
Find or go purchase a tank thermometer (your controller won't be working to tell you the tank temp
)Two last things:
If you have a canister filter (or UV light) on your tank and you lose power - be SURE to empty ALL of the contents before your power comes back on! Since they are a sealed unit, the bacteria inside of it will die in about 1 hours time and it can severely pollute (if not kill) your tank if released upon restarting. Best to empty as soon as the power goes out so you won't forget about it.
Again I ask that posts on this thread be kept to adding valuable information only as anyone trying to read this during a power outage is probably viewing it off the battery power of a laptop.
Hopefully we will not require any of this info. Stay warm & shovel your walk!
