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09-16-2008, 07:18 PM
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#1 (permalink)
| | Fire Worm
Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Texas Age: 40
Posts: 165
Karma: 98
 |  I survived the Hurricane, My fish did not make it.
Okay.
The power went out for 3 days, and my fish died. What killed them, lack of oxygen, build up of toxic waste, or temperature.
It wasn't that hot, so I'm thinking it was one of the other two reasons.
What do others use in case of power outages. A generator is too expensive and is out of the question.
Would a battery powered air pump saved the day? Could one of the computer backup systems work? How long can they drive a pump before running out of juice?
What do you guys do? | 
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09-16-2008, 07:22 PM
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#2 (permalink)
| | Fire Worm
Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: NE Ohio Age: 31
Posts: 161
 
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I myself use two marine batteries and a power inverter to run the main pump in my system and will be installing a battery powered air pump. From the research i have done a UPS sysytem will not provide you long term power for the system you are lookign at 1-3 hours. My marine battery setup worked for 24+ hours with one battery on the main pump. Hope this helps and karma for your loss.
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72 gallon bowfront ( born FEB 2008 )
2 Yellow Tailed Damsels, 2 Clownfish, 2 Green Cromies, 1 Hippo Tang, 1 Yellow Tang, 1 Naso Tang, 1 Six Line Wrasse, and 1 Coral Beauty | 
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09-16-2008, 07:22 PM
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#3 (permalink)
| | Giant Squid
Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: TN Age: 31
Posts: 3,905
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Glad you made it, sorry for the tank!
I heard there was a lot of stores down there that lost everything. Especially in the Houston area. The company I work for supplies some of them. _________ Got Questions? Need Answers?
"Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it." Andre Gide  | |
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09-16-2008, 07:22 PM
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#4 (permalink)
| | Millepora
Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: West Chester, Pa Age: 23
Posts: 943
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I've not done this, but some people use battery powered power heads to keep a flow and help with gas exchange. Sorry for your losses, that really sucks
_________
Equipment: 55 gal, Remora Skimmer w/ maxi jet 1200 pump, 4x54w T5 lighting, 2 super actinics, 2 12,000K actinic white bulbs, 55+ lbs fiji live rock...
Inhabitants: Ocellaris Clownfish, Yellow Tailed Damsel, Six Line Wrasse, Yellow Watchman Goby, 3 Chromis, Crocea Clam, Skunk Cleaner Shrimp
Corals: Zoas, Yellow Fiji Leather, Pineapple Brain, Frogspawn, Pearl Bubble, Blastomussa Merleti, Monti, GSP, Green Psammacora | |
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09-16-2008, 07:30 PM
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#5 (permalink)
| | Fire Goby
Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Chesterfield, VA Age: 21
Posts: 1,320
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if you lived near me i could probably sell you a generator for cheap, my dad picked up a new hobby of fixing old generators(well fixed 3 anyway). hes was really excited about this old vcu dormatory generator he got its as big as a tractor engine. i bet it could power half the houses on my street
_________
You mess with the tang, you get the spine.
nothing is a guarantee in this hobby.
Warning this user types quickly: post may be missing letters especially "n't"
26 bow; 1 orange tail damsel, purple psuedochromis, cleanershrimp; gsp and some zoas that escaped from my 90 | |
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09-16-2008, 07:31 PM
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#6 (permalink)
| | Fire Worm
Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Texas Age: 40
Posts: 165
Karma: 98
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I was actually in Tokyo at the time, my wife was home, but didn't care about the fish.
She only cared after I told her how much I really paid for the fish and how much it was going to cost to replace them.
Sean, Do you use a relay to activate the batteries? Does anybody have schematic of how to build a battery back up for the tank?
Lets see a relay on a seperate line, then run the inverter to a strip with the pump. When the power goes out, the relay closes, the inverter then runs into the strip that the pump is in. Could this work? I need an electrical guy to design this.
I live in Texas, so I bet for the next 6 months, generators are going to be a bit expensive. | |
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09-16-2008, 07:39 PM
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#8 (permalink)
| | Astrea Snail
Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Michigan
Posts: 65
Karma: 146
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Sorry for the loss of your fish....glad to hear you and your family are ok!
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55 gal tank, 5 gal refugium, 5 gal sump, coralife protein skimmer, nova extreme T5 lighting, koralia 3, 60 lbs live rock, 45 lbs live crushed coral, clean up crew, and a few fish | |
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09-16-2008, 08:18 PM
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#9 (permalink)
| | Feather Duster
Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: NorthWest, Arkansas
Posts: 201
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Living in Tornado Alley, we have a 6 hour battery backup system to our tank "electrical exchange" and then we have about 5 of the 110gph battery powered power heads.. While we have not yet figured out what to do with an extended power outage - we have a good start. 
sorry for ur loss, and GL on the rebuild!!! | |
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09-16-2008, 08:36 PM
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#10 (permalink)
| | Feather Star
Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Miami,Fl Age: 19
Posts: 794
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Sorry about your loss. In cases like this I think you can help by taking out water with a 5 gallon bucket and adding it back creating aeration. Doing this until the power comes back I think will help. Or just have a generator for basic stuff like pumps etc.. (you dont need a big generator or expensive one) _________ 90 gallon tank with center overflows, 44 gallon custom sump/fuge, Tek T5 retrofit 4x54 bulbs, Reef Octopus nw200 protein skimmer, Iwaki WMD40RLXT return pump (changed to panworld 100pxx),Knop c ca reactor, PA light house controller.
Click: Real-Time Stats 
^^ Testing it out! Ill add more param.. later. | |
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