preparing the tanks for the storm?

[gordonrichards]

Do all water changes now. Top off water.
Once water supply is flooded they treat the pipes with chemicals to kill off increased crap/bacteria count.
I don't do water changes after storms.
-G

[greenmulberry]

I really recommend having some battery air pumps handy, they have really saved my tanks in an extended power outage.

Of course, the real way to prepare, is to buy a generator, then your power will never ever ever go out again!!! I bought one 8 years ago for my reef tanks, have not had more than a few hours of power outage at a time since.

[acitydweller]

Originally Posted by gordonrichards

Do all water changes now. Top off water.
Once water supply is flooded they treat the pipes with chemicals to kill off increased crap/bacteria count.
I don't do water changes after storms.
-G

+1 words of wisdom gordon... ill be busy tonight

[PlantedRich]

That's the neat thing about being prepared. It seems to ward off evil! Or maybe it just makes it so much easier that I forget the trauma of living without power?

I like the idea of solar but when I look at the real issue it comes out short for me. Here where I am now, solar might work but it is really short when it comes to power at a price I'm willing to pay. For a simple panel from Harbor Freight which I normally don't consider except for one time use items, a 45 Watt panel is around $150, adding any kind of storage adds another 50, then I would have DC power or need another expensive item. The straight 45 watts DC is not enough to run very much when you begin to convert that to AC. When you begin to look at solar for the colder areas where it may stay cloudy for several days, it begins to fade as a usable backup system. Cold cloudy winter days after an ice storm is when I would be most interested in a backup. I want to at least be able to power up the furnace often enough to keep the pipes from freezing. Many furnaces won't even light up without AC let alone run the blower to heat the house.

For powering a generator, one does have to do some planning and work. Like having several cans of gas on hand and keeping it rotated so that it is usable gas. Generators that are not run on a routine are often not generators when you need them. They become boat anchors if they set for years without being run.

Bottom line is that there are no simple solutions. That's when Darwin hits home! Every storm of any real size does sort out the weak ones.

[PlantedRich]

"Once water supply is flooded they treat the pipes with chemicals to kill off increased crap/bacteria count"

Do you have any evidence of this or is it just something you read on the internet? Or are you thinking of when they put out a boil order to protect the health?

I understand that in most areas of the country, they treat the water with chlorine or chloramine all the time. If you can prove they are going over the limits set by the health agencies, you could certainly make a pile of money off the lawsuits.

If they are treating water to the legal limits, just use the normal amount of Prime and you are safe.

[wendyjo]

I have a question about my "plan" now that I've been thinking on it all day.

Is it safe to heat water for my tanks in a metal kettle on my stove? It gets run thru the dish washer now and then, but I can certainly give it a good soak in vinegar or something tomorrow. I'm more concerned with it being metal - I have no idea if that's OK to use or not.

Went to Lowes today - no generators, no flashlights, no D batteries. Went to Petco, no battery air pumps (I actually have one that runs on ac then switches over to dc, but the dc part isn't working right and I need to replace it). I'm more worried about temps than having an air pump running in any event. If I can add warm water to the tanks that will take care of both issues.

[R.sok]

You could always buy a cheap power invertor then if you have two cars remove one of the batts & run the heater & pump off of that. Filterwise I'm not sure I don't think it would be a problem but I could be wrong. Everynight when i turn off my aquarium lights I also turn off the filters & only leave the heater running. I suffered no deaths doing this for years

[Bluek24a4]

You shut your filter off every night?

[R.sok]

Yeah every night before I go to sleep filter gets shut off. I've been doing this my whole life keeping fish with no deaths except for my betta that jumped out of a bowl.

My biocube 8 uses a wet/dry filter behind it, but I have the water level really high so I don't lose 02 through splashing water,no biomedia only use filter floss.

My eclipse 12 gallon has a sponge over the inlet & gets shut off same time just filter floss no wheel.

55g uses a custom filter I made & also gets shut off at night

[R.sok]

My fish seem happy, they aren't skittish , always eat regularly If anything I believe they are happier with the filter off at night...why? Because I believe they can hear the buzzing the filter makes during the daytime at a higher rate than we can. Ever went underwater & grabbed two rocks then hit them together, It is very loud to your ears

[hopeforthebest]

What should I do with my filters if the power is out more then a few hours? I now plan on unplugging them when the power goes out, and when the power comes back on do I just rinse the media off before I start them up? I am afraid of the tanks going through a cycle with all those fish. I can try w/c for as long as we have water during the power outage, but what is the best way to handle the filters? Now they are calling for winds anywhere from 35 to .....100 mph! Funny thing is, the guy who installed my new boiler after Irene last year, suggested we get a generator. That was just before we even heard of this storm.

[Evilgrin]

"When power is lost, turn all tank power off and remove media from filters like HOB or canisters and place the media in water to keep it wet. Flush the media in treated water occasionally to keep as much bacteria alive as possible.
When power comes back, don't dump a load of dead water from filters back into the tank. Test and watch carefully for a week or more after power comes back. Don't fight the good fight and then lose the tank to an ammonia spike in a week or so."

Most excellent advice given by PlantedRich in another thread.

[Public Alias]

This is making me wish I had set up my tank with cold water native species. But I did not.

I ordered a generator online but it wont arrive until Nov 2. So this is my plan in the meantime:

If power goes out I will tape one of those emergency heat reflective blankets (the kind that looks like it is made out of foil) around and over my tank. I just bought a 100w (200w peak) power inverter for $20. I will run an extension cord out to my car and use my car as my generator. Maybe I'll run it for an hour at a time a few times a day, to power the 100w heater, and then switch to the filter. Hopefully that will be enough to keep things stable.

Thankfully my car has a battery meter on the dash, so I could monitor how much I am using. This might allow me to power my tank for some time without actually running the car and burning gas, but without going so far that I drain my battery.

[PlantedRich]

Be safe, be careful out there. I have spent some time doing storm repair after some big storms and there are always those sad cases where people cut it just a bit short and wind up not being harmed by the storm but dying due to CO or in fires from not getting the temporary wiring right. No heating with the Bar-B-gue and such, okay? No running generators inside or next to a window. If you are in an apartment building, keep in mind what others in your building might be doing that can kill you, too.

Your fish really are pretty far down on the real list of priorities when you think real clear.

[mscichlid]

http://aquaticlifefarm.com/web_pages...ticle_pwr.html

Power outages info