Third day in a row with a power outage

[Cardiak]

Day 1 Car hits pole right down the block, we lose power for 5 hours until they come check out the pole and stand around for 2 hours doing nothing and then finally send someone to bring back a brace to fix it. I work from home so most of the day was spent infront of my tank with a paddle keeping the water moving wondering why I havn't bought a replacement battery powered airpump.

Day 2... well actually night. 11:30 pm, just about to go to bed and zap powers out. I wait it out 20 minutes or so and then grab a beer and paddle wishing water around till 1:30 a.m. in complete darkness.

Today, lightning just hit the pole directly infront of my window which was actually kind of cool to see. But now national grid is saying they estimate 5 hours until power returns

Well....I guess its time to start paddling

 

[Miller]

Seeeesh John you have some crappy luck lately, at least it is nice and cool today.

 

[gavinrobinson]

Can a tank go for a while with out any flow? I'm sure it depends on the corals you have and such, right?

 

[Cardiak]

What makes this all that much worse is that I am in the middle of a chemi-clean treatment. So the water is already being deprived of oxygen. But yeah if a tank isnt getting any water movement it slowly uses up all the oxygen since there is no gas exchange happening at the surface.

BTW Barry, nice new skimmer you got waiting at Johns... that suckers almost as big as your tank

 

[MikeG]

I'm surprised today you didn't just go buy a replacement battery air pump when you heard it would be out a while. You definately have more patients than me.

 

[saltwaterB]

Battery Backup on Vortechs...

 

[Cardiak]

Anyone know of any local shops that sell them? The last one I ordered online was DOA and I'm going on vacation friday so I wanna play it safe and setup a working backup.

 

[Miller]

Battery powered air pump or Vortechs with battery backup?

 

[Nonmouse]

Imma thinking somewhere around day 2 or 3 I'd've picked up a battery-powered airpump...

 

[bigdog]

so the paddle thing works and barrys skimmer that for making mixed drinks dont let him ful u

 

[MikeG]

I have gotten the PenPlaxx battery backup air pumps at PetSmart in the past. I couldn't find any shops local to me that had them in stock. I also got one from Marc when he had his shop on the Cape, but that won't help you now...Not sure what sponser have them. I always keep at least 2 on a tank incase one doesn't come on for some reason.

 

[JohnK]

Yup, penplax B11

I got a few at petsmart a while ago. Less than $15 ea, turn on automatically when the power goes out.

Edit, adding;
OK the price went up, now they are $16ea
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2753043

 

[SteveDola]

this is why ive been looking for a good cheap generator

 

[Brad S]

I think the stress of being in a plastic bag for 24+ hours is a little more tolling than being in a large volume of stagnant water for 5 hours. Thats how I look at it at least.

I'd be concerned about water temp on a hot or cold day, but that's about it.

3 months ago on a 90 degree day (100+ in the house with no AC) My ex roommates fouled something on the tank causing it to leak, their remedy, turn it entirely off. I worked a full day, returned to mid 90's temps and no flow... everything did fine except a few corals looked terrible, bounced back overnight once power was restored to the tank.

 

[skyedolphan]

John I have 1 ( had 4 lent 2 out never to be seen again and cant find the 3rd )
but I do have hands on 1 if you would like to borrow it while you are away. I picked up battery airaters from walmart although they are not the plug inback ups they will work for me as I am home now 99% of the time. Just LMK

 

[RayD]

this is why ive been looking for a good cheap generator

Walmart has inexpensive generators that would certainly keep a tank running.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=6487123

 

[Cardiak]

John I have 1 ( had 4 lent 2 out never to be seen again and cant find the 3rd )
but I do have hands on 1 if you would like to borrow it while you are away. I picked up battery airaters from walmart although they are not the plug inback ups they will work for me as I am home now 99% of the time. Just LMK

Thanks for the offer, but I just picked up two pumps this morning.