Reef tanks and hurricanes are a bad mix.

"kryppy" wrote in message
...
These guys are tuff, but I can't imagine how I could keep them going
with a generator.


I just rode out Frances with a generator and thankfully- all my tanks
survived beautifully. I was only without power for 72 hours, but feel
confident I could have gone much longer with no losses. Loss of sanity- yes,
but the tanks did fine.

With the reef tank heat was the major concern, so in addition to the regular
pumps and powerheads I added a couple of spare HOT filters and pointed the
returns slightly up into the air. That and an extra fan in the room did the
trick- despite heat and terrible humidity indoors the tank temperature never
got over 84ºF. I did not run all the lights at once- in fact had them on
very little. The CO2 build up in the heavily shuttered house also caused me
some concern- I am just now geting my pH back up past 8.0. I have battery
pumps for each tank I have, but the prolonged time between the power going
off and our being able to go outside and fire up the generator was the
problem there.

But in contrast I had difficulty keeping the temps *up* in my Discus tank
which usually sits at about 86ºF. This tank is in a different room and had
only a Penguin 300 on it which cooled the water too much. It usually runs on
an Eheim 2028 that gets less air mixed in, but it had been without power for
so long I was afraid it had gone toxic.

So in my experience you can do OK with a generator if you keep in mind what
filter will accomplish what. I traded many of the filters around to
accomodate specific room conditions (with no media), but the reef tank got
the ones with outputs I could direct airborne.


--
Toni
http://www.cearbhaill.com/reef.htm

Man, I feel for you guys. best of luck.


"Toni" wrote in message
.. .

"kryppy" wrote in message
...
These guys are tuff, but I can't imagine how I could keep them going
with a generator.


I just rode out Frances with a generator and thankfully- all my tanks
survived beautifully. I was only without power for 72 hours, but feel
confident I could have gone much longer with no losses. Loss of sanity-
yes,
but the tanks did fine.

With the reef tank heat was the major concern, so in addition to the
regular
pumps and powerheads I added a couple of spare HOT filters and pointed the
returns slightly up into the air. That and an extra fan in the room did
the
trick- despite heat and terrible humidity indoors the tank temperature
never
got over 84ºF. I did not run all the lights at once- in fact had them on
very little. The CO2 build up in the heavily shuttered house also caused
me
some concern- I am just now geting my pH back up past 8.0. I have battery
pumps for each tank I have, but the prolonged time between the power going
off and our being able to go outside and fire up the generator was the
problem there.

But in contrast I had difficulty keeping the temps *up* in my Discus tank
which usually sits at about 86ºF. This tank is in a different room and had
only a Penguin 300 on it which cooled the water too much. It usually runs
on
an Eheim 2028 that gets less air mixed in, but it had been without power
for
so long I was afraid it had gone toxic.

So in my experience you can do OK with a generator if you keep in mind
what
filter will accomplish what. I traded many of the filters around to
accomodate specific room conditions (with no media), but the reef tank got
the ones with outputs I could direct airborne.


--
Toni
http://www.cearbhaill.com/reef.htm