What kind of precautions do you take if the power goes out?

[Aqua Girl]

So my tank is small and managable. I have a marine battery that we keep charged in the garage that I would hook up to my filter if the power went out. I know there are some manual 'tricks' you could do to keep the water aerated but for those of you with larger aquariums, I always wonder what kind of preemptive measures that you take to ensure your tank keeps going if you lost power. Not sure if this has been discussed before but thought it was kind of important.

[Mr Cob]

I keep several battery operated air pumps with airstones and tubing ready to go along with several packages of new batteries. I also loan them out in the event that anyone needs help.

I also keep bags of frozen water (ie ICE) in case a tank is getting hot....just float them

[caferacermike]

I do nothing and it has worked for about a decade. I've lost power for several hours before, I think up to about 10 hours, and all was fine in my tnak.

Of course as I always say, what works for me might not work for you.

[Sherita]

Generator. Solves all the problems. We can lose power for days in the bad spring storms. I just shut the mains off, hook in with my genset and flip a few breakers. It powers all my tanks, fridge, freezer and either one air conditioner or the stove blower, depending on the temps.

[Timfish]

If the maintenance is kept up on a tank I would expect it to go 8-12 hours without a problem. Several of my tanks are set up with air pumps that switch over to battery automatically and will run 3-4 days. What I worry about is the conditions that would cause a power outage of that duration is either a bad storm in the summer where the main concern would be the tank getting hot or a bad storm in the winter where the tank may get cold.

[subsea]

With a DSB, I would not agree that the tank could go 8 hours without attention. Inexpensive air pumps come on when the power goes off for less than $15 can back up a 75 gallon tank for several days when you are not there. I went two weeks off the grid when Rita hit SW Louisiana. It was hot and humid and not a pleasant event.

[BBMarlin]

I keep frozen water bottles in my freezer to drop in my tank if I were to lose electricity, in my experience heat is a big stresser for SPS. Best solution is a chiller/generator. Unless power is going to be out for longer than 24 hours I wouldn't concern myself with oxygen levels in the water, focus on temperature.

[Robb in Austin]

For minor emergencies, temporary power outages mainly, air pumps are the best bet and all that is needed I feel.

For more pressing events, AC loss here is the biggest risk, a way to cool the tank is more important but air pumps wont hurt. When our AC went out last summer, I placed my GFO/GAC reactor in a stryofoam cooler and put icy water in it to keep my tank cool. Worked like a champ.

If you live in the 'city' and have a reasonably stable supply of electricity, a generator is an insurance policy and an expensive one at that. If you are out in the sticks, it might be worth the cost.

If you have a bigger event, such as the hurricane like Pat mentioned, you are going to have bigger issues to contend with than keeping your tank alive. Fortunately, we don't have issues such as those too terribly often.

[jestep]

I have a UPS attached to a main in-tank pump, my bio pellet pump, and my ATO system. I can run it for about 7 hours of normal flow, and about 2 days if I turn it way down.