power outage...

[Just_Greg]

yes, the dreaded word of any aquarist, and it happened yesterday.

i got a frantic call at work from Renee who was absolutely exhausted from her shift at the hospital telling me the power was out due to a nearby fire.  poor Renee was so tired, she could barely think, so i ran home (luckily only 2.8 miles) and we went to work breaking out the battery-powered air pumps (remember, we have 12 tanx!).  i also needed to disconnect and blow the standing water out of all of the chillers.

by the time i got home from work, the power had been restored, so i went around and reconnected all of the chillers, reset any clockwork lighting timers, and re-tweaked a few skimmers.

here's the REAL b1tch of it all:  i have a brand new generator for just such an occasion, but guess where it is?  yeppers, in the garage, which has an electric opener!  ARGH!  of COURSE the landlord didn't see fit to install a "no-power" door disconnect on the outside of the garage door...

anyhoo, since we're coming into winter and storm season, make sure you have a battery-powered airpump for each tank.  they're loud, but this time, as well as during a previous 3-day outage, i never lost so much as a snail, much less a fish or coral.  i'm currently deciding whether i want to modify the garage door, or move the generator to the side of the house on a pallet and cover it.

[Learner]

Seems to be lots of luck going about at the moment....all bad!!!
Pleased you didn't lose anything, and get that genny out of the garage. ;D

[RandyFolds]

Good thing you were there to respond...

I run a UPS backup power supply with a switch and air pumps for a couple of my client's tanks. It might be something to consider if you have a few tanks close together. Power goes out, UPS goes on, and the air pumps can run for days on it.

Side not: Why disconnect and blow the water out of the chillers?

[Just_Greg]

Side note: Why disconnect and blow the water out of the chillers?

because the unoxygenated water sits in them and stagnates very quickly.  it's NP for short term, but after a few hours, you can smell the hydrogen sulfide in that water.

[pinkorchid]

Glad all worked out!

That is a real kicker about the generator being in the garage. Go figure eh? Glad you posted this, I hadn't even though about power outages.....

[Bergy]

it isnt hard to rig up a 'release' cable for the garage door. it can be wire or airline cable that hooks to thelatch at the chain drive mechanism and run it to a 'hidden' spot so all you got to do is pull the cable and it will relase the chain drive...

anyways, what / why do you need to blow out the chiller water when you lose power

and yea, I LOVE THOSE battery powered air pumps... i have one that goes on when the power fails... but it isnt hooked up/installed... so it works as well as greg's generator...

[Bergy]

wouldnt the water inthe chiller get 'un oxygenated' at the same rate as in the tank???

wouldnt they smell bad at the same time//

anyways... never heard of this before, and it makes sense kind of...

Side note: Why disconnect and blow the water out of the chillers?

because the unoxygenated water sits in them and stagnates very quickly.  it's NP for short term, but after a few hours, you can smell the hydrogen sulfide in that water.

[Just_Greg]

the water in the chiller has no surface area at all for even minimal gas exchange, plus, it's a much smaller volume and is much more easily affected.  the only reason i know about this is by "accidental experience"...once, i fired up a chiller that sat overnight and i could smell it as it ran into the DT...

i just know that ever since then, i err on the side of caution and empty my chillers if they have to sit awhile.

[Bergy]

yea better safe then sorry...

[RandyFolds]

The organisms that recruit to places like chillers and tubing have a ton of oxygenated and nutrient rich flow passing them, so it makes sense that they would be consuming a lot of nutrients and oxygen, and therefore foul faster than an area with less nutrient and oxygen rich flow.

Now I am considering putting my chiller on a block so that it will drain into the sump if the flow stops. We will see...as you said, power outage season is coming. On that same note, I was amazed at the lack of power outages here in LA this summer, what with how hot it was. I figured everyone would be running their AC and something would pop somewhere, but neither I nor any of my clients experienced problems with it.

[Just_Greg]

Lanny,

didja get my PM about the large lion?

[RandyFolds]

Indeed. Thanks for the tip. I might try and shoot down there tomorrow if I can swing it.

[Just_Greg]

just tryin' to help out a bud...

if you've never seen Dan's shop, you'll like it.  Rob (the mgr.) is very geeked-out on nutrition, which is nice to see.