I picked one up at Costco in the summer for around $300, it was the last day of $100 off so I grabbed one. I've only lost power once (knock on wood) for 1 1/2 hours and that was back during the first storm. I set it up in the doorway of my shed with the exhaust pointing out. It is fairly loud and would probably not go over well with the neighbors if I ran it all night. The muffler has a spot that an extension can be added and I want to put a pipe through the side of the shed and close the door and that might make the noise level acceptable.

Mag 9 - Return
Dart - CL
G2 - Skimmer
150W - Heater
4x48" - VHO Lighting
2x48" - T5 Lighting

Were all running of the Gen and I was just about to plug in the fridge but the power came back on.



http://zld.ca/reef/gen02.jpg

http://zld.ca/reef/po02.jpg

http://zld.ca/reef/po01.jpg

AN ABSOLUTE MUST DO!!!! Did you see the News about the senior couple who died from carbon monoxide poisoning from a gennie.:sad: :sad: :sad:

here's a good read on the whole disaster management subject:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issu...02/feature.htm

in summary
 

in summary: for about $200-300, most of us can buy a generator that will be able to sustain most of our aquariums during a power outage for an extended period of time - our neighbors may not be appreciative of the noise levels generated by these devices nevertheless our investments in this hobby is worth the occasional dirty look by our neighbors.

your neighbours will wish they had one too......ours did... ;)

Sorry for the late post, on holidays and need to catch up on all the reading.:lol: :biggrin:

Anyways, the neighbour next to me said that I was the only "SMART ONE" in the neighbourhood that had/used a gennie. A lot of neighbours went to in-laws, were power outages did not occur or it was fixed really fast.