Hope the power comes back soon

[Quinn]

Wouldn't a generator be a better idea than a UPS?

[Samw]

Originally Posted by teevee

Wouldn't a generator be a better idea than a UPS?

Yes, if money was no object. Although I haven't done the research, I was under the impression that they cost a good chunk of change. Considering, it would be used maybe 1 day out of every 2 years, I didn't think it was a good investment for my small reef.

[Quinn]

Well I know that a UPS is, what, easily $300? I think a cheap/used generator is similar in price. I'm lucky, my dad has an industrial generator for his commercial greenhouse so if the power ever goes out, I'm more than covered.

[Aquattro]

Using a UPS is pretty much useless unless you have a small tank. I had a $900 unit that would run my entire tank for about 30 minutes. Not much value for $900!! A $300 unit would be a large paper weight for running anything bigger than a nano. My new plan is to run a converter from my car using an extension cord. These come in various wattages. Of course being able to park near the tank is a prerequisite

[zulu_principle]

Im not speaking for the power outages in the eastern states, hopefully we never experience that here.

A converter is fine for small items, but the small coleman generators, that can be purchased or rented, be the first one to call, are fantastic.


Wendell

[kari]

Originally Posted by Samw

Yes, if money was no object. Although I haven't done the research, I was under the impression that they cost a good chunk of change. Considering, it would be used maybe 1 day out of every 2 years, I didn't think it was a good investment for my small reef.

But with a generator in your garage you can have your tank covered and even be able to make coffee or toast in the morning. For one thats into camping it can be a nice tool aswell. Might aswell have a tool that can be used and not just a backup. That power outage made me think a bit. If that happened here...$$$ + pain, and lots of $$. Shitty for you people out there in the dark.

[Samw]

Originally Posted by zulu_principle

A converter is fine for small items, but the small coleman generators, that can be purchased or rented, be the first one to call, are fantastic.

Wendell

How much for a generator?

[Delphinus]

Yeah, most inexpensive UPS's are really intended to give you 5-10 minutes to save your work and then gracefully shutdown your PC. A UPS that would run your reef during a blackout of this magnitude out here would run you into the thousands. Not cost effective. If you're going to compromise on what one powerhead you'll run, one heater, at that point your better off using battery operated air pumps and the like.

A generator may not be much less money but as has been pointed out will be a very broad spectrum tool. You can run your fridge and freezer, for example. People out here, have to throw away all their food now. Don't eat your meat, don't eat your dairy. Presumably, there are going to be a pile of restaurants too, that have food that has to be chucked. What a mess.

Another option that I have been sort of tossing back and forth in my mind as to what I want to do to protect my reef, in the event I can't buy a generator, is to use those battery operated devices, but instead of relying on just batteries, if the units can be made to operate on 12V ... 12V is reasonabky easy to come by. A small windmill or a solar panel could maybe be used in conjunction with the battery and then maybe between the elements, you can save your batteries for other things like flashlights in the event of a prolonged outage. Of course if it's cloudy or dark winter AND windstill then that's of little use, but I'm kind of geeked out on wind power and solar power and been wondering for years how to get in on that somehow. My neighbour has a small wind generator on his garage. One day I am just going to ring his doorbell and ask what he's running off it. It's the coolest little thing, turbine is about 2', 2.5' in diameter, sits on the corner of his garage.

While you may be hearing that power is coming back to the affected area, I should point out that it's still a very precarious situation out here. As power comes back so does demand and they need to match the ramping up of both quite evenly, or risk roving brownouts. So it's still going to be a process for some time yet.

I just want to know what the hell happened here. At this point, nobody really has any idea. A lot of good sounding theories, and a lot of "well we know it wasn't US" going on. But I think it's conceivable that we may not EVER really be 100% certain. My theory is that there have been a number of causes that compounded one another. All I know, it's been a real mess. I suppose for a individual consumer it's not a whole lot different than say a power outage causxed by an ice storm or a hurricane or whatever, in this case the difference is the sheer magnitude of the affected area. What a mess.

[kari]

Doesn't cosco sell a small solar panel for about $450? Not sure what it can supply though. And, what about the ones UFA sells for fences. Free power is the way to go but there is draw backs like having huge batteries around.

[Delphinus]

I would assume that a solar panel or a small turbine could at best only supply a tank partially. It's still an idea that has me intrigued though.

I would assume the priorities for a "damage control" mode would be minimal water turnover, perhaps aeration for combat O2 depletion. Would you want a heater still? I suppose if it was winter, but would you want the temperature to go down a bit perhaps? If a lower temperature equated into slower metabolism.

What I would want is to keep my sump pump running. Irony there, of course, is that that is probably the single biggest consumer of electriciyty second to the lighting. But if you're running refugiums, multiple tanks off one sump, that would sure be the way to go. Makes me wonder what a suitable replacement pump would be for the long term when it's time to upgrade from the ol' LG4.

I am so, so sorry to hear about people's losses. From what I'm hearing on some of the other boards ... if it was me in that situation, I'd probably be packing it in.

What can you do in something like this? As I had breakfast this morning, I overheard the comment: "what the hell are you supposed to do? Practically everything you touch nowadays needs electricity." Yeah, it's just nuts.