power out... how long?

reefbyremote · #1 04-09-2010, 04:49 AM

My power has been out for about 30 minutes. How long can my 90 g reef survive without water movement? It is lightly stocked but I am concerned this might be an all nighter. Any hints besides mixing the water at the surface??

lockrookie · #2 04-09-2010, 05:18 AM

get a really big straw and start blowing bubbles... seriously tho it shouldnt hurt anything unless its out for a few days which is usually unlikely just watch that your skimmer doesnt flip out like mine did tonight when i blew a breaker.. oops restarted breaker and skimmer puked all over my floor.

viperfish · #3 04-09-2010, 05:23 AM

Mine has been blinking on and off all night. So far it's just causing my powerheads to hiccup, I hope that's as bad as it gets. I've got two battery powered air pumps, you're welcome to come grab one.

reefbyremote · #4 04-09-2010, 05:50 AM

Thanks Rod. I have rigged up an air mattress foot pump and plan to get up every couple of hours. We shall see!

mike31154 · #5 04-09-2010, 04:01 PM

Ha, ha, now there's a brilliant idea, an air mattress foot pump! I have a battery powered air pump for my display that automatically cuts in when power is lost and I'm away. But your idea has definite advantages when one is at home during an outage. To expand on your idea, so to speak, one could actually get an air mattress, fill it up with the foot pump.... or by simple breath power... and somehow hook that up to an air line with a valve to regulate the pressure/flow. That way you might only have to get up once during the night.... What think you?

This has really got the creative juices going with regard to good old 'air' power. I've also toyed with the idea of using an air compressor with a large storage tank for certain applications where air might be required, such as a monster air driven skimmer. You'd need a good regulator to tap off the air tank and voila! Depending on the size of the air tank, you could run air into your system for days, or even run the skimmer constantly. You'd no longer be limited by the height of the skimmer either. A six or eight footer would be no problem in a basement sump system. Getting a little off topic here, but....

banditpowdercoat · #6 04-09-2010, 04:39 PM

I have a Koralia 2 on a UPS. It can run for about 7 hrs on the UPS. I have it pointed at the surface. It doesnt make much tank flow, but really helps with aeration when the powers out.

reefbyremote · #7 04-11-2010, 04:17 PM

I am investigating the UPS idea. Certainly this gives some peace of mind if this ever happened when we are not home. Thanks to all.