I posted this topic on ReefCentral recently and I got some great feedback and suggestions.
ReneX of Houston, TX wrote:
Have a water change ready, as well as topoff water ready. If your aquarium starts to go south despite your best efforts, you can either do a water change or plop your most valuable livestock into a 5 gallon bucket of fresh saltwater and hope for the best.
I live in a second-story apartment, so many of my options for backup power won’t work. I have a battery powered airstone, but the most useful things I’ve found are battery backups of the sort designed for computers or household use. I have an Xpower powerpack 300 plus which will run my hydor korallia for 48 hours. I have a 200 plus which I haven’t tested but should give me another day or so of power, plus the battery powered airpump.
On that note, test the equipment you want to run to make sure it will work on your chosen backup power method BEFORE you need it. For some reason I had a battery backup that wasn’t compatible with my pumps and would cause the propellers to run the wrong way. Not very useful, needless to say. If you are using a battery system, test it to see how long it will run your equipment and plan accordingly.
I was very fortunate during Ike and was only without power for 18 hours, but once the power’s out it isn’t easy to know when it’s coming back. Think about all you’ve invested in your tank and take the steps to protect it before the storm gets here.
These are a few great suggestions. If you have any suggestions, please email me at admin@aquanerd.com or find me on various aquarium forum websites under the screen name “camaroracer214”.
