Importance of backup systems for tanks!!!! What are your plans.

[bitterman]

Not sure how much everyone is thinking about this.

I had thought about it and had plans.. but unfortunately had not implemented things yet.

My 180 with my 14 year old Mpimbwe had a power outage (Some time last night) The plug where the power bar plugged into the wall melted and let the smoke out. Thankfully the GCFI must have kicked in as it only made a small burnt area and there was not fire thankfully.

I had originally planned to run heaters on 2 separate  circuits in case one went out and also 2 pumps on different circuits. Was also going to do an air driven HMF on another circuit.

Well did not happen.. and too bad. Whole tank dead. No more fish in the house as these were the last.

TBD what I replace them with. Hard to replace 14" fish..

So who has backup systems or alarms for if something goes wrong? What are your plans for backup systems?

RIP my Mpimbwe

Bruce

[Al]

Bruce,
Sorry to hear about the mishap, especially with a group of fish you have had that long.
There will be a silver lining somewhere, however and hopefully you'll get into a good/better position.

In response to your question about backup, it's a difficult problem/challenge. And depending on type of fish, sensitivities, sizes of tanks, number of tanks, etc the answer can vary greatly.
In your case, it was lack of filtration/oxygen I am assuming that caused the deaths. The temps couldn't have dropped that much overnight.
I'm sure you remember when Mark had his flooding situation - long story short, he had 20+ tanks or so hooked up to a central system. He was away and his wife was doing a water change via the sump. She got distracted and left the hose running over night. When she called me the next morning there was 2 inches of water in his basement and the water in the tanks was at 58 degrees if I remember correctly. Everything, absolutely everything was dead and Mark had a LOT of tanganyikans.

I have several thermometers on tanks that have alarms (lab thermometers) that can be set for temp up or down alarm  but I don't use them. I have had power interruptions sometimes of 6-8 hours here in Greely and have had no losses, luckily. And these outages were in the summer so no heat issues like the winter months would present.
A couple of years back I had investigated buying a whole home generator hooked up to my natural gas line. In my case it wasn't just for fish but heating and especially water as I am on a well system for water.
The beauty about that system was that it would run off natural gas rather than a gas engine that needed to be refilled manually. At the end of the day, given that I was looking at a move in the next couple of years, I decided against dropping the 6G's.
Your situation revives my thoughts about some sponge filter back-ups with some sort of battery system or even the purchase of a small inverter gas-engine generator , like a 2000W Honda or Yamaha. That would still be just a Band-Aid solution as no heat in the house would be just as big an issue for my large tanks as oxygen/filtration.
All in all there is a fix BUT it needs some serious money thrown at it in my case.
Right now I just roll the dice and if stuff happens, I will start over.

This last week I was on vacation in the south Caribbean. I always use to SWEAT being away for a week or more, worrying about tanks, leaks, fish beating the snot out of each other, etc with no one being around to intervene. I would worry to no end, especially when I was keeping aggressive fish like Petrochromis which I did for many years.
Finally one day I just decided to get over it - do the best I can to manage the situation/mitigate problems and when I get back, what will be will be and I'll work through it.
Got home this time around and everything was 100%. Rolled the dice.

See you Sunday.
Al

[bitterman]

The temp did drop pretty fast as the house is about 50F and basement in the high 30's to low 40's F.  Our furnace is not working.

I know they were fine 24 hours before I found the issue.

Bruce

[Al]

Holy smokes - yes, those house temps would be an issue especially in the basement at 30-40's.

[charlie]

Sorry for your loss Bruce.

[bitterman]

Thanks guys... but let's get back to what we do to avoid this issue. Maybe someone will see this and save them. I like al's whole house backup generator idea.. but pretty pricey!

Bruce

[Al]

Bruce,
When you think about the cost, 5-6G's isn't that bad.
IF someone had a 2-3 day winter power outage and had pipes freeze, etc the 6G investment would seem like a no-brainer. You would probably get a good return on the sale of property with a whole-home generator. When your power goes out, the generator kicks in automatically without a blip. And if you're living in the country on a well, you need water. Depending on what other heat sources you have in your home - wood stove, fireplace, gas fireplace - you might be able to keep the freezing in check.

[bitterman]

I actually looked into one and the Generator was not the expensive part was the 5-10K extra for the install. All in all was almost 20k for the one setup I priced.

They would install a second panel, then rout some but not all plugs and items in the house to the special panel. When power goes out only things on the new panel are powered... so things like stove and air conditioning will not work. Also needed a HUGE propane tank. Goes through a lot to keep working.

Would still like to get one... just can't New Hot water and Furnace going in.. so that has priority...

Bruce

[Jellyanne]

I was thinking about that when I decided to set up my tanks. I figured a back up battery might be good,  but since we don't have a woodstove or anything else to cover the house in case of blackouts I started to look at generators. I still need to research a lot more! We usually just pack everyone and visit my parents for the duration of the blackout. Easy to pack kids and dogs... not so much with fish and shrimps!

[sas]

Ya we bit the bullet and bought a generator and the permanent hookup on the stack. Touch wood haven't had to use it yet, although have used it up at the cottage.
Sorry for your loss Bruce.

[Al]

Bruce
5-6K was all in for  a 6 or 8kW. Kohler. No way 10k for install, its not that complicated. My biggest install cost was the gas line extension, which came in on the other side of the house to where I wanted to install the unit.

[lucius]

This is more preventative than a backup but I had a dedicated electrical circuit installed.  At this time, only my fish tanks are on this circuit.

I also use those heavy duty 36" plus long power strips that you would find on a work bench or server room.  They typically use a heavier gauge wire to the wall and the power strip is rated for 20 amps.  The plugs I don't use, I plug up with those child safety covers to prevent accidental splashing and lastly the power strips are hanging high and away from the tanks.

[fischkopp]

Sorry Bruce, loosing a bunch no fun, especially if it's due to technical issues and you had them for a long time. I thought about a backup system, but like you, I have never installed one. Let's hope there won't be any ice storms this winter ...