Story of Survival: Katrina Vs. My 55 Galllon

[pwj1286]

I live about 30 mins away from New Orleans.

I have now come to the conclusion, that it is not possiable to keep an aquarium of any sort with out a gas generator and a battery powered air pump.

If you can live in N.O. and you got an reef tank, you need a generator. Not some cheap one either. Invest into a $250+ generator. Strive to get one that produces as many watts as possiable.

I have two modes for my tank:

Normal Operation Mode and Generator Life Support Mode

Normal Operation is everything running, everything that uses electricity.

Generator Life Support Mode is like all things you take for granted.

You do not realize how many watts you pull from your whole setup, until you do not have enough power to run a Maxi-Jet powerhead.

This means: No Protien Skimmer, no powerheads, calcium reactor, very little lights, or any other special effects in your tank.


I had to evacuate 100 miles away from my precious and I had to sneak back into the place where I live (the police were not allowing anyone to come home, for our saftey, which is reasonable) after the storm passed. I set up my tank for Life Support systems only and hoped for the best. My generator could not run my tank, because the generator was too weak.

I ended up taking a chunk of my liverock which contained most of best corals and putting it into a JBJ Nano Cube, which uses little over a couple hundred, with the lights on.

I saved it though. I only had a 2 inch Slimer die, and a Yellow Jaw Gobie, who got so scared, he commited suicide by going into my overflow U-Tube.

 

[Anonymous]

milzed.

 

[LA-Lawman]

the things you should run.... return pump if feasible and skimmer.... your tank can go a week or so with no light. then just alternate the lights....

if that can't be done remove your lids and use airstones...

during the northridge quake. we had no power for 2 weeks....

I used a honda ecodrive generator and ran my return and skimmer.... then after 4-5 days i ran the light for 5 hours.... then back to skimmer and pump...

tak was fine... no ill effects or anything...

 

[pwj1286]

it was crazy. all my friends lost everything. Entire stores lost all living things.

The Aquarium of the Armericas, located in the center of New Orleans, lost everything. Nothing alive. They lost in the millions.

 

[Len]

I think the longest outtage I've experienced was 24 hours, and I recall that being a pain to deal with (but in my defense, I have no power generator). I can only imagine weeks.

 

[Anonymous]

My tank was still in Metairie when Katrina hit. I lost it all.

 

[pwj1286]

Yeah, I felt bad for everyon in Metairie. Aquatic Specialties lost everything. I do not know about Coral Connection, Rick's Reef, or Silent World Aquariums.

Have you heard any news.

 

[Anonymous]

Coral Connection did fine. I do not know about the others.

 

[pwj1286]

I figured that Coral Connection would do fine. That guy is rich. I think I saw his huge generators. Enough to power his whole place.

You live in Metairie? I live in Luling.

 

[Anonymous]

I LIVED in Metairie. Not to far from Rummel. I now live in a Houston Burb.

 

[pwj1286]

Moving back?

I currently live in Fresno, CA for college. I go to college here because UNO was not open.

I got my mom taking care of my tank. I tought her everything. She takes a lot of intrest in it. Sometimes she buys stuff for it, which is cool. I am going back in Dec. to visit and work on my tank.

 

[Anonymous]

Not if I can help it. I am from the area, Houma actually. Other than my family and my wife's family their is no reason for me to even go and visit. I did not like living there very much.

 

[pwj1286]

I live in LA all my life. I am going to finish up college their. I am shooting for Tulane.

 

[Anonymous]

good luck to ya

 

[pwj1286]

You want to know something funny?

The Aquarium of the Americas, has just as much knowledge on reefs as the people in this forum do. I job shadowed a Biologist. I got to go behind all the sences at the Aquarium. Saw everything. Big into ozone. GIANT ozone machines. Most of their tanks use ETSS Downdraft skimmers.

Their reef tank is almost purely Berlin, but they appear to have gravel because of a optical illusion. They only have like 55 pounds of gravel in a 500 gallon tank. It is no more advanced than the average home aquarium. All they do to make it look pretty is a micron sock on the return to polish the water. They used the same salt as Coral Connection pushes. I think it was Marinemix hW or something like that. They were considering Oceanic, but Oceanic would not give them an chemical essay of their product.

But all of that's dead anyways.

 

[Anonymous]

Not really surprising.

 

[stevebydac]

Could someone please explain something to me though? A generator hooked up with gasoline would be fine for blizzards because you remain at home during the storm to tend to the generator.

But if you are evacuated for an impending hurricane, you may not be back for 72 hours in a moderately bad one. So you'll be unable to run it. That's why I would love to find a battery that could last at least 3 days to run at least run one pump. AND put it somewhere indoors, safe from the storm.

I live on Narragansett Bay in RI where hurricane storm surges in 1938 and 1954 obliterated the beach I live on (22 people in my neighborhood died in one). So I'm not really worried about my tank in a real bad hurricane because I probably wouldn't have a house left, period. 8O But in a moderately bad one, where there was some slight flooding, my house remained ok, but power was out for days, I don't have an aquarium power solution. It bothers me.

Suggestions???

 

[Anonymous]

Natral gas powered generator. A bit more cost, but can power your whole house.