How is everyone's tank?

[MSUJenn]

Sorry about your losses. Glad to see that the rest seems to be pulling through though. I have RO/DI water, and can mix up saltwater for anyone that needs it.

[slandis3]

i also have about 60g of ro/di on hand. if anyone needs some let me know.

[JoeAyers]

If you can't get your battery charged, we have a couple lawn mower batteries that we may be able to loan you.

Thanks for the offer. But the inlaws power came back so my little generator that was running their tank is heading back to me today and Andy offered me his biggin to throw on some lights and heaters if I'm not back on by tomorrow.

[JoeAyers]

Mitch,

At least it wasn't a total loss. Let me know if there is anything I can replace for you.

Joe

[mrs. justcoral]

We have a generator that we are now not using because our power is back on. If anyone wants to use it, you are more than welcome to!

[rmstevensiii]

Thanks Joe,

Appreciate the offer.

Mitch,

At least it wasn't a total loss. Let me know if there is anything I can replace for you.

Joe

[verper]

has anyone heard from verper or reefed up? I havent seen them post anything in a while.

All's well.  Lost power for only 2.5 hrs.  Good old Tipp City Co-Op.  I went out while it was still blowing and got a generator/gas as it looked like it might be a long outage (past hurricane experience kicking in).  Nikki is using it now and she might not have power until at least the weekend.  A tree fell across some lines down the block and started a fire near her and Will's house.

I'm at the library - still without cable or internet.  Not complaining as it could be worse.

[Baggerhog]

Good to have you back and to hear your tank is ok.

[Slicktrax]

good to hear.  i got lucky, only had power flickers on sunday.  just enough to cause my directv receiver to reset a few times.

[ohioreef]

We lucked out as well. I was in Columbus at a cheer comp with Kortney, but Gary Lee said it went out for a couple of minutes and that was it. They are saying that the ice storms we had up here this past winter cleaned out a lot of the weakened limbs and trees, so we didn't get as many downed trees and branches. The electrical companies also trimmed the heck out of most of the trees up here this summer.

Let me tell you, driving back from Columbus in 50-60mph winds was definately an experience! I can't believe I didn't see any trucks overturned in the ditch. The winds were throwing our mini-van around like a rag doll.

[JoeAyers]

Going on hour 82ish and the battery is just about drained. Got the generator up and running which isn't all bad as I am able to run the lights (some old PCs) for a few hours, two tunzes, and a 250 watt heater.  The LPS in the tank actually looked as good as ever after about three hours of light.  Should be interesting to see how long the generator will run since I don't plan to go fill it up until morning.

Hope everyone is getting back to normal and those who don't have power get it soon.

Joe

[themissinglynk]

Well...  I ended up "getting lucky"...  charged a car battery at a friend's house, and brought it back to my inverter, and plugged in.  It ran "most of the night", and in the morning, I got a little battery airstone going.

That night on the way home from work, I stopped to buy additional batteries and chargers, so I could charge them at my mom's place.  Spent about $245 or so online at Home Depot to buy a small generator.  So, that should show up in a few days, and I should be all set. 

Naturally, after spending about $500 on betteries, chargers, and a generator, and emptying the fridge and freezer... Murphy turned the electricity back on.

I'm returning 2 of the batteries that never got their terminal covers removed, and one of the chargers that was never opened.  And, naturally, I'll keep the generator around for "next time".

All said and done, I had just put 3 peppermint shrimp in my tank last week.  I still count two, and I found either a dead one or a molting the other day.

Otherwise, no major losses.

[xXTheWendigoXx]

Let me tell you, driving back from Columbus in 50-60mph winds was definately an experience! I can't believe I didn't see any trucks overturned in the ditch. The winds were throwing our mini-van around like a rag doll.

Yeah, I was driving up from Cincinnati, I missed a flying port-o-let by about two feet.
I feel almost guilty, we never lost power, only cable and internet for a while. Got LUCKY!

[rmstevensiii]

Update:

On the home front... things are bouncing back MUCH better than I expected.

Some pics...before and after.

After the crash...



After refilling the tank...















And today....























And new snail eggs:




I know that it will be quite a while before I can say for sure that I'm out of the woods, but I'm feeling better about it!

Just thought I'd share...

Mitch

[Secondgen]

Great to see, and hear Mitch. I like your rockwork.

[Baggerhog]

looking better than it sounded a few days ago. I will keep my fingers crossed for ya.

[verper]

Sorry to hear about your fish loss Mitch.  Glad to see that the tank is rebounding.  Hopefully your close to a full recovery.

[verper]

Talked to Tim -aquavista99- last night after hearing that the Dorothy Lane Market down by him just got power back on yesterday afternoon.  He said he has made it though so far on battery backups at night and a generator during the day.   

[verper]

.......................

Well I left for Houston on Saturday to help clean up after Ike and got the call on Sunday that power had gone out. I left my tanks in the hands of my mom who can follow directions very well for top ups and basic stuff but I was not prepared for a week long power outage. I'm still down in the Houston/Galveston area and got the call today from my mom that power is still not on. I asked her to go and check the temperature on the tank and she said it's at 64....but it smells really bad and is getting cloudy. I feel pretty helpless and just told her to keep an eye on the skimmer cup once the power comes back on because it's probably gonna fill up pretty quick. I'm gonna be down here for a least another week or two if not longer and I just hope something stays alive long enough for me to see it when I get back. If I come home to a dead tank I think I'm done with the hobby for good.

That doesn't sound good.  I know that Dorothy Lane Market just got power back yesterday afternoon.  Let me know if there is anything I can do to help.

[Riderc82]

Geez, I just got my power at 1 P.M. (Thursday).  I was completely unprepared, My tank done great the first 24 + hours at the 36 hour mark everything was starting to look horrible at this time I lost my Yellow tang, Hippo, Goby and a clown.  Tuesday at 9 P.M. I was able to locate a generator on craigslist and get my tank up and running but with my job I never get a day off except my scheduled days so I was unable to get the generator running more than twelve hours out of each 24 hour day.  It appears that my caps will all make it but I'm pretty sure I'm going to lose a bonsai and a brown acro.     

[Revaltion131]

Well that stinks.  I know losing a fish hurts, but unless it was one of the super-rare clowns, it sounds like your worst loss would/will be the bonsai, as hippos, yellows, and most gobies are fairly easy to come by.

[MechanicalEngineer]

We still don't have power, so this will be a short post since we're on a generator (THANKS SCOTT!!!) 

We had the big tree in our front yard go down...which kept us busy on Sunday night for about 6 hours.  During that time, the water drained in my tank below the highest coral, so one of my Monti Caps was out of the water for over 6 hours...and is still fine.  My frag tank got down to 68 degrees...and is still fine.

Sunday night was miserable.  I was waking up every 2 hours to stir the tanks since I couldn't find any battery powered pumps or anything.  We got an inverter and hooked it up to Will's GTO and ran a single pump off of that.  Thankfully Monday morning, Scott brought me a generator and Jenn loaned me two battery powered pumps.

They're estimating that we won't have power back on til Tuesday.   

I'm sorry to hear about all of the losses.  If our tanks make it through this, please let me know, and I'd be glad to help get people's tanks back up.  Good luck everyone!

[aquavista99]

Talked to Tim -aquavista99- last night after hearing that the Dorothy Lane Market down by him just got power back on yesterday afternoon.  He said he has made it though so far on battery backups at night and a generator during the day.   

We lost power from Sunday afternoon through Thursday. Our neighborhood in Springboro was hit hard with 80 mph winds for six hours during the storm and there are still people in our area without power. We were very blessed to make it by on Vortech battery backup power during the nights and we used a gasoline generator during the days. It takes 12 hours to recharge each Vortech battery unit, so we made trips to Centerville daily, which had power restored on Monday, to recharge the batteries and buy more gas for the generator. The generator we borrowed from a close friend was loud and we were told by the local police that we could run it everyday until 9pm, so we had to rely on battery backups at night as well. Without access to a generator and the Vortech battery units, our SPS reef would have died within the first 6 to 12 hours of the power outage due to lack of flow and oxygen.

We contacted Joel at Aquariums Etc on Tuesday (day 3 of the power outage). Joel was kind enough to provide our reef tank with backup power compact lights that could be powered by our generator to help us get through the rest of the week without power. Duke Energy, which services most of Springboro, said this was the worst natural disaster in its entire history. Over 800,000 Duke customers lost power and there are many people in the N. Kentucky, Cincinnati and Warren County (Springboro, Clear Creek Twp, etc) areas who still do not have power.

Attached a few pictures of my stressful week below, including some pictures of my neighborhood after the storm.









First 48 + hours complete blackout on our reef









Day 3 and 4 backup power compact lights provided by Joel at Aquariums Etc.





Life support

[aquavista99]

Sunday night was miserable.  I was waking up every 2 hours to stir the tanks since I couldn't find any battery powered pumps or anything. 

I did the same thing. One of our backup batteries was not fully charged during the first night so I panicked and recirculated small buckets of reef water back into my tank every 15 minutes all night long until my friend arrived at my house on Monday morning with a generator. Very stressful night for me as well. Our reef survived with the help of others, but we were not prepared for a long-term power outage. I sure hope your power returns soon as well.

I am very sorry to hear about everyone who lost fish and corals during the power outage.

[Riderc82]

Wow Tim I think your generator has a smaller gas tank than mine.  I know what you mean when you say stressed I'm getting married Saturday and not only did I have the stress of trying to work and save my tank I also had the fiance stressing me out more because she was so worried about the reception hall not having power.  I guess on Thursday when I'm sitting in Hawaii I'll forget about how bad the first four days of the week were.