Power failure related topics

To: Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
Subject: Power failure related topics
From: krandall at world_std.com (Karen A Randall)
Date: Wed, 13 Dec 1995 22:16:59 -0500

Subject: Power failure related topics

Lenny,
 
> Thanks to "severe weather" I lost power at 3 am last night. What
> severe weather in this part of California is about 36 hours of r
> sure glad it doesn't snow here, given the responsiveness of the 
> company.
> 
> After having to put bottles filled with hot water in my tanks ev
> so trying to keep the temperature healthy, it got me wondering 
> 
> 1. Are there battery powered heaters? Probably won't last too lo
>    My apartment doesn't have a gas furnace so I can't just turn 
> 
> 2. What happens to solenoid valves for CO2 injectors when the po
>    My yeast reactor is the only piece of equipment still working
> 
> 3. Short of getting a UPS, what can be done?
> 
> For those of you in colder places, hope you're better prepared t
> It wasn't so bad, but I sure could use some sleep...

I live in cold and snowy New England, where power outages are 
common occurances.  My routine is that _the minute_ the power goes 
out, I get out a bunch of old down comforters and blankets, and 
totally wrap up every tank.  If the power is out more than about 
an hour, we crank up the wood stove.  While this would not last 
indefinietly, of course, immediately wrapping the tanks does cut 
down on heat loss tremendously.  

Most plants and fish are quite resilient as well.  My tanks have 
occassionally dipped as low as 60F for short periods of time with 
no losses.  I suspect that the fact that both fish and plants are 
in tip top shape to start with helps them "weather" adversity.

A few people I know with power dependent marine tanks have Honda 
generators to keep the electricity going to their tanks in 
emergencies. (Us horse folk would rather use it to pump water out 
of the well. ;-)

------------------------------

Karen Randall
Aquatic Gardeners Assoc.
Boston, MA