yea i hate hurricanes too. we had a pretty bad storm yesterday in the am hours, mostly just rain, but the whole time i was asleep i was having nightmares (yes it truley is a nightmare) of all my fish dieing from a power outage and me doing w/c like very hou to try and keep a couple alive.
Hurricanes and Power Outages
- Thread starter jpjn
- Start date
jpjn;904336; said:ONE MORE QUESTION:
Hw long do you suppose a car battery would run the filters for before needing a charge?
And... how long does it take to charge a car battery???
I know... that was TWO questions.
1) how many watts or amps are the filters ??
2) how big a battery charger in amps
3) how many amp-hours is the car battery
Hi Joni,
Water service in your area was not affected by the hurricanes and I doubt it will be an issue in the future. You can use the water from your tap to do water changes if you first pipe it through a carbon filter. You can purchase one at Lowes or HD and set it up for use during an emergency.
This is a tool that I use to drain and fill some of my tanks. First drain the water out by syphoning it, then hook up the hose to the tap to fill. If you plumb a carbon filter onto the garden hose, you can fill your tank directly from the tap.
Battery powered aerators should still be used between water changes. The batteries last 36 hours on average. Also, if you use an inverter, I would buy some small water pumps from Harbor Freight to keep water circulating in the filters (to keep the bacteria culture alive).
Water service in your area was not affected by the hurricanes and I doubt it will be an issue in the future. You can use the water from your tap to do water changes if you first pipe it through a carbon filter. You can purchase one at Lowes or HD and set it up for use during an emergency.
This is a tool that I use to drain and fill some of my tanks. First drain the water out by syphoning it, then hook up the hose to the tap to fill. If you plumb a carbon filter onto the garden hose, you can fill your tank directly from the tap.
Battery powered aerators should still be used between water changes. The batteries last 36 hours on average. Also, if you use an inverter, I would buy some small water pumps from Harbor Freight to keep water circulating in the filters (to keep the bacteria culture alive).
I know before we bought our whole house size generator we had to buy cartons of c batteries to keep the airation in each tank going.. so even though the filters were not working they still had plenty of oxygen ... it is major important not to feed any fish before warnings of a hurricane etc and try to have all your water changes done prior to the hurricane/power outages.. the cleaner the water is from the beginning the better.. i hope you do not have to go through anything major .. i can amagine how you feel. And all my tanks and fish were fine for 6 days..
aside for firefighting i do hvac. you may be asking what that has to do with your problem. well i do alot of work with ac power you could use a small 100 watt to 200 watt inverter the smaller the wattage the longer the batterys last.so get a inverter that is just enough wattage or a little over but not over kill. hope everything is well.
Hi Ron,
Oh geez, I didn't even think about the tap water not being good. You've got a great setup there! Deltona water is so crappy even when there aren't hurricanes! After those 3 hit hurricanes hit in 2004, they first said DON'T drink the water, then said it was ok to drink, but for months later the ER's were packed with people from Deltona, who had terrible gastrointestinal problems. The doctors said it was caused by the water after the hurricanes.
When you say the battery airators can run for 36 hours, are you talking about off of a car battery? Or is there actually a good battery airator that runs for that long?
Another thing I have read is that it helps to remove the airstones which then will produce a little current in the water and keep it right near the surface.
How often should water changes be done during a power outage?
Would airators and water changes really be enough? Not to worry about filtering? I also read that it's better to keep internal filters that fully submerge in the water (as a backup filter). Then you won't lose the good bacteria.
I really hate hurricanes. I moved here from Long Island NY 23 years ago. We lived here for 20 years and were never hit. Then BAM! 4 hit FL within 6 weeks. It was so awful. No food, no ice, nothing cold to drink. Hot and humid. No gas anywhere around. I heard there was some gas in Orlando, but you're afraid to use what little you do have left in your car to take the chance on driving to Orlando! We used what little we had to wait in looooong lines TRYING to get some ice from the Red Cross. FEMA was SUPPOSED to be there giving out tarps too.. But they never were there. There are 90,000 people in Deltona and they only had ONE place set up for all of this city to get food, water, and ice. UNREAL! We'd waist all our gas sitting in our car in line, only to get to our turn and be handed 2 cans of OFF mosquito repellent! NO ICE. NADA!
But I'm not bitter. haha!
I have a bad feeling about this year.
And this time we are prepared! Unless of course our roof comes off...
I'm trying to get prepared now to keep my fish alive.
Oh Ron, if you know of anyone in our area who'd want a male Jaguar or 2 Oscars, please let me know. I still can't find them good homes and I'm giving them away (FREE). Thanks.
And thanks to all you other fellow fishkeepers for your suggestions. I'm going to print this thread and get working on preparing.
Oh geez, I didn't even think about the tap water not being good. You've got a great setup there! Deltona water is so crappy even when there aren't hurricanes! After those 3 hit hurricanes hit in 2004, they first said DON'T drink the water, then said it was ok to drink, but for months later the ER's were packed with people from Deltona, who had terrible gastrointestinal problems. The doctors said it was caused by the water after the hurricanes.
When you say the battery airators can run for 36 hours, are you talking about off of a car battery? Or is there actually a good battery airator that runs for that long?
Another thing I have read is that it helps to remove the airstones which then will produce a little current in the water and keep it right near the surface.
How often should water changes be done during a power outage?
Would airators and water changes really be enough? Not to worry about filtering? I also read that it's better to keep internal filters that fully submerge in the water (as a backup filter). Then you won't lose the good bacteria.
I really hate hurricanes. I moved here from Long Island NY 23 years ago. We lived here for 20 years and were never hit. Then BAM! 4 hit FL within 6 weeks. It was so awful. No food, no ice, nothing cold to drink. Hot and humid. No gas anywhere around. I heard there was some gas in Orlando, but you're afraid to use what little you do have left in your car to take the chance on driving to Orlando! We used what little we had to wait in looooong lines TRYING to get some ice from the Red Cross. FEMA was SUPPOSED to be there giving out tarps too.. But they never were there. There are 90,000 people in Deltona and they only had ONE place set up for all of this city to get food, water, and ice. UNREAL! We'd waist all our gas sitting in our car in line, only to get to our turn and be handed 2 cans of OFF mosquito repellent! NO ICE. NADA!
But I'm not bitter. haha!
I have a bad feeling about this year.
And this time we are prepared! Unless of course our roof comes off...
I'm trying to get prepared now to keep my fish alive.
Oh Ron, if you know of anyone in our area who'd want a male Jaguar or 2 Oscars, please let me know. I still can't find them good homes and I'm giving them away (FREE). Thanks.
And thanks to all you other fellow fishkeepers for your suggestions. I'm going to print this thread and get working on preparing.
I really hate hurricanes. I moved here from Long Island NY 23 years ago. We lived here for 20 years and were never hit. Then BAM! 4 hit FL within 6 weeks. It was so awful. No food, no ice, nothing cold to drink. Hot and humid. No gas anywhere around. I heard there was some gas in Orlando, but you're afraid to use what little you do have left in your car to take the chance on driving to Orlando! We used what little we had to wait in looooong lines TRYING to get some ice from the Red Cross. FEMA was SUPPOSED to be there giving out tarps too.. But they never were there. There are 90,000 people in Deltona and they only had ONE place set up for all of this city to get food, water, and ice. UNREAL! We'd waist all our gas sitting in our car in line, only to get to our turn and be handed 2 cans of OFF mosquito repellent! NO ICE. NADA!
But I'm not bitter. haha!
I moved from Long Island to Florida also.. i could not stand Florida between the constant heat, humidity and bugs.. i was always inside.. moved out of there to upstate,ny ..i will take the snow over that anyday and especially the tornados and hurricanes..constant worry and now home owners insurance sky high {if you can get it} i know what your going through..
But I'm not bitter. haha!
I moved from Long Island to Florida also.. i could not stand Florida between the constant heat, humidity and bugs.. i was always inside.. moved out of there to upstate,ny ..i will take the snow over that anyday and especially the tornados and hurricanes..constant worry and now home owners insurance sky high {if you can get it} i know what your going through..
Thanks Johnptc. That inverter sounds awesome. It's on sale now too! I'm going to also check "Heartland America" online. They usually have great sales on things like inverters. But this one you're showing me here seems REALLY great.
Liz, I envy you that you're in beautiful upstate NY! We so want to get out of FL. Problem is, my husband does commercial construction in Orlando, and most places aren't booming like Orlando is. His job is what's holding us back from moving. Not that he likes construction, but it's what he's done since we're in FL.
MANY people have gotten out of FL since 2004. That's all you saw after the hurricanes...house after house with FOR SALE in front of them.
Ohh, yes, the bugs...the bugs. And when the power goes out...they all come INSIDE! Ugh!!! A nightmare for sure.
The tornados totally destroyed so much near us in Feb. And on Christmas day, one came down in my son's backyard in Sumpter County, circled their house, then took off destroying everything in it's path...for miles and miles. They hit our county too that day (Volusia).
Liz, GOOD FOR YOU that you're outta here. I feel like a sitting duck living here, since we're in this weather pattern.
Liz, I envy you that you're in beautiful upstate NY! We so want to get out of FL. Problem is, my husband does commercial construction in Orlando, and most places aren't booming like Orlando is. His job is what's holding us back from moving. Not that he likes construction, but it's what he's done since we're in FL.
MANY people have gotten out of FL since 2004. That's all you saw after the hurricanes...house after house with FOR SALE in front of them.
Ohh, yes, the bugs...the bugs. And when the power goes out...they all come INSIDE! Ugh!!! A nightmare for sure.
The tornados totally destroyed so much near us in Feb. And on Christmas day, one came down in my son's backyard in Sumpter County, circled their house, then took off destroying everything in it's path...for miles and miles. They hit our county too that day (Volusia).
Liz, GOOD FOR YOU that you're outta here. I feel like a sitting duck living here, since we're in this weather pattern.
