Tropical Fish Hobbyist - September 2008

The Reefer

A Sad Story About (Not) Being Prepared (Enough)

Awhile back, I had written an article about emergency items you should have on hand in case your electricity, air conditioner, or heater ever fails while your tank is running (“Just in Case: Preparing for Power Outages, Cold, and Heat,” TFH June 2005). Among the things covered were having items like battery-powered air pumps, a voltage converter that can be plugged into a car’s cigarette lighter, blankets, fans, and similar items that would help in the event of a crisis. After all, for a small amount of money, these things can make the difference between saving and losing a tank. However, despite my own efforts in preparing for an emergency and having the ability to inform others how to do the same, I’ve got a sad story to tell this month—it will be more for you to think about.

James FATHERREE
photographs by the author

James Fatherree has been keeping aquariums for over 25 years and reef aquariums for more than a decade. He has also worked as a diver/collector, managed an aquarium store, and operated an aquarium installation and maintenance business. He is widely published on the subject of marine aquariums and enjoys diving, fishing, photography, traveling, and of course, keeping aquariums. Visit his website at www. fatherree.com/james and see over 6000 of his photographs at www.picsbase.com/james.

Cutting Back

I used to have five marine aquariums (three of which were reefs), but I moved to Japan for a couple of years and essentially gave away or sold all of it. Yep, it was a hard thing to do, but I was very excited about the move, to say the least. I sort of ended up “lending” a few of my prized pieces to a good friend and highly experienced reef aquarist for safekeeping while I was gone. I eventually finished my time overseas and settled down in Tampa, Florida, but I decided against going all-out with aquariums again. Instead, I set up just one 125-gallon reef and decided that it would have to be good enough.

big house, but ended up buying a much smaller one. To some degree, this lack of space had made me reluctant to go with more tanks. Much more importantly, however, is that we also get hurricanes in Florida—lots of them. When Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, my family was living more than a two-hour drive from the beach, yet they still went for over two weeks without power in the summer heat of Mississippi. That was quite a storm, and lots of people in the area lost their tanks completely due to the heat and lack of power and air conditioning. If I had still been living there, I’d have likely lost all five of my tanks, despite my best efforts to be prepared.

I took this into full account when I got started in Tampa this time. I decided that I wanted a relatively large tank, but I didn’t want to fill it with any more than what could fit into two or three storage containers or ice chests that I could hit the road with. I figured that if a major hurricane hit nearby, I’d pack up all the corals and fishes, abandon the water and live rock, and head for Orlando or Jacksonville where I have friends and family. Yes, it would hurt to lose all the live rock, but in case of a real emergency, it was a fairly good plan. At least, I thought it was….

Hurricane Planning

There were two main reasons for this change in attitude. First, I used to rent a

False Security

Therefore, I was sure to keep a number of things in the closet to deal with any temporary loss of power, air conditioning, or heat. Because I didn’t have too much in my tank, I bought a couple of storage containers and a big ice chest, and thought I was prepared for the worst—unfortunately, I wasn’t. There was