How Long Can The Electric Be Off Before It Harms My Fish

[Angie_B]

I live in an area where we sometimes get powercuts and this has made me worry what if one happens when I am at work. IS there anything I can do if this does happen?

Also an electrician is doing some wiring for me whilst I am at work, I don't know yet how long he will need the electric off for. But my priority is my fish are ok. So what would be the maximum time to ensure they are easily safe and ok for the electric to be off?


My tanks is approx 3 1/2 feet and is set to a temp of 30c due to the last bit of treatment for Velvet.

Many thanks for any help.

 

[ILuvTropicalFish]

There are many factors involved in answering your question. How many fish? What kind of fish? I have many fish tanks and my power has gone out for as much as a few hours and my fish have always been fine when the power comes back on. IME your main concerns are temperature and oxygen. I have a battery operated backup air pump that can be plugged into the wall and if the power goes out the batteries will run the air pump. I have only used it during serious power outages...ie all day or more.

 

[dcarmor927]

you can buy a unit called a battery backup. Its just like a surge protector or power strip, only larger. you plug everything tank related, heater filter lights, into that and if the power goes out, it'll keep it all running. It keeps a charge for a certain amount of time. I'm not sure of the price or how long they can function for without the power from the outlet.

 

[Ludwig Venter]

We had a major blowout on a transformer a while back which left us without power for 3 days...... I have strong aeration in most tanks cause I know they're overstocked (rearing batches of 600 to 1000 fry in a single 3ft tank) - Water changes every 3rd day however..... and obviously I was worried, but the ambient temperature at that time was around 26/27 deg C, so was lucky not to loose any.

Just make sure you have a non-return valve on your aeration circuit to prevent a reverse flow when the aeration stops..... I've experienced that before...... Wet floor and empty tank when you get home....

 

[Angie_B]

Ludwig, that must have been awful ( not sure about the valve, i have a fluval 3+ in my tank.

currently I only have two Platy's and three Danio's, but have discovered two baby fry tonight ) .. the tank is about 3 1/2 feet in width I think I calculated it to 127 litres.

Dcarmor, that sounds just the job, any ideas where I might find one? I guess Ebay?

Thank you all so much for taking the time to respond. x

 

[dcarmor927]

Yea or some other place on the internet, maybe a local hardware store would carry it. If you google it you should come up with something...I think they are kinda spendy but it would be worth it...i'm currently saving up for one, just in case good luck finding one!

 

[Mikaila31]

Honestly I wouldn't waste the money on a battery backup. I do have some in my house. You would need a fairly large one to support the heater, so if you do get one don't bother powering the heater as it will just drain the battery. A battery powered air pump and a DIY sponge filter would do the job just as well, simply pull some media from the filter and shove it into the sponge filter and filter your tank that way. A heathy fish should be able to stand a drop in temp just fine.

You also have an internal filter right. So honestly if it was me I would just leave it be. I've left similar tanks for over four hours without power. After four hours of no power I do pull all the media from my canisters and toss it in the tank. I just let it float around in there and ocassionaly stick my hand in and move the water around. Kinda makes a mess, but I've never had any problems with water quality during or after a power outage doing this.

Also you can wrap tanks with blankets or sleeping bags to slow the tempature change. I do this every night in the winter on my 55gal, since the basement gets so cold. Its not really to stop tempature changes, but mainly to reduce power consumption of the heater.