No Power

[tjdbtessa5209]

I live in battle creek mi usa we had a bad storm go through and 35000 people are out of power my fish have made it 3 days so far but I don't know how much longer they will last no filler no air and no heat but my house stays around 80-90 degrees

 

[SchottayB]

Sorry to hear about the bad weather and what it's caused . I'm not sure how long the fish will live for though sorry

 

[Tizer]

yeah sucks to be you, temperature wise you should be ok though? just no filter action, can warm up some water in a pan and do the odd water change? At least if your keeping the water in good condition you can recycle the filter when the power comes back on and actually have some fish alive?

 

[KittyKat]

Temperature is fine, assuming you have tropical fish.

If possible, and you are ready to take the risk of introducing parasites, you can try to collect plants from a local pond or river. Plants will keep ammonia low and if there is enough sunlight can keep the oxygen high enough. Elodea is the best for this, hornwort is also good.

How are the ammonia and nitrite readings?

If you can get to an LFS, you can acquire some parasite-free plants and oxygen tablets (not sure how effective these are, but I have seen them work when a tankful of goldfish lost power for a two weeks.. I have come across some very stupid people in my last job).

 

[Caprichoso]

I live in battle creek mi usa we had a bad storm go through and 35000 people are out of power my fish have made it 3 days so far but I don't know how much longer they will last no filler no air and no heat but my house stays around 80-90 degrees

If you're still able to do water changes, I would suggest that. The new water will introduce fresh O2 and prevent stagnation. 3 days is a long time to be without power, that must have been quite the storm! I hope your fish will be okay.

 

[This Old Spouse]

It's 80-90 degrees in your HOUSE??? Yikes! I'm in northern MN and we lost power last night for about an hour, but there are still some folks who still don't have it yet.

Try to find a way to do a nice big water change. That should keep them alive for a while longer. It will take some of the gunk out of the tank and get some oxygen back in it.

 

[adgieman]

12v car batter and an inverter? that should run an air pump for a long time, air stone under the filter media... ?

 

[Shogunblue24]

Lost power to my house a few months back in a power cut. I think it was 12hrs before I lost my first fish

Ended up using an extension cable to a neighbour's house to get power to the tank. It was winter in the UK though, so temperature was an issue.

Good luck mate.

 

[Tolak]

Heat isn't a problem unless it gets too warm, some cooler water changes are in order depending on the temperature & species being kept. Get a cheap plastic cup, poke some holes in the bottom, clip this to the inside rim of the tank & insert filter media. Every hour or two pour through some tank water with another cup, the holey cup is the filter, you are the pump.

 

[CrazyAirborne]

Heat isn't a problem unless it gets too warm, some cooler water changes are in order depending on the temperature & species being kept. Get a cheap plastic cup, poke some holes in the bottom, clip this to the inside rim of the tank & insert filter media. Every hour or two pour through some tank water with another cup, the holey cup is the filter, you are the pump.

writes this down in fish survival guide...

 

[WittLace]

I am sorry to hear about everything that has happened in Battle Creek. I grew up in the Lansing area but live in Virginia now. I can't fathom something like that happening in Michigan! Sounds like you got a lot of good advice. Good luck with everything!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Heat isn't a problem unless it gets too warm, some cooler water changes are in order depending on the temperature & species being kept. Get a cheap plastic cup, poke some holes in the bottom, clip this to the inside rim of the tank & insert filter media. Every hour or two pour through some tank water with another cup, the holey cup is the filter, you are the pump.

It's nuggets like this that make me come back time and again to this forum! WOW! I know it's a simple idea, but I never would have thought of this!


With an HOB, could you just pour water into that, and get the same effect?

 

[This Old Spouse]

Heat isn't a problem unless it gets too warm, some cooler water changes are in order depending on the temperature & species being kept. Get a cheap plastic cup, poke some holes in the bottom, clip this to the inside rim of the tank & insert filter media. Every hour or two pour through some tank water with another cup, the holey cup is the filter, you are the pump.

It's nuggets like this that make me come back time and again to this forum! WOW! I know it's a simple idea, but I never would have thought of this!


With an HOB, could you just pour water into that, and get the same effect?

Sure, why not?! Perfect!

 

[KittyKat]

Heat isn't a problem unless it gets too warm, some cooler water changes are in order depending on the temperature & species being kept. Get a cheap plastic cup, poke some holes in the bottom, clip this to the inside rim of the tank & insert filter media. Every hour or two pour through some tank water with another cup, the holey cup is the filter, you are the pump.

With an HOB, could you just pour water into that, and get the same effect?

Sure, why not?! Perfect!

Except with the bio-wheels: in the bio-wheel, most bacteria live on the wheel, so they die pretty much the moment it dries out. I am not sure, but I don't think dumping the wheels in the water would help, because the bacteria may require high concentrations of oxygen, or something like that.

 

[waterdrop]

Heat isn't a problem unless it gets too warm, some cooler water changes are in order depending on the temperature & species being kept. Get a cheap plastic cup, poke some holes in the bottom, clip this to the inside rim of the tank & insert filter media. Every hour or two pour through some tank water with another cup, the holey cup is the filter, you are the pump.

With an HOB, could you just pour water into that, and get the same effect?

Sure, why not?! Perfect!

Except with the bio-wheels: in the bio-wheel, most bacteria live on the wheel, so they die pretty much the moment it dries out. I am not sure, but I don't think dumping the wheels in the water would help, because the bacteria may require high concentrations of oxygen, or something like that.

Agree with KK, there is some speculation that the high oxygen availability out on a wet/dry (biowheel is a variation on the wet/dry concept) may give you some genetic variations a bit different from the usual colony makeups in most of our submerged filter designs. It's just speculation though as far as I know and the colony makeups may be really nearly identical. The other media in the biowheel HOBs should also have plenty of bacteria once the overall filter is mature, just not as much as the wheel media.

Tolak is correct that periodic movement of tank water through the media (however you can do it) is the usual plan of action for power crises (I've found first-hand that I can take a 5-hour "nap" on power-out nights between manual water refreshes of the bacteria and the bacteria have lived with no mini-spikes happening to me.) But KK is correct that the jury is out as to whether the other media that's easier to refresh with water and the biowheel (that has now lost most of it's extra oxygen effect) will be enough for the bioload. These are just my thoughts - Tolak and KK are both more experienced than me in many ways.

~~waterdrop~~