Power Cuts

[Proterra]

On Tuesday whilst I was out my husband phoned to tell me there was a power cut and is there anything he should be doing to keep an eye on our fish tanks (he normally takes nothing to do with looking after the fish tanks).

Apart from having a battery operated airstone to rotate round the tanks if necessary I thought about it and realised I dont really know much about what to do if the power went off for a long period of time.

The likes of guppies, platys etc .... at what temperature would they start having problems and what is the best method of warming their water in such a situ??

What about all the filters? After what length of time would the filters become useless and all the bacteria have died? Once that happens should I just throw out all the sponges in the filters and replace them and
how would the fish cope with that?

Sorry if I am asking stupid questions but with the threat of high winds again in scotland and there being so much talk of a very cold winter this year etc I want to be in the best position possible to keep my fish alive and well if we suffer power cuts etc.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[Nickoli]

This scenario happened to a buddy of mine when we were deployed last year. He had a friend checking in on his fish daily, and they had a power outage in the middle of winter. He lost all but two of his cichlids.

There isn't any cheap tricks to this. You could get a back up power source, or battery bank for powering the aquarium. You could also have some blueboard or insulation precut and stashed in a closet to put around your tank to slow cooling. I guess it really becomes a question on how much insurance you want for your fishy friends. Most larger tanks pull quite a few watts.

For the filters you can just transfer some tank water into the filter to keep O2 and nutrients there for the bacteria. This is really easy to do with siphon overflow filters, harder with canisters.

 

[consp]

If I had a power cut and I had internal filters I'd bag them in a plastic fish bag and remove them from the tank... The bactiera will die but it'll save it all from polluting the tank. I'd keep it out until the power came back on but I'd wash them in tank water fish because all the benificial bacteria dies after a certain amount of time.

For an external filter I'd just shut off the inlet and outlet and rinse the media in tank water when the power came back on (for the same reason as above)

I'd take off/ open my lid to make sure as much water was getting into the tank as possible. Although taking off the lid will loose heat. If your tank is large the heat will lower more slowly tank in a small tank so I guess you loose either way in a small.

You can buy back up generators as mentioned above but unless you have a really expensive or delicate stock I wouldn't be to persuaded to get one. Most fish can tolerate the short power cuts and long ones so long as you make sure the tank doesn't become super polluted.

 

[_Cal_]

Wouldnt doing water changes every few hours be a good solution to a long power outage? You can keep the water clean and warm.

 

[timmystood]

I wrap the tank in a quilt or blanket to retain heat and if it was off for ages then I would maybe do a water change (making sure the water was up to temp before I put fresh water in.)

 

[Barry P]

Easy option: Purchase a 6 way adapter with surge protection and the option of batteries. I have one and the elec went last week, i came hope and my fish where as happy as larry. I would have assumed that all fish lovers would have backup power for when the electricity goes.?

 

[consp]

I would have assumed that all fish lovers would have backup power for when the electricity goes.?

Personally I don't have the option... 1. I don't have the cash. 2. It's not my house so doing anything regarding electrics has to go through my dad... and he's a bit of a Frank Spencer so it's probally better I don't

I don't know anybody personally that keeps fish and has a backup. Maybe that'd make a good voting topic

 

[keane]

Wouldnt doing water changes every few hours be a good solution to a long power outage? You can keep the water clean and warm.

it would keep the fish alive yeah, but it wouldn't solve the problem of the beneficial bacteria in your filters dying off.

once the power was restored you would basically be left with a "new tank" full of fish and a full cycle would have to ensue, which your fish would probably not survive .

and he's a bit of a Frank Spencer so it's probally better I don't

lol

steve

 

[rdd1952]

It really depends on what type of filter you have as to whether you will lose your bacteria colony. Simple rule of thumb is that if the filter dries out, they will die. Otherwise, the bacteria will live for quite a while. They don't die instantly when there suddenly isn't any water (containing ammonia, nitrite) passing over. All filters except biowheels should be fine. Biowheels on the other hand, will lose the bacteria pretty quickly simply because the majority of the bacteria are present on the wheel and once the water stops flowing, the wheel will dry out.

There are a couple things that will help keep the alive an healthy. As I mentioned, keep the filters wet in tank water. If you have canister filters, that isn't a problem as the water is already there. If yu have HOB filters, you can simply take the pack out and drop them in the tank. Also, if you have a battery powered airpump/airstone that you can add to create force oxygen into the water, insert it but if you don't, you can still create the same effect by dipping tank water out with a cup and pouring it back in to create a surface disturbance. Anything to get oxygen to the fish. Also, keep an eye on the tank temp. You can add ice in summer to cool it down if the temp starts to rise or wrap it in warm blankets (if you figure out how to warm them) in winter to keep them from getting too cold. Even if you can't warm them, just wrapping something around the tank will keep the warmth in longer. Also, you can add bottles of hot water to float and warm the tank.

 

[ncjharris]

I would have assumed that all fish lovers would have backup power for when the electricity goes.?

Thats quite a bold assumption?! How would one go about getting back up power? The only options that spring to mind is a generator (expensive, noisy and requires some knowledge of electrics) or a UPS (expensive)

If the temp is likely to go down, wrap the tank in a blanket or newspaper or similar to keep the heat in. Consider that heat will also be lost through the top and bottom of the tank.
Small water changes with warm, dechlorinated water could achieve a higher temp, but;
- If the power is out, there is no kettle and we get into the old, hot water tank yes or no debate
- a gradually decreasing temp may be better for the state of the fish than a wildley fluctuating one around a middle temperature.

I believe the bacteria will survive for around an hour out of water. When immersed I don't know what that figure becomes, esp. if there is no water flow, but i suspect it would be higher and in any rates, bacterial die off may contribute to the exponential growth of their culture (that is they may last longer than you think!)

Areation is a big problem esp if your only surface movement comes through the filter, and coupled with the fact that when it goes dark, plants will decrease their co2 absorbtion rates and the level of co2 will go up. Other than a battery operated air stone, i cant think of much else that can be done.

Hopefully though, most of us won't experience anything like as long as the time scales we are talking about.

 

[rdd1952]

It is definitely possible to keep fish alive for extended periods without power either normally or through back ups. There was a thread on another forum I visit on rare occasions about this. The person lived outside New Orleans and went almost 3 weeks after Katrina without power. He lost no fish in that time frame and kept them alive with small, daily water changes using the bottled water they were getting as relief suppies and kept the temp down using small amounts of ice. Since we aren't supposed to post links to other forums, I'm not going to post the link but will give it to anyone that wants to email or PM me.

 

[morgan]

In the UK they are talking about power cuts of 3hrs to conserve fuel if we have an unusually severe winter. Because we don't have enough fuel. What idiot let that situation happen?! I recently had a pre-warned power cut of 6 hours and all the fish were fine. They are not delicate fish, however. It was not very cold but I wrapped the tank (96litre) in some fleece jackets and used a battery operated airstone.That's about all you can do without an alternative power supply. Apart from put some warm water in bottles in the tank if it is really bitterly cold.

 

[Griz]

Just a thought on this.
For a HOB type filter (Aquaclear for example) would it work to replentish the water in the filter using a cup and simply pouring tank water into the filter every so often? Say every 15 min or half hour. An alternative would be to place the media in a container and refresh the water regularly with tankwater. I'm thinking that this would basically "feed" the bacteria with ammonia and fresh tank water in order to keep it alive. If I understand correctly, if the filter media is kept wet it will survive for a while but without a constant flow of tank water the bacteria will begin to die off through starvation. One could even rig up something using a siphon with airline tubing that would produce a limited but constant flow. What do you think?

 

[rdd1952]

Pouring water through the filter would definitely kelp, especially on long outages. Anything that moves water over the bacteria is good, especially if that water is tank water and contains food for the bacteria.

Another thing to do during longer outages is DON"T FEED. The fish will be fine for several days, up to 2 weeks. No food means limited waste and limited ammonia/nitrite.

 

[Griz]

What would be considered a good rule of the thumb for the length of time that the bacteria would be expected to survive without a flow of water?

I'm thinking about a simple siphon arrangement using 2, 5gal water containers to produce a flow of water over the filter media. It would have to be reset when the bottom container becomes full but it sounds like it should work in an extended power outage. It's been a while, but we do get some pretty severe blizzards and ice storms round here so I want to be prepared. (We got lucky last winter)