Power Cuts
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aaronnorth
www.ukaps.org
put fish bags in filled with warm water but not hot enough to burn the fish, put a blanket(s) around tank, turn room temp up to minimum fish can survive at, e.g 23d. get a cheap generator to run heater. Many ways of doing it, some more costly than others but at end of the die, you could lose more than its worth. Longest powercut i have had has been 4.5hours, tanks dropped from 25 - 23 with none of the above methods used
you can wrap the tank to minimise heat loss. and if you have access to a charged car battery, you can purchase an Inverter, they cost around £10 for a 150w unit, to run 240v or 110v items from a 12v battery. this would take care of your filter, so it will keep running. it may also allow you to use a light, which could help slow the heat loss till the power returns. though a low cost generator, not sure on price, may offer more peace of mind!
aaronnorth
www.ukaps.org
dont wast your generator power on filtration, it is not vital for your fish to survive, just put an heater and air pump or a battery powered air pump
filtration isn't vital, what makes you think that?The filter and the bacteria colonies within it which are the most vital piece of life support in a tank, if the filter is off the bacteria start to die off very rapidly without oxygenated water and the fish waste on which they feed, if just a quarter of the bacteria population dies off then a mini cycle occurs, if the power is off for a longer period you could have to cycle the tank all over again which is very bad news for any fish in the tank.
Heating on the other hand is less importent, most tropicals will survive a few days at room temperature and water loses heat quite slowly so as long as your house isn't overly cold the fish will be fine without the heater for a while.
A heater pulls more current than a filter in any given setup running electric heaters. Compare the wattage on your filter to the wattage on your heater.
I'm with CFC on this one, I filter near 900 gallons of water with a 60 watt air pump, for fear of my wife beating me I'm afraid to add up the wattage of my heaters.
Mikaila31
Always Watching
When we lose power I only worry about the filter. All but one of my tanks has internal filters, I never do anything with those tank when I power goes out. My 55gal has a canister, I just manually cycle water through it every now and then, if the power has been of for over 4hrs.
That said the RenaXP3 canister on the 55gal uses 28W the heater uses 300w.
That said the RenaXP3 canister on the 55gal uses 28W the heater uses 300w.
A am sorry, but i totally disagree, and am surprised that someone with experience, would hold such a conviction. whilst i am prepared to accept it has been your experience, i would advise anyone else to think hard before following you suggestion.
Miss Wiggle
Practically perfect in every way
are you just wondering in case one happens or do you live in an area that regularly looses power, if so roughly how long do you loose power for. The approach to take will depend on these things.
If it's just a couple of hours don't worry too much. if it's cold weather then wrap the tank in a blanket, every so often take some jugfulls of water and pour them through the filter media to keep the water clean and the filter bacteria alive.
If you regularly get power cuts of a day or so then you should consider a generator
If it's just a couple of hours don't worry too much. if it's cold weather then wrap the tank in a blanket, every so often take some jugfulls of water and pour them through the filter media to keep the water clean and the filter bacteria alive.
If you regularly get power cuts of a day or so then you should consider a generator
Miss Wiggle
Practically perfect in every way
i'd recommend keeping a generator in the house for it then
power cuts are copeable with but a ball ache, if it happens regularly then you wanna make it as easy as possible.
power cuts are copeable with but a ball ache, if it happens regularly then you wanna make it as easy as possible.
aaronnorth
www.ukaps.org
The filter and the bacteria colonies within it which are the most vital piece of life support in a tank, if the filter is off the bacteria start to die off very rapidly without oxygenated water and the fish waste on which they feed, if just a quarter of the bacteria population dies off then a mini cycle occurs, if the power is off for a longer period you could have to cycle the tank all over again which is very bad news for any fish in the tank.
Heating on the other hand is less importent, most tropicals will survive a few days at room temperature and water loses heat quite slowly so as long as your house isn't overly cold the fish will be fine without the heater for a while.
i meant it isn't vital for a short period of time, the fish would still survive for a few hours, I know it is vital for a constnt time but not for a short powercut.
it would, imo, still be more important than heat or light.
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