Power outage question

[BobTheDog]

Had an hour long power outage yesterday. Everything seems to be fine but it did get me thinking. I'm wondering how long the power can be out before it causes a problem. Obviously, temperature in the tank is going to depend on what the temp in the house is when the power goes out... warmer the house is, the longer it will take the temp in the tank to fall. I'm mainly thinking about my biowheel. I'm guessing that if the wheel dries out, the beneficial bacteria on the wheel are going to bite the dust. Anyone have any idea how long this takes? I considered pulling the wheels and actually placing them in the tank to keep them wet. Any harm in this?

I would also think that oxygen levels in the water will start to fall if the water is not be agitated.... how quickly does this occur? What other issues are involved with your tank being without power?

 

[Eelzor]

I think about 2-3 hours may be ok, I forgot were I read it though.

 

[Window Cleaner?]

A petrol generator would be expensive. However, a power invertor is available which enables a car battery to be connected to any household appliance. One battery should supply at least 12-18 hours of energy to a tank water heater. In the US you need to talk to Tandy/Radio Shack. Anyone in the UK can visit Maplin stores http/www.maplin.co.uk About £140.

 

[Tubby]

Early this year we had hurricane Isabel roll thru which let me without power for 3 days. I left the house before the storm since I am surrounded by trees and have a baby and the next day I was not able to get back to my house till that afternoon. But anyway the power at that time had been off for about 14 hrs. All of my fish were alive but struggling for air luckily I have aN aereator for my boat so I hooked it to a battery for air and they made it thru but I did lose one Green Severum from a bacteria that set in from no filtration and it took about a week to recover the tank fully.

 

[thecichlidaddict]

It depends on the fish load, types of fish being kept, size of the tank etc. The larger the tank, and the less fish, the longer you can go without problems. A very overstocked setup can see problems in as little as half an hour, a very understocked tank can go a couple of days.

Remember the blackout on the east coast not too long ago? My tank was down for 10 hours or so. Everything started without a hitch, the fish never showed any signs of problems. It is also a 90 gallon tank, so the volume of water helps a lot, and I don't overstock my tanks for this, among other, reasons.

As far as the bio-wheel is concerned, letting it dry out is the worst thing you can do, and throwing it into the aquarium to keep wet is a good idea.