Power Outages

[Seed]

I've got a decent storm moving in that is expected to cause scattered power outages. I've had the power go out before, but it has never been for an extended period of time. Should the power go out for a couple hours or longer, are there any suggestions for how to deal with it?

 

[rdd1952]

Hopefully, you haven't lost power yet and can still read a reply. A short term outage isn't a big deal. The main thing are to keep the filter media wet. With most filters that isn't a problem as the media are in water anyway. The one that you have to be careful with are Bio-Wheels where the wheel is not in water and is exposed to air. Just remove the wheel and float it in the tank until the power comes back on.

Water holds temperature very well so unless it starts to get very cold very quickly, temperature shouldn't be an issue either. If the tank temps to start to drop into the 60s, you can float bottles of hot water if you have a way to heat it such as a gas water heater or gas stove.

 

[Seed]

Hopefully, you haven't lost power yet and can still read a reply. A short term outage isn't a big deal. The main thing are to keep the filter media wet. With most filters that isn't a problem as the media are in water anyway. The one that you have to be careful with are Bio-Wheels where the wheel is not in water and is exposed to air. Just remove the wheel and float it in the tank until the power comes back on.

Water holds temperature very well so unless it starts to get very cold very quickly, temperature shouldn't be an issue either. If the tank temps to start to drop into the 60s, you can float bottles of hot water if you have a way to heat it such as a gas water heater or gas stove.

As usual, you are rich with information and good ideas. One last question if I may. If my power does go out and I'm without power for several hours, do you figure adding some Amquel + would be necessary to keep ammonia from building up in the tank? Or maybe the substrate/decoration bacteria would process it enough, even without a current?

 

[rdd1952]

There probably wouldn't be enough to matter but adding something like that won't do any harm.

Also, I addressed a power outage in the winter but obviously, the summer with thunder storms also poses a threat. If you have an extended outage in the summer and the water temp starts to get too high, leading to higher CO2 levels in the tank, and you notice the fish starting to congregate near the top and gasp for air, simply dipping water from the tank and pouring it back in, creating a surface disturbance, will add oxygen back and keep the fish in good shape.

 

[Seed]

There probably wouldn't be enough to matter but adding something like that won't do any harm.

Also, I addressed a power outage in the winter but obviously, the summer with thunder storms also poses a threat.

Hehe, not where I live. 90% of our rainfall in my part of California falls between November and May. Every couple years we'll get a slight amount of rain during the summer, but for the most part it's bone dry here. But your advise is still relevant, we've been known to have rolling blackouts due to excessive power consumption during the summer months, the power companies alternately shut off power to areas because the grid is overloaded. What I don't understand is since during the summer literally months go by without a cloud in the sky, why aren't there solar panels on every rooftop?

 

[cgbender]

Im glad I found this post .... its rather useful information

 

[rdd1952]

What I don't understand is since during the summer literally months go by without a cloud in the sky, why aren't there solar panels on every rooftop?

Because that would make too much sense.

 

[pumaf1]

I usually put a pillow or blanket arund the tank, if its going to be more than a 167 hour period I would consider moving the fish to a friends house in a new (clean) container that can withstand the water temps from the heater etc.

You may loose fish but better than losing everything

 

[Chrispixx]

We don't lose power here that much, but a few years back in October we had a bad storm with a lot of snow. Tree limbs and whole trees came down, due to the leaves still being on the trees. The whole area was without power for 4 to 5 days, some area's even longer. I was able to borrow a generator from my brother, then later on i bought one of my own for future use. Its a good investment especially for someone with multiple tanks or expensive stock.