Preparing For Power Outage

[Hrynkiw]

My aquarium is beside my workstation at work. Today we received an announcement that power to our building would be shut off for about 10 consecutive hours this weekend for maintenance. Is there anything I can do to minimize the effects of this outage on my aquarium?

It's very small, about 4.5 gal with an under-gravel filter and live plants. The only inhabitants are three 1"-long Zebra Danios (fat, sassy, and very active). The aquarium has been in operation for about three weeks and the Nitrate levels have been stable over the past four or five days at about 22. (I'm delighted.) I do a 25% water change every Monday.

Is there anything I can do before the wekend to minimize the effects of the power outage?

Hrynkiw

PS It occurs to me that I should also be asking if my little Danio Dudes can be expected to survive or not. Alas, taking them home with me is not an option. I don't have a home aquarium and will be out of town for the weekend.

 

[Dan81192]

My aquarium is beside my workstation at work. Today we received an announcement that power to our building would be shut off for about 10 consecutive hours this weekend for maintenance. Is there anything I can do to minimize the effects of this outage on my aquarium?

It's very small, about 4.5 gal with an under-gravel filter and live plants. The only inhabitants are three 1"-long Zebra Danios (fat, sassy, and very active). The aquarium has been in operation for about three weeks and the Nitrate levels have been stable over the past four or five days at about 22. (I'm delighted.) I do a 25% water change every Monday.

Is there anything I can do before the wekend to minimize the effects of the power outage?

Hrynkiw

PS It occurs to me that I should also be asking if my little Danio Dudes can be expected to survive or not. Alas, taking them home with me is not an option. I don't have a home aquarium and will be out of town for the weekend.

just keep it warm it will be fine,

 

[Rooster]

Yep... as long as its clean and STABLE, keeping it warm should do.... either wrap it in a blanket, or use a gas kettle etc, to float a WARM (NOT HOT) container of water in the tank to maintain temp.

 

[Chrispixx]

These are both good options... but what type of filter is on it? if the filter is a impeller driven type, what if it doesn't restart? (these type have a tendency to do this.) The tank would be without a filter for the whole weekend, this is not good. Maybe do a test.. unplug it then see if it comes back on after plugging it back in. At least this way you will know.

Is taking the tank home not an option only because you will be gone away? you wouldn't even have to mess with it, you wouldn't have to feed them if they are fed before you left, And this way the tank will at least have power.(unless you live near the where the power outage will be).

 

[Ace Of Spades]

I dont know if this makes a different but I have one of those 4 plug things which if there is a power breakage then it will let the electicity down slowly not straight away so theres less chance of things not working or fusing whne they come back on. (From which I found out when my brother xbox exploded and I didnt have one of these bad boys) XD

 

[Scotty001]

I dont know if this makes a different but I have one of those 4 plug things which if there is a power breakage then it will let the electicity down slowly not straight away so theres less chance of things not working or fusing whne they come back on. (From which I found out when my brother xbox exploded and I didnt have one of these bad boys) XD

The extension your talking of has a mcb (miniature circuit breaker in it) same as your trip switches in your house and as soon as i spots a fault in the extension cable or on any of the plugged in items it trips out and shuts off supply through the extension itself.

When the planned maintenance is done and completed then switched back in there wont be a "surge" of electricity come through as many people seem to think. it will just come back on as per normal as if you turned the switch at the plug socket off then back on. There are Generally very very few times where you get a "surge" of electric which isn't real a surge but whats called a neutral fault.

if you have one of these (very rare) then you and anyone else on the same circuit at either the LV (Low voltage 110 in USA / Europe & 240 in the UK) level, one in 3 people will generally be affected (depending on the location of fault that has caused the neutral to go live) or if its a fault on the HV (high voltage 11000v+) then your looking at anything from 3 properties to a thousands properties (VERY VERY RARE !!!!) the 3rd scenario is the fault being at service level which is on the cable solely to your house / building.
When you have on of these faults (the nearest thing to a surge) you will have a constant supply of elec at about 300v + and unlikely to see just 1 item not work when you try to use it but smoke billowing out of a good few appliances an anything (almost every appliance) that has a circuit board may get fried. again you'll notice the BANGS and the smoke.

It is some times worth checking on the property 30 - 40 mins after the supply is due back on as some (generally domestic) properties trip switches are Voltage activated) this is where they trip out not when they detect a fault but when it spots the voltage fluctuate (as in supply taken off then put on later it may see the rush of 0v to 110 / 240 v think ohh thats wrong and trip out. these trips are normally only found as said in a domestic property and one that has a overhead supply and not an underground supply. if 40 mins after the supply has been turned back on by the utility co your elec isn't back try turning off all the trips then turning all of them back on, if your in the UK also check by your electric meter as you may just have an isolation switch here too. this should get you back on supply, if not call the utility no advise then of the planned should down no and ask i it is over running, they should be able to tell you within 10 mins once they have called the engineers up and asked them.

 

[Hrynkiw]

Is there anything I can do to minimize the effects of this outage on my aquarium?

...with an under-gravel filter...

Thank-you all for your suggestions. You've laid my mind to rest.

I'm not actually worried about keeping them warm. While it may get a little cool in the office without the heating duct fans running, I wouldn't expect the ambient temperature to fall below about 18degC.

The filter is under-gravel, so no restart problems there.

I commute on public transit to work and really can't see myself carrying an aquarium in my arms for 40 minutes on the bus.

I was actually more worried about keeping the nitrate-producing microbes happy and the Danios oxygenated. But none of you mentioned those, so I'm guessing I'm good.

Thanks again.

 

[Osian]

Well i've seen a battery powerd airpump for sale, was quite cheap really about £6, so thats like $3? enough to keep a 4.5 gallon working. No idea how how long it would last. I'm considering buying two of them, although i also have a generator to run both aquariums if i do get a power cut.

 

[fostersimported]

If the power is out just for 10 hours get a UPS (a computer mains/battery back up) , just plug in the heater and pump.