# Power Outage! What do you do?



## PACMAN (Mar 4, 2010)

So today there's going to be a major storm hitting the GTA. It got me thinking. What is everyone's ACP (Aquarium Continuity Plan) in the event of a power outage? (lets say >4 hours)

I remember a power outage that lcaught me off guard, and it lasted all night, and unfortunately the only thing i could do was put in warm, conditioned tapwater, in order to keep the temperature up.


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

PACMAN said:


> So today there's going to be a major storm hitting the GTA. It got me thinking. What is everyone's ACP (Aquarium Continuity Plan) in the event of a power outage? (lets say >4 hours)
> 
> I remember a power outage that lcaught me off guard, and it lasted all night, and unfortunately the only thing i could do was put in warm, conditioned tapwater, in order to keep the temperature up.


that was silly. Your water would hold more oxygen at room temp. Outages under four hours are no issue unless you have a canister, which you should open because it will go anaerobic faster than that.

Ideally, hook all pumps and filters to a UPS.


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## dl88dl (Mar 8, 2010)

I have a gas generator to run my fishroom and pond for up to 12 hours or longer if I get more gas


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## PACMAN (Mar 4, 2010)

AquariAM said:


> that was silly. Your water would hold more oxygen at room temp. Outages under four hours are no issue unless you have a canister, which you should open because it will go anaerobic faster than that.
> 
> Ideally, hook all pumps and filters to a UPS.


I agree with the UPS idea. I definitely should invest in one at one point. especially if I dive into saltwater.

I never thought that the canister would go anaerobic so quickly. I will have to detach next incident.

I guess my logic for putting in the warmer water was that I didnt want the fish to go through temperature shock. the outage occurred in winter, and my tank is in the basement. For a malawi tank, temp should be around 24-26 celcius. My house is set for 23 (with power off, this temp wont be maintained), and its a little cooler in the basement to begin with.

It was definitely a nail-biting experience!


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

Live next to a transfer station downtown.

That, and have a UPS that will run one of my powerheads in my reef for 36hrs at 50% capacity.

For FW? Anything under a few hours, I don't sweat it.


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## NVES (Apr 21, 2010)

Never mind about a power outage - what do you do with earthquake tremors???


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## PACMAN (Mar 4, 2010)

PRAY!

hope the tank doesn't shatter!!!!!!


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

dl88dl said:


> I have a gas generator to run my fishroom and pond for up to 12 hours or _longer if I get more gas_


I sure hope so!


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## bae (May 11, 2007)

If you have plants and don't overstock, your tank can make it through substantial outages with no problems -- at least in reasonably warm weather. In winter, your house is going to get cold because even if you heat with gas, your furnace uses electricity. Insulating your tanks should help -- I like to use cork or painted styrofoam on the backs, and in case of an extended power failure, you can toss a blanket over it, before you resort to adding warm water (assuming a gas water heater, of course -- or you can heat water on your gas stove).


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## TBemba (Jan 11, 2010)

I have a straw


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## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

One thing everybody can do, at least to conserve tank heat in winter, is to make sure that their tanks are at least somewhat insulated. I have foam under my tank (it also helps to conserver heater power) and if the power goes out, I have a thermal blanket (the silver plastic kind you can get at Canadian Tire to keep in your car or to take camping) that I can wrap around and over the tank to keep some of the heat in. Blankets like this cost something like $3. They're worth having just in case.


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## PACMAN (Mar 4, 2010)

characinfan said:


> One thing everybody can do, at least to conserve tank heat in winter, is to make sure that their tanks are at least somewhat insulated. I have foam under my tank (it also helps to conserver heater power) and if the power goes out, I have a thermal blanket (the silver plastic kind you can get at Canadian Tire to keep in your car or to take camping) that I can wrap around and over the tank to keep some of the heat in. Blankets like this cost something like $3. They're worth having just in case.


good call. i think im going to pick one up!


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## AquaNekoMobile (Feb 26, 2010)

I just got home and apparently the power outage here was from 0440 - 2300. I'm trying to save what I can here but I think my otocats are not going to rebound as I already had one floater. They are red around the gills. I can't find test kit. 

It seems I likely had an ammonia/nitrite spike and I'm doing 50% water changes right now. The white cloud minnows I recieved recently are red around the gills as well.  The zebra danios the same. The one tank is planted so I know I still have some biofiltration there. The shrimp tank with WCM's did not go so well as the moss did not really grow large yet and I can't find any shrimp right now. My quarantine tank with some of the new WCM's does not look good right now.

How long without air does it take before the biological media die? I was using UGF/AC20/Sponge filters and my back up battery air pump was out of commission at the worst time as I had broken D adaptors. >__<;; I'm thinking all the cycle has crashed. Argh....


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## ShrimpieLove (Apr 26, 2010)

Sorry to hear about any losses during the power outage ! 
Reading these posts made me really think, i have no idea what i could do to help my tanks in that situation! I dont have a generator or any of that so how would i b able to keep the filters going and save my fish/ shrimp and good bacteria? 
Battery air pump? Is there battery filters? Should i leave the filter media in tbe filters(aquaclear) or put the media into the tank directly- would that help at all? 
Would using Seachem Stabity help at all to get thru those hours without power?


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## bluegill (Jan 5, 2010)

bae said:


> If you have plants and don't overstock, your tank can make it through substantial outages with no problems -- at least in reasonably warm weather. In winter, your house is going to get cold because even if you heat with gas, your furnace uses electricity. Insulating your tanks should help -- I like to use cork or painted styrofoam on the backs, and in case of an extended power failure, you can toss a blanket over it, before you resort to adding warm water (assuming a gas water heater, of course -- or you can heat water on your gas stove).


the plants consume oxygen in darkness, so unless the tank is in sunlight, the O2 would drop faster


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## bluegill (Jan 5, 2010)

GuppyLove said:


> Sorry to hear about any losses during the power outage !
> Reading these posts made me really think, i have no idea what i could do to help my tanks in that situation! I dont have a generator or any of that so how would i b able to keep the filters going and save my fish/ shrimp and good bacteria?
> Battery air pump? Is there battery filters? Should i leave the filter media in tbe filters(aquaclear) or put the media into the tank directly- would that help at all?
> Would using Seachem Stabity help at all to get thru those hours without power?


i think the batter air pump bubbler is a good idea.
You could grab your car battery and get an inverter and run
the filter with it.


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## bae (May 11, 2007)

bluegill said:


> the plants consume oxygen in darkness, so unless the tank is in sunlight, the O2 would drop faster


Even in sunlight, the O2 contributed by plants isn't significant compared to the gas exchange at the water surface. But the plants will continue to take up ammonia in darkness.

(Btw, plants consume oxygen all the time, but in adequate light they produce more than they consume.)


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## bluegill (Jan 5, 2010)

bae said:


> Even in sunlight, the O2 contributed by plants isn't significant compared to the gas exchange at the water surface. But the plants will continue to take up ammonia in darkness.
> 
> (Btw, plants consume oxygen all the time, but in adequate light they produce more than they consume.)


there is no life form or very little life form that can exist without consuming O2, so your point was assumed.
I took photosynthesis and the other process I believe called respiration which is an oxidative process to release energy . Respiration goes on all the time in plants.
Photosynthesis does not occur without light.


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## Philip.Chan.92 (Apr 25, 2010)

TBemba said:


> I have a straw


ahahaha I was thinking that exact thing, my fish won't be deprived of oxygen, I'll just do what my air pump does with a straw  Humans exhale mostly oxygen anyways so it's all good  or you can use a turkey baster or something of the sort and pump some air into it lolz


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## KhuliLoachFan (Mar 8, 2008)

I want a battery powered air-pump but to run all 12 of my tanks, I would need twelve of those. Probably not necessary for anything less than four hours.

I think if you had a salt-water tank with $5000 worth of live-rock and livestock, a big fat 2500-5000VAH UPS that runs your most precious tank's filtration equipment would be a good investment.

W


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