day 2 no power and so far so good

[Island_Emt]

Its day 2 of no power. I did a nice cleaning and pwc the morning before storm hit. I have 1 battery powered air pump.

Main tank gets battery pump most of the time....I drop it into fry tank occasionally.

Main tank temp down to 77.4 fry tank down to 74.2
It's supposed to warm up today so Maybe that'll help.

Any tips on anything?

I use a sump on the main rain so the media is wet.

 

[IvanMike]

In this case lower tank temps are a good thing - colder water holds more O2, and lowers the metabolism of the fish so they don't excrete as much ammonia (by a bit anyhow). Don't feed the fish whatever you do.

If your water isn't dependent upon electricity try doing some water changes if the fish look stressed out (not only will this remove ammonia, but often the new water will have more oxygen in it).

Whatever kind of filter media you have, it's important not just to have it wet but have it exposed to oxygen as well. I would take all the filter media out into the air for a min or 2 several times a day.

 

[gwithyen]

Good luck buddy! Our thoughts are with you til Irene leaves!

 

[Island_Emt]

Didn't know that about the temps. Thanks.

Main tank I use a sump for filtration and the media is pretty much submerged right now. I can pull out the top layer filter pad as well as the extra padding I keep in there and expose it to air. That can be easy enough.

Fry tank is a sponge filter which they are picking at.

Gotcha...no feeding. I intentionally fed them a little more than normal in the days leading up to the storm.

 

[Bl80]

I would worry about doing water changes, ESP if they have no power. With all the flooding etc who knows what may have been stirred up in the water systems.... But that JMO.... Know in a normal situation it would be good.... But with all the damage.... ???

 

[filterman40]

You could asking get a car/lawn mower battery and hook a power inverter to it. This will supply lights bubblers and even a filter. That's what I did and it works for a couple of weeks if battery is charged all the way

 

[Island_Emt]

I don't think the water systems suffered any problems so water should be ok.

An inverter ... hmm .. can it be hooked up to my truck battery for a little while or would I have to use a dedicated separate battery?

 

[filterman40]

I don't think the water systems suffered any problems so water should be ok.

An inverter ... hmm .. can it be hooked up to my truck battery for a little while or would I have to use a dedicated separate battery?

That's even better. Yea hook it up to your truck battery and run an extension cord inside to the truck and every hour or so turn the truck on to keep the battery charged

 

[Island_Emt]

The inverter idea is great, in fact I drove from home to two towns away looking for one. Sold out everywhere.

So I came back home and power was back on. I'm going to check the water parameters in a little while. All fish are swimming and no one is fins up.

Thanks!

 

[filterman40]

The inverter idea is great, in fact I drove from home to two towns away looking for one. Sold out everywhere.

So I came back home and power was back on. I'm going to check the water parameters in a little while. All fish are swimming and no one is fins up.

Thanks!

That's great news. Remember the inverter. They are at Walmart and any auto parts store they work miracles

 

[Island_Emt]

Yeah I'm going to order one from walmart..always good to have. checked water and have a rise in ammonia and nitrites:

ph-8.2
ammonia-0.25
nitrites-0.25
nitrates-0

I'm going to do a pwc tonight then let it "mini" cycle.

 

[IvanMike]

Good idea - i think a day will have everything at zero.

 

[Loraaf]

Glad your powering back on and your fish seem to be doing good!

 

[o.jonathan.o]

Yeah I'm going to order one from walmart..always good to have. checked water and have a rise in ammonia and nitrites:

ph-8.2
ammonia-0.25
nitrites-0.25
nitrates-0

I'm going to do a pwc tonight then let it "mini" cycle.

Mini cycle is bad from what I'm told

 

[IvanMike]

I think he means just run everything as usual and let the bacteria colonies build back up (they're probably not all that depleted anyhow as long as they got air) - and let them eat all the ammonia and nitrite.

 

[Island_Emt]

Exactly what I meant. Thanks. Bad wording on my part.