Electricity problems? Fish safety?

[mikeybabs]

Hi guys. I was experiencing electricity problems today so I contacted my landlord and he is working on it immediately.

I was just wondering how long the fish can go without electricity? Is there anything I can do to help them until it gets resolved?

My electricity seems to be working in half of the house and in the parts that it does work it seems to not be "full" electricity (example: my lights are flickering and fans are blowing half speed and a lot of things don't power on) this happened shortly after I started the dryer... None of the fuses are blown

Thankfully this isn't the winter so the temperature changes won't be so drastic but should I worry if say it will take 2-3 days to fix?

I have 7 fish tanks to worry about with over 50-60 fish...



Thx guys

 

[mfdrookie516]

Sounds like a loose wire... somewhere. Could be a very simple fix, could be complex. is your worry that you won't have electricity to the tanks for 2-3 days, or just no air?

 

[mikeybabs]

Well what do you mean no air? I'm worried I won't be able to provide electricity for 2-3 days to keep the filters running for currents and the heaters going to stabilize temperature... Also worried to ruin the established biological filter... (will that happen)

Basically all I was wondering is if my fish will survive and for how long and things I can do to keep them from being stressed or die...

When I turn the power strips to the tanks on a lot of the filters make funny noises like they're not getting enough power... My computer doesn't turn on and u can hear the power supply struggling to get power. The fans and lights are the same way. I figured it would be safe to not use any power as I don't want to damage anything

Thx!

 

[tarpon]

If the filters aren't going to be running make sure you keep your filter media in a bucket of tank water or in the tank to preserve the BB

If its just for a few days they'll be fine in the bucket

 

[mikeybabs]

If the filters aren't going to be running make sure you keep your filter media in a bucket of tank water or in the tank to preserve the BB

If its just for a few days they'll be fine in the bucket

Wouldn't they be submerged in water inside the filters? I'm using canister and hang on back filters and I think the media should have water soaked in it... This should be fine for a few days? Or should i take them out of the filter? Sounds like a pain since I have 11 filters to worry about lol

 

[tarpon]

Ohhhh okay. On one of my filters it drains when its turned off so that's why I said that. But yeah if its stays wet it should be fine for a few days

 

[mikeybabs]

Ohhhh okay. On one of my filters it drains when its turned off so that's why I said that. But yeah if its stays wet it should be fine for a few days

Ok thanks. What about the oxygen and currents that the filters produce? Will the fish be fine at night when the temp goes down?

 

[rdnelson99]

Hi guys. I was experiencing electricity problems today so I contacted my landlord and he is working on it immediately.

I was just wondering how long the fish can go without electricity? Is there anything I can do to help them until it gets resolved?

My electricity seems to be working in half of the house and in the parts that it does work it seems to not be "full" electricity (example: my lights are flickering and fans are blowing half speed and a lot of things don't power on) this happened shortly after I started the dryer... None of the fuses are blown

Thankfully this isn't the winter so the temperature changes won't be so drastic but should I worry if say it will take 2-3 days to fix?

I have 7 fish tanks to worry about with over 50-60 fish...



Thx guys

Sounds like you lost one leg of the incoming service. Shut down anything that is not 120 volt like your AC. Make sure you plug all your aquarium stuff into a working outlet until they get it back on. You can turn off every breaker in your panel including the " main breaker" if you have one. Then turn them all back on starting with the main. This may do it if it is in your house/apparently.

 

[mikeybabs]

Sounds like you lost one leg of the incoming service. Shut down anything that is not 120 volt like your AC. Make sure you plug all your aquarium stuff into a working outlet until they get it back on. You can turn off every breaker in your panel including the " main breaker" if you have one. Then turn them all back on starting with the main. This may do it if it is in your house/apparently.

Thanks for the tip. I'll look more into it when I get home from work. This all happened right before I left for work today so that's why I posted on here...

It seems that most outlets in the living room and kitchen provide power but not "full" power meaning some of my filters sound like they're struggling to start because not enough power is feeding into them... Because of this I'm scare to power anything but I will try some outlets in the bedroom with extension cables and possibly have better luck....

Hopefully there's nothing serious wrong even tho my landlord should be responsible for the house I'm renting I just hope I don't have to be without power for too long...

I don't have ant experience with breakers... I will have to research this

Thx

 

[rdnelson99]

The breakers are a piece of cake. Should be in the garage or maybe on the outside of the house by the electrical meter. You can alwasy log onto the power companies website and see if they have any reports of problems in your area. If it is there problem and others are having the same problem you will just have to wait on them. If it is not there problem you will have to wait until the landloard fixes the problem. Deffinately try the breakers. It could also be a fuse blown where the electric meter is located. That will take an electrician to replace. If that is the case, you need to be sure they find out "WHY" the fuse failed or it will happen again.

 

[eco23]

This might be nonsense...but there is information floating around that BB won't last long at all in a canister filter that isn't running due to oxygen deprivation. Personally I'd move it to the tank so it can be oxygenated with the fish...just to be safe. It'd probably be fine for a couple days though.

 

[glassbird]

Eco23, that is my understanding as well! And also that as the BB dies in the cannister, the water in there will get stagnant and nasty...so when the power comes back on you get a big flush of foul water when the cannister kicks back on.

I would get the biomedia out of the cannister, and put it in the tank in a mesh bag or clean pantyhose, or something similar. Rinse out the interior of the cannister and refill it with clean tank water. Then there won't be anything dieing in there, and it won't be toxic when the power gets back.

Also, personally, I would not even try to turn on your computer until the power is fixed. All sorts of problems can develop with eratic power and a computer...

 

[skiweeangel]

If you are worried about airetion at all I know they make battery powered air pumps. If you are going to be without power for a while it might be a good back up. If you are feeling frisky you could even DIY some sponge filters.

 

[mikeybabs]

Thanks for all the help guys. Apparently I didn't look too far into the problem cuz it was actually a really easy fix. I pulled out the breakers and one of the fuses was blown so I replaced the fuse and now everything is working fine and stable now. The only thing that died was my cable modem and thankfully they replaced it for free. it's just weird how half the power was working and half wasnt. I didnt realize there were 2 types of fuses. The 60 amp fuse blew out (1 of 4)

Thank god all the fish equipment works fine and I only went about 16 hours with the tanks not running. Tomorrow I will do a water change in all the tanks

 

[rdnelson99]

Apparently, it is an older home. The 60 amp fuses supply the smaller fuses which in turn supply everything else in the home. If one of them blows, you are only getting one leg of power instead of the two that are required. If they cable modem was damaged, my first thought would be that you had a lightning strike close by. Did it storm anywhere nearby the day this all started?

 

[mikeybabs]

Apparently, it is an older home. The 60 amp fuses supply the smaller fuses which in turn supply everything else in the home. If one of them blows, you are only getting one leg of power instead of the two that are required. If they cable modem was damaged, my first thought would be that you had a lightning strike close by. Did it storm anywhere nearby the day this all started?

Actually now that you mention that I do believe it was storming in the area around the time that it happened... Why would it affect the cable modem and nothin else? Because of the coaxial cable coming from the wall? The house was built in 1945 and the 60 amp fuses look old fashion lol... Do you think the cause of the fuse being blown had to do with the storm? I googled and the most common cause said it was a circuit overload... And it seemed to happen shortly after I started my dryer for the second time... I'm running 7 fish tanks and a good amount of electronics and the dryer was on so idk if that caused it... Weird how only the cable modem was affected... Could it be that i stuffed my dryer too much and it worked too hard overloading the circuit?

 

[rdnelson99]

Actually now that you mention that I do believe it was storming in the area around the time that it happened... Why would it affect the cable modem and nothin else? Because of the coaxial cable coming from the wall? The house was built in 1945 and the 60 amp fuses look old fashion lol... Do you think the cause of the fuse being blown had to do with the storm? I googled and the most common cause said it was a circuit overload... And it seemed to happen shortly after I started my dryer for the second time... I'm running 7 fish tanks and a good amount of electronics and the dryer was on so idk if that caused it... Weird how only the cable modem was affected... Could it be that i stuffed my dryer too much and it worked too hard overloading the circuit?

A 60 amp electrical service was not uncommon in a house that old and really is under sized for all that you are running. It is possible that the overload caused the fuse to blow but most likely that would not have affected the modem. When lightning strikes anywhere within a mile or two it can some times travel down the electrical, phone and cable wires into your home. Since you are already on the brink you can think of your electrical system the weekest link in the chain. That could very well blow the fuse. In addition, the lightning can cause a much higher voltage to travel in the cable line to your modem. The modem is not built to withdstand that (nor is any electronic item). There are a few preventive measure you could take but none are cheap. I would say the safest thing you could do since you don't own the house is to make sure you have good surge strips feeding all electronics and all aquarium equipment. I am not talking the $5.00 kind but the ones that run a good $50.00 each. I know that is a lot but short of upgrading the entire electrical system in the house that would be the best you could. If you are wondering if you should believe me I will just say that I am a licensed electrical contractor who has worked in the industry for 30+ years. Yeah, I am old. LOL

 

[mikeybabs]

Actually now that you mention that I do believe it was storming in the area around the time that it happened... Why would it affect the cable modem and nothin else? Because of the coaxial cable coming from the wall? The house was built in 1945 and the 60 amp fuses look old fashion lol... Do you think the cause of the fuse being blown had to do with the storm? I googled and the most common cause said it was a circuit overload... And it seemed to happen shortly after I started my dryer for the second time... I'm running 7 fish tanks and a good amount of electronics and the dryer was on so idk if that caused it... Weird how only the cable modem was affected... Could it be that i stuffed my dryer too much and it worked too hard overloading the circuit?

Awesome thanks. Why are the cheap surge protectors bad? Do surge protectors only work if they're plugged into a ground outlet? If I don't have grounded outlets do I have to run extension cords to the surge protectors? I bought a generator and can I use any kind of surge protector with that? Can I use 40+ft extension cables with generators without a problem? Thx for the info I lucked out finding someone as knowledgable as you

 

[rdnelson99]

Surge protectors will do a little good on an ungrounded outlet but cutting the ground prong off of a cord is a bad idea. There are things the landloard can do that would give you grounded outlets without rewiring the entire house but once again it isn't cheap. Couple grand depending on where you live. If you are in an area that is heavy union it will be even more. If you have a generator you are in fat city whenever things are plugged into the gennerator. Wouldn't even need surge strips because the generrator is not linked to the electrical grid in any way. The cheap surge strips are rally not even surge strips. They are just outlet stips. The better ones use better technology which cost more to manufacture. Like in all things, you get what you pay for.

Changing horses here a bit, how long have you lived in this home? If you have been there more than a couple years and this is the first time it has happened, don't worry about it. Just be prepared incase it happens again. If it happens a lot then you should start think about things. At the very least, I would start adding good surge strips to any expensive equipment that plugs into the house electrical system.

 

[mikeybabs]

Surge protectors will do a little good on an ungrounded outlet but cutting the ground prong off of a cord is a bad idea. There are things the landloard can do that would give you grounded outlets without rewiring the entire house but once again it isn't cheap. Couple grand depending on where you live. If you are in an area that is heavy union it will be even more. If you have a generator you are in fat city whenever things are plugged into the gennerator. Wouldn't even need surge strips because the generrator is not linked to the electrical grid in any way. The cheap surge strips are rally not even surge strips. They are just outlet stips. The better ones use better technology which cost more to manufacture. Like in all things, you get what you pay for.

Changing horses here a bit, how long have you lived in this home? If you have been there more than a couple years and this is the first time it has happened, don't worry about it. Just be prepared incase it happens again. If it happens a lot then you should start think about things. At the very least, I would start adding good surge strips to any expensive equipment that plugs into the house electrical system.

Thanks so much for your reply! I have rented this house and lived here since July 1st 2010... So a little over a year! I've never had any problems with electricity however I have only had fish tanks since April this year so about 4 months... I added my 7th tank about 1 month ago which is my biggest tank (125g) and the filter is an eheim 2260 which uses a constant 90ish watts possibly? So the addition of the 125g has probably added a considerable about of electricity usage... I have a killawatt electricity meter if I need to measure how many watts are being used on things... Most of my lights are efficient but some aren't... I'm running a total of approximately 10 lights on all fish tanks so perhaps I should shut them all off when I use the dryer?

So from my understanding it doesn't matter if I use a surge protector on a generator? People recommend using one with sensitive electronics... And will a really long extension cord create any problems?

I've been using the dryer with a lot of tanks running for awhile... Could it be that the fuse was slowly wearing away and blew after a lot of use?

It's weird how when the fuse blew things were half working like lights were fading in and out and stuff was turning on and off

Here's a pic of the fuse

Thx so much