How to deal with power outages?

[Runsoncoffee]

I live in the south and there’s been a weather advisory and I don’t have any back up plan if the power goes out. I don’t truly believe it’s gonna snow, but if something happens I’m really not sure what to do.
What I think I might do is IF anything happens put the fish I really don’t want to loose in a cooler or two (with a bit of substrate for good bacteria or something) and bring them upstairs near the fire. This is what I’ll have to do with my reptiles and hamster if something happens.
I don’t know if this is a good idea or not, any advice would be very helpful!

 

[Aiken Drum]

Loss of oxygen will be the issue that will kill your fish the quickest, there are battery powered air pumps you can use to get over this.

There was a cool thread a while back linking a video to a DIY air stone.

https://www.aquariumadvice.com/foru...ator-all-water-powered-no-electic-376031.html

To keep in heat, wrap an insulating blanket around any tanks. As long as the heat doesn't drop too quickly or you dont crank it back up again too quickly it should be ok up to a point. I forgot to plug in a heater last year after a water change, the temperature in the tank dropped 6 or 7c overnight, no issues.

Dont feed. Less waste, less impact from a non functioning filter.

 

[Runsoncoffee]

Loss of oxygen will be the issue that will kill your fish the quickest, there are battery powered air pumps you can use to get over this.

There was a cool thread a while back linking a video to a DIY air stone.

https://www.aquariumadvice.com/foru...ator-all-water-powered-no-electic-376031.html

To keep in heat, wrap an insulating blanket around any tanks. As long as the heat doesn't drop too quickly or you dont crank it back up again too quickly it should be ok up to a point. I forgot to plug in a heater last year after a water change, the temperature in the tank dropped 6 or 7c overnight, no issues.

Dont feed. Less waste, less impact from a non functioning filter.

Thank you
I don’t think there’s much I can do now, but I can stock up for next time. I can manually add oxygen to the water by disturbing the surface and wrapping some comforters around everything if something happens this time around

 

[ADsnail]

There was also this, last summer:

https://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/hurricane-preparedness-air-stone-question-377880.html

I'm in the south too and faced a long-term power outage with the opposite problem - heat - but the same issues of dealing with extreme temperature and oxygen. I bought battery air stones and was dismayed to find that even the ones marketed as "silent" made a racket. Still, they worked.

It was temperature that ultimately forced me to take drastic action. I guess we would've toughed it out but for the fish, who were at our mercy to control the environment. We evacuated. I put them in a jar, got into a car, drove to another state (one with electricity), walked into a store and bought small 1g aquariums. Then stayed in places (hotel, relatives) where the tanks could be plugged in and the room was within comfort range for both man and beast.

If faced with your situation I think I'd probably do a combination: get small easy-to-carry tanks, put in battery air stones, and then take them to the fireplace room. I've found that with the little bitty tanks, whatever temp the room is (i.e. my human comfort range of 70-75) the tank stays in that range too without needing the addition of a heater. As mentioned already, a blanket would help that.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Another point to raise. If filters are down for an extended period, double dosing prime can help controlling any ammonia build up.

 

[ColdKoi]

There’s many ways to handle potential power outages, and luckily short-term (say 6-12hr) is relatively easy to deal with. Something as simple as a battery backup air stone will circulate water and provide the surface agitation needed for gas exchange.

Longer term (days-weeks) is going to be a lot more complicated. At the very least I would suggest having a battery backup air pump and a sponge filter (and preferably you’d have the sponge jammed into your normal filter so it is already cycled with bacteria), bingo instant backup filter and gas exchange.

Water temperature is going to be the biggest hurdle to deal with. Short term, like mentioned if you don’t have a backup source of heat in the house and the room temperature is going to drop, it’s wise to try and insulate the tank with blankets or whatever you have. That will slow the temperature drop, and cause less stress for the fish, but ultimately the water temperature is going to equalize with the room temp

Tank heaters require a decent amount of power, an uninterruptible power supply is not a very viable option as even a large unit would not run the heater very long (though it would likely keep your filters going for a while), then your only option to recharge it is to have power again. Not very practical for a long term power outage compared to replacing batteries in a battery backup air pump.

If you are dealing with an extended outage and are going to lose room temperature and have fish that will absolutely die if the water temp drops that much, there’s not a lot of (safe) options. Best scenario is a backup generator. Ideally we would all have one that can run the whole house, but that’s a little far fetched. If you had something like a 2000w Honda inverter generator you’d have plenty of power to run several tanks and they burn very little fuel.

A little 2000w generator isn’t alot of power but if you’re smart with it, you can do alot with it. If you switch off tank heaters momentarily you’d be able to run a couple necessities in the house like a hot plate, coffee pot, microwave. Y’know, stuff to keep you alive kinda thing lol