power out

[christine2012]

How long do I have before I should be concerned? Any suggestions?

 

[christine2012]

Nevermind! If it happens again how should I deal with it?

 

[blue35]

Not much you can do unless you have a generator...

 

[christine2012]

Well I meant things like maybe small small water changes and any tricks to get them oxygen. I've heard of people using wisks to aerate charcoal to heat, etc. Just seeing if anyone had any tricks up their sleeves.

 

[Darklight]

Well I meant things like maybe small small water changes and any tricks to get them oxygen. I've heard of people using wisks to aerate charcoal to heat, etc. Just seeing if anyone had any tricks up their sleeves.

Well i've heard of covering the tank with towels etc to conserve heat.
You can buy battery powered airpumps if you want to keep air circulating.
I have also heard that filter bacteria starts dying after about an hour, so if power was off longer, maybe running an air stone off a battery air pump over just your filter media would keep your good bacteria in the media oxygenated. Just a thought.

 

[christine2012]

Well i've heard of covering the tank with towels etc to conserve heat.
You can buy battery powered airpumps if you want to keep air circulating.
I have also heard that filter bacteria starts dying after about an hour, so if power was off longer, maybe running an air stone off a battery air pump over just your filter media would keep your good bacteria in the media oxygenated. Just a thought.

Towels. Good one! My husband has some cool thermal military blankets and stuff. Ill keep those around. I will have to get a battery op pump. Never thought of that. Power likes to go out kind of frequently here :/

 

[Daxhua]

UPS battery backups like the ones sold for computers work well, I have one just for my filters. Battery powered air pumps with airstones/wands will keep water circulating provide fish with oxygen, just make sure you keep extra batteries stocked.
If power outage last longer than the UPS can provide power for then using a battery powered air pump in a five gallon bucket with tank water and your filter media should keep your bacteria alive. If your filter media is in baskets then you could skip the buckets and keep them inside the tank itself. Doing water changes would only be neccessary if the power outtage last longer than a day I would think.
As far as temp goes your tank should stay at room temp but the blanket idea works to maintain temp. Floating frozen water bottles will help keep tank cool if its hot where you live.
I think that covers it.

 

[paytertot]

When we lose power, I put in two little battery powered air stones, drape blankets over the tank or float ice bags depending on the weather, and unplug the canister filter so that when the power starts I can empty out the water in it. I also float the media from my hob over the bubbles from the air stone just to help a little. The reason I empty the can is because I read somewhere that the waste in it will start to break down in a way that produces something semi harmful or something like that. Idk if that's true but I always do it.
And then I do a small pwc sometimes.

 

[christine2012]

UPS battery backups like the ones sold for computers work well, I have one just for my filters. Battery powered air pumps with airstones/wands will keep water circulating provide fish with oxygen, just make sure you keep extra batteries stocked.
If power outage last longer than the UPS can provide power for then using a battery powered air pump in a five gallon bucket with tank water and your filter media should keep your bacteria alive. If your filter media is in baskets then you could skip the buckets and keep them inside the tank itself. Doing water changes would only be neccessary if the power outtage last longer than a day I would think.
As far as temp goes your tank should stay at room temp but the blanket idea works to maintain temp. Floating frozen water bottles will help keep tank cool if its hot where you live.
I think that covers it.

Wow! Thanks to the both of you. I am going to prepare a outage kit. I appreciate it. Some great ideas to add to my logs.

 

[christine2012]

When we lose power, I put in two little battery powered air stones, drape blankets over the tank or float ice bags depending on the weather, and unplug the canister filter so that when the power starts I can empty out the water in it. I also float the media from my hob over the bubbles from the air stone just to help a little. The reason I empty the can is because I read somewhere that the waste in it will start to break down in a way that produces something semi harmful or something like that. Idk if that's true but I always do it.
And then I do a small pwc sometimes.

Hey paytertot , off topic, but in your canister, do you use carbon? If so, how often do you replace it?

 

[paytertot]

No I only use carbon if I'm using medication, and that's almost never.

 

[Daxhua]

I know the carbon question was not addressed to me but may I suggest if you want chemical filtration instead of carbon try Purigen by Seachem. It does pretty much what carbon does but its rechargeable so it will save $ in the long run. If your tank is well balanced then you really don't need any chemical filtration.

 

[paytertot]

Imo you should just fill in with biological media

 

[Bkmrsteel]

I saw some one else said it. Computer store ups (un interrupted power supply). Battery back up for everything.

I always end getting one each black friday, so I had plenty of 150-200$ ups systems I had only payed 20-40$ for each year.

The bigger of one you get, the longer it will sustain your tank, so take in consideration how much power your drawing, and how long your black outs are.

Look at a 750w or more, nothing less then 350w to 500w

Www.newegg.com will likely have decent deals and is a very good place to order from

 

[christine2012]

Imo you should just fill in with biological media

That's what I do, just wanted to see what others did. I hear of so many people using carbon but I just don't see the point in spending money on it.

 

[christine2012]

I saw some one else said it. Computer store ups (un interrupted power supply). Battery back up for everything.

I always end getting one each black friday, so I had plenty of 150-200$ ups systems I had only payed 20-40$ for each year.

The bigger of one you get, the longer it will sustain your tank, so take in consideration how much power your drawing, and how long your black outs are.

Look at a 750w or more, nothing less then 350w to 500w

Www.newegg.com will likely have decent deals and is a very good place to order from

Wow, hope I don't have another outage until after black Friday! Haha