Hello everyone, in a few months, I will have a 75L aquarium with 4 male guppies and real plants. I’d like to know if you have any advice in the event of a power failure. At what temperature are guppies in danger? How can I reduce the drop in temperature? Also, I read that the bacteria in my filter may die and that if I restart a filter full of dead bacteria, I will jeopardize the health of my fish. Do you know how quickly the bacteria in the filter die? If so, should I change all of my filter media? Do you have any other advice? Thank you.
Power outage, what to do???
- Thread starter Lola
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
A short power outage wont be an issue. You will be turning the power off for short periods to undertake tank maintenance.
You are generally powering 3 elements.
Light. This being off wont affect anything.
Heater. The water will gradually cool down to room temperature. Unless this is prolonged or a very rapid drop, the fish will be fine. You could wrap the tank in an insulated blanket if it was going to be a longer outage. The heater will gradually bring the water back upto temperature so there shouldn't be a rapid swing back up.
Filter. As long as the filter media stays wet, beneficial bacteria will stay alive for 2 or 3 days. If it is dry 2 or 3 hours. Obviously the filter wont be operating, so you might want to consider a water test when things come back online and a water change if there is some kind of spike in parameters. If it is a long outage, my thoughts would be to put the filter media in a media bag and place it in the tank. You can get battery powered air pumps to aerate the water and get some water movement over the filter media to get some filtration. Lack of water aeration is what will be hazardous the quickest.
In summary i wouldnt worry about power outages unless they are frequent or will last longer than a half day or so. You can take some simple measures if you need to. The best preventative measure you can take for a power outage would be dont overstock so your water parameters will stay safe for a longer period.
Also, dont change filter media, ever, unless its literally falling to bits. And then dont do it all at once.
You are generally powering 3 elements.
Light. This being off wont affect anything.
Heater. The water will gradually cool down to room temperature. Unless this is prolonged or a very rapid drop, the fish will be fine. You could wrap the tank in an insulated blanket if it was going to be a longer outage. The heater will gradually bring the water back upto temperature so there shouldn't be a rapid swing back up.
Filter. As long as the filter media stays wet, beneficial bacteria will stay alive for 2 or 3 days. If it is dry 2 or 3 hours. Obviously the filter wont be operating, so you might want to consider a water test when things come back online and a water change if there is some kind of spike in parameters. If it is a long outage, my thoughts would be to put the filter media in a media bag and place it in the tank. You can get battery powered air pumps to aerate the water and get some water movement over the filter media to get some filtration. Lack of water aeration is what will be hazardous the quickest.
In summary i wouldnt worry about power outages unless they are frequent or will last longer than a half day or so. You can take some simple measures if you need to. The best preventative measure you can take for a power outage would be dont overstock so your water parameters will stay safe for a longer period.
Also, dont change filter media, ever, unless its literally falling to bits. And then dont do it all at once.
Emma_Charisma
Aquarium Advice Newbie
I've had power outages while owning a tank before. It's going to depend a lot on your tank size, but my 20 gallon (almost 75 liter) tank only lost ~2 degrees in a five hour power outage. The minimum temperature that guppies thrive in is about 74 degrees, so I'd be worried if it drops anything below that.
I use this for water changes and cleaning gravel. Its cheap and does a job.
https://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/multi-gravel-washer
Im planning on getting a python however. Might be a bit of overkill for your size tank though.
https://charterhouse-aquatics.com/s...DFNzlUWRabhGHqH6ri0jj1a6qyu9A2fBoCN70QAvD_BwE
