My tank is in Hurricane Frances' path

[gfishguy56]

When this wonderful Sea Monster hits and the power goes out, how long does the power have to be out before my tank residents lives are compromised?

[austinsdad]

I think that may depend a lot on how many residents, tank size, and other stuff. You might wanna describe the environment better. Then again, there may be a general outlook that someone can provide for you.

Best of luck to you. We're prayin' for ya!

[BillyZ]

The biggest thret posed by power loss is oxygen levels (IMO). If you don't have a lot of critters in your tank your oxygen levels will last a little longer. The more fish/inverts/anenomes/corals etc in your tank, the quicker your oxygen levels will fall. The reason your oxygen levels drop is your powerheads sease to function so you don't get any more surface water movement which is where your gas exchange occurs. If you have the option, a battery powered UPS for a computer could suffice for a single small powerhead located right at the surface of the tank. depending on tank size, that may give you at least a couple hours of water movement on the UPS (depending on powerhead size and the size of the UPS). temperatue is only a threat if the ambient temp in the area will go to drastic extremes (<75 or >90 IMO) light shouldn't be problem, the lights go out for 10+ hours every day, and in the wild, if large storm clouds are in the area for a few days things will still survive. I guess, if your system relies heavily on equipment filtration then that could pose a problem, but if your tank relies mostly on LR/LS then you should be ok.

Hope you make it through ok!

[gfishguy56]

Thank you for your advice and help. I will try the UPS suggestion, I happen to have an extra one laying around. To go from a mag 7, 3 power heads, a remora skimmer to just 1 power head, I don't see much of a bright outlook, especially if we lose power for an extended period of time.
I will keep you posted. That is if i don't get sucked into this mess and wind up somewhere in the everglades surrounded by man eating angry alligators.

My tank is a 75 gallon with about 80-90lbs of live rock and 20 gallon sump with about 10 -20 lbs of rock. 1 Yellow tang, 3 damsels, 2 chromis, 3 gobies, 1 flame angel, 1 cleaner shrimp, 1 serpent star, 2 blue leg hermits. Yes, I know, quite stocked, but it's been this way a long time and all are healthy. Plus, I'm a stickler for maintenance, which is good for the fish.

[austinsdad]

I've also understood that keeping the lights off help the population slow down and not use up as much oxygen. Yeah, like that'd be a problem in a power outage. I've even seen where folks drape something over the entire tank to keep the ambient light out which keeps the activity down.

[Bearfan]

What about battery powered air stones?

[William]

Well, From Charley..

I ran my tank filters 2 hours a day off a generator.


Also, I fed very sparingly and sparsely [ Like..pushing the extreme of once every 4 ir 5 days. ]


O course, all I ahve right now is a featherduster who is regrowing its crown [ Be perpared, my FD shed its crown during the week without power from Charley, if you loose power yours may shed to ] and a few hermits and sponges, and snails.

[BillyZ]

if you can, plug that UPS in and get it fully charged, then run your PH off it for a while and see how long it lasts. That should give you an idea of how much it's really going to help you. (sorry, i'm ignorant to the weather currently, is there time for this?)

[Atari]

A generator might be a good investment.

[klam]

I second the battery operated air stones. The most problem with consumer UPS is that they dont last long.

good luck and may you have zero losses

[BillyZ]

whats going to use more power, a powerhead or the air pump? a UPS is designed for a computer and monitor. A typical computer can draw anywhere from 300 to 500 watts of power and the monitor another... hmm back of my monitor doesn't say, but I would guess another 200 to 300 watts, if not more. UPS' don't last long because of the amount of power being drawn from them. If your PH only draws 5 to 10 watts, a computer UPS could easily last for a couple of hours. but check the air pump idea if you have one. See how many watts (or amps "A") and use the one that takes less power. And remember, the only thing an air stone does in a SW tank is contribute to surface agitation. Surface agitation is where the gas exchange occurs.

[William]

Computers only draw what power they need.


If their doing something very intensive like, say, high in gaming or CAD, then they are pulling more power, than..say...someone reading a website.

[BillyZ]

the CPU yes, but the main power draw in a PC is the harddrives, fans and CDrom (if you're using it). The video card is much like the CPU in it's power consumption, but it still draws a fair amount of juice. Also consider USB devices. Those devices draw their power through the USB port which also adds to the power consumption of the computer as a whole.

My point being, a PH (or air pump) will draw a lot less power than a computer and, depending on the UPS, should last for at least a little while.

[RocketSeason]

This is probibly going to reach you to late for this.

Walmart carries a battery powered air pump to use with minnow Buckets. Its a submergeable device and may or may not allow for the connection of a tube.

that would be a good investment, although I cannot say how powerful it is. I would think that after this summer, there will be alot more battery powered air pumps on the market for our florida friends. Good Luck!

[gfishguy56]

Thank you all again for your input. In preparation for this potential storm I've been to 7 different pet/aquarium stores the last couple of days and called about 5 others today alone and everyone is out of them already. Some have never bothered to carry them, hopefully that will change soon. I did try Walmart for that pump, rocket season, mentioned and that too was sold out. Apparently, I'm not the only fish lover down here, which is great, but now it leaves me with all this worry.
Slightly better news, according to recent reports on the storm, it has taken a slight shift to the north, which is excellent news for us southeastern florida people, but "they" keep stressing that nobody really knows what that means.
Time for a stupid question, would blowing air through a tube periodically into the tank be of any use? I'm almost desperate, for I've had most of these fish 7+ years and I'd hate to lose them now or ever for that matter.
thanx again to you all..

[Atari]

Blowing air isn't a good idea.. not only is there very little oxygen coming out of your lungs, but the CO2 will actually drive the pH down in the tank.

If it comes down to it, you can always cause the surface agitation yourself... splashing the water produces the same effect as the powerhead.

Good luck.. hope it changes direction completely.

[RocketSeason]

I would think that splashing the water with a spatula every few minutes would stir it up and help add oxygen to it.

did you try one of those DC/AC converters that can be plugged into a cigarette lighter of a car? YOu can run an air pump and/ or your PH of of that.

[MattP725]

Originally Posted by Atari

A generator might be a good investment.

I would bet you would have about a %.05 chance of finding a generator in that area now. People go crazy with this crap.