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We got walloped yesterday by bad weather (snow even!) and lost power. I was really concerned about my tank. I just developed a new community tank so the bio load is much larger than what I usually have with just one angel. Another concern is that it has been cold so keeping the tank at a decent temp is important. And finally aeration to keep oxygen levels up. Fortunately, my electricity came back on today. Last night around 2am I added water (1 bucket) to the tank that was a bit warmer than usual. I know this isn't great for oxygen levels, but the temp was freaking me out. I put some of the bio filter in another bucket of de-chlorinated water. I was so tired that I had to go to bed. The electricity came on twice during the night. The filter woke me up as I had to deal with it. When I got up this morning there was no power again.
I headed for the home depot and purchased two Black and decker electromate power stations ($100/ea). It can jump a car, has a compressor to inflate, a 12v and 120v AC adapters. I'm charging them now and will test next weekend. I did use it for the filter for a little while before I charged it up because there still wasn't power in the house when I got home and it was partially charged. The filter pump seemed to be weak, but it was working. I'm just hoping for future outages that these two will work for my filter, air pump, and heater.
What do you use, if anything, during power outages?
ive found my tropicals are less sensitive to normal temp drops but i do try if the power goes out to "insulate" the tank with styrafoam, bought some of those cheep coolers and cut them into flat peices and just tape em on with a bit of duct tape. just to keep it as stable as possible
i dont bother bout areation much either...as long as your tank has good surface area and your not building a protein layer you should be fine (but this is a good reason to grow hardy easy live plants whenever possible)
filtration is my biggest concern so if powers out for more than 6 hours i try to do regular small water changes, 2-3 times a day of about 5% just to keep the water clean. then when power returns i give the tank a good vac and do a regular water change.
I use battery powered aerators. When I moved last year I used that to keep my fish alive in the uHaul. That thing kept going for 2 days non-stop. as for the cold, that is not a problem in my area.
I agree with Foxy, if you can find anacharis, plant some in your tank, they produce just as much, if not more oxygen than your aerator. I don't use my aerator during the day because the aerator leaches out gases beneficial to the plants.
I use battery powered aerators. When I moved last year I used that to keep my fish alive in the uHaul. That thing kept going for 2 days non-stop. as for the cold, that is not a problem in my area.
I agree with Foxy, if you can find anacharis, plant some in your tank, they produce just as much, if not more oxygen than your aerator. I don't use my aerator during the day because the aerator leaches out gases beneficial to the plants.
Tropicals thrive more in planted tanks anyway.
Huh, is that the case for all aerators?
Any how, I have a heavily planted tank, so that's good. This is the back up power I bought, well two of them! Although, I do like the idea of warm water floating in bags. I don't want to replace the water since O2 levels are supposed to be lower coming directly from the tap. I read that it's better to remove tank water and swoosh it around and put it back. That could be off, tho.
Any how, I have a heavily planted tank, so that's good. This is the back up power I bought, well two of them! Although, I do like the idea of warm water floating in bags. I don't want to replace the water since O2 levels are supposed to be lower coming directly from the tap. I read that it's better to remove tank water and swoosh it around and put it back. That could be off, tho.
I dunno, I have actually only seen one brand of battery operated aerators, but then again I have not been looking. That brand costs about 10 bucks at walmart and 15 at Academy. Also saw it at Home depot.
yeah the hot water bag idea sounds like a good one, but Like I said before I live in a warm area.
Before I had the battery powered aerators I would put the fish in about 6 inches of water. They survive better without an aerator in shallow waters.But that would not be an option for you because they would freeze their butts off
i wanted to add to this thread that sometimes no matter what you do...
I just lost an entire tank of fish...
i moved to TN a few weeks back, leaving my fish in CT while i get their new tank set upand cycled...
weve delt with power outages before with no problem exaclty as i described before...
well unfortuntly this time it wasnt enough, CT lost power in that nastyodd winter snow storm, power whent out early saturday...didnt come back untill Wednesday. i dont know if it was the lack of filtration or the sheere temperature drop that killed them but i lost my entire tank. my family did what they could, but everything is electric fromt stove to heat...a reflective blanket and heavy blanket kept temps safe for a few days but the fish started dropping tuesday night and all were gone by weds afternoon.
Its so frustrating, because at 4 days long there was little to nothing more we could do, they had to focus on keeping themselves warm ect...
such a shame, such a waste...
im fairly sure it was a combination of filtration and water temps
I'm sorry to hear that, foxy. I lost a pleco due to a temp drop. I forgot to turn the heater back on after a water change. I think younger fish do better. Either way, that scared me. Honestly, I think temp matters even more in some ways than the biological filter (providing the tank isn't stuffed). I know that the bacteria are supposed to die off quick in the filter, but they're in the tank too, and I guess with the plants and a bit of filtration it can hang on.
Any how, these two battery packs should last roughly 7-8 hours/ea. If I pick up two more I can charge and swap at work. They have a car charging option as well, so worse case scenario I could charge them via the car.
I'm sorry for your loss, Foxy. I was in a similar situation this past week, we lost power for 4 days. Thankfully we got a generator after the first day, but during those first 24 hours the temps dropped so low it wouldn't register on the digital thermometers which start registering at 64. I was doing constant partial water changes, by heating some of the tank water on our gas stove and pouring it back into the tanks, as well as continually adding hot water in plastic bags and bottles to float. The highest the temps got were 68, and that was with constant upkeep. Within minutes of all these water heatings and floating hot water bags and bottles the temp would just drop right back down. I was exhausted, I have several tanks. If not for the generator I would have lost my fish. I do know of people who have used those little power stations and they do work. I think temps are more important than oxygen for a few days, tropical fish just can't tolerate cold temps for long.
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