Powercuts...

[houndour]

My boyfriend just phoned me to say we've had a powercut at the house. Although I expect the power will be back on within a few hours, I was wondering if there's any potential problems for my tank which is cycling?

I have no fish at the moment so I'm not too worried, but I wondered if any of you guys have back up plans for if there's a power cut?

 

[Ferris]

Thats always a bit of a worry but (touch wood) we've never had a powercut for more than about an hour.

I've heard people advising to wrap the tank(s) in blankets to try and maintain the temp but i don't think there's a lot else you can do.

 

[houndour]

the powercut lasted 5 and half hours and the temp dropped to 21 degrees.

Is this potentially too low for fish? Would this have harmed fish had I had any?

 

[Katchan]

The tempature drop to 21 (i assume C and not F) itself wouldnt of done any harm I wouldnt think unless the fish were of a fragile variety (eg choclate gourami). I think the bigger risk would be quickish drop and then relative quick warm again would be more stressful. The more I hear of other peoples power cuts more I feel I'm lucky to live in Brisbane where my tap water in summer is sometimes warmer than my tank water , and I havnt had to turn my heaters on yet

Katchan

 

[Ferris]

Temperature variations are not ideal but i agree with Katchan, nothing too drastic in this case.

Oh yeah...that was 1 long powercut

 

[One_Trick_Pony]

if it was 21f then the water would have frozen

 

[Katchan]

Pony I only know degress C and Kelvin scale, not that american one,

Katchan

 

[Y2J]

If had fish, light a fire somehow(wood/matches whatever) and heat some water and put it in a container/place in the tank. It should keep the water warm until the power would be back.

hot water bottle as the container perhaps.

 

[pnyklr3]

I know exactlyhow you feel! About 2 years ago in July, our city had a MASSIVE storm come through (they called it a micro-burst or something like that). Trees were knocked over, trees went through homes, some lost roofs to the wind, and nearly the entire city of 150,00 lost their power. I was lucky and only lost mine for 2 day. Sorry to say that my fish in a 10 gallon didn't make it. They were in the basement, which luckily stayed fairly cool in the hot summer (with no a/c due to power), but the tank temp was high, and no filtration did them in. Perhaps a larger tank would have faired better.

 

[FishEnthusiast]

My house religiously loses power once a month for at least 6 hours. In fact a large portion of the city where I live goes dark. The first time it happened I panicked. Big time. The second time after no problems the first time I was still worried. The last time it happened I didn't worry at all. The fish were fine. No signs of stress at all, and the temp didn't fall all that much. I have only lived here since September, and I am considering moving to get away from all the power outages, of course not because it bothers me, but because I don't want it to hurt my fish ) .

 

[One_Trick_Pony]

sorry katchan was meant as a joke re reading it, it seems nasty! sorry mate

 

[Katchan]

Thats cool pony thats why I dad a at ya LOL

Katchan

 

[nuttyfishgirl]

i had an 18 hour power cut 2 weeks ago it happened at about 12.30 midnight i didnt know till the morning and my tank in the morning @ 7.30 am was 22 degrees ... wrapped tank in tin foil they all survived and my power returned at 845 pm

phew

 

[One_Trick_Pony]

ok cheers katchan! and finger crossed i only ever had a 10 min power cut they happedn pretty frequentyl at uni, but never for to long!! good advice on here for if it don't cone right back on