I Think This Counts As An Emergency. Tornados.

[HarpyFishLover]

My power is going to go out soon. What do I do when it does? ={

 

[Baccus]

Do you know how long the power will be out for? If only a short time then there shouldnt be too much disruption to your tank depending on the ambient temperature around the tank.
For longer than 4 hrs I would turn off your filter, and place if possible a battery powered airpump with the media either inside the filter itself or remove the media, place it in a bucket of tank water and have the airstone run in that.
An airstone running in the tank at this time can also help.
If the temperature is cold then you may need to wrap the tank in blankets to keep all the current warmth in for as long as possible. Note be sure to turn off any tank lights at the power point before wrapping the tank. You dont want the power to suddenly come back on and the light to set fire to the blanket if your not readily available to unwrap the tank.
When the power comes back on I would give the filter media a good rinse in the tank water and do a large water change to combat any build up of ammonia.

 

[AlexJordan]

Do you live in the southwest? We're under tornado warning too, so I'm keeping an eye on my tanks.  We have pretty bad luck with power outages (namely internet, that's the first to go, ugh), so I'll be heading this advice.

 

[HarpyFishLover]

Well, tornados touched down like 10 minutes from my house, just missing us and our power lines. *whew*

Usually power only goes out for 4-5 hrs at the MOST. Our city is good at getting power back.

My tablet battery died, so I didn't get on to see what to do. Thankfully, our power never went out. I was pretty scared though.

Just goes to show how much I need a battery-powered airstone. I think I've finally convinced my mom that I need one.

Thanks for the answer, though, Baccus. I'll be sure to use that when our power goes out. (when, lol...)

And yeah, AlexJordan, I do live in the southwest.

My Internet stays, as we have a battery on our PC which is connected to the router. Since your power goes out frequently, as you say, this might be a good option.

 

[Baccus]

I have found the cheapest battery powered airpumps from fishing/ tackle shops any where from $15-$20, where as a pet shop tends to put a premium price on them if they even have any.
Ideally look for the battery airpumps that only take one D cell battery (cheaper than having to buy two batteries every time), I have found that one such D battery can power an airpump for at least 1-2 days running 24/7.
 
I lost power after a cyclone last year for 5 days, thankfully I didnt have to deal with any cold weather afterwards (only stiffling humdidty and heat without a breathe of wind), the airstones got my tanks through the worst of it. And as soon as I got power back on I cleaned the filter media in out going tank water as I did large water changes. Thankfully I had also been warned to ensure the filters where turned off, in case the power came back on suddenly and dumped all the now dead bacteria from the filter into the tank. Many fish keepers I know during this time lost hundreds of fish worth lots of $$ but thankfully mine pretty much sailed through.