No Power

[t.ropical_m.istx3]

my dad didn't pay our electric bill sooooo yesterday our power went out. i'm not sure when it went out, but it was out all yesterday and (from what i know, i'm in school now) all of today. so here are my questions:
1.) what's the chance of my tropical fish* living without a heater/filter for about two days?
2.) if the power's still out when i get home, what can i do to warm up the tank?
last night i made really warm water, de-chlorinated it and basically did a small water change with warm water. should i do that again? or should i try to heat up some towels or something to wrap around the tank?

*guppies, gouramis, cories, platys, glowlight tetras in one tank and bettas in their own seperate tanks.

 

[*Fishkies*]

You can wrap towels around the tanks. This will help isolate them and keep them warmer. As long as the temp. in your room is pretty consistant and not to cold your fish should be fine. Try not to feed a lot, as this will just make a mess in the tank more then help.

Good Luck!!

 

[Don Trinko]

You can fill a plastic food storage bag with warm water. If you have a propane lantern they produce a lot of heat. Where do you live? Most of the fish you listed will take 70 degrees with no problem. The Bettas would be better off at 78 or 80. Unless it gets real cold ( low 60's or 50's) your most likely problem will be Ick or other disease. Good Luck; Don T.

 

[J4MES]

wrap the tanks in duvets, its what i do and it works well. and also do the warm water changes!


J4MES

 

[archamfr]

wrap tanks in blankets n such, regular water changes with right temp water, keep windows closed and turn up heating.

the filter thing isnt an immediate problem,as long as u do regular water changes

 

[kewskills]

warm water changes will help, just make sure that the temp does not rise too sharply wit the change or the fish may get shocked. wrap the tant in blankets etc to retain heat. how warm is your room? if its above 70 then don't worry too much.
good luck

edit: spelling

 

[Gatorbait]

I would also make sure you have some water flow going. Maybe a battery powered filter or something.

 

[DevUK]

I've toyed with the idea of getting a computer UPS (un-interruptable power supply) to power my tanks in case of power outtages. You can re-wire an extension lead to plug into a UPS, and depending on what you get, can power quite a lot I'd imagine, seeing as they are geared up to power high wattage computer servers. In comparison, a tank filter uses about 10 - 20w so should last far longer.

Problem is, they can be expensive Might be able to get one from work though (joys of working in IT!)

 

[Don Trinko]

The UPS's ussualy are low capacity and even the bigger ones will only run for a couple hours with the filter and heaters especialy if you have big tanks or lots of them.
When I had 4 tanks I used a 100 amp hour battery and a 400watt inverter. It would run 8 to 10 hours during a power outage. I now have 13 tanks and they are in different locations. I bought another 100 amp hour battery and a propane portable heater. I'm looking for another 400 watt inverter. In our location in Ohio we get 3 or 4 long power outages every year. Usualy at least one is in the winter. most of my tanks are in one room but I have a 75g that I intend to put discus in so it will have to be capable of filtering and heat with the power off. Plan Ahead and good luck; Don T.

 

[kewskills]

i have a compaq 3000 ups that will support 6 servers for 30 mins, im pretty sure that will keep my pump, filter lighting etc going for many many hours. lucky me huh, devuk is right good to be in IT

 

[Don Trinko]

Heaters are the problem. A typical filter takes 15 or 20 watts. Lights you don't need if the power is out. A 10 g tank will typicaly have a 50 watt heater, 30 g is typicaly 150 watt.
Lets say you have a 20 and 2 10's. Thats 200 watts for heat and probably 60 for filters, Total is 260 watts. Look up the ratings of the UPS. They are usualy specified as xxx watts for xxx minutes. You can also check the amphour rating of the battery in the UPS to give you an idea of how long it will last: Most of the batteries are 12 volt. Power = Voltage X current and they are typicaly 50 to 70% efficient. So a UPS thats rated at 500 watts for 1 hour should run the 20 and 2 10s for almost 2 hours.
A 100 amp hour battery and inverter would be abought 4 hours. Both will actualy last longer because the heaters are not normaly on all the time but they could be in the winter here in ohio.
Don T.

 

[t.ropical_m.istx3]

thanks much guys. it was FREEZING last night, but we didn't lose anyone. the bettas were moving a bit slower this morning and when i got home, the power was back on so we're good. i'll keep this in mind for the next time we lose it. we lose it all the time during storms.

 

[kribensis12]

Fill up a bag with hot water and let it float in the tank.

 

[DevUK]

I guess I'm lucky as one of my tanks is cold water

But yes, I have a 200w heater in the tropical tank

Good to hear the electric is back on Don't let your tanks heat up too quckly though as the sudden heat change might cause problems too Good luck!