Power Cut Coming

[stoneagedinosaur]

Hi folks

Next Wednesday, my pwer will be cut off for about 6ish hours while the leccy board fix our local substation.

I really want to look after my bacteria colony in my filter (Still seems strange that I am looking after my bacteria as much as my fish!)

How long will the bacteria do in a bucket of water? I'm running an Aqua One Aquastyle 850 which has the filter material in a tray device above the tank. Can I just bung the hole and keep the water in that way? Any Aqua One folk - please let me know of your experiences.

I just want to minimize the risk of running into mini cycling problems

On another note... I'm thinking of starting a second tank (SShhh don't tell the Mrs) Can I put extra ceramic noodles in my current filter - let it populate with bacteria and then use it in the new tanl? Or have I over sinplified a bit?

Thanks in advance

 

[BigIan]

keep the bacteria wet and it will be fine for 12-24 hrs.

you could possibly scoop the media out into a net bag (or some of the wifes old tights) and then place that in the tank. and all will be good.

as for seeding a new tank,

simply take some mature media from your existing tank (no more than a third) when your ready to set up the new filter and then replace the media you have removed with new and it will soon recolonise with no real issue.

 

[the biffster]

a few years ago we used to have unannounced power cuts
for anything up to 24 hrs i was always worried
about what would happen to my filters i used to
have 6 externals after the first time i thought
that i would be wiped out but it wasn't to be
i give it few hrs running after the cut then checked my stats
and there was no change in the stats so i thought leave 24 and test again
after the power cut non of my filters never suffered any ill effect at all after that
it never really worried about power cuts as long as they were no longer
than 24 hrs after that first one. we used to get any were between 8 to 9
power cuts a year for about five years i don't think i ever lost a fish through
a power cut or had any filter die back

 

[stoneagedinosaur]

Lovely - thanks for that. Nice to have a bit of peace of mind

 

[weejen]

my power goes off all the time and having my tank on trip switches means even if the power comes back on my tank stays off till i notice. so say if i have a power cut at 11pm i dont check my tank till i get home from work the next day. and i have never had any problems with power bein off for 24hrs. altho we have had power cuts lasting for a week but not since i have had my tank so that worrys me a bit. but a few hours is nothing

 

[PaBucsFan]

You should be fine so long that your filter media stays wet. At least you have been warned that your power will be cut for a few hours!

 

[Gilli]

i dont think you will have any problems as long as your filter is mature. I have an external sealed filter and once during tank cleaning forgot to turn it back on for a whole 24 hours and all was well - not even a spike!

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

You always invest in an Uninteruptuble Power Supply, like those used by business computers, something I'm considering still. A 2000VA should keep a filter going for ~6 hours I believe.

 

[stuhyde]

You always invest in an Uninteruptuble Power Supply, like those used by business computers, something I'm considering still. A 2000VA should keep a filter going for ~6 hours I believe.

Haha .. Being in IT as a living, I was JUST going to suggest a UPS and have maybe the aeration and filter running off it.

 

[james_fish]

Another thing worth noting is to keep the water oxygenated during the power cut, this can be achieved by adding water from a height every so often.

James.