Power Cut Next Week

[harrywhite]

Hi i'm new to this forum and could do with some advice or help. I received a letter from scottish power notifying my that our electricity will be off for around 8 hours next tuesday. I have a ten gallon tank with 4 gouramies, all healthy fish. what is the best option for the fish to survive.

1. Drain the tank and take it to my parents house for the day.

Am i right in thinking the filter will not survive for 8 hours without the bacteria dying off, and will the temp drop too low in the tank. I was going to insulate the tank as best as i could with lots of bubble wrap and towels, and put a bag with hottish water inside the tank.

Has anyone had the same problem and if so what did you do and what was the outcome?

any suggestions are much appreciated.

cheers

 

[StandbySetting]

I'd leave it to be honest and just insulate it as well as you can, 8 hours shouldn't affect the bacteria too much, my filter has been off for 12+ hours after I forgot to turn it back on.

 

[Juggler75]

If it is only 8 hours I would
a. do a big water change the day before (following normal wc procedures to ensure clean water and give time for it to come back up to temperature or even 1 degree C above what you normally have it)
b. insulate the tank
c. not feed the fish after the water change until the power returns

the bacteria will not all die off in the 8 hours, I think the figure might be about 8% or even less.

I think moving the fish risks stressing the fish more than the steps above. If the power is off for significantly longer then obviously other things would have to be considered.

Hope this helps

 

[harrywhite]

thats good to know the bacteria wont suffer too much in 8 hours, i'll do a water change, put the heating on in the house for 3 hours before i go to work, and insulate as much as i can. Cheers for the advice, i'll post later in the week on whether everything was okay.