Power cut......

[Jo and Gra]

Simply, if we get a power outage......


how do we deal with our tank?


heat?

filtering?

air?

 

[The-Wolf]

short power cuts, there is nothing to worry about.
long power cuts (4hrs or more) you should be concerned about the bacteria in the filter, as they need O2 to survive.
maybe invest in a battery operated air pump for use in long powercuts.

 

[fish number 7]

Simply, if we get a power outage......


how do we deal with our tank?


heat?

filtering?

air?

[snapback]878591[/snapback]​

A good tip I read once to keep the tank warm is to fill some bottles with the hottest tap water you can find, screw the cap on, and immerse them in the tank.

You'd need to take care with leaching plastic bottles contaminating the water I guess, but glass bottles should be OK.

 

[abstract]

for any power outage you should pour fresh tank water over the filter media every 30 mins

 

[triliaeris]

an uninterruptable power supply will help in cases like this. At least for short term outages.

 

[rdd1952]

One thing I read a while back concerns how different filters hold up during outages. According to that, filters where the media stayed wet or covered with water (such as canisters or the whisper types with filter packs) experienced quite a bit less bacteria loss than the bio wheel type. Apparently, on the bio wheel filters (I haven't ever used them so only going by what I read) the wheel is where most of the bacteria actually colonizes. Since there isn't any water moving, the wheel dries out pretty quickly and most all the bacteria is loss. This can apparently happen in as little as 30 minutes. I wish I know where I read it but can't find the article.

 

[Ethos]

My brother has this thing for the computer, where if the power surges, the power stick kicks in and it give the computer power for 2 hours or so. I've also seen em for aquarims........

 

[andywg]

In theory an Uninteruptable Power Supply (UPS) should work well, however when people tried it with a PC one it just didn't work. It was decided that the type of load of the pump on the filter was wrong (it was conductive IIRC - check out the DIY section for more info).

I myself wouldn't worry overly about a temperature swing for around 6+ hours. If you have a cannister or internal filter then the bacteria should hold up for a while but as mentioned, once the media dries up then the bacteria will experience a higher die-off.

 

[Polardbear]

It depends on the weather, duration of outage and the type of filters you are running. I've had 4 or 5 outages since July and they've each lasted 3-4 hours. I live in Arizona, the outside temperature during these failures was 105 to 113 degrees. It takes about an hour without power for my house to start heating up and by the end of 3-4 hours it'll be well over 90 degrees inside. I run bio wheel filters and Aqua Clears on my tanks - they start drying out immediately and my tanks will start heating up within an hour. I keep soda bottles filled with water in my freezer and use them to cool down water for water changes. As soon as the power goes out I put the bio wheels in the tank to float and pull the ceramic thingies out of the Aqua Clears and drop them in the tank to keep them wet. I have battery operated air pumps that then get brought out and I pour fresh (chilled) water through the filters every 15-20 mins. I also keep a flash light underneath my 55 gallon tank so I can see what I'm doing. This all works if I happen to be home during the outage, if I'm at work, I can plan on doing daily w/c's for the next couple of weeks.

Haven't had an outage during the (short) winter season yet so I don't really have a plan for that!

 

[yvez9]

i've had power outages for 6-7-8 hours at times.

i run aquaclear filters and bio-wheels on my different tanks

didn't have any issue

I guess an established tank (6 months and over) will have bacteria everywhere in it so it isn't that bad if some of your filter media dries off, it will colonizer rather quickly.

I fill up my biowheels with floss and spobnegs, much like an aquaclear as i don't like the wheels. I actually removed them because they often stopped working if the water fllow was reduced

anyway, an 8 hour power outage while i was at work didn't affect my tanks at all. when i'm hme and there's a power outtage, i will stir the water to help the oxygen and make sure the filters are wet bu pouring aquarium water on them.

that's about all i can think of

 

[Tolak]

I got a 5kw generator quite some time ago, figuring if I save 1 freezer of meat with it once, it will pay for itself. My house is a 100 amp service, the generator puts out 66 amps, so it will cover 2/3 of the power usage. This will run 2 freezers, sump pump, furnace blower, as well as the tanks, with some left over for lights.

You can pick up a smaller one, around $400, I was just looking at them last week. If you have many tanks, a few tanks with some expensive fish, or a freezer full of meat you may want to consider picking one up. I used to have plans on building a 12 volt generator with a lawn mower engine & a gm altenator, I imagine you could hook this up to a dc to ac converter to run ac to the tanks. I'll have to look at some old backup cd's to find it.

Tolak

 

[SPLiSH]

I guess if you had a large tanks you wouldn't have to worry about temperature swings but I have small betta tanks (1.5 gal and under) and temperatures change really quickly when the heater stops working.

For small tanks, Ziplock bags of warm water floating in the tank are good, as are towels dipped in warm water wrapped around the tank.

 

[Tolak]

Aha! I found it;

http/www.permapak.net/homemadepower.htm

Tolak

 

[Briarmoor]

Our A/C went out one day during the time frame it was super high humidity here (well that is most of the time) and temps in the upper 90's. I froze "fish water" in tupperware containers, I used the tank water so it wouldn't matter if some spilled out of the containers into the tank. I ended up not having to float them as the house only heated up to 80 that night and the tanks reached that, which was only 2 degrees higher than normal. But I was very worried. I turned all the hood lights off, even flourescent gives off some heat. Lost a plant after that though.

I have often wondered if I could use a siphon and just run the end through the filter to keep the bacteria going and air and water flow during a power outage? Haven't tried it yet, has anyone else?

 

[Tropjunky]

Don't worry too much. wot you need is one of those power inverters that u get for cars so u can plug ur 3pin sockets into and then a car batery now all u need to do is sort out the + and the - and hook them up and wen u get a power outaget then jus swap the plug in the filter but you can't do more then one thing or u might over load it.