Power Cut!

[AndreaC]

Ok my worst nightmare of tropical fish keeping happened last night. We had a power cut through the night, dont know how long as I was in the land of nod. I woke this morning to find all electrical clocks at 0 and flashing, everything needed re setting. Then I thought "oh my god the fish" and ran into front room, turned lights on to check and count all the fish, Pheww all there alive and happy so im guessing it wasnt off for long.

Now around here we can over periods of time have frequent power failure cuts Im worried now about my fish. To maintain the heat is no problem at all, the room is pretty warm and the heater doesnt have much work to do lol. But im worried about the filter. How long could fish last with out a working filter??

Starting to get nervouse incase we have a big power cut and want to make sure I know what to do, best I can.

 

[celaeno]

as long as you submerge the filter media in the tank water, the fish and bacteria should be fine.

 

[sophos9]

Why dont you buy an UPS (battery backup) for your filter - these are usually used for computers. They dont cost much and give you some piece of mind.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

to keep the filter going with no power just get a jug and pour water some water through the filter media every 15 mins or so. not perfect but it works!

the bacteria will start to die after 12hrs with no food so just keeping the water going through and moving round the tank means they have food and can therefore live.

but yes if you often have power cuts look into some sort of battery/generator.