Power Outages

[JMatthew]

We used to get a good amount of power outages in our area. Fortunately we haven't experience much in recent time. Still, about long until a power outage becomes a problem for a tank? If a power outage is going to last longer than the anticipated limit, what reccomendation would you make in an attempt to save as many fish as possible?

Thanks in advace...

 

[loraxchick]

We used to get a good amount of power outages in our area. Fortunately we haven't experience much in recent time. Still, about long until a power outage becomes a problem for a tank? If a power outage is going to last longer than the anticipated limit, what reccomendation would you make in an attempt to save as many fish as possible?

Thanks in advace...

hi
keep a blanket handy to wrap the tank to limit heat loss from the water when the heater goes out.
also dont clean your filter all in one go. leave some debris in there to feed the bacs in the filter. with no flow into the filter the only ammonia source would have to come from within the filter.
i had a canister filter survive a 4.5 day blackout. didnt skip a beat when the power finally came back on. i chalk it up to lots of gunk in there that fed the bacs while the flow was out. (i only clean the thing when the flow is very restricted.)...also i didnt lose one fish.
depending on how many hours/days the power is out, you may need to do water changes to keep ammonia down. use warm water to keep tank temp up. also feed the fish less to reduce ammonia production.
thats about all i got. someone else may have more to say, but ive been there and thankfully it all worked out for me.
cheers

 

[Gilli]

Buy a battery operated air pump - they are very cheap and will run for around 8 hours on the batteries (keep a spare set or two as well) to keep the tank oxygenated. Also that way if its going to be long term you can take your sponges/filter media out of the filter and place them in the tank near the air pump to keep at least some bacteria alive.