The Uk Could Face Blackouts

[timmystood]

Just found this story.

I knew we would get blackout's a little this winter but I didn't know it would be a long-term occurance - It's gonna kill a few tropical fish - I know there are ways the keep a tank warm, but if it keeps happening....

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Yikes...
Blackouts are always somthing i dislike, although thankfully i have only been through a couple of short ones and only one day-long one since i started fish keeping if i remember correctly.

I know it may sounds harsh from a fish keeping point of veiw, but the fish i would be most gutted to lose would be my common/sailfn plecs- most of the rest of my fish are either quite shortlived types or not very individual ones like neon tetras.
But i am sure my big plecs could easily survive a blackout, as in the wild common and sailfin plecs can live in a mud hole for weeks on end with little or no water(as long as the mud is damp) and no food, so they are pretty hardy to say the least.

But yeah, sympathys to all those fragile fish orientated keepers who get caught out by any blackouts!
I would be most concerned about the effects of the tank mini cycling incases of filtration being turned off for long periods of time.

 

[Durbkat]

Thats to bad. Sounds to me you better run to the store and get a few generators and several hundreds of gallons of gas to prepare for the long haul.

 

[Fella]

Thats to bad. Sounds to me you better run to the store and get a few generators and several hundreds of gallons of gas to prepare for the long haul.

Buying several hundred gallons of gas over here would take more money than I think you realise.


I'll be more worried about these blackouts nearer the time, should they ever happen.

 

[CFC]

Thats why if you keep a lot of expensive fish and are likely to suffer blackouts you should have a generator as a back up, a small one powerfull enough to run a electric radiator and a few filters only costs a couple of hundred quid or so.

http/www.generators.co.uk/suitcase.php

 

[Durbkat]

How are you going to keep your fish alive when it happens CFC?

 

[CFC]

I live in London so theres not much chance of a blackout here but if there is i have a 10kvA generator which can power all my tanks and a bit more.

 

[Torrean]

I'm not positive this will work but I believe you can keep a filter running by buying a small battery powered airstone used for keeping bait alive. Place the airstone into your filter and cut it on. This should cause surface disturbance in the place it is most needed airating the water in your filter. I've recently read that when a filter turns off the bacteria become dormant, this may prevent that aswell as preventing the nasty anaerobics from moving into your filter. What do you guys think?

 

[timmystood]

Makes sense I guess...

 

[Wanda hornsey]

Had thought about this before as sometime get powercuts here and do have access to a generator...but I guess there is not much I can do and as for the 250 gallons of gas thats going to be in the reagion of 300 gallons US and thats 1135.62 litres and with Gas at 86p a litre thats £976.63p and at £ to $ its $1718.48...now you see why its expensive

 

[Amerce]

Already had two powercuts early saturday morning, thankfully they didn't last too long.

 

[andywg]

Woohoo, more scaremongering by the press!

I wouldn't believe anything said by a union boss, they'll say anything to feed their craving for power. Look at their recent actions with the tube strikes over New Year... The chances of it actually happening are so slim.

A point to remember is that biofuels are seriously coming online now (Tescos will sell biodiesel in 40% of its stores by the end of this year and its super unleaded is 5% bioethanol) and as such will begin to curb the desire for fossil fuels.

This is a non-story created by the press, just like how we were going to run out of gas as Russia shut off the gas to Ukraine...

Already had two powercuts early saturday morning, thankfully they didn't last too long.

I doubt they were caused by the fuel crisis that is supposedly going to hit in 5 years time...

 

[BFG]

Woohoo, more scaremongering by the press!

I wouldn't believe anything said by a union boss, they'll say anything to feed their craving for power. Look at their recent actions with the tube strikes over New Year... The chances of it actually happening are so slim.

A point to remember is that biofuels are seriously coming online now (Tescos will sell biodiesel in 40% of its stores by the end of this year and its super unleaded is 5% bioethanol) and as such will begin to curb the desire for fossil fuels.

This is a non-story created by the press, just like how we were going to run out of gas as Russia shut off the gas to Ukraine...

Already had two powercuts early saturday morning, thankfully they didn't last too long.

I doubt they were caused by the fuel crisis that is supposedly going to hit in 5 years time...

Fair point about scaremongering, but gas is getting so expensive recently (pushing up leccy prices etc), and a few weeks ago (the Thursday after Christmas) the National Grid issued a NISM (notice of insufficient margin) and power buy prices went up to 600 quid per MWh (average at the moment is 20 ish with spikes up to 80 or 100). In my time working in the power industry I've never seen prices that high. People could blame Ofgem, but unless people start building new power stations of some sort in the next year or so, black-outs (especially during unpredicted cold snaps) could become an issue. We'll run out of capacity at this rate before we run out of fuel. Just my 2 pence worth anyway

 

[Fella]

Woohoo, more scaremongering by the press!

I wouldn't believe anything said by a union boss, they'll say anything to feed their craving for power. Look at their recent actions with the tube strikes over New Year... The chances of it actually happening are so slim.

A point to remember is that biofuels are seriously coming online now (Tescos will sell biodiesel in 40% of its stores by the end of this year and its super unleaded is 5% bioethanol) and as such will begin to curb the desire for fossil fuels.

This is a non-story created by the press, just like how we were going to run out of gas as Russia shut off the gas to Ukraine...

Already had two powercuts early saturday morning, thankfully they didn't last too long.

I doubt they were caused by the fuel crisis that is supposedly going to hit in 5 years time...

Spot on. I don't see how the claims of one man are going to make me run out and buy dehydrated food.

 

[Ami]

If my experience of blackouts in NYC are anything to go by, I think that the cities here like London are more likely to suffer them in summer than winter.

How you gonna keep your fish cool if that happens? Can't all have generators - you think the constant noise from all your little airlines and filters is annoying!