POWER OUTAGE!!

[FroggyFox]

I was feeding my fish this morning (watching the new ottos) when whoosh the power went out. It still wasn't on when I left, so now I'm at work wondering if its back on or what I should do if when I go home for lunch its still not on!!!

I know everyone has had to deal with this from time to time right?

I know the fish are alright for awhile...but does anyone have suggestions or ways they've gotten through power outages before? I'm mostly worried about the 12 babies in the 1 gallon tank....

 

[cowlovergirl]

Last month the power was off for three hours here. I was so worried bout my sharks...

Can you bring the babies with you to work lol? I am lucky enough to work at a pet store so I could bring them for a while if i wanted (and if i had something to put them in there lol).. (remember we don't have pets...)

Make sure your filters are unplugged...

Good luck let us know how that goes...

 

[lizwinz]

aww froggy that sucks

the only thing i can suggest is to do periodic water changes to remove any ammonia that doesnt get processed when the filter is down, to help oxygenate the water and keep the temp where is should be...but since your at work, your kind of stuck of course you can do this when you get home if its needed

if the powers back on when you get home and the fish seem okay maybe do some quick tests...if everythings where it should be i wouldnt worry

power went out on me while i was away for the weekend once... i have no idea for exactly how long but it was long enough for my biowheels to dry out and i had 1-2ppm ammonia in all my tanks...did some water changes when i got home and only lost one fish

sorry i cant help more...but i dont think theres much else you can do

--liz

 

[FroggyFox]

-=sniff=- unfortunately I agree, thanks for the input guys. If the power is still out when I go home for lunch (hour and a half) then maybe I'll take some water out of the baby tank and bring it here to work with me...I'm not sure which would stress them out worse.

On the filters being unplugged...I left them plugged in, because to my knowledge the only time mine empty out are when the water level is below the intake tube (like when i do water changes) so I figured if I left them plugged in then they'll start right back up when the power turns back on. Bad/good idea??

 

[FroggyFox]

DISASTER AVERTED (hopefully) I just called my roommate and he said that the power came back on around 8:30 (so it was only out for about an hour and a half). Hopefully none of my filters have burned themselves out or anything...now ya got me worried.

 

[lizwinz]

ur filters will be okay the hob filters as far as i know will start themselves back up just fine unless, like you said, the water goes below the intake

happy to hear your powers back on

--liz

 

[geKo]

my power went out for a day and a half cause i didnt pay my bill and i have 3 tanks including cichlids. None of my fish died

 

[Angelfish]

Dont worry about filters, here in southern CA we had that whole energy crisis and rolling blackouts a while ago, I always left my filters plugged in and when the power returned they just re-started up again.

 

[420Loach]

when i came home from the hospital the other day(from about a week) my whisper filter had stopped working( brand new and it was so quiet i didnt notice it wasnt working until i noticed there wasnt any water movement in the tank) when i took out the water suction pipe and put it back in it shot back to life after about a week of not working, and my water was clear after an hour. it really freaked me out though!

my jack dempsy is pretty hardy too though, if i had discus id be mourning right now! weve had week long power outages when we get power surges here. if anything, i got a small generator and scuba tanks as back up supply... hehehehe... glad to hear none of your fish were hurt froggy!*thumbsups

are your filters plugged into a power strip? it would prevent burn outs of your equipment.

 

[Fishman_2000]

Since it's in the summer I don't think you have to worry too much. But if it was in the middle of winter I would get concerned. In the ice storm we had last year I didn't have power for 2 or 3 days and only lost 2 fish which were the rasboras. I never even saw an ammonia spike and I have a canister filter. But in ideal situations an Uninterruptable power supply can power a heater and possibly even a filter for almost a day if need be depending on the size of the battery in the UPS. I just hope I don't have to test that when winter comes. Or maybe I should test it now and see how long it would power just the heater. I need to get rid of all these testing ideas!

 

[FroggyFox]

hehe thanks guys Yeah...maybe I should look for one of those UPS thingys.

Most of my tanks are plugged into surge protectors...some aren't. My house is one huge mess of electrical wires and I'm scared to add more! (the tank that doesn't have any fish in it yet isn't on a surge protector yet.)

Everyone was fine when I went home for lunch, even the 2 new ottos, so I was mucho relieved

 

[catfishmike]

have you though about a battery powered air pump.when the power goes out the pump goes on and that will hepl a lot in a power outage.bacteria consume oxygen so they end up starving the tank of oxygen in a power outage long before you will see an ammonia spike

 

[420Loach]

i use a scuba tank. turn it on a smidge and it could power a tank for a good while, or you could do it in intervals.

 

[piranha]

i've got my tank on a UPS.