I live in michigan and most around us dont have power due to an ice storm. We have been lucky so far. It made me realize tho how unprepared I am in case I had to go without power for a number of days. Ive got to much invested in my fish tank to just let them die. My tank is a 125g african tank. What to I do if the power goes out for days? I dont want my temperature to drop too much. What can I do to keep it up? How do I keep the water moving and oxygenated? Is there anything else im not thinking of?
in case of a power outage
- Thread starter Alaric
- Start date
I too, have a 125 cichlid tank and live in a "storm"area.Northern MN.I have a back up battery run, air supply,which is just a old air pump,out of a old truck's seat! It works, I've had to use it twice already,it will run 5/6airstones or 3 air curtains(the big ones) through the night. Wrap the aquarium up with blankets to keep the heat trapped inside and don't feed your fish!
If your concerned about long(day's)times with no electricity, you'll be spending some money on a generater!
If your concerned about long(day's)times with no electricity, you'll be spending some money on a generater!
No Power.
When we had our huge ice storm a few years back in January. We had no power for 9 days. Once power was restored all the LFS's were out of stock for weeks. It was amazing to watch people fight over what little stock the stores had.
99% of my fish survived using this method.
I used hot water bottles in the tank. My main plan was to keep the temp above 65 degrees. My SA/CA cichlids were/are tough enough to out last that sort of temperature.
I have a hot water tank that works on natural gas. No power but plenty of hot water.
I used the hot water bottle and empty 2 litre coke bottles 4 times a day to warm up the tank. I also did a water change every 4 days. 6 gallons at a time for my big tank. I also cut down on feedings to once every 3 days. Just enough to make sure that they all ate and left nothing to rot and pollute the water.
I have a buddy who bought a huge computer battery back up and used it for the heater in his tank. It lasted about 4 days turning it on and off as needed. He got lucky and got his power back after 5 days.
When we had our huge ice storm a few years back in January. We had no power for 9 days. Once power was restored all the LFS's were out of stock for weeks. It was amazing to watch people fight over what little stock the stores had.
99% of my fish survived using this method.
I used hot water bottles in the tank. My main plan was to keep the temp above 65 degrees. My SA/CA cichlids were/are tough enough to out last that sort of temperature.
I have a hot water tank that works on natural gas. No power but plenty of hot water.
I used the hot water bottle and empty 2 litre coke bottles 4 times a day to warm up the tank. I also did a water change every 4 days. 6 gallons at a time for my big tank. I also cut down on feedings to once every 3 days. Just enough to make sure that they all ate and left nothing to rot and pollute the water.
I have a buddy who bought a huge computer battery back up and used it for the heater in his tank. It lasted about 4 days turning it on and off as needed. He got lucky and got his power back after 5 days.
Last Dec, we had a big ice storm down here and I lost power for a few days as well...I tried the hot water bottle thing as well, but since my hot water heater runs on electricity, this only worked the first day. I wrapped my tanks in blankets to try to contain the heat...it worked reasonably well, the temperature in the house was down into the low 40F's by the end of the power outage, and the tank temp dropped into the low-mid 50's for a couple of days. Luckily, all my fish survived, even the ones in the 10 gallon which lost temperature much faster, I'm sure.
For emergencies, I bought a power inverter at WalMart for about $40. It plugs into a car's cigarette lighter and outputs AC current. Not a good long term solution, but it works and is much cheaper than a generator ($$$!!) or UPS (short battery life).
Jim
Jim
My biggest concern for power outage of a few hours to a day is oxygen supply. Temperature drop is only secondary because most fish can stand a few hours of below normal temperature with no long-term effect. The lower temperature can actually lower the metabolism and oxygen demand for fish and reduce stress. But lack of oxygen is unforgiving. There was one power outage a few years ago from a major storm event in my area. One LFS lost one-third of the stock but another lost none. The difference is one store stocks its fish lightly and the other stocks the fish heavily. In the heavily stocked tanks, the fish showed stress within an hour and started to died off. You can tell if your tanks are overly stocked by observng the fish in a power outage. In a properly stocked and regularly cleaned tank, the fish ought to be able to withstand power outage for 8 hours or more with no ill effect. Another thing to watch is your filters in power outage. For those who use canister filter or UGF and don't clean it often, a power outage can be a disaster waiting to happen when the power returns. I have known people lost all their fish when the power returned and flushed out anearobic gas from their dirty canisters or UGF. So clean your tank and filter frequently and don't over stock is the best insurance against power outage.
Where is Waterford? I live in Grand Rapids, its a mess here, the lights at the grocery store I work at went out, we had to pull all the meat, dairy, deli, frozen food. and we packed it in refridgeratore/freezer trucks, it sucked, the power at my house didn't go out, so I didn't have any problems
H8Parrotfish 13
I kill Parrotfish for your own good
When i lived in Chicago we had a really bad blizzard like in 96(it was like 40 below). Anyway our house was out of power like for 2 and a half or three days. Basically all i used where the two Tripp Lite's from the computer. One outlet for the hot magnum and one for the heater. I only had one casualty it was the ghost shrimp.