Thanks for Posting Storm Info
Star Rider -I'm so glad you posted this thread. I live up the road from you, near Poulsbo in Kitsap County. I have my first fish tank (small 28 Gal), set up last October. Wouldn't you know it, but this has been the worst winter for outages in over a decade. We have had at least 5 since I got the tank started. Most of them have been just a couple of hours, but two have been more than 8 hours. The first long one was earlier in the week on Monday. It went out about noon. We have a hot water heater that is so well insulated that it holds the water hot for a couple of days. My instinct on Monday was to do a partial water change with water that was a little warmer to bring the temp up.
We have a generator, so I wasn't too worried. I can't get it started because it's a pull-start, but knew my husband could get it going. So when we lost power on Thursday, we had it going for several hours which kept all the tank equipment operating. However, on Friday, our generator which is 15 years old, conked out. By nightfall, I was starting to get worried, even though I had a fire going in the fireplace, which the aquarium is close enough to so that it benefits, it was still cooling down. I hesitated to do another water change, like I did last Monday, because I lost a platy on Tuesday and didn't know if it might be associated with our water system. I wondered if, when the power was out, something happened to the water company's filtration system or if somehow some bad chemicals had gotten in to it. (Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate tests were perfectly perfect, so that wasn't the problem).
Just as I was starting to decide to start trying things, the power came back on. All fish are alive and doing well, as of today. I gave them no food while the water was cooler, since I figured their systems would be slowed down. I have had a koi pond for 10 years, so have that experience.
At any rate, I think I'll get a manual air supply pump. I poured some water manually through the pump filter every 15 min or so to help keep the bacteria alive. I'll also remember the sleeping bag trick to slow down cooling. However, I certainly hope we can get the generator fixed, because that's the total solution. When it works, we have it wired through a gen transfer switch, into the household wiring, so all lights, outlets, and refrigeration work.
Let's just hope we don't keep having these storms! I think Mama Nature has dished out enough for us for the season.
