Power outage question

nursie

nursie

AC Members
Jan 15, 2005
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Peoria, IL
Real Name
michelle
A friend who has fish recently told me that if the power goes out, and you have cannister filters..and it's out for more than an hour that anerobic waste can build up in your filter and kill your fish when the power comes on. Is this true??
I question her telling me this because I know she uses all HOB filters, and thinks I should, but I don't care to use them. then she also said..well if you keep the filters cleaned out it won't happen .

I think the cannisters are easier to clean thoroughly that the HOB's, only becasue it is easier for me..others might not have the problems I did, and why would the same thing not happen in the depths of a HOB?...

What do folks know about this?
 
If you know your power will be out for more than a few hours, go ahead and open the filter up and drain most of the water from it, leaving the wet media in contact with air. Leave the filter off/unplugged). Now is a great time to clean the filter, as well. Leave the filter open until the power comes back on then refill it, hook it back up to the tank and plug it back in. Doing so will prevent nasty filter gunk from blowing back into the tank when the power comes back on. I always do this with my filters when the power goes out, regardless of the type of filter(HOBs get the treatment too). Nothing bugs me more than having nasty filter water blowing back into my nice crystal clean tank water. Plus it gives me something to do while the power is out. :)
 
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So you're saying "a few hours" more than an hour, and the problem is gunk more than anerobic bacteria that will kill my fish when the power comes back on?
Our power outtages are usualy at night, but we've had them during the day while at work.
Gunk I can vaccum and clean out if I need to..but what this person comes up with every now and them boggles my mind. Like you can't get ICH out of your tank....that MTS's are evil..

Good tip about cleaning filters while power out. MIght as well so something. I would think kinda hard by candlelight. Maybe I need a lantern.
 
The filter bacteria can probably survive for up to 10 hours before they start dying off enough to damage your bio-filter.
 
Another thing I would suggest to people that are new to this hobby, is a battery operated air pump! It saved my butt everytime I lost power for a long period of time.

How this air pump works is quite simple. You plug the air pump, with batteries in, into the wall. Now, you turn it on, and nothing should happen. If power happens to go off, or you pull the plug out of the socket, the air pump will start working. So everytime there is a power outage, you'll still manage to aerate the aquarium. And this air pump is not expensive, I got mine for 30$ Canadian!
 
pbrack that's a good tip. So it will switch itself on if I'm not here? that's what I worry about....when the power goes out when I'm not home, or if we're asleep.
 
Slappy*McFish said:
The filter bacteria can probably survive for up to 10 hours before they start dying off enough to damage your bio-filter.
Click to expand...
I wondered. The hour thing sounded a little fishy to me. This gal always has to come up with some superior bit of something. It rankles her that she told me to use the HOB's, and I'm using cannisters.

It actually even bothers her that I have another source of info than her..and that I believe it over her..and have proved to be right. And I don't care to have cichlids..like she has.
 
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Hopefully RTR will show up and put your mind to rest. I trust any info he has to offer. :)
 
When the hurricanes came through our area, my LFS was handing out a document for keeping you fish going for long power outages. It states that you need to empty and rinse your canister filter if you lose power for more than 24 hours. Personally mine has sat for up to 6 hours with a loss of power and I had no problems with it.
 
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