What is your power outage emergency plan?

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If you do lose power and have no battery air pump, you can add O2 to the tank in several different ways.

During the big power outage on the East Coast I read that many pet shops in NYC simply waved a dry net through the water every hour or so. Stir up the water to let it exchange with the surface.

Also, as said before in this post or that article, taek a cup full of water and pour it back into the tank from a great height. It is not just the traveling through the air that allows the gas exchange, but the vigorous mixing of water through out the tank, so do this, but also stir the tank up. You can also get a jug and partly fill in, shake it well to infuse air then pour back, repeat. The kids can do either of these things, I'd trust them more to shake a jug than to pour water with out it splashing out of the tank.

These things will do well during the day, but if you worry about the nighttime, then you can add a little bit of H2O2 to the water. Too much is toxic, how much is too much.... I'm not really sure. I have read that a capful to a 20 gallon tank is safe. I have also read of people using a lot more than that. I have read, in connection with using it to deactivate a Potassium Permanganate treatment, that it stays effective in the tank for 3 days. So, if you think you may be doing this nightly, err on the side of caution. I'd do it if I saw the fish in distress if the net dragging and jug shaking and tank stirring were slowed down.

Keep the tank calm and dark if possible, so the fish activity is less. Blankets are good, just remember to stir and splash occasionally.

No food, no blown bubbles as that has less O2 than you want.

If you don't have a chlorine tester, then yes, either add a bit extra, or call the water board to see if they'll tell you if they added something. They may be too busy to answer the phone, though. Really, just be there to observe for the hour after the water change. If the fish huddle or drift sideways, add more dechlor. I once killed a tank full of serpae tetras with a hose that had been bleached and not dechlored sufficiently, it was not obvious to me that they were in distress, until they started drifting. I saw them huddle and did not realize that it meant the water was toxic.
 
if I had a 180g stuffed reef tank I'd have a plan.
for a simple planted tank they will survive unless the inside temp goes to low.

In the past 20 years of my life the longest power outtage I've experienced was 3-5 hours, and that only happens once every 5-6 years.
 
Uh oh!

I heard today on the news that a storm put down an inch of ice in Kansas, and 67,000 people are without power. :eek: Hope no one here on the forum is affected! If so, hang in there!

I'm off to create my backup plan........
 
Thats me! That is what made me start thinking. We only lost power for a couple of hours.
2 times in the last twenty years I have been through ice storms where we lost power once for 5 days and once for 3.
We don't have a generator but do have a dc/ac adapter to hook up to the car and that would have no trouble running several tanks, I think. We were able to use it last time to watch videos and run a couple of lights. Down side is you have to leave your car running or you'd have a dead battery.
 
in the uk i personally have only had one power cut in memory before tank and it only lasted for 20 minutes

apparently our problems would start if we had a terrorist attack on an electricity plant or i think more than one plant as there are several generator plants that provide electricity to the national grid also our electricity network is underground therefore less affected

i consider myself to be quite lucky from an electricity point of view
 
Most of the back up batteries for computers won't give you much time--they only run for a few minutes, and that will be enough to keep a bubbler going for a while, but I wouldn't count on it for a filter, heater or lights.
 
Yeah, the backup power supplies for computers genrally max out at 15 minutes and are really only meant to give you time to save things and shut the computer down.

They would be great in places that have frequent short power outages though as they woudl keep your tank running. Great for brownouts as well.
 
Clayt:

I actually HAVE used the backup power packs for computers in emergencies for my tanks. I think its called a UPS.. uninterruptable power source. Anywho in 2003 when Hurricane Isabel came through the East Coast she caused wind storms to snap power lines, I remember being without power for a day and a half. I plugged a very small air pump into the UPS and sunk that in my 20gallon tank to try to keep oxygenation going. I wasnt really worried about it though, at the time I just had a pair of Apistogramma cichlids and a whole bunch of plants in the tank.

If memory serves the UPS had enough power to keep the air pump going for nearly the entire power blackout, at least 24 hours of it. However, the UPS has a very annoying beeping sound, every five or ten minutes, its way of letting you know the power's out (how nice!)

This spring when we had a power blackout that lasted eight hours or so I used the UPS to power up a small TV so I could watch one of the last episodes of Friends. (Sad but true.. ;)) That time the UPS conked out within an hour. So.. UPS has only so much power and it depends on how much power you're drawing to determine how long it'll last. (Hour for a TV, 24 for a small air pump.)

Now on the other hand, when Hurricane's Charley, Frances and Jeanna powered through Titusville/Cape Canaveral while I was in Florida this summer I had two tanks - both 20gal longs, freshwater and heavily planted, make it through lots and LOTS of power outages. The longest power outage was 6 days with 95F temperatures. Tank temperature came up drastically without air conditioning and the plants suffered without their light, but I never lost a fish and the plants recovered. I guess I was lucky though because I tend to have tanks that are certainly below average stocking levels and I like live plants.

Just some stories I had to share.. :)
>Sarah
 
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