FishProfiles.com Message Forums

I was wondering on rare occasions during severe electrical storms sometimes our power gets cut off, what happens to our fish?
How long have they got before they run out of air?

If their heated water starts to cool too much, I suppose I could dilute the water with a little warm water from the hotwater tap but what do I do about air?

Would labyrinth fish be ok, seing as they could breath air on the surface anyway?

I have bought a battery operated pump which could run an airstone short term for the community tank with non labyrinth fish in it. Is that all I would need in an emergency?

Every once in a while my cat plays in and around my tank and entertainment center and he turns off the surge protector that runs my 75g gold fish tank. Sometimes it's off all night before I realize it. I just turn it back on and everything goes as normal. As long as you're stocked well it shouldn't be too much of a problem as long as the power isn't out for too long. I don't have to worry about heat with my goldfish though. If the power is out wouldn't your hot water heater also not work?

The main short-term danger is actually to your bacteria, not your fish. The bacteria require a large amount of oxygen and will quickly use up their reserves. Without supplemental oxygen, they all die and your tank crashes. This can happen in only a day or two.

Usually fish can go a bit longer (especially labyrinth fish like you said -- most of them naturally come from very deoxygenated water) but they, too, will need supplemental oxygen eventually.

In other words, a battery-operated air pump is always a good idea.

As far as temperature is concerned, it's better to try to keep what heat you have in instead of constantly trying to raise it. Wrap a towel or a blanket around the tank for insulation. If you think you are going to have to heat it up, fill a water bottle with warm tap water and float that in the tank instead of directly adding the water. Be sure that the airstone is right next to the tank to mix the water so you don't wind up with hot areas and cold areas in the tank.

Hi,
Actually, the fish should not "run out of air" as long as
you have stocked the tank at normal, or below normal
stocking levels. If you are over stocked, then you are
relying on the currents within the tank and the bubbles
of the air pump to increase the Oxygen levels within the
water.

As far as the water temperature is concerned, the colder
the room in relationship to the tank, the faster the tank
will cool. If both are close in temperature, then it
could take hours for the tank to drop in temperature.

As far as the battery powered air pump is concerned,
if it uses flashlight type batteries, be sure to remove
them from the pump case in between uses. If you leave them
in the pump, over time, they can leak and destroy the
internal connections. I always leave the batteries out of
whatever they fit in, until they are needed.

Frank

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

First up, switch everything off. You don;t want to have a 2 hour black-out and then have your filter flick back on suddenly and spew manky water into your tank. If the power is out for more than 20 mins, clean your filter. I wrap the tank in blankets if it is likely to get cold (though Australia's peak energy usage happens in summer so this would be a rarity) and keep the lids on to prevent heat loss.
I have 2 battery pumps, and way more tanks. The pumps go into the tanks with fry that need water stability and filtration to cope with feedings, or in the highest stocked tanks, the rest just cope.
If you have a HOB, toss an airstone in there too, if it is reasonably clean in there, it can eke your filter bacteria out for longer.

So my emergency list is
*battery air pump and spare batteries
*bacterial starter
*torch
*whatever you need to clean your filter
*blankets for winter

And don't feed. Chances are power will be up quickly, but you never know, and increasing the load on stressed bacterial colonies is probably a bad idea.

EDIT: If your hot water works during a blackout or not depends on what is used to heat the water. Gas systems still work

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

What about the people who live in hurricane e areas? Usually our power is out for more than a day. A backup pump is good, but I dont think it will last a whole 1+ days. What should we do?

><> ~=!Vote Today!=~ <><
-----> View My Dragons <-----

Hi,
In the Hurricane areas, I'd seriously consider the purchase
of a small, portable generator. You don't want to power
the entire house but enough power for a tank, for
the TV/radio, and a hot plate. If you purchase one after
the hurricane season the prices are much lower.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Just curious, but would intermittantly pumping a bicycle pump into the filter inlet keep bacteria going?

Frank,
We have a generator for our house but my parents say it is not enough to supply our TV(Informational Weather Purposes), a lamp or two, , some fans, & The refridgerator. I dont think we will have any more room to power a tank's filter, much less 3! Its okay though, hurricane season is almost over, and i am closing down 1 or both of my 10 gallons... My Krib is alone, and I dont think i am going to get him a mate, yet. Plans for the two 10s are very undecided, as one of them was experimental, and the other was my 1st tank! I think i am going to upgrade the Krib's tank later and keep it downstairs as our showtank. The tank is most likely to be a 20, my upstairs one is probably going to be its future tank. The 20 will be a 40, and the 10 next to it will be closed down. Ill still keep it for the fry tank, if i ever get into breeding.

Anyway, im sorry for hijacking your thread, Brengun...

As for you, i think that if you could keep it up, you should have tubing attached to the pump, which is attached to an airstone. It will be a desperate measure i guess but it might work, providing you will get power within the next day, and have cycle and biospira(My LFS just started selling it! YAY!!) ready on hand, just in case things dont go as planned... If it ever comes down to this, good luck! Oh, and i suggest you print some of these out just in case it DOES happen, because you wont have access to a comp at the time.

Bye!

><> ~=!Vote Today!=~ <><
-----> View My Dragons <-----

Our power goes of occasionally usually for an hour or so and I never worry about it. It can easily happen when you are not at home and you can not do any thing then, unless you have a properly installed back up generator.

I have forgotten to turn the heater back on after a water change longest 48 hrs and never lost a fish and this was during the colder months.

If the power does go off as soon as it is up and running I give the tank a good dose of Sera Nitrivec (bacteria booster)

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

Not enough Bren. The filter relies on a certain quantity of oxygenated water passing through it in a given time in order to sustain the bacteria. If you reduce that by a great deal, you are going to have die-off of the bacteria. When you have die off, there is more waste to process and well, it gets pretty foul pretty quickly after that.

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

also keep in mind that if you use an air pump you're pumping cold air into the tank. Its probably not much but its something to think about.

I have a battery back-up that all my aquarium stuff is plugged into. If the electric goes off, the battery automatically takes over & keeps everything running. For how long, I don't know yet, as it was only tested out this summer when the electric went off for a couple hrs.. The battery was still operating.

If you do a net search on battery back-ups, you will find some that are made for business machines. I have one of those. They work on anything you plug into them, such as aquarium stuff. They come in all sizes & price ranges......usually expensive. Someone mentioned one at Cosco for $100. I know nothing about it though. This might be the route you want to take, unless you want to go all out for a generator.

Oh! I was browsing my LFS today, and i saw a backup, battery operated, air pump that goes into action when the power turns off. I was thinking that This could work for a while, just to get oxygen to teh fish. The bacteria then, i guess should just be added. Not too many people have UGF's anymore, but if you just happen to have one, you could power it with a battery operated pump, but i dont know how effective the pump will be....

Or, you could try the Oxygen stones they sell at some LFSs. THey fizz and release oxygen into your tank. Ive never used them, but they sure do sound cool!!!!

><> ~=!Vote Today!=~ <><
-----> View My Dragons <-----

Bengun , I have both my tanks connected to UPS surge protectors . They provide about
an hour of battery back up as well as surge protection . I only have the heater and cannister
on the battery back up . So far it has worked nicely and only once were we off power for
longer ( about 5 hours I think ) and all started back nicely with no ill effects .

Garry

FYI Those battery backups can be purchased at most any Computer store as that is the primary use for them.

mts.gif" border="0"> I vote do you?
My Tanks at Photobucket