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Help with power outage situations

3K views 10 replies 7 participants last post by  okiemavis 
#1 ·
Tropical Storm Fay is upon me.

I have (2) 55 gallon and (1) 30 gallon tank

both 55's have moderate number of cichlids

30G has 2 convicts and their 20 1 month old babies.

What am I dealing with if I loose power for hours on end? How do I remedy

Thanks!!!!!!
 
#3 ·
sorry...didn't include enough details....

temp. is not my concern actually. I'm in florida, keep a warm room environment, and water temp is perfect using no temp. control devices.

If anything....temp will raise with outage

Concern is aeration.

Advice on battery powered aeration setups????
 
#5 ·
UPS computer/server setups that you expect to last for sever hours...possibly days are extremely out of budget for this application.

Looking for advice on devices that are battery powered that I can maintain for days just changing batterys.

Stones?
Bait bucket battery powered pumps?

How long can my fish survive with no aeration?

Any experience with this here?

Thanks in advance!
 
#6 ·
there will be enough oxygen in the water for your fish to be just fine for a few hours, even a day

my understanding of "air stones" is that they usually let the bad gases escape the water more then they let the good gases enter the water..i guess either one its doing is benefitial, but your fish will be just fine with your air pump off..

if your just way overly concerned with it, they do make "back up" air pumps that are battery powered and are used for power outs and what not, i dont know where you'll be able to come by one last minute though.. maybe check your LFS? i do not know from experience how well they work, but here is an example:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3669+3693&pcatid=3693
 
#8 ·
I endured a week last winter with no electricity due to ice storm. sadly, My fish all succumed due to temp drop despite my efforts with heated bags of water and candles under the tanks along with blankets to wrap the tanks in. Oxygen was not the problem. Battery operated bait bucket air stones kept the water aerated. I got mine at walmart(@%$#!) One Dbattery lasted approx eight hours .GOOD LUCK! :(
 
#11 ·
I think this is something everyone should plan for. One *important* consideration is that the warmer the water gets, the less dissolved oxygen. So you will start loosing fish if the temperatures get high and there's no water movement.

One option (not entirely perfect but this is good if you don't have time to plan ahead) is to set up a drip system with chilled water. Place the bucket higher than your tank and use some airline tubing to start a siphon going (keep the end of the tubing above the surface of the tank water). You can tie a loose knot in the tubing to slow the drips down if needed. This will keep your water a bit cooler, and create some surface agitation. Just make sure you don't add the water too quickly and over cool your tank, and make sure you don't allow the tank to overflow!

A better option (and what I use on all my tanks) is to get a battery operated air pump plugged into an airstone. I have one that turns on automatically when the power goes out. True, the bubbles don't add much oxygen to the water, but the surface agitation it creates is key. I use the Silent Air B11. There's nothing silent about it, but it does create air and so far had been reliable. Just make sure you've got extra batteries on hand.
 
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