Help! What to do when the power's out?

[Feathers]

I just received an e-mail about how my housing complex is going to cut the power from 10PM to 6AM next Monday to re-set some stuff on the system and do general power maintenance or something.

I'm not sure what to do with my tanks while the power's out!! Will my fish be okay without their filters running during that time, or is there something I can buy to keep them running somehow during that time? I've seen battery type things in stores, but the ones I've seen only last about two hours... so they're more for emergency blackouts and not for long things like this...

And advice would be greatly appreciated. It's been cold here, and I don't want my tanks to get too cold with their heaters out, but it's possible they'd be okay... I think the filter might be more important? Totally not sure.

I'm still a little perplexed why they have to knock out the power for that long, but oh well.

Thanks in advance!
Feathers

[TheOldSalt]

Wrap the tanks in styrofoam or cardboard, or even blankets, to keep them warm. Also, try to get your room temperature really toasty, even uncomfortably so, before the power fails. By morning you'll be freezing again, but with any luck it'll stay warm enough for long enough to prevent any problem.
I don't know what kind of filters you have, but if you can keep them flowing with some airstones, then do it. You are correct in that the filters are going to be the main problem. If tha won't work, then those battery pumps will work well enough for the tank, but you'll probably have to clean and restart your filtes once the power returns. IF you just let the filters restart after having let them sit idle for 8 hours, then you'll be pumping vile stuff indeed into your tank when the power returns. This may or may not be a big problem depending on how clean or dirty things are already. Your best bet is to go ahead and clean them now, so they're not too dirty on monday but still barely recolonized with bacteria. Clean the gravel, too. Then you don't have to worry.

[Chrispy]

umm, what type of fish do you have and how large of tank. the power outage isnt really as bad as it may seem. water temp wise, just do what he dais and heat up your house. the tank will maintain whatever room temp is., but i doubt you fish will be harmed by the water dropping 5 digrees. i think you should be fine. i regularly lose power over night. the only thing i would check is you air tubes. make sure they rune a few inches above the water line. last think you want is to have your tank empty itself while you sleep

[Feathers]

I have two 10 gallon tanks. One has two mollies and the other has three Zebra Danios.

I unfortunately don't understand what you mean by keeping the tank running with air stones. I have a Top-fin back-hanging filter, so I'm not sure if that works with what you had in mind or not. Thanks for the tip about keeping the tank worm, but I don't understand how airstones could keep the filter running.

My Danio tank is quite clean, as it's still getting established, but now I'm concerned that this power outage will set back my cycling of that tank? The tank will have been running for three weeks and a couple days by the time the power outage occurs, so...is that going to be a problem?

My mollies, on the other hand, are little poo marchines, so I'll make it a point to clean their tank very well before the power goes off. I usually gravel-vac half of the tank one day, and the other half the next... I'll just be sure to get both sides on Sunday afternoon.

Still, I'm confused... how do you keep a filter running with airstones? My airtubes, similarly, have the back-flow valves on them to prevent water from going back to the pump, so...hopefully that won't be a problem.

[jones57742]

Feathers:

I was preparing this post when you posted and have included comments concerning you last post herein.

Originally Posted by TheOldSalt

Wrap the tanks in styrofoam or cardboard, or even blankets, to keep them warm. Also, try to get your room temperature really toasty, even uncomfortably so, before the power fails.

The topic is water temperature.

Feathers: your profile does not indicate where you live but if you live in "Yankeeland" or in the south where cold (or even not warm) weather has set in the then I ditto TOS's comments.

As you indicated in your last post that you had 10G tanks then IMHO boiling water and adding dechlorinate in order to put in the tank (in very minor dosings) will also help maintain your typical water temperature.

Originally Posted by TheOldSalt

If tha won't work, then those battery pumps will work well enough for the tank ...

.
The topic is oxygenation of the tank water.

Ditto the battery air pumps and the air flow should be such to generate mild turbulence on the water's surface in the tank.

Originally Posted by TheOldSalt

Your best bet is to go ahead and clean them now ...

Feathers: The topic is filtration during but more importantly immediately subsequent to power restoration.

Yes but rinse only the mechanical media "at like 8:00 p.m."

Place the mechanical filtration media in your tanks.

Remove the biological filtration media in your filter and place in the tanks without rinsing.

I am not familiar with Danios or Mollies and what I have proposed may be "overkill" with the exception of temperature regulation.

TR

BTW: (and the following comments are based upon the fact that I "run around with a gal" from SE New Mexico. Her nearest neighbor is 20 miles distant from her house, the nearest town (which is an exaggeration) is 28 miles distant from her house and she has 4 miles of radial feed electric distribution wiring to her house.

1) Ascertain the type of batteries which supply power to the air pump.
Take several of these batteries to the fish store.
Before you purchase the air pump, open the box (with the manager observing of course) plug in the batteries and turn the pump on (hopefully air will come out but if it does not you know what to do next).

2) Purchase a nice flashlight.

3) Purchase approximately 3 times as many batteries as you believe that you will need for the air pump and the flashlight during the power outage.

[emc7]

Do your water change a few days ahead and fast the fish for 24 hrs before the power out. Raise the heater dial slightly so the tank temp. going in is 2-4 degrees above normal.

[SueM]

I've been through that before, plus carried 5 coolers of fish 2450 miles for 5 days.
Do as TOS says and wrap the tanks, go to Wallmart or a sporting goods store and get hand warmers, when the temp starts dropping in the room, tape them (only the outside edges, they need air to work) to the outside of the tank.
Get a battery powered airpump and extra batteries.
When the outage is over, do a 20% water change, your fish will be just fine

[Feathers]

Thanks so much for your advice, everyone!

I live in Southern California, so even it's getting cold by my standards, the tanks can maintain their temperature overnight, I believe. When I had my heater in the bucket with my sick fish and not in the tank with my mollies (prior to my buying the second tank for quarantine) the molly tank dropped only about three degrees when I ran my room's heater before I went to bed. So, hopefully, the temperature should be okay. But I could also crank up the heaters a bit in the tank before they go out. Thanks for the suggestion!

As to running an air pump... Since I have two tanks in two separate (yet close) rooms, would it be possible for me to use one battery powered air pump with a T valve or something and just buy some extra air tubing to run it between both rooms? I'm a university student and just spent almost all the money I have on my tuition just this last week, so I need to do this in as cost-effective a way as I can. If I need to buy two separate pumps, I can forgo food for a day or two. (I'll be fasting with my fishies! haha)

[emc7]

K-mart used to sell an under $5 air pump for bait buckets. You can split the flow with air valve and use lots of airline, if the pump is strong, you'll get bubbles in both tanks, but it depends on the pump. I really think overnight would be fine with nothing, but its a good to be prepared in case of ice storm or if the power stays out longer than they plan on. If you have some Prime, you can try the 'emergency dose'. It won't give them oxygen, but if you get an ammonia spike from no filters, it will protect your fish.

[emc7]

As far as the the power outage setting your cycling back, you will lose some bacteria when water isn't flowing over it, but you won't have to start over, expect short spikes of ammonia and nitrite as you filter builds back up. Extra testing and/or water changes would be prudent for a few days after.

[TheOldSalt]

jones mentioned one thing nobody else did, and it's a beauty:

Take your filter media out of the filter, and put it in the tank.
When the power is out for several hours, the bacteria in your filter will run out of oxygen very quickly. They will then switch "gears" and start running in reverse, breaking down nitrate and turning it back into ammonia in an effort to salvage the oxygen from it. When the power comes back on, all that ammonia will get dumped back into your tank. This can be very bad.
Putting your filter media in the tank prevents this, giving the filter bacteria a lot more oxygen to work with for a lot longer.

As for keeping the filter runnng with airstones, I figured you might be able to jam some bubblers someplace which would keep the water flowing. Filters used to all be run by bubbles before switching to electric pumps, you see. Don't worry about it. Just do what jones said and half your problem will be solved.