Disaster, Tragic, (& all synonyms)

Teke Left · Mar 4, 2018

Well... it’s a terrible moment currently ... my power has been out for over 50 hours with a restoration time still two days away ,,,,
& all my fish are dead, my invertebrates probably dead , & coral? I’m not sure but they aren’t looking the best high wings & multiple downed trees has put me in this position, I kept using a bucket to move the water around, but I could do nothing for heat, me & my family stayed are in a hotel, when I came to check the tank out this morning it was over , Reef tank was temp was mid to upper 50,s (Fahrenheit) my cichlids didn’t make it either (I’m seasoned in the cichlids world) ... this happened to me my first attempt at reefing a few years ago soon as I moved into the house I’m currently in, but the difference was it was summer so I kept moving the water & the temp didn’t fluctuate much so all was fine .. the is a different story).....
so I guess I’m just asking on exactly what to do when the power comes back on, I’m assuming remove everything that was live, & await another cycle? Surely it will cycle again? Will all my bacteria still be live even though it’s been sitting in cold, basically stagnant water?? Or will I have to re seed?
I’ll surely be buying a generator before any more livestock for my tanks!
.. I’ve once again failed lol
But this time I can actually not blame myself
thanks!

redfishbluefish · Mar 4, 2018

So sorry for your losses. It's tough to go through. Saw similar losses during hurricane Sandy here in NJ a couple years ago. I was fortunate, by pure luck, to have a generator when Sandy hit. It is now piece of mind, and would consider it mandatory equupment. Please try your hardest to stay strong and before you know it you'll be back.

Teke Left · Mar 4, 2018

Thanks ! & yea it is definitely mandatory, it will literally be the first thing I buy before I buy any livestock, in the past 6 weeks I’ve spent well over the cost of a generator on the tank . (That part hurts too). But do you think my rock is still live? Or do you think my bacteria has died out?

mtraylor · Mar 4, 2018

Wow sorry about your loss. 4 days without power is very hard for any reefer. Some people have battery backup, but that will not last that long like you say. You have to have a generator. One other backup is to have some reefer friends within driving distant, if that is even an option where you can move your fish too. Yeah when you get your aquarium back on line, everything will have to cycle again. It will be tough to remove all decay so hang in there.

redfishbluefish · Mar 4, 2018

Do you have electric back?

I'm sure, at 50F, it will go through a cycle/cure. At this point I'd pull all the death you can pull out, and do as large a water change you can do....assuming you have electric back....and start bringing it up to temperature.

Then state testing ammonia, nitrates and phosphates.

Teke Left · Mar 4, 2018

Yea it’s very hard & only after the fact I thought about a new lfs that just opened in my city I usually drive over a hr to my lfs but this guy is local nice guy I’m sure he would’ve been more than happy to help me out he had plenty of empty tanks ... but it didn’t cross my mind ... but yea I’m sure I won’t get it all out it’s still some fish that I can’t find .... I started to get them out today but for some reason I didn’t .. just don’t want to take them out yet lol .. but tomorrow i suppose I will go ahead & do that .. but I probably only have 30 gallons of water I could change but I suppose it would help , but I’ll wait until the power is on before I do the change .. also I have a nem .. just closed up on his rock where he always is , will he foul the water badly? ( but I suppose at this point it really doesn’t matter)

Teke Left · Mar 4, 2018

redfishbluefish said:
Do you have electric back?

I'm sure, at 50F, it will go through a cycle/cure. At this point I'd pull all the death you can pull out, and do as large a water change you can do....assuming you have electric back....and start bringing it up to temperature.

Then state testing ammonia, nitrates and phosphates.

& no still no electricity, I have to work tonight, hopefully in the morning I will be back in business

DeniseAndy · Mar 4, 2018

So sorry. I would get everything out as stated above and if you can do a full water change, get back up to normal temp and let cycle and almost begin again. If any corals look like they may survive, you can do a small qt to hold them while the tank cycles. I would guess most good bacteria and such would die off, maybe not, but I would assume it to be safe and start over.

Teke Left · Mar 4, 2018

DeniseAndy said:
So sorry. I would get everything out as stated above and if you can do a full water change, get back up to normal temp and let cycle and almost begin again. If any corals look like they may survive, you can do a small qt to hold them while the tank cycles. I would guess most good bacteria and such would die off, maybe not, but I would assume it to be safe and start over.

Yea thats what I plan to do, I’ve looked at the tank in a dark room just a few mins ago did I take a flash light to it, it’s all sorts of critters & worms laying around that I’ve never seen, I really like the though of having extra critters in my rock & ive been wanting to re scape I guess I get my chance to do so & add more rock, & just ... start over ,,,, & surely my corals & nem are dead but my nem really just looks asleep , but I’m sure he is done, I may try to keep my coral in a different tank & see what they do .. but I’m not too hopeful of them either to be honest

saltyhog · Mar 4, 2018

So sorry to hear this! I think you are doing the right things and more importantly starting to look at this as an opportunity to come back better and stronger! Good luck, keep us informed.

ca1ore · Mar 4, 2018

Since 2010, here in CT, we have lost power four times for 5 days plus, and three times for 2 days. This storm it was 36 hours. The first 5 day outage killed my tank .... never again. I have a 6,800 watt generator (though much less than that needed to run a tank) that I test run every month, and I rotate 25 gallons of stabilized gasoline on hand. We're going to get more of these kinds of storms, so a genny is essential tank equipment IME.