Irma's coming and I want to save my fish.

[glb]

The water temp is holding at 78-80 by adding ice bottles 2-3 times/day. I can't believe it's working. My husband puts the bottles in his office freezer in the morning and brings them home. We've got 9 bottles in circulation. The first set of batteries for the air pumps lasted an entire week. What a lifesaver.

 

[IslandLifeReef]

Just the amount of organics that my skimmer pulled out in 24 hours. I usually don't see that much for 2 to 3 days of skimming. I saw Alk and Cal go down. No rise in Ammonia or Nitrite. Nitrates went up a little, less than 2ppm, but after Friday, I didn't feed my tank until the power came back on. I was thinking about feeding, but was fortunate enough to get power back before I did.

 

[glb]

Just the amount of organics that my skimmer pulled out in 24 hours. I usually don't see that much for 2 to 3 days of skimming. I saw Alk and Cal go down. No rise in Ammonia or Nitrite. Nitrates went up a little, less than 2ppm, but after Friday, I didn't feed my tank until the power came back on. I was thinking about feeding, but was fortunate enough to get power back before I did.

Thanks. The nitrates were at 10ppm before the storm. Since it's only fish, they should be ok. Plus I can start Nopox again once the skimmer is up and running.

 

[GatorScott]

Glad to hear the tank survived!!

 

[GatorScott]

Knife people at Publix or visit your LFS.

Got water?

This had me rolling! I'm a manager at Publix and I will tell you this kind of stuff brings out the worst in people! Surprised I have been able to restrain myself from choking someone out lol. A customer had the nerve today to tell me he thought publix would go above and beyond to get essentials to people. I'm like huh?!?!??? Everyone here working 70hrs a week!!!!! Thats not enough?!?!? [emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35]

 

[glb]

Glad to hear the tank survived!!

So far! Now they're telling us we won't get power until next Tuesday. :mad:

 

[glb]

This had me rolling! I'm a manager at Publix and I will tell you this kind of stuff brings out the worst in people! Surprised I have been able to restrain myself from choking someone out lol. A customer had the nerve today to tell me he thought publix would go above and beyond to get essentials to people. I'm like huh?!?!??? Everyone here working 70hrs a week!!!!! Thats not enough?!?!? [emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35]

People have no clue. We're all in the same boat. I love Publix.

 

[GatorScott]

So far! Now they're telling us we won't get power until next Tuesday. :mad:

Wow that's crazy. They way I read the post I thought you alreAdy had power. hopefully everything turns out ok

 

[glb]

Wow that's crazy. They way I read the post I thought you alreAdy had power. hopefully everything turns out ok

No, the power company told us we did but it was a mistake. It's getting harder to keep the tank cool. It's at 80 right now. We're going to have to throw in more frozen bottles at a time. I'm so glad my husband's office has a great freezer. Yesterday the house was 86 inside. The problem is there are lots of downed lines and trees touching the lines. They have to be cut back and the debris has to be hauled off before the power trucks can come in.

 

[glb]

Ok here's my numbers after a week without power:

Temp: 78-80
Alk: 8.6
NO3: 7ppm
PO4: 0.05ppm
SG: 1.023
NO2: 0ppm

All-in-all not bad. I'm pleasantly surprised that the nitrates are staying low. I've only fed the fish a few times and they're pretty dormant in the dark, so maybe that's why. I expected PO4 to go up a little. Could the live rock and sand be doing their job? The tank is 7 mos. old. I'm hesitant to do a water change because the water I'd have to use is warmer than the tank water. The air pumps are still working great. Is there anything I should be doing to prepare for the power to go on? I have a bunch of live rock in the sump too so hopefully it's done some filtering down there. With a lot of ice, we're hoping they'll be ok until Tuesday night. 3 1/2 days seems like an eternity right now. Any advice is welcome!!!

 

[GatorScott]

I don't have advice from experience but I'd think you might want to unplug your light. That would be bad if they survived this whole thing and then died of light shock from the lights coming on all at once

 

[glb]

I don't have advice from experience but I'd think you might want to unplug your light. That would be bad if they survived this whole thing and then died of light shock from the lights coming on all at once

Thanks! I don't have a tank light yet. I'm waiting to get a good one. Will regular house lights freak them out?

 

[GatorScott]

Thanks! I don't have a tank light yet. I'm waiting to get a good one. Will regular house lights freak them out?

Oh ok. You will be fine with house lights

 

[glb]

Power's back on and all my fish survived!!!

 

[GatorScott]

Great news!

 

[glb]

Two battery-operated air pumps and lots of frozen water bottles saved the little guys.

 

[BlueDamselReef]

How did you survive Irma? We lost power for half a day and my car got dinged by a flying branch. Other than that, we were good! Thankfully, I didn't have my tank yet when it hit. I plan on getting a 40g breeder when we move to a house but right now I'm in an apartment so I'm keeping it small! I love coral beauties and plan on getting one of those too, in my 40. [emoji170] [emoji225]

 

[fishybizzness]

I'm in the vi and still don't have power. Hopefully before Xmas. I'm running the tank on generator for about 10 hrs a day.

 

[glb]

How did you survive Irma? We lost power for half a day and my car got dinged by a flying branch. Other than that, we were good! Thankfully, I didn't have my tank yet when it hit. I plan on getting a 40g breeder when we move to a house but right now I'm in an apartment so I'm keeping it small! I love coral beauties and plan on getting one of those too, in my 40. [emoji170] [emoji225]

Our house was fine. Trees were down everywhere but we had no damage. 40g tanks are the best!