Power is out

Reef Devils

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My power has been out for about 19 hours now. I have no generator for my tank. I’ve been running it with a little bubble box to keep oxygenating the tank. I’m not sure if that’s the best thing to use. All stores that have generators have no power so I cannot buy one. I think all fish are still alive. Do you think they can still last another 12 hours? Is the temperature of a tank a big concern Or is it more about how much oxygen is in the tank. What are other ways to oxygenate the tank without having a generator?
 

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During the snowpocalypes a couple of years ago I ran my tank for 2 1/2 days on a battery powered air pump. Luckily I had spare D batteries laying around to keep it going. I would be concerned about it getting too hot. Any way to get ice / cold water to put in ziploc bags to keep it cool?
 
My power has been out for about 19 hours now. I have no generator for my tank. I’ve been running it with a little bubble box to keep oxygenating the tank. I’m not sure if that’s the best thing to use. All stores that have generators have no power so I cannot buy one. I think all fish are still alive. Do you think they can still last another 12 hours? Is the temperature of a tank a big concern Or is it more about how much oxygen is in the tank. What are other ways to oxygenate the tank without having a generator?
If you dont have one already, walmart pet and sporting goods departments sell battery operated air pumps that come with air stone. Utilize that for water movement and oxygen. If you dont have ice, but a bag of ice and place cubes in zip lock bags and place in sump to prevent temperature from rising.
The freezer should hold temperature for several hours. Place bag of ice in there
 
I used the same thing on mine for 13 hours with no issues. Temp will hurt corals before fish. Try to stay under 82 if you can. Float ice bags. Run ran along water surface.

My AC is out too.
 
I think the temp is low. I don’t have a thermometer for that because it runs on power as well but I can tell when I put my hand in the tank it is cold. This tank is only 3 months old and I have one coral. That is the only thing that does it look good.
 
I w
Another thing that you can do is lift water out of the tank using a glass, and pour it back in. Doing this a few times every hour allows for simple gas exchange.
ill do thanks thanks
 
If you dont have one already, walmart pet and sporting goods departments sell battery operated air pumps that come with air stone. Utilize that for water movement and oxygen. If you dont have ice, but a bag of ice and place cubes in zip lock bags and place in sump to prevent temperature from rising.
The freezer should hold temperature for several hours. Place bag of ice in there
I have no ice in the tank but when I put my hand in there it is cold. I have a bubble box that came with an air stone. I am just using it with the tube but no air stone. Does the air stone help a lot? It make smaller bubbles but not as much water flow.
 
I used the same thing on mine for 13 hours with no issues. Temp will hurt corals before fish. Try to stay under 82 if you can. Float ice bags. Run ran along water surface.

My AC is out too
Idk what the temp is but I have put my hand in and it feels cold. Is colder temp like in low 60 better than high for the fish?
 
I have no ice in the tank but when I put my hand in there it is cold. I have a bubble box that came with an air stone. I am just using it with the tube but no air stone. Does the air stone help a lot? It make smaller bubbles but not as much water flow.
Air stone creates surface oxygen exchange and water movement.
Tank temp of 78 degrees feels cool to the touch. Utilize a thermometer if you can to verify temp
 
Idk what the temp is but I have put my hand in and it feels cold. Is colder temp like in low 60 better than high for the fish?
60 is not good while it will slow down metabolism. The tube without air stone is acceptable
 
Air stone creates surface oxygen exchange and water movement.
Tank temp of 78 degrees feels cool to the touch. Utilize a thermometer if you can to verify temp
So should I use the air stone? I have it about a foot deep in the water.
 
60 is not good while it will slow down metabolism. The tube without air stone is acceptable
What happens when they have a slow metabolism? I will try and get thermometers. What happens when temps rise
 
What happens when they have a slow metabolism? I will try and get thermometers. What happens when temps rise
Not a bad thing as they use less energy but I always try to avoid cold extremes regardless. If water gets too cool, wrap a blanket around tank and secure with duct tape. Typically your house temp warms up during the day, so I dont see a real issue. The value of a thermometer to double check periodically
 
Just got a thermometer and the temp is 74 but is dropping I rapped it in a blanket
During our storm I wrapped several blankets around mine. Tank temp dropped to 59. Somehow I was lucky and didn't lose a single fish or coral. I kept a small opening above the air stone so it wouldn't soak the blanket.
 
During our storm I wrapped several blankets around mine. Tank temp dropped to 59. Somehow I was lucky and didn't lose a single fish or coral. I kept a small opening above the air stone so it wouldn't soak the blanket.
I am not using an air stone on my battery backup pump but I have one. the bubbles are bigger with out the air stone. Witch is more effective? Also how far under water should I have the air stone. It probably does not matter
 
Air stone is better than just tube. Creates more surface area, which means more gas exchange. Deeper is better, as it will create more water movement, and increase the contact time which again, means more gas exchange.

For temperature is the problem that's it's cold out or that it's hot out? Too cold is safer than too hot but ironically too hot is much easier to fix without power. It sounds like it's too cold... you really need to insulate the tank as soon as the power is out in cold weather; I have a set of foam I use that I tape to the sides if powers ever out for more than a few hours. Since it's probably too late for that... if you have a way to heat water - a gas stove that still works when the power is out is probably best, but a camp stove outside will do - you can take about a gallon at a time out of the tank and boil it. Mix it with several gallons of tank water in a 5 gallon bucket to bring the temperature down. And then slowly add this to the tank.

Doing some bad math... assuming a 100 gallon tank at 60f, 1 gallon of boiling water should raise the tank's temperature about 1.5 degrees. 3 gallons of 60f water in your bucket + 1 gallon of boiling water will be about 100f, the temperature of a warm bath. I shouldn't have to stress that it's a bad idea to pour boiling water directly into the tank.

That's 99 gallons at 60f + 1 gallon at 212f, average temperature of new water is 61.5 degrees?

In Celsius it's 99 gallons at 15c + 1 gallon at 100c = 100 gallons at 15.85c.

Not sure my math makes any sense or temperatures can even be averaged this way, but I wouldn't try this with a ratio larger than 1/100th of the volume at a time. And, still get some insulation on there ASAP... so your hard work isn't immediately wasted.
 
Wow t
Air stone is better than just tube. Creates more surface area, which means more gas exchange. Deeper is better, as it will create more water movement, and increase the contact time which again, means more gas exchange.

For temperature is the problem that's it's cold out or that it's hot out? Too cold is safer than too hot but ironically too hot is much easier to fix without power. It sounds like it's too cold... you really need to insulate the tank as soon as the power is out in cold weather; I have a set of foam I use that I tape to the sides if powers ever out for more than a few hours. Since it's probably too late for that... if you have a way to heat water - a gas stove that still works when the power is out is probably best, but a camp stove outside will do - you can take about a gallon at a time out of the tank and boil it. Mix it with several gallons of tank water in a 5 gallon bucket to bring the temperature down. And then slowly add this to the tank.

Doing some bad math... assuming a 100 gallon tank at 60f, 1 gallon of boiling water should raise the tank's temperature about 1.5 degrees. 3 gallons of 60f water in your bucket + 1 gallon of boiling water will be about 100f, the temperature of a warm bath. I shouldn't have to stress that it's a bad idea to pour boiling water directly into the tank.

That's 99 gallons at 60f + 1 gallon at 212f, average temperature of new water is 61.5 degrees?

In Celsius it's 99 gallons at 15c + 1 gallon at 100c = 100 gallons at 15.85c.

Not sure my math makes any sense or temperatures can even be averaged this way, but I wouldn't try this with a ratio larger than 1/100th of the volume at a time. And, still get some insulation on there ASAP... so your hard work isn't immediately wasted.
Wow!! Thanks dude. This helped a lot. I will put the air stone on right now. Good math.
 

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